Actress Amy Manson has told how she was inspired by Britney Spears as she prepared for her role as a woman who seeks murderous revenge after being committed to an asylum.
Amy, who grew up in Portlethen, Aberdeenshire, plays supernatural serial killer Maladie in new HBO sci-fi thriller The Nevers.
Amy, 35, who starred as Princess Merida in the fairytale drama Once Upon A Time, said: “It was up to me to try to pick Maladie apart – pick her brain apart.
“I spent months trying to figure out who she was. I came to the conclusion she was operating in a hyper-mania state most of the time.
“I thought about Britney Spears and how she was treated and that big breakdown with the umbrella and the shaving of the head.
“That’s when you gain resilience as a human and understand that actually you’re in charge.”
In 2007 Spears had a breakdown after splitting from her dancer husband Kevin Federline.
The singer was pictured shaving her head and attacking a photographer’s car with an umbrella.
After several periods in rehab, she lost custody of her sons Jayden and Sean and was put on an involuntary psychiatric hold for her own safety.
She now has shared custody of her children but remains the subject of a conservatorship, where legal guardians, including her father, have control over her career and aspects of both her business and personal life.
The 12-part series The Nevers, which is set in 1899 and also stars Outlander’s Laura Donnelly and McMafia’s James Norton, is available on Sky and Now TV.
Later this year Amy will appear opposite Kristen Stewart in Spencer, a new biopic about Princess Diana, written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
Amy, who plays the ghost of Anne Boleyn, one of the wronged wives of Henry VIII, was hugely impressed by Stewart’s transformation into Diana.
She told the HeyUGuys movie fan site that when she saw Kristen on set she could only see the princess.
She said: “Diana in this is way more neurotic than we’ve ever seen her before – onscreen anyway – and Kristen has done that justice. She was fully immersed, and the hair and make-up – it’s such a great job.”
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