It’s been interesting to watch the trajectory of the careers of the actors from Game of Thrones, especially after the show’s divisive ending. To go from a show, that essentially the world was watching, to having to reinvent themselves, to show the world you’re more than this one thing, couldn’t be easy. One actor in particular that’s been having an interesting run, thankfully, is one of my personal favorites from the core cast Natalie Dormer, who made a name for herself as the smug and vamp-ey Margaery Tyrell. While on the show her biggest role outside of Westeros was supporting on The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay 1+2, once the show ended, she has made some very intriguing and personal career choices. From a writing/star turn as a blind pianist in the film In Darkness – to her latest Audrey’s Children, which hits close to home with a charming and heartwarming Philly based biopic.
Audrey’s Children has the actor embodying the role of British Doctor Dr. Audrey Evans, a trailblazing woman in the field of Cancer treatment. The sole female student at Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in the early 50s, when she graduated in 1953, and spent two years training under Sidney Farber, who is known as the father of modern chemotherapy. Later in 1964, she would be recruited by C. Everett Coop, the former U.S Surgeon General and Surgeon Chief at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), to found their pediatric oncology unit. At this point in time only about 10% of children who were diagnosed with cancer stood a chance at survival. It’s because of Audrey’s radical new approach to treating children called combination chemotherapy, that a cancer diagnosis is no longer a death sentence for a child.
The film itself is a charming snapshot of Audrey’s life in Philadelphia with a stacked cast featuring not only Dormer in period perfect hair and groovy business casual attire, but Jimmi Simpson, Clancy Brown and Brandon Micheal Hall. We witness the young doctor struggle with not only proving her theory of combination chemotherapy but doing so while entrenched in the male dominated bureaucracy of CHOP. There’s a quiet compassion and joy Dormer delivers on screen that propels the story, which is filled with the kind of biopic tropes you’d expect, but delivered with a sincere purpose to illustrate the challenges this woman had to overcome to not only be taken seriously, but to save the lives of the children she cares so much about. Shot in and around Philadelphia proper, the film features the city as both a character and a picturesque backdrop, and the 60’s era Philadelphia Eagles even show up.
Dormer definitely hasn’t lost her edge on either screen, as the film is as empowering as it is a delight to watch her inhabit this woman’s life with its simple pleasures and grand aspirations. It was a pleasant surprise that hopefully shows future directors the range she’s capable of with the right material and cast. Speaking of favorite HBO shows, it was also a treat to have her opposite Jimmi Simpson, who played the young William aka The Man in Black in Westworld, another personal favorite. The pair together really exemplified why typecasting is terrible, given his rather sympathetic yet reserved take on Audrey’s colleague and sometime accomplice in her journey. In case you couldn’t tell I simply adored Audrey’s Children, it’s a film that understands the assignment as far as a biopic goes, but one that does so while infusing the story with so much moxy and heart.
