I t seems strange hearing Mia Wasikowska speak in her native Australian accent. The young actress is best known for playing characters that all seem to speak with a deliberate and cautious

annunciation, devoid of specific locality. Actually, much of her career has been made playing great women from literary legend (a direction Wasikowska admits she didn’t consciously take); from her break-through lead role as the tempestuous Alice revisiting Wonderland in Tim Burton’s 2010 blockbuster Alice in Wonderland, to the virtuous and lovelorn Jane in the 2011 adaptation of beloved Bronte classic Jane Eyre, Wasikowska’s path seems to be paved with roles that have been taken with careful thought and consideration, much like the lines she delivers.

This attraction to strong female literary leads continues with her lat-est role in the film Tracks; an adaptation of the ground-breaking book of the same name written by the inspirational Robyn Davidson, who in 1977 embarked on an incredible journey across Australia with only three camels and a dog, covering 2,700km in nine months. Directed by John Curran, Wasikowska embodies Robyn for a new generation – a role that on-screen radiates a real personal attachment from her, presenting somewhat of a deviation from the more reserved, ethereal women she’s played in the past. “When I read the script I immediately connected with the character,” she explains, “and then when I read the book it kind of deepened my understanding. I understood who Robyn was and where she was coming from. From the start I became very protective of this character, and really wanted to play it.”

Despite her being approached many times to adapt her book into a feature, it was the casting of Wasikowska that really clinched the decision for Davidson. “It made me feel really great hearing that,” says Wasikowska, “I mean, it’s the highest kind of compliment,” she says.” I was very wary of meeting her, because I felt like the Robyn in the book would have punched anyone that was set to play her in a movie! But she was really lovely and it was such a relief to see that she had such a great perspective on the project.”

Once production started, Wasikowska spent three days at ‘camel camp’ where she became acquainted with the animals she would go on to share most of her screen time with, an experience that was a real “highlight” of the shoot for her. The handling of the them was essential to capturing the perilous nature of the journey, with Davidson spending two years in Alice Springs in 1975 when she was only 25 (just a year older than Wasikowska) mastering the technique of wrangling the notoriously temperamental beasts before embarking on her trip. The earthy physicality of Davidson’s character is a far cry from the alabas-ter-skinned heroines of Wasikowska’s previous films, and the harsh desert conditions demanded a rigorous and adept makeup team. “They did an incredible job of tanning me and making me look relatively earthy because I have such dreadfully pale skin!”, she laughs. “They just lathered me with suncream from head to toe every day so I wasn’t ever burnt – which was a miracle!”

There was also the substitution of difficult wardrobe pieces (corsets and bonnets á la Jane Eyre) for sandals and sarongs; an experience she

She’s one of the hottest young talents working in Hollywood right now, yet she doesn’t play the celebrity game. Amie-Jo Locke talks camels, sandals and Fassbender to actress Mia Wasikowska.

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Mia Wasikowska in Tracks

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was more than happy to entertain. “I loved the fact that I was in cos-tumes where I could sit on the fl oor between takes, and really inhabit the area that I was fi lming in. So often when working on period dramas you have to be so careful where you sit or stand, and that’s if you can actually physically sit in something, so yes it was really nice to be part of something that was more casual and connected to the landscape.”

Born to photographer parents in Canberra, Wasikowska’s fi rst love was ballet. She was good enough to go professional but a debilitat-ing ankle injury at age 14 put an end to that. She moved into acting, winning various roles only a year or so later, but it was her breakout casting as Burton’s reimagined Alice that shot her into the stratosphere, making her one of the highest grossing actors of 2010, second only to co-star Johnny Depp. Speaking of leading men, Wasikowska has banked herself some pretty handsome heavyweights throughout her career, including our very own Michael Fassbender in Jane Eyre. “He’s brilliant,” she effuses, “such a class act. I absolutely adore him. We had a very similar approach to the work, so we were able to have a lot of fun in between takes to balance the intensity of the scenes with a lot of goofi ng around, which was really fun.”

She is known for not courting the public spotlight, which she at-tributes to living in Australia; it keeps her “removed from the fi lm world” when she isn’t working. She is not fond of the excess attention.

“Quite often the thing that enables you to do what you like, is the thing that takes away a certain essence of it. But I think

that happens across all walks of life, in all careers and jobs where people feel inhibited by something that

eventually becomes the reason they can then do what they want. I can defi nitely understand

that to a certain degree. I mean the acting side of things is very internal and emotional, but the other

side – the premieres and red carpet – is totally all about the exterior, and it’s an unusual and rather fi ne

line to walk.”This year Wasikowska has already garnered box

offi ce success in The Double with Jesse Eisenberg and our own Chris O’Dowd, and has just fi nished working with director David Cronenberg in Maps to the Stars (opposite Robert Pattinson). She is currently fi lming in Toronto with Guillermo del Toro as part of his forth-coming project Crimson Peak. She admits that what fi rst attracts her to a role is the opportunity to play ‘something different’ – you are not going to be seeing her in Sex and the City 3 anytime soon.

She lists the ‘wonderful’ greats such as Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett as role-models, yet judging by the quality of her performances it is evident that she is already snapping at these Oscar-dame’s heels. Keen to spread the positive and life-affi rming message that Tracks conveys, Wasikowska hopes it will reach out to a new generation of younger fans. “I think if anything when you make a movie of a book that you love, I hope that it would draw people to the original source material,” she says. “It’s such a bril-liantly insightful book from such a young woman’s mind, which is quite rare I think, and if anything I would hope that people would go back and read it. It’s a story I feel that makes people feel less alone in those diffi cult early years.”

Tracks is in cinemas from 25 April. ■

QUITE OFTEN THE THING THAT ENABLES YOU TO DO WHAT YOU LIKE, IS THE THING THAT TAKES AWAY A CERTAIN ESSENCE OF IT

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