As we sit submerged in a plush monochrome (aptly) dogtooth printed sofa in London’s Soho Hotel, Beattie Edmondson simply feels like a normal girl, not full of the grandeur you would expect from the great comedy pedigree she hails from.
As the daughter of Jennifer Saunders and Ade Edmondson, you’d expect Beattie to be more than OK around celebrities. But she is still recovering from appearing on Graham Norton alongside Channing Tatum. “I was so star struck. He was so nice! He was just like one of your normal, nervous friends too!”, she gushed.
Stardom is something Beattie will have to get used to. After years spent carving her own path away from her parent’s help, she is now about to take the lead in more ways than one in Disney’s pug themed film, Patrick.
Here, Beattie talks about working with her mother on set, planning a wedding whilst filming and being out ‘diva-ed’ by a pooch.
The lessons I have learnt from my parents…
“It’s an incredible wealth of experience to be able to dip into and ask about. It’s great working with her (Jennifer Saunders) because she’s amazing at what she does and I learn so much from her but it’s obviously also like… working with your mum! I’d ask her, ‘did I do a good job, did I do alright?’ And she’d just be like ‘yeah, fine.’
When I’m like, ‘Please tell me ‘I’m amazing, please?’ during filming she would just ask me questions about how I’m washing my face and when I would ask why, she’d just say, ‘Just because your skin looks a bit… no, no I’m not saying anything!’ Both of my parents have always encouraged me to do my own thing, my family are aware of not being too nepotistic – it’s just the most supportive network.”
I had to put pâté on my face to get Patrick to like me…
“I didn’t find it difficult working with a dog but the thing I struggled with the most was that he didn’t want socialise with me and I just wanted to be his best friend. His face just said, ‘I don’t even know who you are please leave me alone!’ He was very professional, he was just like, ‘ I want that bit of sausage so I’m going to get this job done!’
When I would try to cuddle him and kiss him, he would very obviously be saying, ‘Sorry who is this? Get her away from me!’ They had to put pâté on my face so he would lick me. As a vegetarian, it was not nice, it was squeezed out of tube – it wasn’t freshly cut – it was so disgusting. That’s more gross than funny, actually!”
I planned my wedding during filming…
“I got married the day after we finished filming, so I was planning my wedding throughout and I moved house the week before. So I decided to do all my stressful life events in the space of two weeks. I did at one point get quite a stressful email from the caterer and I just went into my trailer and had a little cry. It was all just crashing down on me that one day. I only had two weeks off until my next job but we did eventually have a honeymoon but not for a while after.
There was a lot of my mum going, ‘now, I’ve been thinking about flowers…’ and I’d be like, ‘I really don’t need to talk about this right now.’ Then she would just ask, ‘I was thinking about the table settings and I want to do it like this,’ and I’d be like, ‘oh it is your wedding, is it?’ But she was so helpful in those weeks up to the wedding, I don’t think it would have happened if it wasn’t for her doing everything!”
It’s incredible being in such a female film…
“Patrick is directed by a woman, produced by a woman and stars a woman. It’s such an incredible but rare experience which has made the whole filming process so revelatory and so inspiring.”
