Alice Lowe: ‘I’ll have to mentally prepare my daughter before she watches Prevenge’

The cult actress and writer stars as a vengeful pregnant woman in her new film 
New role: Alice Lowe in new pregnancy revenge comedy Prevenge
Jennifer Ruby10 February 2017
The Weekender

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Alice Lowe says that she’ll have to ‘mentally prepare’ her young daughter before she watches her new comedy horror Prevenge.

The London-based star, 39, was seven-and-a-half months pregnant with daughter Della when she wrote, directed and starred in the forthcoming pregnancy revenge movie.

“I think I’m going to have mentally prepare her, not for just the violence in it but I think it’ll more about me saying to her ‘It’s not about you being an evil baby, it’s not about you, you were an actress in it, we were both acting. In reality you were born and you were lovely and we really liked you, so don’t worry that it’s some sort of indictment of what a horrid child you were, because you weren’t,” she told the Standard.

Lowe, known for her role in cult hit Sightseers, found her directorial debut a cathartic process as she progressed in her own pregnancy.

“Really I put all of my fears about pregnancy into the film, fears of like, losing my identity or changing as a person or the way people perceive you changing,” she said.

“I just put that all into the film and I found that quite empowering because, even though she’s mad, the character, at times she’s very sad as well. She’s quite a powerful character as well. She sort of uses pregnancy as her superpower to smuggle herself into people’s lives.”

Lowe plays a pregnant woman who seeks revenge on a group of climbers she deems responsible for her partner’s death, killing them off one-by-one.

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“Everything informed it, but all of my fears of pregnancy, then by doing the film, I got rid of those fears,” she said,

“It was like it exorcized that. By the end of it I was like, ‘Well I was worried I wasn’t going to work, that I was going to lose who I was, not see anyone and actually I’d spent loads of time with people, doing what I loved, doing my job.

“It was a comment on how we perceive women, you know, it’s so much about our appearance or our age or how we classify a woman in terms of her sexuality or whatever. We’re used to these representations on screen which are very limiting.”

While Lowe thinks it’s important to celebrate female directors, she doesn’t want any “special dispensations” because she’s a woman.

“I want people to enjoy the film first and foremost,” she said.

“Personally I feel that stuff is changing. Women are getting more funding to make films, which is a really good thing.

"It’s very slow but it’s happening, slow small changes. But for me I often felt like I’ve had to prove myself over and over again and it takes people a long time to join the dots that you’ve been in lots of good stuff and that isn’t just coincidence that it might be that you’re quite good.”

“I think a lot of people think that women are a niche, but we’re not a minority, we’re 50%. It’s not a niche. It’s 50% of the planet. Maybe, this is a crazy idea, men would like to see stories about women as well, it’s refreshing and new.”

Prevenge is in cinemas nationwide today.

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