From director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Hanna), the epic love story Cyrano follows Cyrano de Bergerac (Peter Dinklage), a man of “unique physique” whose undeclared love for his hometown friend Roxanne (Haley Bennett) leads him down a path where he finds himself expressing his true feelings through the dashingly handsome Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). The young soldier has caught the eye of the beauty that inspires Cyrano’s poetic words, and Cyrano is so fearful of her reaction that he settles for ensuring her happiness with another.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, Bennett talked about bringing something new to a story that’s been around for so long, why she had to wait to find out if she’d get to reprise the role that she’d already played with Dinklage on stage, why the balcony scene was one of her favorites, and her favorite song to perform in the film.

Collider: Excellent work in this. This whole film is just so beautiful and emotional, and everybody did such tremendous work in it.

HALEY BENNETT: That makes me so happy. That’s exactly what we intended. That’s what we set out to do, to give you that feeling. I’m so pleased to hear that. Thank you.

I know that you did this on stage, but even then, when you sign on to do a retelling of something like Cyrano, that so many people are familiar with and that’s been told so many times, is there a sense of relief in knowing that it’s a story that’s been around for so long, or do you get extra nervous about bringing something new to a story that’s been around for so long?

BENNETT: At a certain point, you have to let that go, and connect with the material on a personal level, and try to tell the story as truthfully as possible, as an actor, whatever that means to you. I’m really grateful to (writer) Erica [Schmidt]. We made this adaptation as a stage play first. I’m so grateful to Pete [Dinklage] and Erica for embracing my interpretation of the character. But of course, there’s definitely pressure. With the film, (director) Joe [Wright] had such a specific vision for the piece. It’s a film that’s set in the fantasy world of a period. It’s not so glued to the original story, which is set in France. It’s a French story. But the characters exist in an alluring dream world of a reality. It’s a drama, but we also sing in the film. There are a lot of elements that are completely new.

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With how moving your performances and with the emotion that comes out in the songs, I can’t imagine anyone else playing Roxanne, but you’ve also said that you weren’t sure if you would get to do this. How hard was the waiting to find out?

BENNETT: I was eight months pregnant when we finished the stage production at the Goodspeed Theatre, which sat 70 people. When I first sought out to do theater, I’d always dreamed of maybe one day performing on Broadway, or off-Broadway, or any theater would be fine. When we finished the play, I was eight months pregnant with my daughter, playing a virgin, which I don’t know how successfully I did that. I was really gutted when I didn’t get to go off-Broadway, but I had been offered a part in Ron Howard’s film (Hillbilly Elegy), and that was just much more practical, in terms of nurturing a new relationship with my newborn. But I felt like I just wasn’t finished with the project. At the same time I knew that Joe was developing the project for the screen, to make the film with Erica, Pete’s wife, who was writing the script for the film. That’s a really long and drawn out process, and you never know if films are going to get made or if they’re not. I knew that the casting of Pete would be set in stone, but I didn’t know that, for sure, the studio would approve my casting.

What was it like to have the familiarity of collaborating with Peter Dinklage, but also the discovery of collaborating with Kelvin Harrison Jr.? What did you enjoy about being caught between the two of them, as scene partners?

BENNETT: One of my favorite scenes that I got to take part in was the balcony scene, where we all were together in one. It’s such an exciting scene for an actor. There’s such a fine balance between what Roxanne is aware of and what she isn’t aware of. I loved that dynamic with Peter. I had to stop myself from laughing, many times, during takes because they’re both so dynamic and talented and enigmatic. Christian is the puppet, and Cyrano is the puppeteer. I loved the way that Kelvin used physicality in that scene. He’d be expressing himself, even though he wasn’t the one saying the words. I really loved how nuanced of a performance that Kelvin gave in that scene.

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RELATED: Kelvin Harrison Jr. on ‘Cyrano,’ Why He Loved the Songs, and Playing B.B. King in Baz Luhrmann’s 'Elvis' Movie

Did you have a favorite song that you got to perform in this?

BENNETT: Yeah, definitely it’s “I Need More,” because it felt like a real power ballad. It’s also the song that I was most afraid of because I had to reach such great heights with the notes and being that we had to sing it live. Also, it was one of the most liberating songs to perform because I set out an intention to not try to sound good. It was like, “Okay, if I sound ugly, if I sound hideous, if I don’t hit a note, that’s okay.” I wanted to free myself from those expectations, and I felt like maybe that would make for a more interesting performance. I loved it too because I had all of this space to inhabit and take up. I really enjoyed and relished in taking up that much space. It’s not something I feel, as an actor, I’ve had the chance to do, and I absolutely loved it.

Cyrano is now playing in theaters.