Shadowing Practice: Rosamund Pike breaks down her life in roles, from Gone Girl to Saltburn | Bazaar UK - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Surely if there's ever a character with which one can have colourful, outrageous fun on a red carpet, it's Elsbeth.
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113 sentences
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Surely if there's ever a character with which one can have colourful, outrageous fun on a red carpet, it's Elsbeth.
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Imagine all these dresses are dinner guests.
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Who's the one who's going to be the most fun?
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It's good to think of clothes like that.
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Hello everyone, I'm Rosamund Pike and I'm here with Harper's Bazaar UK and I'm about to take a little look back on some of the characters, some of the roles that have left a lasting impact on me.
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Here goes.
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Gone Girl, which came out in 2014, was a huge turning point in my life.
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I realise now that there must have been so many people who wanted that role.
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I couldn't say that I was better than anybody else or I did a better audition.
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I just think that David Fincher homes in on what he wants, and it happened to be me for reasons that still mystify me.
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I think if I'd been too big an actress at that point, people might not have believed that I would have signed on to play the dead girl.
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But I think at that point in my career, everyone thought Rosamund Pike would definitely sign on to play the dead girl.
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It was a very strange casting process for it, very secretive.
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David Fincher operates in mysterious ways, and it involved me flying secretly whilst on another job to St.
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Louis.
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Unbeknownst to my agents, my managers, the people I was working with at the time, it was a total secret operation.
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And on this flight over there, I got this email and the title of the email was For Your Eyes Only.
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And there was the first script of this film.
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And I mean, it was it was a sort of real pinch me moment and very exciting and nerve wracking.
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And I was totally out of my depth.
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It was such a fun thing to do as well as being nerve wracking because she's so histrionic and she's so she's so performative.
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you know, she performs vulnerability, she performs sexiness, she performs the kind of media darling, she gives you every part of being a woman in one character.
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It's just, it became kind of giddy to play because she's such a performer and her power is so great.
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Her husband's scared of her and I think I was scared of her to be honest.
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It's still the character I'm most grateful for.
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I think it's probably one of those ones that if I watched it back now, which I have not and I haven't seen it for many years, it would probably be one of those things that I look back and think I'll be much kinder to myself in retrospect than I was at the time.
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You know, at the time I just saw all the problems to my mind, but I'm sure if I look back now I might think that I did okay.
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Saltburn was a total phenomenon in more ways than one.
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For a start it was a magical thing to film.
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We had a very magical summer filming in one house in Northamptonshire with a cast who became instantly very close.
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But then there was this whole thing of it being consumed on social media.
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And I think many, many people who tell me they've seen Sorkburn have not seen Sorkburn.
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I think a lot of people have just consumed clips.
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You know, Elspeth has you know, become iconic for her humor and her shallowness and her vanity, but she's also a woman who underwent an unspeakable tragedy.
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So, you know, all the while, while filming this thing that's become something that's now the subject of parties and people doing themed saltburn evenings and dressing up as Elspeth and lip-syncing my lines on TikTok.
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While filming it, I was also up late at night in the chat rooms of women who've lost children.
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The people who have generously shared on social media about how you can continue to live when you've suffered the loss of a of a teenage or adult child.
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The internet has become an amazing resource for actors who want to understand deeply an authentic experience.
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So for me that was another reality of filming Saltburn.
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That's a reason why Elspeth lingers with me that will be surprising I think to some people.
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Maybe the people who didn't see the whole film.
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The press tour for Saltburn was a joy because my friend and collaborator Leith Clark said to me we've got to you know channel Elspeth with this tour.
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We've got to think you know what dresses do we want to take to the party?
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Surely if there's ever a character with which one can have colourful outrageous fun on a red carpet it's Elsbeth.
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So that involved blue sequined rodate I think,
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blue sequined rodate at the Critics' Choice Awards to bowed a silk green pleated dress with a sequined gold cape for a sort of just a normal dinner because you know who doesn't want to wear a sequined gold cape to dinner.
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Almost Elspeth at a funeral at the Golden Globes with the veil and the Dior couture was actually to solve a problem, which was that I'd had a skiing accident and smashed up my face.
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So, you know, I had a huge, I had a huge wound on my chin, which Philip Trace's veil did a very good job at concealing.
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The spirit was, imagine all these dresses are dinner guests.
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You know, who's the one who's gonna be the most fun?
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It's good to think of clothes like that.
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With Jane Austen, I genuinely believe that there is magic in her stories.
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I genuinely believe that everybody who participates in whatever adaptation of a Jane Austen it is has a kind of enchanted time.
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I think whenever you have a chance to do an adaptation of a book, it's a gift for an actor because there is such a wealth of information at your fingertips and there's a whole head of an author to dive inside.
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We were filming at this beautiful house Groombridge which was near Tunbridge Wells and there was a meadow right behind the house there
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was a moat around the house and there was a green that you could roam over to a lovely pub in the village and it was
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one of those golden summers and we were all very young and it was most people's sort of one of their first jobs if not their very first job.
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We had Donald Sutherland as our father who did magical things like remember he had a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow in storage in somewhere in the north of England and that sort of masterpiece of engineering came out and was driven down to Tunbridge Wells.
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Jane and Lizzie shared a bedroom and Keira and I would escape to this bedroom upstairs and you know we'd chat while other scenes were going on.
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I think Jane Bennett is quite a magical character, although she's the less vibrant one than Lizzie.
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I think it imbues a sense of calm.
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I'm not a particularly calm person, but Jane could have can instill a sense of calm because she chooses to see the best in people.
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And I think it's a very lovely quality.
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So I found Jane a very good companion for a summer.
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I was lucky enough to be asked to do this very unusual piece of work, which was a music video for Massive Attack.
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They were releasing a new EP with a band called The Young Fathers, and they sent me this track called Voodoo in My Blood.
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And Ringen Ledwidge, who was a brilliant, brilliant commercials director, totally inspired genius of a man who's sadly no longer with us, said, I want to do something in the subway at Euston Station
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and I want it to be a meeting with some strange force in the subway.
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He said, I think it's going to be a big silver ball, but it's got to be about addiction and our addiction to technology.
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I'd just finished a film called A United Kingdom and we had to learn to lindy hop and do those 1940s dances.
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There was a dance choreographer called Scarlett Macmon who taught me to Lindy Hop and got me kind of in my body in a way that nobody else has really ever, he'd somehow released something.
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And I thought, if there's one person who can channel the voodoo with me for this Massive Attack video, it's this person.
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So I rang her up, not knowing her very well at all.
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And I said, I don't know, I've got this hunch that you might have an inkling about, you know, how to communicate a bit of voodoo.
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And she said, oh my, she said, you've come to the right person.
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We had a day basically to, or maybe not even a day, maybe a few hours to kind of create something.
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And then the next day we were going to film it.
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So it was one of those times where a short space of time and a time pressure can yield something truly creative.
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And where you sort of push the boundaries of yourself and what you feel you're capable of and who you are.
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and you just have to throw yourself in and commit 100% wholeheartedly.
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The next day we were in Euston Underpass with a wet down and the speakers, because Ringan understood that you need that track blaring through Euston Underpass.
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We created this this mad thing that I'm really proud of, I think, because it's one of the things that I look back and I have no idea where it came from and I've no idea whether I could even do it again.
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And those are the most exciting pieces of work where you literally don't know where it's come from.
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You've just been a vessel and something has come through you and you know it's you, you know you've done it, but you have no idea, you felt like you were no part of it, almost like an out-of-body experience.
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In 2018, I played Mary Colvin, who was a brilliant, fiercely independent war correspondent for the Sunday Times.
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She did long-form investigative journalism, which meant that she would really embed with communities, particularly civilians affected by conflict and war.
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And she would give voice to people who feared that perhaps their perspective would never be out in the wider world.
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You know, she also gained the trust of world leaders.
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You know, she reputedly had a set of pearls given to her by Yasser Arafat.
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But she was a very interesting person to play.
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She lost an eye in Sri Lanka when she was going into Tamil territory in the north.
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And so she wore an eye patch, which is how some people who don't know her name still identify her and say, oh, the journalist with the eye patch.
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But obviously playing her meant that I had to create a sort of physical embodiment of this woman.
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It couldn't be a performance.
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It had to be a becoming of someone else, which I guess, you know, acting always is to some degree.
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But in this respect, there was a prototype or the real thing that you could cross-refer to.
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You have to feel that you are them, so they become more real to you than you do.
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Another thing for an actress is Marie was older than me.
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So a lot of an actress's life is spent trying to look younger, trying to look, trying to keep, you know, hold of one's looks, all those things.
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and well so people think.
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In fact it's not about that at all.
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There is inevitably focus on appearance, there's inevitably focus on holding on to your appearance but actually where freedom lies is in a totally other direction.
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So playing Marie where I actually was too young for the part and had to make myself older,
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that then unleashed this whole period of my life where I played a few people who who were older than me, I played Marie Curie as well, actually found it wonderfully liberating.
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And I thought, well, here you go.
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You can cheat time in multiple directions.
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It doesn't always have to be about cheating time and pretending that we have to go back and hold on to our youth.
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We can actually cheat time and get to somewhere that we're going too soon.
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And then we get another go at it.
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You know, we can play it and then we can live it.
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So I think that was a big teaching, a big lesson that playing Marie taught me.
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Thank you so much for coming with me on this little exploratory journey through some important roles.
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I hope by the time you're seeing this I will have been heavily edited so I haven't wasted too much of your time.
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Why practice speaking with this video?

Practicing with this video featuring Rosamund Pike offers a fantastic opportunity to enhance your English speaking skills. In this engaging interview, Pike discusses her compelling roles in films such as Gone Girl and Saltburn. By mimicking her speech patterns and intonation, you can develop a more natural flow in conversation, which is vital for effective communication in English.

Utilizing the shadowing technique with this video not only improves pronunciation but also provides context for various expressions and vocabulary. As Pike shares her experiences, you'll learn how to articulate emotions and personality nuances, allowing for more dynamic interactions. Whether you aim to engage in casual conversations or formal discussions, practicing with this material can significantly boost your confidence and proficiency.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Throughout the video, several grammatical structures and expressions stand out:

  • Descriptive language: Pike uses rich adjectives and adverbs, such as "colourful," "outrageous," and "magical," to convey her experiences vividly. This enhances storytelling, making it relatable and engaging.
  • Past tense narratives: She frequently employs the past tense when recounting her experiences. Phrases like "I realized" and "I was scared" are essential for sharing personal stories and reflections.
  • Comparative phrases: Expressions like "better than" and "more fun" highlight comparisons that help characterize her roles and experiences. Such constructions allow learners to articulate differences and preferences easily.
  • Complex sentences: Pike's use of clauses, such as "who’s the one who’s going to be the most fun?" allows learners to practice more sophisticated sentence structures, enhancing their comprehension and speaking abilities.

Common Pronunciation Traps

While practicing, pay attention to certain pronunciation challenges that might arise:

  • Articulating words ending in -ed: Words like "excited" and "experienced" may often be pronounced too quickly, leading to unclear speech. Slow down and emphasize these endings.
  • Vowel sounds: Pike’s British accent features distinct vowel sounds, particularly in words like "house" and "dance." Try to mimic these sounds, as they might differ significantly from American English pronunciation.
  • Compound words: Terms such as "red carpet" may become jumbled when spoken quickly. Practice these phrases to ensure clarity in your speech.

Utilizing a shadowing app or the innovative method of shadowspeak can help reinforce your learning, allowing you to practice alongside the video. You’ll effectively pick up the nuances of native speech, making your spoken English both fluent and natural.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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