LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Vanessa Kirby has never had a baby but says she can’t wait to give birth despite her sad performance as a woman whose home delivery ends in a case- “Pieces of a Woman,” a hit on Netflix this week.
The British actress spent time with pregnant women and those who suffered a stillbirth or miscarriage while preparing for a role that she said frightened her with the weight of her duty. One woman allowed Kirby to attend the birth of her child.
“I didn’t know anything about labor. And I certainly knew nothing about losing a baby. And those things scared me because I thought, if I get this wrong, I’m letting down every woman who was ever born, ”she said.
“We see a lot of people dying (on screen), but you don’t see a lot of women giving birth,” Kirby said.
The 32-year-old British actress has received rave reviews and a film festival award in Venice for playing a young woman who is looking forward to becoming a mother but whose life has been spent with loss and sorrow. The 24-minute opening home birth series was filmed in one uninterrupted manner.
Kirby, who also played the young Princess Margaret in the TV series “The Crown,” says so far from being put off, makes the film one day more ready to have a baby of her own .
She described childbirth as “a wonderful thing, like this primeval, creative, creative animal. It is wonderful. ”
“I don’t know when it’s going to happen but I’m looking forward to giving birth. And I can’t wait. ”
The film, starring Ellen Burstyn and Shia LaBeouf, was inspired by a personal experience of the loss suffered by its Hungarian director, Kornel Mundruczo, and his wife screenwriter Kata Weber.
Weber said the film “feels like a cure for us. ”
“This was something that could break the silence and it feels like it could be true for others too,” she said.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; edited by Jonathan Oatis