Interviewer: You give Alison such a different physicality from all of the other characters. Where do you see her physical presence coming from?
Tatiana: There’s something really wonderful about playing somebody who wants you to think they have everything together and is melting down inside. So her physicality, to me, was like a demonstration of her togetherness. If she can make you think that she’s got it together, then it’s okay. As long as everybody thinks that she’s perfect, then it’s all good. As soon as people start to see the cracks, she starts to get really terrified.
I just loved that idea of the external being completely different from the internal. I think the repressive idea, a lot of repression in her life and a lot of quelling of emotions or quelling of opinions [that] kind of burst out of her every now and then, this rigidity that it busts through. And also I thought that Alison would have done ballet as a kid or as a teen—I know because I did ballet when I was younger, and I still have trouble letting go of my stomach muscles or my bum muscles, because you’re taught to hold everything very tightly. So I thought she’s got these residual tendencies or habits that she’s learned from dance or ballet that was part of my exploration of her.
