Mary Elizabeth Winstead backs using intimacy coordinator for Ewan McGregor scenes

Winstead co-stars as glamorous actor Anna Urbanova, playing opposite real-life husband Ewan McGregor, who portrays the book's chief protagonist Count Alexander Rostov. The aristocrat is an unwelcome presence in his own country following the October Revolution, with authorities permitting him to live under strict house arrest in a Moscow hotel. Setting one foot outside would be a death sentence and so he decides to make the best of his imprisonment by getting to know some of the souls passing through.

"You're really focusing on what's going on in the sort of micro sense," explains Winstead in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com. "We know we're in this era of time in Russia and there's a certain heaviness to that, but we're really just trying to show these people and their connections and what that means to them."

An expansive set was built for the production, which makes the Count's forced home a character in and of itself. There's a disarming sense of whimsy and intrigue to the place that you wouldn't necessarily expect, which is occasionally overwhelmed by a stark reminder of the hostile reality. Winstead praised the immersive environment, describing it as "so exciting" to "revel in that world" and "fully inhabit" the inner life of her character.

Although "by no means" a method actor, she does cite a "kind of blending" that often occurs when playing a role for an extended period of time. In the case of Anna, the two share a career, which resonated particularly strongly in the scripts.

"As a personality, she's so much larger than life. So in that sense, she's very different from me," said Winstead. "But I was very impressed with the writing... they really did capture what it feels like to be an actress in so many ways. And it felt very true to her being this woman of that time period, but also incredibly current and relatable for me as a woman now. So I was really blown away with every script. I was sort of like, 'God, how are they capturing this so accurately?'"

Although this is the third project on which Winstead and McGregor are both credited, it represents their first time working together as established "partners". The two had only just met on Fargo season 3, while her troubled vigilante Huntress and his menacing villain Black Mask didn't actually have any scenes together in 2020 superhero flick Birds of Prey. Therefore, A Gentleman in Moscow felt like an entirely distinct experience.

Winstead continued: "We have this level of comfort that is really incredible – to get to walk onto set and just know you have complete and total trust in your acting partner. I mean, that's an incredible feeling. That's something that you always hope for – and sometimes you get it to a certain degree – but I've certainly never felt it to this level, where it really was seamless.

"There's no pretence, there's no worry... about saying the wrong thing, or making the wrong choice, it's just absolute comfort. And that also is to do with Sam [Miller], our director, who had the lightest touch and you just felt like he was a fly on the wall. So we got to just come in and be these characters together and play together, which is just what we love to do."

Despite this level of connection, the couple still opted to use an intimacy coordinator in romance scenes between Anna and the Count, which McGregor first revealed in an interview with Radio Times magazine. He said it was "necessary" to ensure the crew felt safe as well as the actors involved, comparing the much-discussed role to a dance choreographer. In our chat, Winstead revealed that the decision to utilise such an expert here came from above their heads – but she spoke highly of the collaboration.

"I think, for us, we probably would have said it wasn't necessary," she said. "But it was something that was brought on board, it was a choice made by the studio. It was my first time experiencing working with an intimacy coordinator and even though, for us, it might have seemed a bit over the top – like, obviously, we're comfortable with one another, we're married – it still was great to know that that's kind of the future."

McGregor observed that, without intimacy coordinators, young women who are just starting out in their career – like his very own daughter – could be pressured into scenes they later regret. Winstead also fully supports the concept, having navigated the early years of her career long before the role had become an industry standard.

She continued: "It was an incredible thing to have that comfort of knowing this is what film sets are going to be like now, especially for young actors coming up who might feel uncomfortable speaking out when they feel something isn't right. Just to have somebody checking in and saying, 'How is this level of comfort for you?'

"And it wasn't just about Ewan and I, our interaction, but also about what clothing is going to be shown or not shown? Or how much skin do you feel comfortable showing? All of those things that, when I was a younger actress, I found so difficult to have those conversations because I never had anyone on my side. So I think that that's just going to have a huge impact."

Intimacy aside, a "difficult" aspect of depicting Anna and the Count's relationship proved to be its darker moments, with sad scenes naturally carrying more weight when they're unfolding with someone you actually love. Emotions ran so high that Winstead found she had to "really rein in" her performance in order to ensure her character remained consistent and authentic.

"Normally you're trying to sort of find [the emotion] in the scene. And so it was interesting to have a scene where we both just couldn't stop crying," she recalled. "And I was thinking, 'Maybe this isn't right for the scene'. I have to think about the character, and would she be crying this much? But it was really difficult to not be a total emotional wreck. So that was interesting as an acting experience to feel that... a horrible but beautiful thing to go through."

On a lighter note, I can't resist getting Winstead's opinion on a minor pet peeve of some viewers. A Gentleman in Moscow is set in Russia and follows Russian characters, yet the two leads speak English in what can only be described as 'received pronunciation'. While most can suspend their disbelief, it's sure to rile up some history buffs looking for peak authenticity. So, what gives?

"When you look at all forms of entertainment, there's no 'right way' to do anything," she countered. "And I think, for people who are maybe more open-minded and are willing to have that little element of fantasy... you're going to find that it does feel very real and true to the period and to the place."

Winstead added: "Ultimately, if there was an attempt for everyone to do Russian accents or something – for me, I think that might feel a bit overdone, a bit heavy-handed. So everyone has a different opinion, it's a taste thing for me. And if you look at theatre and all the different ways that we tell stories, there's so many different ways to do it.

"And people of all walks of life can portray a character from history with any kind of accent they want to bring to it. And it doesn't mean that they can't embody the feeling of that person. So I think it's great to be able to have a project where we're experimenting with that and having fun with it and seeing what comes out of that experimentation."

A Gentleman in Moscow premieres on Paramount Plus on Friday 29th March 2024. Get a seven-day free Paramount Plus trial via Amazon Prime Video.

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