ESME CREED-MILES

I actually did a lot of yoga because I found it helped with my core strength and flexibility, which are two things you absolutely need when you're doing martial arts.

Women should not only be doing action on-screen but should be a part of every other aspect of filmmaking.

I just love listening to music and talking about it, so my social media is mostly dedicated to talking about songs and stuff that interests me.

The whole thing of sexually objectifying yourself is really demoralizing and degrading as a human being, and it's something that men have never had to do, and it's something that 'Hanna' has never had to do.

I want to be involved in lots of different things. I want to write and direct, and I make music.

What is special about 'Hannah' is she's complex. She takes risks and she's smart, and she has a lot of love for people.

Even as a kid I remember seeing 'Minority Report' and just crying my eyes out. It was horrible what was happening to her. That was my mum!

I never wanted to be an actress. Acting wasn't in my mind. It wasn't in my calculations.

I discovered my physicality, I discovered running, and endorphins, and the sort of amazing way that people are meant to move. And that's what's great about 'Hanna,' because she moves. She's human and she embodies all of that.

I thought 'Hanna' was an opportunity to explore a character whose femininity was so raw and unconditioned by the modern world.

Obviously, for safety reasons, there's some stuff I can't do, but fighting is more than just about nailing the moves accurately, to sort of pull off the stunt sequence. It's also about bringing emotion to it and character.

The idea of women having a complete hold on their lives is still alien in a lot of places. So, it is important that we keep telling such stories where women are shown both physically and mentally powerful.

In terms of actors and roles that I want to do in the future, most of those have been played by men. I mean Robert De Niro is my favorite actor of all time. That's the thing, it's not a woman, it's a guy.

Even if an actor might not nail the moves in a way than a stunt person might, I wanted to bring the character of 'Hanna' into everything that she did.

I wish we did, in a way, grow up in the forest and we didn't all just post bikini pictures and work out just to look good.

Young action heroines feel in service of male gaze, rather than being the full complexity of a human being.

It's lovely to escape myself and play someone who actually inspires me and gives me strength.

I had a few months of physical prep where I was training six hours a day - I was doing an hour and a bit of yoga, I would do a couple hours of cardio and weight-lifting, and then I would do an hour or maybe two of martial arts training.

'Hanna' doesn't maintain social norms. She doesn't have those boundaries. She speaks her mind and is very physical and funny.

If I'm being honest that's something that I think to myself every time I go on Instagram - 'Look how skinny she is, I wanna be that skinny', and it's horrible.

Fight prep, boxing, cardio, stretching. It's almost like dancing, you have to learn to dance and keep practicing it.

I've never been someone who'd done any sports.

It's frustrating to see that people still get shocked when they see a woman doing action.

It was so cool to be listening to, I don't know, some Cocteau Twins song while I was running through the Slovakian wilderness.

Everyone else went to drama school, and that teaches you how to dissociate from your character. I don't know any technique! I'm just acting by chance - and by connection.