Spies and Corsets

“I found the transition into this role relatively smooth,” Heather Lind told Hollywood on the Potomac about her acting in TURN: Washington Spies, AMC’s spy series that launched its second season appropriately at the International Spy Museum with cast and director in tow. A layered spy thriller, TURN is the untold true story of America’s first spy ring whose members turn against King and family to fight for freedom. Based on the book Washington’s Spies by Alexander Rose, TURN introduces us to The Culper Ring, a group of childhood friends who become George Washington’s secret weapon in turning the tide of the war and, in the process, revolutionize the art of espionage.

Heather plays Anna Strong, a kind of unlikely heroine. Lind delves into how it felt to be her from costumes to thoughts. “I sort of understood what a corset does to my mentality,” she said of her period costumes and the mentality of women at that time. “I understood the expectation socially of what a woman could and couldn’t do in that particular period. I’m not a method actor, but I sort of read as much primary source material as I could. I looked at paintings of the period and I read some Alexander Pope poetry and I read Alex Rose’s book Washington’s Spies. I wanted to gather as much information as I could. Once I got to the set and put all the costumes on I did what I know how to do which is just be that person and feeling that period. It starts to feel really immediate and comfortable. What I love about period pieces is you realize how universal the human experience is in many different time periods.”