As Valentine’s Day rolls around, Netflix has released its limited series One Day about a decade-long relationship that is revisited on the same day each year.
Ambika Mod stars alongside The White Lotus’s Leo Woodall in the show, based on the David Nicholls novel of the same name.
Mod, who starred in the BBC series This Is Going To Hurt, was part of the 2022 BAFTA Breakthrough programme and says it allowed her to have some “amazing meetings” with people in the industry.
“I spent an afternoon with Emma Thompson who is one of my icons,” she told Sky News.
“She was so generous and attentive, and I remember her saying there’s no such thing as a career, there’s only what you do next.”
The 29-year-old explains that there’s a pressure to establish yourself as a certain type of actor and that it can be “too much”.
She adds: “Her saying that, it really clicked because it’s so true. We’re just out here trying to do our best and find things that make us excited.”
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Emma Thompson’s advice to Ambika Mod
The British actress stars in One Day as Emma Morley – a young woman who we meet on 15 July 1988 as she graduates from university.
“I’ve loved the book since I was 13,” Mod says.
It was one of the reasons, in fact, that she initially decided to turn down auditioning for the role.
Pic: Netflix
“I just needed to get over myself a bit and realise that I could do it and I might be right for it.”
She explained that even after being cast in the role, it still took a lot to convince herself she was the right person for it.
“Thank God I changed my mind at the 11th hour, which is something that happens quite a lot to me in my life.”
Pic: Netflix
One Day also stars Leo Woodall as Dexter Mayhew – the popular, wealthy, and handsome student who attends the same university as Emma.
The 27-year-old shot into mainstream media attention for his portrayal of Jack in season two of The White Lotus.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “I felt very lucky to be part of that. It did feel like a kind of cultural moment because everyone saw it, from all ages and demographics.”
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This isn’t the first re-imagining of the 2009 novel. In 2011, Anne Hathaway played Emma alongside Jim Sturgess as Dex.
“I watched the movie as preparation for the first audition because I hadn’t read the book,” Woodhall admits.
Mod says the series is both “tonally” and “structurally” different to the film which allowed her and her co-star to not have the pressure of being compared with Hathaway and Sturgess.
One Day, the limited series, is available to stream on Netflix now.
