Australian actress Claude Scott-Mitchell’s ‘crippling’ realisation while filming new series

Aussie actress Claude Scott-Mitchell has opened up about the “crippling” realisation she had while filming her glamorous new show, Hotel Portofino.

Young Australian actress Claude Scott-Mitchell is growing up in the era of female empowerment.

So diving into the role of a British lady in the roaring ’20s for the new period drama Hotel Portofino was certainly eye-opening. “Crippling”, even.

The 23-year-old up-and-coming screen star, who was born in Canberra and is now based in the UK, plays Rose Drummond-Ward in the glamorous six-part series, which premieres on Foxtel on February 8.

It follows Bella Ainsworth (Natascha McElhone), the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who moves to Italy to set up a quintessentially British hotel in the beautiful town of Portofino, during a time when Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini’s brand of fascism was on the rise.

Scott-Mitchell factors in as a guest at the hotel, a reserved character who’s having her life carved out for her, a foreign concept for the local rising star who set off for the UK to pave her path in showbiz at her own will.

“It’s a bit of a spoiler but like, you really do see a young woman essentially pushed into a marriage, and I think only in that moment it didn’t really sink in for me how crippling that could actually feel,” Scott-Mitchell tells news.com.au.

Claude Scott-Mitchell stars in Hotel Portofino. Picture: Foxtel

“I was playing someone who is kind of like maybe my great-grandma, and it was a weird thing being like … How much choice did people really have back then?

“I watched it all again recently, and it was an interesting thing seeing women actually have to deal with the after-effects of the war and losing their children. You really get to see that in this show; you know, mothers talking to other mothers who’ve lost children all for the same reason. It was just a really strange thing to comprehend, that you could just turn to your neighbour and be like, ‘Oh, we both have that shared trauma.’”

With international borders closed in Australia for two years, Scott-Mitchell was one of the lucky folks who was able to venture off on a European jaunt after landing the role.

The show is set in Portofino but was predominantly filmed in Croatia, which the cast called home for three months.

“Every second weekend we got the whole weekend off and we would do like little road trips. It was really beautiful, and also it was so quiet. Where we were shooting was a holiday destination but I don’t think a lot of people were travelling at that time,” she says.

“It was lovely because it’s a big ensemble cast and so we would do big dinners together, and there was a lot of swimming that we did. If you were lucky enough to finish before the sun went down, you could go for a swim at the bottom of the villa.

“It really did feel like a blessing because we’ve obviously been through lockdown here and then that job happened, I think, in the last month of London’s lockdown and then a lot of the Italians were in lockdown still. It was just a very welcomed escape.”

Stream Hotel Portofino on Foxtel On Demand. New customers get a 10-day free trial. Sign up at foxtel.com.au

The show is set in the beautiful Italian city.

The luxurious coastline captured in Hotel Portofino is a character in itself, but the refined fashion is another element that will satisfy viewers yearning for escapism.

Scott-Mitchell, who is developing her own style reputation in the fashion industry, savoured the opportunity to rummage through the timeless wardrobes of 1920s women.

“I loved a lot of the dinner gowns that we got to wear,” she says.

“It was also nice actually seeing what they wear while travelling, but really I spent a lot of the show in my pyjamas.

“There was a good three weeks where I was just in pyjamas every day – the whole cast was in pyjamas every day. I think we all really liked that.”

Scott-Mitchell said she enjoyed the fashion element of the series. Picture: Foxtel

Despite setting up roots in London, Scott-Mitchell hopes she can strike a working balance with international productions as well as those in Australia, where she began her career working on The Dry alongside Eric Bana.

“Realistically, I’m based here so it would be a really lovely thing to work here. But I would love to be able to come back and work in Australia. I think it’s a really unique industry and there’s a lot of really hardworking people, and a lot of incredible talent. I would love to be able to make it work in both places,” she says.

“And it grounds me because it’s where I learned a lot of things and I would love to be a part of storytelling in Australia, so hopefully I can get a nice balance between the two.”

Hotel Portofino premieres on Foxtel’s Fox Showcase 8.30pm February 8

Originally published as Australian actress Claude Scott-Mitchell’s ‘crippling’ realisation while filming new series