In Great Britain, we have a funny relationship with swearing. On the one hand, we love to let loose with lingo that could cause a minor international incident. At the same time, we’re traditionally a buttoned-up nation, obsessed with politeness and decorum. Those two notions collide in Wicked Little Letters, spinning a true story into a spectacularly sweary comedy-drama – in which a series of poison-pen letters set tongues wagging in a small 1920s town. Olivia Colman’s Edith is the uptight recipient, shocked by the language being posted through her door, while Jessie Buckley’s uninhibited Rose is accused of being their sender.
But for all that Edith is aghast at the swearing in the film, Colman herself couldn’t be more pleased with Wicked Little Letters’ filthy tirades. “Occasionally you’ll get someone going off: ‘This is disgusting, blah blah blah’,” she tells Empire in the Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire issue. “But what’s hilarious was that it was all true, and it’s been lifted from the letters. So all those blustery people who find swearing offensive can go and fuck themselves,” she laughs. Her personal favourite? “‘Fuck you in the nose-holes.’ That made me giggle quite a bit.” One choice phrase even made its way into her house. “I’ve got one of the letters [from the film] framed in the downstairs loo and my mum went in and went, ‘What is that?’ It says, ‘You sad, stinky bitch.’ I just love it.”
Beneath the bawdiness, there’s real drama to be mined from Edith and Rose’s relationship in the film. “They’re just two girls trying to find their space and be excessive in some way and just get things out,” explains Buckley. “I’m not a million miles away from Rose. I love swearing and I could definitely relate to her, but she’s such a life-force. Whatever tar people throw at her, she just keeps going.” Stick that in your nose-holes.
Read Empire’s full interview with Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley on Wicked Little Letters in the March 2024 issue, on sale Thursday 18 January. Wicked Little Letters comes to UK cinemas from 23 February.