Hayley Atwell on Lara Croft and why she 'never feels 100% prepared'

After more than 25 years, she's remained a symbol of feminine strength - something that's given more nuance in the new series.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com ahead of the release of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Atwell explains: "Even if people are not that familiar with the games, or have seen one movie or another movie, she's a very known, beloved figure, and she's been with us for decades now, and I've always loved the fact that the writers were women.

"One of the women that she was created by was Vicky Arnold [script writer for the original Tomb Raider games], she was then later shaped by Rhianna Pratchett [writer on the 2013 and 2015 Tomb Raider reboot games], and then Jill Murray [writer on Shadow of the Tomb Raider], who developed her further down the line, and now we have Tasha Huo [showrunner of the Netflix series].

"And so what I've loved is the fact that you've had this character that's existed, that she continues to develop, and that's what, I think, makes her enduring."

It's easy to see that the new Tomb Raider series was written by a woman, perhaps most of all in the small details. In one scene, Lara declares to all that can hear that a dress she's wearing has pockets.

Atwell points out the importance of her always having a hair tie to hand. "Those little details kind of humanise her, I think, and make her accessible," she adds.

Other women who have shaped the character include Alicia Vikander and Angelina Jolie ("What a list to be part of!") - and Atwell is keen to honour their legacy while also adding something new.

"These are very dynamic, strong women who have great range and variety in their careers, and Keeley Hawes, doing voice-over work, there's so many incredible women that have played her, and what I've loved is that they all bring themselves to it - their own interpretation, their own voice, their own physicality - but what we all retain is an understanding, fundamentally, about what Lara is about," Atwell points out.

"She's this adventurer who goes on these myth-fuelled perilous solo adventures, and she also has this background where, although it's a huge privilege, there has been a cost.

"Lara's emotionally struggling with things, and in this series, you see that. It basically picks up after the events of the games of the Survivor Trilogy. She's emotionally at her lowest point, and she's been abandoning her friends to embark on all these solo adventures, but one of these adventures actually leads her back to home, where she's having to confront who she really is, opposite her friends.

"For example, Lara might be driven by this belief that what she's doing is important and heroic or brave, but it might be her friends pointing out that she's also trying to probably run away from her feelings. She'd rather be jumping off cliffs and examining ancient artefacts with evil spirits than she would dealing with the fact that she doesn't really like to be at a party.

"She gets anxiety. I think that's charming and endearing, and it gives me an opportunity as an actor to bring that particular quality to her, which may be different from what we've seen before, but certainly in keeping with what we know her to be."

Of course, there was another element that led Lara to rise to prominence in the '90s alongside her badass attitude and action hero status - her look. She became a sex symbol, with Atwell admitting that she had "guy friends who were obsessed with her, particularly her early aesthetic".

It's easy to look back at classic iterations of the character as entirely over-sexualised. So, when it came to an animated version of the character on Netflix, it was crucial that the look was right.

"When the offer first came in, they had shown me some images, references, stills to kind of get a look of the place, and also what Lara looked like. I really liked her strength. I didn't feel that there was anything problematic for me at all," Atwell says.

"Of course, she's got to have the familiarity of what we know her to have been, because if she suddenly looked entirely different, you'd really create a different character. So there has to be elements of who she was at the beginning, and I think, even as the costumes she's put in in the animation develop over time, it's more a reflection of how comfortable she feels in her own skin.

"That's what I feel when I'm watching it - her physicality and her aesthetic feel like a natural byproduct of what she does, rather than how she wants to be perceived in the world under the male gaze."

Despite her being such an iconic character, Lara's far from the first action hero Atwell's played - and she surely won't be the last, from Marvel to Mission: Impossible and beyond. But voice acting offers up another kind of challenge.

"Every job that I do helps me develop a little bit more for the next job," Atwell reflects. "It was really instilled in me in drama school, the power of the ensemble, that the production on stage is only ever as good as the weakest link within the ensemble. Everyone, regardless of how big the size of the role is, has to show up and fully participate and offer something.

"And so, to be sat in a booth where my acting choices aren't informed by how someone reads a line to me, I have to do it quite blindly, it becomes super technical, and I then trust that the director is going to pick the takes of the other actors' performances that most gel within the tone of the scene that I've created on my side.

"So, for me, nothing really prepares you other than gaining technical skill or the confidence of going, I've done lots of things in the past that I didn't know how to do at the time, I just threw myself into it, and I can see what happens....

"I never feel 100 per cent fully prepared or super confident about what I'm doing. I think the one thing I have done and continue to do is show up and see what happens. I guess Lara's doing that in this series, too."

So, after 28 years and counting, what makes Lara so enduring, from one of the lucky few who have had the chance to play her?

"She's unique in that she's an action adventurer who [creates] myth-fuelled stories. So it's combining elements of archeology and history and ancient cultures, and that makes her timeless," Atwell points out.

"It makes her curious as a person, as opposed to just a physicality or an aesthetic. And she evolves over time. We've had such incredible women who were there from the beginning of shaping who she is, and that's now continued in the lineage with Tasha, and then, of course, having so many other actresses who have played her in some capacity.

"Really, it's about how Lara is evolving with the times and giving the audience what they expect of her in terms of what she stands for, but also who she is today and how that can change."

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will be released on Thursday 10th October 2024.

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