06 February 2021
Newsdesk
The 30-year-old actress portrays the character, traditionally a young male pickpocket in Charles Dickens' classic novel 'Oliver Twist', in the new reimagining of the Victorian story and Rita believes it is a positive sign than any story can be adapted to focus on women.
In an interview with website HeyUGuys, she said: "What's amazing about art and about literature is you can really make your own interpretation of it. Even if you have one version of a story. To be able to do a film and modernise it, and it being such a British cultural sort of heritage, and Artful Dodger being a male, so to be able to come into this character and put my twist on it shows progression in the day and age that we live in.
"I'm always going to champion that, I'm always going to be a voice for that, and the more I see it, the more I'm happier and accepting the world is going to be. In all aspects of the word and not just in movies, not just for music, but in life, in offices, in general life. So I'm very happy that I was able to do this role and do it to my fullest potential and put my own twist on it."
What's more, the 'Let Me Love You' hitmaker loves how director Martin Owen was able to update the story to set it in modern London compared to how Charles Dickens saw the city in his 1838 book because it shows how the UK capital has evolved.
She said: "Having the ability to show the world and the streets of London from today rather than whenever Charles Dickens' did, I feel like us being able to have the ability to be like, 'This is us now!' and use our lingo and our language is always fun because London is the best. It's everything about it; the food, the culture, the vibe, the streets. For me it was a privilege to be able to nod to something that is already so classic."
