Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor has said she welcomed the costume change from corsets to oversized baggy clothes in her new role in The Colour Room.
The 26-year-old actress stars as Stoke-on-Trent ceramic artist Clarice Cliff opposite Matthew Goode.
Dynevor, who shot to fame as Daphne Bridgerton in the Netflix period drama, hopes people will be “inspired” by Cliff who “broke the mould” for women and the art world.
Discussing the change of role from Bridgerton to Cliff, she told the PA news agency: “It was a welcome costume change going from corsets to proper boots and oversized baggy clothes.
“And still there was such a colour in the clothes, we really wanted to give her a contrast to the world around her, which was very bleak and smokey.
“It was fun being able to dress up in the clothing, there was such a freedom.”
The film will tell the story of Cliff as a vivacious young factory worker in the industrial Midlands in the 1920s who went on to break the glass ceiling and revolutionise the workplace in the 20th century.
The actress told PA: “Clarice she broke the mould and she was a real pioneer, so I think hopefully, other women and people in general will just be inspired by the movie.
“And she came from such humble beginnings and was able to do something that had never really been done before. So I think people will be inspired by her.”
The film will show how Cliff’s creativity and ambition drives her to move from factory to factory, despite the financial impact on the household she shares with her widowed mother Ann and youngest sister Dot.
She takes more and more dangerous risks but impresses the eccentric factory owner Colley Shorter with her talent and innovation.
With support from Colley and other women in the factory, she fights her way through to design the unprecedented Art Deco “Bizarre” range and becomes one of the greatest Art Deco designers and a household name.
Dynevor reflected on how society has evolved, adding: “Not everything is all male dominated now, but there’s still a lot of aspects of the industry that are.
“What Clarice was able to do, not only in pottery, but also the way she she advertised to women, she decided ‘actually, let’s advertise directly to women’, which wasn’t really being done, apart from in make-up.
“The way she was able to advertise, and market her products, and also the famous actresses that she would hire.
“She was doing things that now, we look at Instagram, she’s sort of the beginning of that way of marketing.”
The movie, which was filmed in Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham, also features Kerry Fox, David Morrissey, Darci Shaw and Luke Norris among the cast.
Ophelia filmmaker Claire McCarthy directed the screenplay which was written by Claire Peate, who won the Bafta Rocliffe new writing competition in 2016.
Dynevor said that the female-dominated cast and production team was a “huge draw” for her to the film.
She added: “Just being able to go and have these conversations with other women that were all involved in making the story and knowing that we were in very safe hands when it comes to that side of the storytelling, that was a real draw.”
The Colour Room film will be released in cinemas and will be available on SkyCinema from November 12.