Actor Alicia Von Rittberg joins Cheddar News to discuss her new role, Elizabeth I, in the Starz new original drama, 'Becoming Elizabeth.'

Between Bells

Alicia Von Rittberg Talks About the Challenges of 'Becoming Elizabeth'

and welcome back to Between Bells everyone Stars is the latest streaming giant to now cash in on our obsession with the Royals. Premiering the new show becoming Elizabeth next month. The series takes viewers on a dramatic ride through the untold story of Queen Elizabeth, the first early life and many are familiar with the story of queen Elizabeth. The second story. All thanks to the Crown, the new drama, we'll explore the lesser known early life of prison, Princess Elizabeth before she became queen and our asia Celestino sat down with Alicia von Rittenberg who stars as the young Elizabeth Tudor long before her ascension to the throne, take a look. Um So getting started kind of diving in, Tell me about your portrayal of Elizabeth. What did you hope to bring to this role that people may not have seen in other portrayals? Because she's like a heavily covered character and woman. Um Well I think first of all she's she's so young um that I I felt like it but there was not that much comparison um because there is not that much comparison possible because it just wasn't portrayed that much. Um and I think to be able to develop some kind of blind spot for her later years because she didn't know you know what would happen when she gets older um really helped me to find the very emotional, very you know like soft learning Elizabeth rather than the incredibly you know like strong and and with the head through the wall. So I love to make a yeah, to see her vulnerable side as well. Um I think that's also what I, what we try to show that there is not just like this male um you know, like strong, like louder way of leading, but there's like a more emotional, vulnerable way of leading. Um and and you you you can gain some respect by being that, you know that yeah, I mean relatable, palpable kind of person and I think that that's something that we have to learn in our society today as well um to to see emotion like emotion and vulnerability and strength rather than weakness. I love that feminine power. I also want to know what are some of the challenges that she faces this season because there are plenty um well I think, I think on the one hand it's just it's a young girl who tries to fall, fall in love and experience love for the first time and understanding that she's not allowed to do so um like other young girls are um I think it's a very hard learning then being, you know, like manipulated in a way. Um no young woman should experience, I think is something that influenced her deeply. Um also becoming the virgin queen, she was later on and I don't know, I think other than that, that the relationship between her and her brothers are not jumping to conclusions, but being agile and trying to um just make the right choice because if you don't your head might be on a spike. I think that brutality. Um and and that rawness is just so it's just something very, very, that was very new and special to me to learn about that. Um you feel like you were immersed in this period when you were on set or was it like once it hits cut and back to reality, it was it was so interesting because I think at some point I started to argue like as Elizabeth and everyone was like what are you, what are you talking about? I think it was like some something about the relationship between her and thomas and she was like and and how difficult it is and manipulative and it can be at times and I was just like, well but it's it's real and it's love and everyone's like Alicia this is this is like those worries that this is concerning and I was like, well I think I'm just like I just lost any kind of difference to the um distance to the character, you know, I was like this the whole time, I was like girl don't do it, don't do it, I do want to ask you about the hair because it's gorgeous. How long did it take you to transform? Well, you know what, it's just we had to laugh so hard because it's it's I looked so absolutely ridiculous because I dyed it um and it was just at some point, we had to do less and less and less so I felt like I grew red hair at some point, which is just um yeah, that's how much I I became Elizabeth after, I don't know, I think like 56 months or something. Um And all the costumes as well, they were just always try to be as as historically accurate as possible. Um I don't know, to do justice and be respectful with with like her and the time, but also because it helps you so so much to, you know, Put on different layers. I wore like 6, 8 layers every day and to put that on, it gives you a different, it gives you a different posture, it gives you a different pace as well because it's heavy and you can't just like run around like um it's incredible what it what it what it does. So I needed like very little imagination. I just had to react, you know, and our thanks to generous Asia Cellasene, oh they're now becoming Elizabeth premieres on stars june the 12th