"It was such an easy transition": Colette Dalal Tchantcho shares how she "morphed" herself into Ondine for Dangerous Liaisons (Exclusive)

Starz recently adapted the classic story of Dangerous Liaisons for a prequel, which is all set to drop on the streaming platform on November 6, 2022.

Following the origin story of Marquise de Mertreuil and Vicomte de Valmont, the central characters in Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 18th-century novel, the series is an exciting take on how manipulation and revenge can make and break people.

Before the premiere, Sneha Haldar from Sportskeeda had the opportunity to engage with actress Colette Dalal Tchantcho, who plays Ondine de Valmont, the dangerously manipulative and seductive stepmother of Pascal de Valmont. In a one-on-one interview, she talked about everything, from her malicious character to the diversity and representation in the Starz series.

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Colette Dalal Tchantcho talks about how the 18th-century costumes allowed her to transform into Ondine

Colette is an actor who successfully owns the role of widow de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons. Born and brought up in Kuwait, she was inclined towards performing arts from a very young age. Tchantcho is a familiar face from a number of period dramas like The Witcher and Domina.

Speaking about the impact of her previous roles on her work in Dangerous Liaisons, Colette states:

"Oh, my goodness. It's like polar opposites, I would say. In that way, what was useful was every time I thought what my other character would do, I would then go right ahead on the other side of the spectrum and go, okay, so I wonder what Ondine would do, and how courageous do I want to be with these choices. Sometimes people's reactions would be like "Oh, my God, Ondine did what?" And I'd be like, that's what she needs to do."

In a way, Colette's other experiences in period dramas prepared her to approach the tricky and complicated character of Ondine. Elaborating more on preparing for the role, the actress talked about how the gorgeous costumes and headgear helped her get into Ondine's character:

"There's so many layers to the costumes, I mean, you've seen the costumes with every layer. I felt like I would see Odine arrive and my tower of hair would just go further and further up. And it was such an easy transition. The creative team contributed to everything."

Continuing on how the garments played an important role in helping appropriate the character, Colette added:

"It makes a lot of decisions for you in terms of your movement. It's interesting what happens to the body when you morph it."

She admits to having had a lot of fun with the 18th-century costumes and despite the challenges of donning such a complicated getup, it was never tedious for the actress to prepare to play Ondine on-screen.

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Dangerous Liaisons as a modern approach to period dramas: Representation and diversity abound

If there is one thing that Dangerous Liaisons gets right, it is making space for diversity in an 18th-century period drama. Discussing the elements of representation in the series, Colette Dalal Tchantcho proudly comments:

"I mean, I am so happy, being a member of the queer community myself, to see that, because we've always existed as well, and diversity in terms of seeing minority faces in this period...it is quite fantastic. We are going back and starting to reflect what society actually looks like."

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Don't miss out on the exciting new take on Dangerous Liaisons, coming to Starz soon on November 6, 2022.