Most actors play trauma through shaking hands or tearful monologues. Finn does something disarming: she goes still. When Rebecca is threatened, her breathing slows. When she is cornered, her posture shrinks inward. Woodman captured this by casting an actor who trained in the Fitzmaurice method of breath control. The result is that Rebecca doesn't just look scared—she feels physiologically endangered.
The next day, the actress tried it. As she fumbled with the unfamiliar latch, her polished performance fell away — and for the first time, she looked uncertain, curious, afraid. Exactly like the second Mrs. de Winter. woodman casting rebecca better