Marie Antoinette star Freya Mavor says a magician helped her nail new role as a thief

By JOHN PAUL BRESLIN FOR THE SCOTTISH MAIL ON SUNDAY

Published: 19:48 BST, 17 May 2025 | Updated: 19:48 BST, 17 May 2025

Freya Mavor doesn’t think she’s been typecast in her career just yet.

However, reflecting on playing her fourth thief to date, she can’t help but laugh.

The Scots star joked: ‘I don’t know what that says about me, but maybe I just seem really untrustworthy.’

And she revealed that her only real experience of thievery comes from tips she was given by a magician for a previous role.

She said: ‘I did a film where there were a lot of moments of encountering people in the street, stealing something off them, and walking off.

‘I had to do a lot of physical choreographies where I would learn classic moves like bumping into someone or touching them somewhere to distract them from the fact that you’re actually stealing something.’

Deceitfulness is a strong part of the 31-year-old’s character, Jeanne de Valois, in the latest series of Marie Antoinette, which began airing this month.

Descended from Henry II of France, Jeanne will ‘perform, lie and manipulate to get where she wants to be’.

Freya Mavor is starring as pickpocket Jeane in the BBC’s Marie Antoinette

The actress said she was given tips on pickpocketing by a magician for a previous role

Ms Mavor’s character in a scene with the show’s Cardinal Rohan

Ms Mavor added: ‘My character is very street savvy. She’s like a hurricane coming into the beautiful world of Versailles. She’s a rags to riches character. She had a horrendous and violently brutal upbringing that’s made her a survivor.’

Filming in Paris and Versailles allowed Ms Mavor to reconnect with her French roots, having lived in La Rochelle as a child after moving from Edinburgh when she was nine. 

She came back to Scotland’s capital at the age of 14 before moving away again when she was 16 – this time to Bristol – to star in her breakout role, Minnie in Channel 4 drama Skins.

If there’s any aspect of Ms Mavor’s personality that might tie in with the element of danger of her latest role, it’s climbing. 

She said: ‘My grandmother lives in Orkney and one of my ambitions is to climb the Old Man of Hoy. That would be a dream.’

Marie Antoinette is on BBC Two at 9pm each Thursday and is available to stream on iPlayer.

:
Marie Antoinette star Freya Mavor says a magician helped her nail new role as a thief

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk