The Long Firm

Lena Headey is Ruby Ryder

When Ruby Ryder met Harry Starks, her star was definitely on the descent, rather than the ascent.

 

In her own words, she'd "spent 10 years waiting to be Britain's next blonde bombshell" but it was beginning to look like it was never going to happen.

 

The same cannot be said for Lena Headey, an actor since the age of 17 when she was spotted in a school play that was entered for a competition at the National Theatre.

 

Lena has appeared in movies including The Remains Of The Day, The Parole Officer and The Man With Rain In His Shoes (with Mark Strong, The Long Firm's charismatic Harry Starks).

 

She has also recently finished filming The Brothers Grimm in Prague, alongside Hollywood superstars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, and appeared in The Gathering Storm for the BBC.

 

Lena jumped at the chance of playing bottle blonde Ruby.

 

"I've never really had the opportunity to do anything as character-based as Ruby," she says.

 

"Most of the characters throughout the piece are quite intriguing. They are characters you can get underneath and they are all quite strong and feisty, but they are all flawed and frail.

 

"There are only the briefest of moments when you actually see how fragile Ruby is under all her make-up and charm-school training. She's a survivor though."

 

Ruby and Harry's paths cross when her husband, Eddie, introduces the two in a club.

 

But, before long, Eddie is behind bars and he asks his old friend to keep an eye on his lonely wife.

 

"He is looking after her and they become friendly and I think Ruby enjoys Harry and he opens up to her."

 

As Ruby herself says: "Harry Starks had a talent for finding people just when they were becoming lost."

 

Like all the others, Ruby soon has a soft spot for the torture-loving gangster.

 

"I think they have a real, genuine friendship," says Lena.

 

"When she meets him, he's different from all the others because he is not trying to hit on her, and I think Ruby is probably a bit disappointed at first."

 

However, when she's introduced to Harry's toy-boy lover, the confused Tommy (Joe Absolom), the penny drops and she realises why.

 

To help transform herself into Ruby, dark-haired Lena wears a wig and spent an hour a day in make-up.

 

"It was pretty quick really, which was great, because I have the patience of a goat," she laughs.

 

"The wig was really weird for the first few days – I felt like a drag queen!"

 

But Lena confesses that it took more than a blonde wig and make-up to make her look the part.

 

"I was built up here, up front," she says, coyly, glancing down at her chest. "They had to make me look more curvaceous."

 

When Harry opens up The Stardust club, Ruby finds a new niche for her talents and ends up training the club's erotic dancers.

 

With no dance training herself, did Lena find it a tall order?

 

"No, I was really lazy and just went along and winged it," she admits. "I didn't really worry about it because we had a choreographer, but I did get it wrong a few times."

 

The Long Firm is set in the Sixties with a soundtrack to match.

 

As a Seventies child, best known for her work in period dramas, the Sixties are new to Lena.

 

"I think I would've been more of a hippy than like Ruby. I would have liked the long hair, flower power, everybody happy," she says.

 

Despite their close friendship, Ruby knows that, if she ever put a foot wrong with Harry, she would be in trouble:

 

"She's absolutely educated within the gangster world and she knows what Harry is capable of. They have a close friendship but he ends up changing her life forever."

 

There's no doubting that people have a certain fascination with the gangster genre and Lena is no exception:

 

"I love The Sopranos – the acting is awesome and hilarious. I didn't watch the Lock, Stock TV series but I saw the film and thought it was great; it was a real benchmark film.

 

"I think that any extreme lifestyle is fascinating. There is something attractive about it all and I think The Long Firm has brought it back to the 'old school gangster'.

 

"You know there are rules and, in a way, they are quite chivalrous in the way they treat their women."

 

The Long Firm aside, Lena is currently busy off-screen, writing, and hoping that her work will be commissioned.

 

"I've nearly finished six screenplays but I'm still chasing money to try to finance them.

 

"One is an out-and-out Farrelly brothers-type comedy – I wanted to make something unapologetically funny. I'm still banging on doors to get the money though.

 

"I don't think you can be an actor forever if you're a woman. I don't have any definite ideas but I'd like to broaden my horizons and try something different," she concludes.

THE LONG FIRM