Natalie Dormer and Jimmi Simpson spoke to ComingSoon about starring in Audrey’s Children and the movie’s incredible true story. Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, the film is out in theaters starting today.

“Audrey’s Children tells the untold true story of visionary British physician Dr. Audrey Evans, who burst onto the scene in 1969 as the first female Chief of Oncology at the world-renowned Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Battling sexism, medical conventions, and the subterfuge of her peers, Evans developed the first Neuroblastoma Staging System, co-founded the first Ronald McDonald House for families of patients, and, ultimately, impacted the lives of millions of children and families around the world,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: Natalie, the real-life Audrey Evans passed away while this film was in production. So what does it mean for you to be spreading her incredible true story and what a great person she was? Because this is such a great celebration of a really wonderful life.

Natalie Dormer: It’s truly a privilege. I mean, it absolutely is. To have met the woman herself, to have held her hand, to have told her that I was doing my best and I wanted that we were trying really hard to do right by her. I mean, I’m never gonna have an experience like that in my career again, and to know that she was with us and that she was holding on for us and for Julia, our writer-producer.

This film would not exist without Julia, who’s effectively like an honorary goddaughter to Audrey. [And] to know that Audrey was there, willing it to happen and supporting Julia!

Jimmi and I were being given the gift of becoming part of being brought into that fold. And it’s just a very specific, unique project. And I don’t think on a personal level I’m gonna ever have a connection [to a role again]. I mean, it would be amazing if I did, but the chances of me being able to have a sort of that experience with the protagonist I’m playing again, I would say is very, very rare.

Jimmi, the film points out in the end that in real life, your two characters got married at 79 and 82, and it is so early in the morning, so they could still be at work on time. I just thought that was the cutest thing. How special was it showing that initial connection and how they meet? I love that her reading his mail actually happened as well.

Jimmi Simpson: It was just so special to be to be a part of it. Like Natalie said, it was a completely singular experience.

So we have Julia, a regular person who happened to be near and close with this unknown legend. So I think with most films, if you’re gonna tackle something like this, there’s normally a studio behind it, let’s say, and then the studio is gonna set up this meeting at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and then they’re gonna get their suits to bring you to the Ronald McDonald House.

But in this experience, every single doorway was opened by Julia, herself, by her friends through her father or through her work [and] her connections at Ronald McDonald House. Because they love her and the family and Audrey’s effect.

So, like Natalie said, I don’t think I’ll ever quite experience something like this. It was magical and it was meant to be the story needed to be told. And so it was told with love from like every level. And so, yeah, I think Julia was the only person that could have told this story. And because of that, she was able to bring us literally all into the family before we told and as we told it.

Natalie, you get to work with possibly your cutest co-star to date, and I’m not talking about Clancy Brown, but the little rabbit in those scenes. How is it working with the animals in this film? You’re handling a few. They’re all so cute.

Dormer: Yeah, I mean, it was just so… what do they say? “Don’t work with children and animals.”

But oh, it was great fun. I mean, I loved the animals. I mean, that really happened. Audrey really took a rabbit to scan in order to show the child that the rabbit goes first, “Look, there’s no harm done, and now it’s your turn.”

Like that literally happened. She did that. And you know, she’s famous for building this massive aviary, with all these birds and finches that we reference at the end of the movie. So she was just so bold. But I mean, for me, working with the kid, I’m sure for Jimmi as well, working with the kids also was a very unique special experience because the children are so in it, they’re so present.

It’s a different kind of acting because they’re just there, and there’s a lot of waiting around on a set, you know, and the kids get tired, and the kids get bored.

And so it’s like you’re hanging out with the children, you’re trying to keep their mood up and you’re interacting with them. I mean, Jimmi and I very rarely locked out. It is not like other productions where you go and lock yourself away, and you go and learn your lines, or you go and channel and be with yourself.

Between takes, we were literally hanging out with the kids to keep them entertained, to keep the energy up to enjoy hanging out with them. So that was very specific as well. You don’t normally get that on a job, either.

Thanks to Natalie Dormer and Jimmi Simpson for taking the time to talk about Audrey’s Children.