Michael Sheen rehearsed for Far from the Madding Crowd by improvising scenes from his character's childhood.
The actor stars as William Boldwood in the movie, who is an adult throughout. To get into character director Thomas Vinterberg had Michael work with some of his co-stars, but instead of running through lines they were encouraged to act out scenes from earlier in their character's lives. Although they weren't going to be used in the movie, it really helped Michael get a handle on his character.
"I always came away from speaking to Thomas with some new idea or really inspired. Then, before we started shooting, we had a week of rehearsal, where we just improvised," Michael told comingsoon.net. "Thomas got me to improvise with the other actors, and improvise around the scenes that are in the film, but also, I got to kind of go back and improvise scenes from the characters’ past, from his childhood, working through his teenage years to when he’s a young man, and to really explore formative experiences of his that I thought potentially had a real impact on the story."
Although many might think that sounds like unnecessary work, it informed everything Michael did when the cameras started rolling. It made him have a real feel for William and how he would react to things, as well as why he had developed into the downtrodden character seen on screen.
What stuck with Michael were the shocks he discovered during the process. As it was a time to let himself go he often let his unconscious take over, explaining that impacted everything he did on screen.
"When you’re thinking about your character and thinking about having ideas for it, you’re sort of much more in control. It’s your conscious mind that’s in charge, but when you’re improvising, you’re not consciously in control. You’re not editing or censoring or deciding what you think will be the right idea. What happens happens, and it happens out of necessity in the moment because you’re forced into making choices and making decisions, and it can often be surprising," he said.
Far from the Madding Crowd is based on the novel by Thomas Hardy and follows headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) as she's pursued by three men.
