Sophie Hunter lies on a shabby sofa wearing the tiniest shred of silk that has ever passed for couture. She motions to one of the stylists for more lip gloss then throws her face from one side to another, hands sliding through her dark hair. 'Gorgeous,' says the photographer, but Sophie doesn't smile. She looks suitably sultry but a little detached, as if she'd like to be somewhere else entirely. Possibly the set of a French art-house movie.
There is something Gallic about Sophie Hunter, helped by the fact she looks strikingly similar to a young Sophie Marceau. At 26, she seems to combine all the necessary qualities of a French film star: luminous complexion, intense seriousness and just a touch of haughtiness. 'A lot of people don't think I'm English,' she says in a soft, well-spoken whisper.
'I've lived in France and people do think I'm French but I don't see myself as having a glamorous look. Maybe I am getting too serious.
But I just don't see myself like that.' It is her serious approach, no doubt, that has landed her a breakthrough role in Vanity Fair with no previous film experience at all. In it she plays Maria Osborne, Amelia Sedley's manipulative sister-in-law, alongside Jim Broadbent and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. In terms of stardom, she has been hotly tipped to be this year's Keira or Sienna. Difficult to imagine the latter, given that she is more Left Bank than Boho but, like Sienna, it is her potential as one half of a glamorous London couple that makes her so intriguing. Sophie's boyfriend is artist Conrad Shawcross, 27, son of William Shawcross, the Queen Mother's biographer, and author Marina Warner. He is also a protege of Charles Saatchi who, two years ago, bought one of his sculptures for [pounds sterling]26,000.
Sophie's soft features turn steely when I mention his name. 'We met at Oxford and we were really good friends there,' she says. 'And, yes, things went from there and we are very happy together.' They started going out with each other 18 months ago, although they are not living together - she has just moved to West London and he lives in Dalston in an old, converted textile warehouse which he shares with five other artists. At the moment she doesn't have any plans to settle down with him, she admits. 'No, to be perfectly honest, I can't imagine getting married. I've got a lot to do before I have children - they are way off.' For now, she is obsessed with her work. Her drive and ambition come, she says, from her parents. 'I was always encouraged to think; they championed the idea of the independent woman. You spend a lot of time studying and you want to do something with that.
Something that's tangible like creating a show, writing a screenplay, making a difference.' The eldest of five children, her father is an insurance executive turned professional card player and her mother works as an administrator. Sophie grew up in Hammersmith, near the river, and went to St Paul's where she developed a love of drama and languages - she studied modern languages at Oxford and spent two years living in France.
Her childhood appears to be tranquil on the surface but when I say it sounds like a nice, comfortable West London upbringing, there is a long pause. 'Umm, I really don't know what one of those is,' she says. 'My parents are divorced.' Maybe that's why she threw herself so devotedly into her work.
Certainly she is incredibly industrious. 'I have an appetite and, yes, I'm hardworking', she says. 'I actually want to achieve something and be part of something'. As well as setting up her own theatre group, Lacuna, and planning to take a performance of Hamlet to Syria, Beirut and Istanbul, she has just recorded an album with Guy Chambers, who wrote Robbie Williams' most successful songs. 'It's his foray into French music and I really enjoyed doing it but, no, I don't want to be a pop star.' She also beat Audrey Tautou to a part in The Story of Isis, a new film in development. And there have been rave reviews for her recent theatre role as Helen of Troy in Marlowe's Dr Faustus.
So far, though, her life hasn't changed at all; she has a circle of close friends and prefers, she says, going to the theatre three times a week rather than nightclubs or parties. 'No, I don't go to launches or hang out with stars.' You're more likely to find her firing off letters to the Arts Council asking them for money to fund her theatre projects. Dressing up and looking pretty for the sake of it is just a means to an end. 'Posing for the camera like this isn't my career. It's just a small part of it.' As long as she isn't a star she can indulge this view but, one suspects, not for much longer. Not that she views herself as an actress who can trade solely on her looks. 'I don't think I'm a pretty actress.
That's not a category that I feel I fall into.' So how come she started modelling at one point? She looks a little uncomfortable. 'Oh, that was 12 years ago,' she shrugs. 'I worked with a photographer called Michael Roberts and that was it.' A few moments later, as our stylist helps Sophie into a wispy Lanvin number, her mobile rings. It is a friend asking if she can go out this evening. 'Yes. Uh-huh. At the South Bank. It's a contemporary dance troupe, I'll meet you in there.' For the first time during the shoot she appears animated. 'I take all this,' she says, glancing at the array of clothes around us, 'with a pinch of salt. I think the day it's just about glamour is the day I'll be in trouble.' With that, she disappears into the bedroom to exchange the Lanvin confection for a pair of old jeans.
Vanity Fair is released at cinemas today
