I was brought up to think a lot about food and have respect for it, both as medicine and something to eat and enjoy.

That's really why I wanted to do it. I wanted to be a part of this generation's telling of Camelot, and also get the chance to play a fantastic, complex, interesting, emotionally passionate, young lead role.

I know that the battle scenes, as well, are quite gory and quite strong. Battle was romantic, but it was far from being easy. It's nice, in both respects, to have that color and contrast.

If you steal other people's characters, it doesn't work with the context of the scripts and what is written, so I wanted to make her my own. I was petrified, in the beginning, because it's such an iconic character, especially being a young lady myself.

My style is schizophrenic! One minute I'll be wearing bright girly dresses, and the next I'll be swinging towards more structured masculine things.

But, as an actress, you don't want to run into these scenes, willy-nilly. The couple that I did do were important for the character and essential to the plot, to show what was actually going on between each character. It is great to be able to have that, and to be able to say certain things and have certain passions.

I'm a real animal lover. I adore animals of all shapes and sizes.