Evan Handler, Camilla Luddington Showtime photo by Jordin Althaus
Talk about switching gears! Camilla Luddington has gone from portraying the future Queen of England, Kate Middleton — to being the latest fair damsel to bare all on David Duchovny’s racy Showtime “Californication.”
“It was the first time I’d ever done nudity,” says the Ascot, Berkshire-born actress, who did a smashing job as Kate in Lifetime’s surprisingly not-terrible “William & Kate” Lifetime movie last year. “Of course it’s written into the contract that I signed that I’m okay to do it. I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll be the one character, like a nun, who doesn’t sleep with anyone all season. Of course that doesn’t happen. I was so naive. But it turned out I was surprisingly comfortable with it. At the end of the day, you just kind of have to let go of all your inhibitions and all your hang-ups and be free with it and have fun with it,” she says.
Besides, “Everyone on the set has seen it a thousand times.”
Luddington also credits Duchovny, who told her, ‘Anything you’re uncomfortable with, call me or the director and we’ll work around it.’ A camera angle, a shot, anything whatever.”
The 28-year-old is equally adept at British or American accents, but says she chose to go into “Californication” meetings carrying on in the English way, “to stand out a little bit. The lines sounded almost more ridiculous that way, talking about sexually explicit things with a proper British accent.” Of course, the “Californication” team was well aware of her Kate Middleton performance, too. She’s often been called Your Highness around the set. “There’s even a part at one point where I do a little curtsey and say, ‘Thank-you my lord.’ I think they wrote it in as a playful little wink.”
Luddington is portraying the new nanny for Charlie and Marcy (Evan Handler and Pamela Adlon), who seems innocent at first, but turns out to be a manipulative little schemer. Yes, it’s a long, long way from our favorite royal bride — just as the actress hoped. “From January to April last year it was all about Kate Middleton, and then I got the part in ‘Californication’ the day after doing press inEngland. I thought it was really fun, and the sides for the audition were really funny.”
With this season’s episodes already in the can, what’s next?
“You know what — this sounds so funny — I would love to do a horror movie. I’ve been a massive horror movie fan since I was a kid, and I would love to do a great horror movie with a cult following.”
