It’s been more than two decades since Connie Nielsen commanded the screen in Ridley Scott’s epic Gladiator and while that much quoted line from it – “Are you not entertained” – might be the most memorable for many, that’s not the case for her.
For the 59-year-old actress, who starred in the original as Lucilla and has reprised her role for the long-awaited sequel, the line she hears repeated back to her most often is one her heroic character utters: “I am tired of being strong.”
“Do you know how many women say that to me? That line resonated with them. Women are tired of being strong sometimes,” Nielsen tells WHO.
“It falls upon women over and again to lead with love. We don’t want to be better than anyone else. We want to be angry and cruel like everyone else (laughs), but often we’re called upon to be leaders of love.”
Strength is something Nielsen exudes in all its forms, from her firm handshake to her piercing blue eyes to the way she holds herself. It would be easy to assume that playing the real-life daughter of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, who was executed at the age of 34 under orders from her own brother Commodus (played by Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator), rubbed off on her.
But it soon becomes apparent that it’s the other way around as she opens up to WHO about her upbringing in a way she says she’s never done before.
“I’m going to tell you something that I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone,” she begins.
“My dad was a tough dad, very tough. He loved me to bits, but he was very tough and he was also a wounded child. I had to do something to preserve my inner self.
“I had to find a way to stand up to him and to be stronger than him. And I found that. And I think I carried that with me throughout my life and I invested that in Lucilla. I always gave her this body armour.
“She carries all these beautiful dresses, but she is walking more erect and more square-shouldered than anyone. And she has her head always just lifted ever so slightly, because that is how she’s telling power, ‘You cannot kill my spirit.’”
Despite her tough upbringing, or perhaps because of it, the Danish-born actress, one of only two stars to return for the long-awaited sequel – Derek Jacobi was the other – says she has a “positive outlook”.
Her co-star Joseph Quinn, who plays Emperor Geta in the new film, describes her as “the mast in the storm”, while producer Douglas Wick said she was the “den mother”.
“I think I kind of rally well – it doesn’t matter what the blows are really,” she says of Quinn’s description of her. “I also rally the younger crew as well by making sure that they feel empowered.” As far as being a “den mother”, she thinks that has more to do with a lifelong love of gathering people around her.
“Among my group of friends, I’ve always been sort of the person where everybody comes over and has dinner there because there I am – I’m standing in the kitchen, cooking food, lots of pasta, lots of good food and always serving up good wine,” explains Nielsen, who has two sons, Sebastian Sartor (who she shares with actor Fabio Sartor, who recently passed away) and Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen (who she shares with former partner Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich).
“And I’m just very much somebody who loves the whole sort of personal intimacy, the intimate gatherings. And I also love a good party. You know, I just, I love to dance. I love to celebrate life. I love friendship. And I love love.”
(Gladiator II is in cinemas Thursday, November 14)
