Aimee Lou Wood has said she loves the “ferocious care” of acclaimed Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky’s wife, who she portrays in The Idiot(s).
The 32-year-old stars in the upcoming historical drama as Anna Dostoevsky who desperately tries to save her husband, the Crime And Punishment author, from his love of gambling and alcohol to deliver a new novel and avoid destitution.
Wood stars opposite Johnny Flynn in the period film by Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert which is based on Andrew D Kaufman’s book, The Gambler Wife: A True Story Of Love, Risk, And The Woman Who Saved Dostoyevsky.
Aimee Lou Wood attending the screening of The Idiot(s) (Ian West/PA)
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Speaking at the film screening as part of the BFI’s London film festival on Wednesday, Wood hailed Anna for her determination to save herself and her husband.
She told the Press Association: “She’s vulnerable because of the constraints of the time and the structure of the society that she’s in.
“But as a human and within herself, she’s incredibly determined and so laser focused on saving herself and her husband and she does win.
“He’s on this mission to self-destruct, and she’s on a mission to save them, and she wins.
“That’s also through her vulnerability and through her kind of ferocious care that she actually ends up the victor of this kind of push and pull battle between the two of them.
Johnny Flynn and Aimee Lou Wood attending the screening of The Idiot(s) (Ian West/PA)
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“So that’s what I loved about her.”
The novelist penned a number of books over the course of his life including The Gambler, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Idiot.
Wood rose to fame after starring in the hit Netflix series Sex Education before appearing in HBO’s The White Lotus, BBC’s Daddy Issues and Film Club.