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(Reuters) – Carey Mulligan helps unearth a treasure trove of ancient treasures in ‘The Dig’ but a dig terrified the actor during filming – making sure co-star Ralph Fiennes didn’t suffocate while that she was buried in the mud.
Based on John Preston’s book, the Netflix film, released Friday, chronicles the archaeological find of Sutton Hoo in 1939, described by the British National Trust as a find that “would revolutionize our understanding of early England.”
Set at the start of WWII, it follows Edith Pretty, a widowed landowner from Suffolk County, as she employs amateur archaeologist Basil Brown, played by Fiennes, to dig mounds on her property, both suspected of to be Viking cemeteries.
Instead, Brown unearthed the shape of a 27-meter-long Anglo-Saxon ship with a burial chamber filled with treasure.
Mulligan, known for “Far From the Madding Crowd” and “The Great Gatsby,” said she wasn’t looking for another period dramatic role, but was moved by the script and eager to work with the actor of “Schindler’s List” Fiennes.
It came with great responsibility. In one scene, Brown is buried under thick mud when a trench he is digging collapses. Pretty, played by Mulligan, uses her bare hands to dig it up.
“(I felt) the terror. Ralph didn’t want to use a stuntman, which I fully understand, but it left me with the terrible task of trying to keep him from choking, ”Mulligan told Reuters.
“I was in charge of his face. I felt like if I had been in charge of another part of her body, I would have been fine. But I kept telling (director) Simon (Stone), please don’t put me in charge of his mouth … I’m going to mess it up and he won’t be able to breathe. So it was really stressful.
Fiennes came out unscathed.
Adding a sense of authenticity, Stone asked the crew to bury scale models of treasures to replicate the excitement around the original find.
“We buried the treasure they found and we hid it from them … So they went on a treasure hunt,” he said. “It took hours and we drove and drove and drove and sometimes there were long stretches where no one could find anything.
Fiennes actually dug up medieval pottery while digging on a plateau outside of London.
“It was like a little clay,” he said, adding that he hoped audiences would be inspired by the small details of the film.
“We live in a world of mass production… some of these treasures (from Sutton Hoo)… are superb pieces of craftsmanship. And it is a cause of wonder.
Reporting by Hanna Rantala, written by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; edited by Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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