Phil Downes

Dafne Keen says her mum had directors and actors flirting with her every time she showed up on set. “My mum has always been considered really hot. She’s from Spain, and growing up, my guy friends would always ask when Maria was coming to pick me up. Honestly, she looks incredible.” Her mum’s reputation followed her onto film sets. “She’d come to set, and all the directors, stuntmen, and other actors would be flirting with her. I’d be there thinking, ‘We’re trying to get work done!’” Even at remote locations, Maria made an entrance. “She’d show up at a quarry wearing high heels and a tight pencil skirt. She knew exactly what she was doing. She’d walk in like, ‘Hello, everybody!, How are you today’ She’d absolutely milk it.” Keen loved it, but sometimes had to call her out. “I wasn’t embarrassed. I loved it. Although sometimes I’d tell her, ‘You’re distracting everyone. You need to stop.’ And she’d just say, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”