Thank you
@mp5stab for such lofty praise, and everyone for your likes and comments.
A little “making of” info. Gilly Duncan is the central character in the real-life story of the North Berwick Witch Trials. What was done to her was horrifically unjust. She was kidnapped by her boss and illegally tortured until she confessed to being a witch and implicated others. I suspect that the real-life David Seton was financially motivated. Gilly had implicated Seton’s relative who happened to be a rich widow and Seton would get the money if his relative was convicted of witchcraft, which was a capital crime under Scottland’s Witchcraft Act.
Seton also likely appreciated that what he was doing was illegal (in early modern times, despite being a noble you weren’t permitted to torture your employees) and made Gilly confess to a bizarre story that the coven of witches she was part of plotted to assassinate King James VI and his new bride, Anne of Denmark. By covering up his money-grab and illegal torture of his employee by concocting a treason story, Seton got cover and King James VI himself got involved and oversaw the whole witch hunt. The real-life Gilly personally met with King James VI to petition for leniency and to recant her confession. David Seton is one of history’s true villains who suffered no consequences for what he did.
For THE WITCH, I wanted to make Gilly a secondary character and turn it into a story of betrayed friendship, to emphasize the tragedy. So, I created Agnes Walker to be my protagonist.
Agnes’ body and face are modeled after 2 different people. Her body is of Alina from Cruel World fame, and her face is modeled after none other than the quintessential blonde-bombshell, Marilyn Monroe. Agnes is younger than Marilyn in her heyday, and she was pregnant 3 times, so her cheeks and lips are fuller (as are her breasts and hips). I did not approach this like Marilyn playing Agnes in a movie, but perhaps Agnes being a distant relative. I couldn’t let Gilly pale in comparison to Agnes, so her face is modeled after a young Jane Seymour. Take a look...