Eleanor Tomlinson: not your average princess in 'Jack the Giant Slayer'

MANILA, Philippines - Young British actress Eleanor Tomlinson (“Alice in Wonderland”) plays Isabelle, the feisty princess yearning for adventure, in New Line Cinema's 3D action fantasy “Jack the Giant Slayer.”

If it was adventure the princess craved, she certainly finds it the night she sneaks out of the castle and rides as far as Jack’s (Nicholas Hoult) hovel before seeking shelter from a growing storm. She arrives just in time to see one of the special beans Jack brought back from the marketplace sprout into a gargantuan vine. Its writhing tendrils drive the tiny dwelling straight up into the sky, and her along with it, prompting an urgent rescue mission.

“She's not your average princess,” offers Eleanor Tomlinson, as the royal rebel. “She’s strong-willed and nonconformist. She doesn’t want the pomp and protocol and all that comes along with being the daughter of a king, and only experiencing life from behind stone walls, which is why she runs away from the palace every chance she gets. She’d rather be a normal girl.”

Tomlinson and director Bryan Singer balanced Isabelle’s liberated aspirations and outward edge with a natural tenderness and compassion, making her all the more a fitting match for her yet-unspoken suitor. Tomlinson explains, “She loves her father and understands how he feels, having lost her mother years ago. That’s one of the things I liked about the script. With all this madness going on—the action and effects and the giants—it’s still about people and relationships, and there’s more than one emotional story at its core.”

“Eleanor brought all these qualities to the fore with consummate grace: the tomboy who lives to take chances and yet never forgets her dignity and true calling. She looked great disguised in squires’ clothes or utterly glamorous as a princess,” says Singer.

“Jack and Isabelle are people who are meant to be together,” he concludes. “They’re two adventurous souls on the cusp of adulthood, who share a yearning to be free, and their paths are about to cross.”

Tomlinson previously appeared as Fiona Chattaway in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” starring an ensemble cast, and as Eve in the “Dr. Who” spin-off, “The Sarah Jane Adventures.” Leading roles in two thriller/horror movies followed, TV’s “The Village” and the feature “Styria.” She also appeared in the television movie “The Lost Future,” alongside Sean Bean and Sam Claflin.

She will soon be seen in the feature drama “Siberian Education,” alongside John Malkovich and Peter Stormare, and recently wrapped the BBC drama “The White Queen,” to air in the U.S. on Starz.

In 2009, Tomlinson had the great honor of becoming teenage ambassador for World Vision and made a life-changing trip to Jaipur, India, to help highlight the problems experienced by teenage girls being forced into the sex trade. She is also patron of the local charity Wheelchairs for Kids in her home town of East Yorkshire, England.

A New Line Cinema presentation, in association with Legendary Pictures, “Jack the Giant Slayer” opens in the Philippines in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and regular theaters on Feb. 28 and is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.