When Ralph Fiennes was entombed in dirt for a scene in The Dig, it was Carey Mulligan who had to scrabble through the soil — with her bare hands — to free him.
‘It was the most terrifying moment of my career!’ the star said.
‘I was responsible for getting the soil away from his face. As the cameras came down, all I could think was: ‘Don’t let me kill Ralph Fiennes!’
It was just one of several tactics used by director Simon Stone to inject a real sense of urgency and adventure into his screen version of John Preston’s historical novel.
The book is a stirring fictionalised account of the famous 1939 excavation at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, where the royal burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon king was discovered by self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown (Fiennes).
Brown had been hired by Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) to examine the strange, grass-covered mounds on her land near the River Deben.
When Ralph Fiennes was entombed in dirt for a scene in The Dig, it was Carey Mulligan who had to scrabble through the soil — with her bare hands — to free him
Once he made his astounding discovery, Brown was joined by a team of professional archaeologists and excavators, including Peggy Preston (Lily James), and Mrs Pretty’s nephew, Stuart Piggott (Johnny Flynn).
Stone was determined to make the scenes — and his stars’ reactions — as realistic as possible, ‘so the guys digging up treasure were really digging up treasure,’ Mulligan told me this week.
Before each take, the set dressers would hide artefacts about the site. ‘When they found them, the camera would capture their genuine reaction,’ the actress explained.
While James was getting stuck in, in shorts and blouses, Mulligan, 35, was being ‘aged up’ to play Mrs Pretty (a far cry from her acclaimed performance in Emerald Fennell’s revenge black comedy Promising Young Woman).
‘It was the most terrifying moment of my career!’ the star said. ‘I was responsible for getting the soil away from his face. As the cameras came down, all I could think was: ‘Don’t let me kill Ralph Fiennes!’
‘They would make me scrunch up my forehead and my eyes and very delicately paint in some more lines. It was, you know, an ego bash,’ Mulligan said with a laugh.
‘Not fun to look in the mirror, but a fun part of the prep.’
She noted that Mrs Pretty had lived a full life before we meet her in the film. She’d been a Red Cross nurse serving in France in WWI, and was well-educated, well-travelled and adventurous.
Following her husband’s death, she threw herself into raising their son Robert, and managing the estate, while coping with deteriorating health
Mulligan, who puts in a superb performance — as does Fiennes — said the main dig took place as Britain was on the brink of war, and the excavators’ frantic efforts to preserve history, as time ticked away, was ‘so special’.
It was just one of several tactics used by director Simon Stone to inject a real sense of urgency and adventure into his screen version of John Preston’s historical novel
‘They saved the burial ship from ruin, because not long afterwards, the grounds were used by the Army, and the mounds were flattened by tanks. They really did get it at the last moment.’
The BBC Film, based on a script by Moira Buffini, shows the loyalty and high regard Mrs Pretty and Brown had for each other.
‘It’s so unusual to see a female and a male character on screen where the relationship is just about a meeting of the minds — and the mounds! — and that can be really profound,’ Mulligan said.
‘It doesn’t need to be a romantic connection.’ Mrs Pretty went to bat for Brown when the academics, who descended on the dig from the British Museum, wanted him removed.
‘Class and academic snobbery,’ Fiennes fumed of their disregard for the local man, ‘because he wasn’t qualified technically.’
He added that it took years before Brown received his due recognition for the discoveries at Sutton Hoo.
The book is a stirring fictionalised account of the famous 1939 excavation at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, where the royal burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon king was discovered by self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown (Fiennes)
Fiennes, on the other hand, was mightily impressed by what he discovered about his character. ‘I’ve held in my hand his notebooks and diaries, and there are these meticulous drawings and little paintings. Very precise handwriting, and very ordered.’
Brown left school at 12, but had a thirst for knowledge, and in addition to his interest in archaeology, published a book on astronomy.
‘He spoke fluent French, and knew some Latin, and German,’ Fiennes added.
‘Edith and Basil had a common understanding about the dig, the ship, and what the past means,’ he said. ‘It’s full of symbolism. It’s the history of England, in the earth.
‘A king, coming out of the ground in 1939, when the whole sense of the nation’s identity is being crystallised by war approaching.’
Fiennes was speaking to me during filming — not in East Anglia, but further south, near Godalming in Surrey.
Producer Gabrielle Tana, director Stone and their colleagues found a site they liked, where set designer Maria Djurkovic could create a series of burial mounds in different stages in a large field, with minimal risk of landslides (her biggest fear).
Brown had been hired by Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) to examine the strange, grass-covered mounds on her land near the River Deben
Djurkovic worked from photographs at the British Library, and from Brown’s diaries. And as writer John Preston’s former wife, she was already well acquainted with the topic.
(Preston himself is a nephew of the character played by Lily James; and casting director Lucy Bevan is a relative of Mrs Pretty’s husband Frank).
‘The mounds are a main character of the story,’ said Tana, as her boots squelched in the thick mud. Fiennes sauntered over to us and showed me his fingernails caked with dirt. ‘Jenny’s done a Rembrandt on my hands,’ he said, pointing to hair and make-up designer Jenny Shircore, who won an Oscar for her work on the film Elizabeth.
Once he made his astounding discovery, Brown was joined by a team of professional archaeologists and excavators, including Peggy Preston (Lily James), and Mrs Pretty’s nephew, Stuart Piggott (Johnny Flynn)
‘All the roughness, the mud under the nails, is make-up,’ Tana confirmed. And later, Shircore elaborated: ‘They’re an excavator’s hands. Five layers of make-up.’
The hair sprouting from Fiennes’s ears is all his own, however. ‘I wouldn’t let him cut it!’ Shircore exclaimed. ‘That’s right,’ Fiennes agreed, lapsing into Basil mode.
The actor went on a pub crawl with dialect expert Charlie Haycock, and cycled around Suffolk ‘listening to people, trying to get my ear in on it all’.
‘Suffolk people get impatient, because when there’s a film set in Suffolk, they all speak with a West Country sound,’ he said.
‘And they know it’s not right.’
- The Dig will screen on Netflix from January 29.
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