On ”Game of Thrones,” Lena Headey plays Cersei Lannister, the diabolical but damaged queen who hides behind a face of royal beauty, but fans of the HBO medieval epic might need a moment to recognize the British actress in the sci-fi film “Dredd,” which is scheduled to arrive in September. Like Cersei, Madeline “Ma-Ma” Madrigal ruthlessly puts down all challenges to her authority, but her scarred face is no facade — it’s more like a map of the cruel metropolis called Mega City One.

In a world scorched and sickened by radiation wars, Mega City One is one of the last pockets of civilization but it tests the bottom limits of the word. Madrigal is the fierce gang leader who rules Peach Tree City Block and that puts her squarely in the sights of the film’s title character, Judge Joseph Dredd — played by Karl Urban of “Star Trek” and “The Bourne Supremacy” — the most feared of the city’s Street Judges, the elite armored agents who bring the entire criminal justice system to the sidewalk; they are arresting officer, judge, jury and, yes, executioner.

The film has being called a remake of the 1995 Sylvester Stallone film “Judge Dredd,” but it might be more precise to think of it as do-over adaptation; in his 35th anniversary, Judge Dredd remains the most iconic creation of the British comics scene, but none of the savage and scabby spirit of those comics (think “Dirty Harry” on patrol in the “Death Race” world) reached the screen in the glossy bloat of the Stallone film.

The first Judge Dredd comic premiered in March 1977 — the same month the Clash released their first single, “White Riot,” and the Sex Pistols signed a contract with A&M Records at the gates of Buckingham Palace. All of London seemed up for grabs, and the choices seemed like anarchy or fascism. Headey, during a recent interview at the offices of HBO in Santa Monica, says the goal of this new ”Dredd” was to get back to the blood-bruise qualities of those comics.

“The world [in the film] feels really British, and I don’t know if that’s because it’s so dirty and dark,” Headey said. “And it’s … violent. Just in terms of gunplay, they’re not afraid to show blood and gunshot wounds. And it’s set up in this concrete sort of shanty town — it’s shanty but they’re blocks — concrete favelas.”

With that backdrop, many citizens are ready to accept the glowering Dredd with his Lawgiver pistol and police-state promise. Others, however, would rather escape with Slo-Mo, the reality-bending drug that is funneling though Madrigal’s gang.

Madrigal was conceived as a much older character, in her 70s or older, but Headey won over Alex Garland, the screenwriter and a key engine of the project, to the idea of a middle-aged woman who has logged a lot of city miles.

“She’s a prostitute who then kills her pimp and takes over his drug-running business,” said Headey, whose acting credits include Queen Gorgo in “300? and the title role in “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” “And Ma-Ma is a bit of a man-hater.”

Headey said she came up with the image of a sullen and cynical predator to help her find an entry point to the role.

“I think of her like an old great white shark who is just waiting for someone bigger and stronger to show up and kill her,” Headey said. “She’s ready for it. In fact, she can’t wait for it to happen. And yet no one can get the job done. She’s an addict, so she’s dead in that way, but that last knock just hasn’t come. This big, fat, scarred shark moving through the sea and everyone flees and she’s like, ‘Will someone just have the balls to do it? Please?‘”

The big question in the air around “Dredd” is whether the Lionsgate film is actually going to be any good. There were reports that director Pete Travis (“Vantage Point”) was fired during post-production, but then a released statement insisted that he was still onboard and that he and Garland (“28 Days Later”) had agreed early on to share duties in an unorthodox way. (You can read the back-and-forth of it all at 24 Frames.) Working with Garland was the draw for Headey.

“‘Dredd’ was a weird, little, out-of-the-blue thing for me,” Headey said. “We met up and I read, and he kind of loved what I did and I loved the script. I think he’s a brilliant writer, he’s good guy, Alex. So I ended going out to South Africa to shoot this mad thing. In terms of the scale of the movie, the budget was tiny.”

Indeed, the film has a lean budget — reportedly $55 million to $60 million – but an approach of austerity and bleak shadow may actually help the film separate itself from the shiny sci-fi of the 1995 movie (which also had an especially odd cast that included Diane Lane, Max von Sydow, Rob Schneider and rock star Ian Dury).

That version, directed by Danny Cannon (who would go to be an executive producer and director on all three “CSI” franchises), infuriated longtime Dredd readers by jettisoning the dark satire of the comics, adding a romance for the title character and daring to let Dredd walk around without his helmet, which is akin to letting the Lone Ranger ride into town without a mask. Adding insult to injury, those fans would hear again and again that “Mad Max” and “RoboCop” took direct inspiration from the Dredd comics and produced genre classics – while the character’s own spotlight moment ended up as a dim-bulb project.

But will the lawman’s second shot be any closer to the target? At least this time the project has started with the correct ammunition, judging by the comments of Urban, who grew up as a Dredd fan: “It’s going to be much more gritty, much more real — the environment, Mega City One, is going to feel like a real city,” the actor told Chris Tilly of IGN back in 2010. “It’s not going to feel like a Hollywood back lot. There will be no gold cod-pieces, and we’re definitely going to stay faithful to the way that the character was originally conceived and written. He’ll keep his helmet on.”

Zap2it: “Game of Thrones” Lannister clan seems to be one very twisted family. How do you describe them?

Lena Headey: I’ve got a theory that love and hate is very tight within this family. There is a love for Tyrion, but [Cersei] … knows he took her mother; that’s how she sees it. She was brought up by a very strict male father and given no room to be anything other than a prize [for some man].

I think that her closeness to Jamie in this physical and highly kind of repulsive relationship is her desire to be close to and feel loved by somebody. In a way, she wants to be Jamie, I think. These characters are so damaged!

Zap2it: So this is a rewarding role for you as an actress?

Lena Headey: Oh, yes, it’s just so exciting to play somebody who even approaches the nature and the possibilities of this character, someone who has that much going on, who has that much disaster in her past and pain and confusion and no guidance, then put in a seat of power, and now it’s the same for Joffrey (her son).

Zap2it: Have you read George R.R. Martin’s later books to find out Cersei’s fate?

Lena Headey: No. I know so many people who have read the books, but I’m making this movie (“Vigilandia“) right now, and I barely manage to read my scenes for the next day before my son wakes up. I sort of want to know, and then I don’t.

For Game of Thrones season 2, expect to see more of one evil twin, and slightly less of the other.

Queen Regent Cersei (Lena Headey) has more screen time this year, while her twincest counterpart Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) awaits his fate in captivity.

For Headey, this means plenty of dramatic scenes with her less-loved brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and her monstrous son, King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson). “You get a real glimpse into her guilt as a mother and her fear of what she’s created,” says Headey, whose several cool tattoos get covered by makeup to play Cersei. “She’s just starting to slightly crumble and feel the reality of her world. There’s a lot of drinking … also massive denial about her son’s behavior.”

Cersei’s isolation will prompt her to confide in a very unlikely person. “There’s a moment where she absolutely shows Tyrion her true self,” she hints. “He becomes like a sort of confidante — almost — because she has nobody else.”

Expect the queen to also continue her “masochistic mentor relationship” with Joffrey’s bride-to-be, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). “She can’t help but torture her,” Headey says. “I think that’s driven by her envy. She’s just f–king mean all season.”

Adds Turner: “Sansa’s kind of suffering at the hands of Joffrey and she literally has no one this season, so you’re gonna see her grow a lot.”

Cersei’s icy heart is softened only by her dear brother Jaime, but at the start of the season he’s being held captive by Robb Stark, and dragged from one battle encampment to the next. “He is away from [his sister] and it drives him crazy,” Coster-Waldau says. “So he’s not in a happy place. He says it himself this season that he is not quite well equipped for imprisonment.”

Like his character, Coster-Waldau wasn’t too thrilled about being locked up. “As an actor, I hated it,” he says. “But it makes sense. It makes sense for the journey that Jaime’s on. [And] I have some scenes this season that are the most fun I’ve had as an actor.”

One of the interesting things about the Thrones universe is that most of the romantic relationships are initially transactional. They’re often for money or power or security. Cersei and Jaime’s relationship is twisted, but it’s one of the few couplings motivated by love despite enormous risk. “It’s ironic, but it’s true,” Coster-Waldau agrees. “All these other players are like pawns in this game that just get moved around by their families. But these two … what they have it was just too powerful too ignore.”

Jaime Lannister arguably committed the most egregious sin in the show, by trying to murder a young boy in the first episode. Yet Coster-Waldau says that scene, and Jaime’s pivotal line, helps define his character.

“I think the core of Jaime Lannister is actually that final line in the pilot when he says, ‘the things I do for love,’” he says. “He might do horrible things — and they are truly, some of them, horrific. There’s no excuses. But he does it out of what he sees as a necessity, out of love. If this kid tells the world what he’s seen, the woman I love will be killed, and the children we have will be killed. That was kind of my hook to this guy. Also, the thing that defines him, in public, is that he’s the kingslayer and has done this horrible deed. Now, again, the way he sees it, he knows things others don’t know because he was so close to the Mad King. He sees it is his proudest moment. The rest of the world doesn’t share that view. But I like that whole theme of how people perceive us vs. how we perceive ourselves and how those things aren’t necessarily the same. I think we can all relate to that.”

Lena Headey worries even fans will think she’s mean in real life

Move over Julia Roberts — you’re not the only evil queen in town this weekend.

Actress Lena Headey returns for the second season of HBO’s hit Game of Thrones“, starting Sunday, as Queen Cersei Lannister the most one of the most reviled villains on television.

“Sometimes it’s fun being naughty,” Headey recently told the News.

Unlike Roberts’ storybook villain in the movie “Mirror, Mirror,” however, Headey says she’s worried that fans are starting to mistake her for her character.

At the end of a long day of shooting a dinner scene where Cersei inflicts thinkly-veiled threats and insults at her beleaguered future daughter in law, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), the tables quickly turn.

“[Sophie] always says, ‘You’re horrible!,’ and I go, ‘I don’t really mean it,’” Headey says in a pleading voice that belies her onscreen image.

Welcome the 38-year-old British beauty’s world since she first strapped on the long blonde wig and ridiculously tight corset to play Cersei in the television adapt of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” books.

“Anyone who isn’t us is an enemy,” is Cersei’s signature line; her machinations to put her sadistic inbred son on the throne has left the first season’s hero, Sansa’s father Ned, without a head.

Fans seem to hold a grudge: there’s even a Facebook group called “I think Cersei Lannister needs her head lopped off.”

It’s even gone sour at San Diego ComicCon, the annual mecca for geeks where Headey was once treated as a conquering hero as the (good) queen from “300″ and then as the titular Terminator-killer in the television series, “The Sarah Connor Chronicles.”

“I was sitting between (Peter) Dinklage and Emilia (Clarke), who are the most beloved characters on the show, I literally just got ignored,” she says of her visit last summer. “People were giving Pete the books to sign and they kept moving away from me as if I was going to curse them.”

Off screen, Headey doesn’t share much in common with her character. She sports dark hair that usually is cut close to the boottom of her neck. Though she’s also a mother, she’s not training her two-year-old son Willie Elliot to smite his enemies and wage war on the North.

Born in Bermuda as the daughter of a British police officer stationed there at the time, Headey is a law-abiding and squarely on the side of the good guys.

And if it’s any consolation for fans, Cersei is suffering greatly even as she’s inflicting pain courtesy of a corset that could double as a medeivel torture device.

“As they undo it at the end of the day, I can slowly feel my bread roll make it to my stomach where it should’ve been as opposed to sitting on top of the corset,” says Headey, laughing.

The news is dire: The most feared woman in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros is being held captive by Los Angeles mid-morning traffic. Well, more precisely, Lena Headey, the willowy actress who plays Cersei Lannister on “Game of Thrones,” is half an hour late for an interview at the HBO offices in Santa Monica and, when she does arrive, it’s in a swirl of charismatic chaos.

“Hectic morning, so sorry,” Headey said as she ran her fingers through jet-black hair that is nowhere close to her broadcast blondness. Her aura was more spiky than regal; two fingers were bandaged after home-project mishaps, her off-the-shoulder top revealed a scattering of tattoos and every fourth or fifth sentence was sprinkled with F-words. “I … hate being late. I’ve lived in L.A. for five years but I forget there’s traffic until I’m in it.”

No matter, Headey is right on schedule career-wise with “Game of Thrones,” which returns Sunday with the second-season premiere after establishing itself as newfound royalty with television critics and fantasy fans.

The singular show is like some Norman tapestry — intricate and huge with its memorable threads devoted to carnage and triumph — and the diabolical Cersei is near the center. A recent widow (ahem), she plotted to have the crown land on the head of her sadistic young son Joffrey (Jack Gleeson in Draco Malfoy mode but with a dash of Caligula) while her brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage, the newly minted Emmy and Golden Globes winner) now holds the powerful post of Hand of the King.

For fans who watch “Thrones,” Headey’s character is one they love to hate. Her crystalline eyes and imperious glare suggest a woman in total control but much of it is facade hiding her self-loathing. She is haunted by a marriage catastrophic joke as well as the longtime incestuous relationship with her twin, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), and bitterness about the general powerlessness of women in the kingdom of men.

“I think she is deeply, deeply fearful,” said the 38-year-old actress. “She sleeps with fear in her soul. She is full of terror and paranoia and insecurity. She hides it with stillness. She does not move much and that’s been a real challenge for me. I fidget. She’s like a cobra, she’s a snake just waiting and waiting… the hard thing is it’s freezing where we film [in Belfast] in a shipyard for five months a year and I’m there in a silk dress trying to be totally still.”

Shivers aside, the role of Cersei and the success of “Thrones” are “a joy and a gift,” says the actress, who this year is celebrating the 20th anniversary of a screen career that began in 1992, the year she appeared in “Waterland” with Jeremy Irons.

“I’m 40 next year and I’m very well aware that where I am now, it becomes a bit of a wilderness for actresses,” Headey said. “So where I am now, in this role, it is such a blessing. I’m a parent now, we have a young son, and I lived life and that’s all part of Cersei as I sit in there.”

Costar and good friend Dinklage says that Headey may not even realize how far her talents go.

“All the great actors, they don’t need to do much on screen,” Dinklage said. “They have stillness and they resonate so much power. That’s what Lena can do. A lot of actors would play that role like a bad seed and Lena would never consider it. She approaches Cersei as a damaged person so it comes from a real place not from a twirling-the-mustache kind of place. No matter what things she does, she’s a mother lion protecting her young.”

Born in Bermuda — her father, a British lawman, was there as an advisor — Headey grew up in Yorkshire, England, which she calls “the modern-day Winterfell,” which might explain why she’s wearing a wolf shirt. “I’m a secret Stark,” she yelped, which sends your head spinning if you’re a follower of “Thrones.”

“Thrones” is based on the sword-and-magic books of George R.R. Martin and the show was created by D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. Benioff said that in some ways the role on the pager has tilted toward the actress playing the part.

“We never thought of Cersei as a particularly funny character until Lena read for the part,” Benioff said. “We had seen a number of excellent actresses, but everyone had interpreted the character as an emotionless ice queen. Lena took her in a different, stranger and more interesting direction. In her hands, Cersei embodies endless contradictions. The queen can seem both ruthless and fragile, often in the same scene. She can exhibit extreme cruelty but also utter devotion to her own children. And she’s damn funny, which is no surprise if you know Lena.”

Headey is on a sort of Sigourney Weaver celebrity path — she is specializing in roles in the Comic-Con sector after starring in “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and appearing in memorable roles in “300,” and “The Brothers Grimm.” Up next, she’ll be seen with Karl Urban in “Dredd,” the adaptation of the ultra-violent British comics about a future-cop called Judge Dredd.

Still, it is the fair-haired queen of House Lannister that may become her signature role.

It was Dinklage that led Headey to the kingdoms of Westeros in the first place. The two became friends back in 2006 when they met on the Toronto set of “Ultra,” a superhero television pilot that never got off the ground. (Headey had the title role, a character who sprung from Image Comics stories that were described by one IGN reviewer as “‘Sex & the City’ with tights.”)

The pair were working on another scruffy project when Dinklage announced that he had discovered two interesting things while reading a script for a planned medieval epic: There was a bawdy oral sex scene for his prospective character as well as a very interesting family, including a sister that might present a perfect role for Headey.

“It was all born out of that moment,” Headey said as she smoothed out the ragged edge of one bandage. “I hadn’t read any of the books and they were mapping out this journey of this queen who… has power and is in control but then, at some point, looks like she might lose pretty much everything. There’s nothing more exciting for an actor than a chance to lose, to be someone who has lost — especially if it’s someone who starts off with a veneer of control. To be broken is wonderful.”

Jennifer Kilchenmann sits down for g3 with the beautifully frank British star.

It’s a crisp, sunny morning in chic and fashionable Marylebone High Street. I am meeting Lena Headey, star of this month lesbian love-fest Imagine Me & You, in the healty Aveda café. She greets me with a killer smile and a truly onest and firm handshake. Lena explains she recently got back from a trip to India and a series of press junkets in New York. Noticing her sun-kissed skin, and in true Brit fashion, our conversation begin with the weather, and how bloody freezing it is. “I was quite open to the idea of wrapping up a bit”, she says.”But now I’m over it.”

Lena is one of Britain’s most talented actresses, yet somehow it’s best kept secret. “Maybe, when I was younger, I didn’t go for it as much as some. I was most interested in living my life and figured I’d make it in my own way!” She fell into the profession n her late teens, after being “discovered” performing in a school play at the National Theatre. She has since acted in over 30 films and a number of TV shows. Director of Imagine Me & You, Ol Parker, recently said of Headey: “She’s beautiful, truthful and hilarious, without vanity of affection, exceptionally clever.” Based on this meeting, I couldn’t agree more. What makes Lena stands out is her instinctive approach, the way she just blend into her character with honestly and realism. The most moving role she has played to date, and one that Lena herself is still passionate about, is that of Kaisa in Aberdeen. “I’m still upset Aberdeen was never released in UK. I think I’m probably most proud of that. It was an awesome experience.”

Amidst much excitement, March 31st sees the release of Imagine Me & You, a lovely Brit rom.com all about love at first sight. This is a movie dear to Lena’s heart: “Everyone in it is just so lovely. I hadn’t felt that way about a project in a long time.” Ol Parker as managed to blend romance, realism and comedy into one film. He’s also been very lucky with his two leading ladies who have incredible on screen chemistry. Headey and Perabo met on the set on The Cave, a movie that both would prefer to forget about. Lena fondly remembers how she and Piper grew their friendship out of a necessary bond on “a pretty awful and wet shoot in Romania.” She confesses feeling lost when Piper had to leave the set before her. “It was the longest two weeks. I was so pissed with her!” Lena has learned her lesson about working on a big generally male-centered productions. In reference to The Brothers Grimm she admits: “I’d rather stick and arrow through myself than go through that again! It was like a relationship where you know you’re not wanted!”

As Lena slurps through a raither green health-fest of a soup, she tells me about going to casting calls in LA. “There’s always these really beautiful women lined up outside. And I’m like – oh my god I feel like the biggest tomboy in the world!”. To be fair, she is a little tomboyish, I mean these LA chicks take up boxing?
“I went through a phase where I used to go pretty much everday! At one point I did think – Fuck, if all goes tits up, I’ll be boxing my face in the ring! Maybe I’ll gets more roles!” she jokes. Apart from being a boxer, she’s pondered the idea of being a doctor. “I thought, I’ve still got time. I could do something more useful for the world. But then I’m lazy, and that’s a proper job!” As the PR of a woman approaches the table I manage to get my last question in (for all of you who have now fallen in love with her). “So, Lena,” I say,”any chance of ever falling for a woman?” A smile brightens across her face. “I would never say – never, I mean, it probably happened to me a few times…” Sorry girls, that’s limgo for I’ straight, but you’ve got to love her for keeping the door open, right.

The actress likes to mix and mis-match, and loves rummaging in markets.

Lena, 29, stars in the new romantic comedy Imagine Me & You, with Anthony Head and Celia Imrie. She lives with her partner in south London and is currently filming Ultra, a pilot for US CBS television network.

How would you describe your style?
Chaotic and eclectic.

What colours, shapes and styles suit you best?
It depends on how I’m feeling and I think in certain moods, you can carry certain colours. I don’t think I can carry red but I love wearing it and it makes me feel strong and protected. I love easy shapes; I don’t like tigh stuff, and although my style is mostly totally casual, I love to do the complete opposite and put on heels and a dress. And I just love hats.

Who is your style icon?
It’s not a person. I’m more interested in places when I go travelling, seeing local people and taking ideas from that.

Which celebrity’s wardrobe would you like to own?
Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex And The City. Every single thing for every moment in your life is there. It’s gorgeous, weird and kind of brave. And if her figure came with it, that would be even more perfect.

Do you have a beauty secret?
The usual – sleep and water.

How do you dress on “fat” days?
It’s always best to wear your favourite pair of knickers and then it doesn’t matter what you put over them. My Coco de Mer knickers always make me feel fabulous.

Is there anything about your body you dislike?
No, I don’t dislike my body. I would like a smaller, firmer bottom but that just means going to the gym.

How long does it takes you to get ready in the morning?
About a minute.

Do you have a stylist?
Absolutely not.

What is your current favourite outfit?
I love my new red shoes wich I got from Miu Miu in New York. My lucky red shoes, I call them because I wore them to an audition over there and they seemed to work because I’m doing a pilot for CBS television.

What is the oldest item in your wardrobe?
A 40s Mexican wedding dress I bought for $40 from the Rose Bowl flea market in LA. The market is about the size of 10 football pitches and it’s one mad, big scramble. The dress is in a cream-coloured cotton and I thought that it just lokked amazing.

What is the one item of clothing you can’t live without?
Jeans, although the hardest thing to buy. I have about 10 pairs and my current favourites I bought from Hennes for £10.

Do you clear out your wardrobe each season?
Not really. I am the messiest and most disorganised person.

Have you ever made a faux pas?
The entire late 80s, with far too much make up, hairspray and shoulders so big. I could have played American football.

What is the most crushing remark anyone as made about your clothes?
An ex-boyfriend once said I looked like a bag lady. It was his way of asking why I didn’t wear clothes that matched.

What is your most sussessfull party outfit?
My faboulous Matthew Williamson cotton organza dress which makes me feel like a minxy hippy. It hasn’t graced a party yet but I wore it out of season, on a rainy night to The Windmill in Brixton, and it went down a storm.

Do you own more day wear than evening wear?
Yes. It’s easier to buy a day wear. If I need to go somewhere that’s super-posh, I can usually phone up and someone will lend me something.

How much of your wardrobe is black?
Not a vast amount, although some days I am a very black person.

Do you own anything vintage?
I have a few vintage clothes, including a great 60s high-waisted dress in purple with bell sleeves.

What is your favourite designer shop?
Jeffrey in New York’s Meat Packing district. For bags, shoes, everything. Everything co-ordinates.

What is your favourite high-street shop?
Hennes and Topshop.

What is the most expensive item in your wardrobe?
A Boudica Victorian-looking black lace jacket.

What is your best fashion bargain?
It would have to be Matthew Williamson dress. I bought it on sale from Ko Samui in Monmouth Street for a crazy price.

What to you wear in bed?
Noting.

Do you wear a G-string or briefs?
Boy shorts.

Is your underware frilly or sporty, matching or mismatched?
A mixture of both styles and pretty mismatched.

Do you wear a bikini or a swimsuit?
Bikini.

How many handbag to you own?
About 10.

Do you have more shoes than clothes?
Yes, doesn’t everyone?

Do you wear silver or gold jewellery.
I wear everything.

What make of sunglasses to you wear?
Tons of vintage, Dolce & Gabbana, Juicy and some from India.

How much have you spent on clothes this month?
I have been in LA and New York, so I suppose I have spent what I don’t really have.

Which is your favourite clothes shop abroad?
The Rose Bowl flea market in LA, the second Sunday in every month.

Do you have a fashion address book secret?
My mate, Tina Thor, whose jewellery sells in Bloomingdales, and Heidi Klein in Westbourne Grove for sunglasses and bikini.

What article of clothing would you save from a burning house?
My parka coat which I bought in Canada and is probably highly flammable. But it is amazing.

Lena Headey: The actress idolises Wonder Woman, is thinking of sponsoring a child and accidentally boiled her pet goldfish

Who would you be if you could swap places for a day?
If I was able to change the person’s mindset, I’d jump into body of President Bush and reprogram his brain. Then I’d head over to Iraq so I could wake up and see what I’d done.

Who was your childhood hero?
Wonder Woman. I was a tomboy and she was my first taste of glamour. I cut out cardboard Wonder Woman cuffs and a tiara from the back of a cereal packet, and I’d skate around in my roller boots, wearing those and a pair of satin shorts.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning?
Go for a pee.

What’s the last thing you think about at night?
My parents. I don’t see them as often these days – they’re in Yorkshire, I’m in London – so I think about them and hope they’re all right.

How do you often brush your teeth?
At least twice a day.

Would you ever have cosmetic surgery?
When I’m 55 I plan to have a facelift, get a great pair of breasts and start wearing Vivienne Westwood. I think that would be kind of cool.

Which designers label do you own?
Matthew Williamson and Marc Jacobs – but I’m actually more of a Topshop girl to be honest. I wear a lot of vintage clothes too.

Who are you favourite writers?
Haruki Murakami, the Japanese author who wrote ‘The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle’, ‘After The Quake’, ‘Kafka On The Shore’ and ‘A Wild Sheep Chase’. His work is amazing: it’s very odd and really demands your attention. And I recently bought ‘Notes From The Underground’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I’ve only just started reading it but I’m really enjoying it. So far it’s a dark read.

What is your favourite building?
It’s not a building, but one of my favourite places is Borough Market in London’s South bank. I love the history of it. In term of architectural style, I like old, knackered buildings like the ones you see in Cuba and India. I’m not really into modern architecture.

Who did you last text?
My friend Rachel. She’s just sponsored a child from Uganda and texted me to say his friend is also up for sponsorship. She suggested that if I sponsored the friend we could go over and visit them together. I’m seriously thinking about it.

City or country?
Both, I couldn’t live without either.

Skinhead or mullet?
Skinhead. I like the fact they’re often misperceived. Mullet are a little bit too obvious.

Pyjamas or au naturel?
Au naturel – except if I’m staying in a hotel. Then I usually take mismatched pyjamas. They’re never proper set, and they’re always deeply unsexy.

Love is…
Tricky.

What do you believe in?
Honestly and compassion.

What colour are your pants?
Pink.

What have you love and lost?
Two hamsters and a countless goldfish. I accidentally boiled one of my goldenfish when I was seven. I decided they wew special enough to deserve hot water and lots of Mr Matey bubble bath. So they ad a big jacuzzi – and died.

What makes you blush?
Compliments, arguments and PMT.

What would be the soundtrack to your life?
Anything by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

What brings out the devil in you?
Alcohhol. Especially gin. I find it completely change my personality.

Sum yourself up in five words.
Spontaneous. Strong. Unpredictable. Adventorous. Funny.

The British beauty shares her style secrets and tells OK! how she got dirty with Brothers Grimm co-star Matt Damon and Heath Ledger

British actress Lena Headey isn’t your typical movie star. She likes boxing, she eats chocolate and she hates playing characters who wear lip gloss. Instead Lena is a no-nonsense tough girl, who, while she can turn on the style when required, prefers to keep things casual. Lena, from Hudderfields in northern England, describes a scene in her new goblins-and-ghouls comedy The Brothers Grimm – starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger – which sums up her own attitude to style. Lena plays Angelika, a girl who likes hunting and fishing in the woods. “Matt and Heath’s characters meet my character Angelika, and she’s like, ‘Whatever I’m skinning a rabbit,’” chuckles Lena. OK! met with Lena, 31, and talked about what Matt Damon is really like, which superstar she thinks has fantastic fashion sense and her secret army of look-alikes.

Working with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger makes you the envy of many women.
I guess so. They were both really good guys, and very normal. There was laughter all day, every day. Matt is a big movie star, but he’s such a lovely human being. He’s polite and kind. He talks to everybody. Five minutes after you meet Matt, you forget that he’s a star.

What did you like about your character?
The thing I loved about Angelika was that she was unlike other female leads in big movies. There was no lip gloss! She’s actually kind of horrible, and she wasn’t bothered about meeting Matt and Heath’s characters. She can look after herself. She’s a tomboy, and she doesn’t care. You have to put all dignity aside. There was lots of horse riding, running around and getting dirty – I loved it!

Any injuries?
I was running with a bow and arrow, and I tripped over a tree stump. I’ve played romantic characters before where I’ve been worried about falling over in high heels, but on Brothers Grimm, I was worried about falling off of horses.

This is your biggest movie to date – did you feel pressure to get it right?
There was a big pressure. I walked on set and I was terrified, but you have to laugh. I’m terrified on every job I do because I don’t want to let people down and I don’t want to let myself down. I’m my biggest critic.

The catering must have been pretty good on such a big film.
Well, we were in Prague (Czech Republic), so the catering wasn’t that amazing. If you like your scrambled eggs lukewarm and discolored, then it was fabulous!

You’re also starring The Cave, which comes out the same day as Brothers Grimm, so you won’t be able to go to both premieres.
I’m going to send my look-alike – I have about 15 of them!

From northern England to Hollywood, that’s not a well-trodden path. What happened to your accent?
I haven’t been in Huddersfields since I was 17. I’m very frickle. I pick up accents. When I go back to Huddersfields, I have a pint of lager and I’m straight back into it.

What’s your style philosophy?
I love fashion, but I’m not a floaty dress kind of girl. I don’t follow fashion; I prefer to throw pieces together – my style is quite eclectic. I love traveling, and I pick up pieces wherever I go. I may put a vintage thing with an everyday thing. But I like to look good.

Do you have a fashion vice?
Like any woman, it’s shoes. I own pairs of shoes that I’ve never worn.

What’s your biggest extravagance?
Traveling – that’s where my money goes. Tickets, hotels, going out for drinks and then moving into nicer hotels at 3 a.m.!

Do you have a favourite designer?
There’s a label called Boudica that I like. They do quite structured, interesting pieces. I get their stuff at Dover Street Market in London.

What your fashion pet peeve?
I don’t like tight trousers that show everything. I don’t like it when people squeeze into things. That upsets me.

Who in the showbiz world do you think always manages to get their look just right?
Kate Moss look impeccable every time you see her, even if she has been up for 48 hours. She’s got an extremely British-cool thing happening.

Do you feel pressure to look good?
Absolutely, but it doesn’t bother me. It’s just more work. It means I can’t stay up as long as I’d like, and I have to plan my night out more carefully.

How do you keep in shape?
I love boxing. I was doing it long before Million Dollar Baby came out! I love being tested physically. It feels amazing to get all your aggression out like that.

Do you have a strict dietary regime?
I’m terrible. I can eat incredibly healthy, but then I can binge and be a complete chocolate head. During Brothers Grimm, I did a lot of smoking. There’s a lot of waiting around on movie sets, so you hang out with people and smoke. It’s sociable. We all grouped together outside the set. It was like being back at school!

Up and coming actress

It goes something like this. You’re an ordinary girl at school in Huddersfield, harbouring dreams of an acting career, when your school is picked to take part in a National Theatre production. Then, one morning, you get a call from a casting director. She’s noticed you, and she wants you to come and audition for a movie called Waterland, opposite Jeremy Irons. What’s more, you get the part.

For 20-year-old Lena Headey, that’s exactly how it happened. A small part opposite Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson in The Remains of the Day followed, and now Headey has the romantic lead in Disney’s expensive live-action revisit to Rudyar Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Plucked from obscurity she may well have been, but her feet are firmly planted on pragmatic English soil.

“While I was at school I always thought it would happen,” she says modestly, her Yorkshire origins still evident in her lilting twang. “I always think along those lines. If something’s going to happen then it will. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

After two low-key British-based films, The Jungle Book was straight in at the deep end: a huge Hollywood production, special effects, exotic locations (India, Nort Carolina), big stars (Jason Scott Lee, Sam Neill, John Cleese) and numerous wild animals. Things, though, weren’t that tough.

“It was a Disney script and very accessible,” she says. “It wasn’t like you had to remember 20 long words in a single sentence. If it wasn’t for the elephants it would have been a doddle. The wolf, the tigers and the bears were fine – it was just the elephants. It absolutely shit my knickers when I was on the elephant.”

Headey has left Huddersfield for London, but she remains unchanged by her journey into the unreality of fame and fortune, treating everything with a worldy apathy. Ask her if the flood gates of offers have opened and she’ll tell you the truth.

“Nothing’s happening,” she laughs. “You can make it up if you like: ‘Yes, she’s turned down thousands of big movies…’”