Rosie Day takes the wheel on All Roads Lead to Rome

ROSIE Day is talking about filming on location in Italy, playing the troubled teen daughter to Sarah Jessica Parker’s uptight New York mother in All Roads Lead To Rome. Day’s character, Summer, has liberated an Alfa Romeo Spider and is heading at high speed through Tuscany to the Italian capital, with veteran Italian actor Claudia Cardinale urging her on in the passenger seat.

As if driving in a sports car around cypress-lined hairpin bends isn’t enough, 20-year-old Day reveals that she didn’t really have a great deal of driving experience when she landed the role.

“My mum took me up to the Tesco car park to teach me, and then got annoyed because I was naturally really good at it,” she says.

So did she pass her test first time?

“Oh, I haven’t passed my test,” she says, airily. “When I got to Rome for filming they asked if I could drive and I said, ‘Not really’. So they gave me some more lessons and then when we were filming, the roads were blocked off so there was no other traffic. It was a manual car and I constantly stalled it, but once it was started, I was fine.”

So that’s all right then. How did her 77-year-old co-star feel about it?

“She was really nervous,” says Day, and laughs. “No, not really: she was up for everything. But I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to kill Claudia Cardinale, a living legend.’”

Rosie Day, centre, in All Roads Lead To Rome

Not that Day knew a lot about the Italian Brigitte Bardot, one of Italy’s most famous film stars, when she was cast in the romcom.

“At first I didn’t know who she was so I didn’t have any preconceptions,” she says. “But then my grandad told me all about her because he’s a massive fan. He said he’d seen her once in the street in London and she was so incredibly beautiful.”

Day was, however, in awe of her other co-star, Sarah Jessica Parker, from the beginning.

“It’s my first time working with somebody of her league, with her global fame, if you like. The first time I met her I was like a rabbit in the headlights, terrified and completely overwhelmed. But we spent a lot of time together when we were in Italy because we were the only two native English-speaking people, and I was playing her daughter so we had a lot of scenes together. I have the best memories of being with her. She’s a really funny person, so every day was different fun. Also it was a great script with incredible locations.”

Also, despite the age difference, it turned out that Day and 50-year-old Parker had a lot in common, with the elder actor making her Broadway debut at 11, before going on to star in the title role of the Broadway musical Annie, while Day began her career at five in the BBC series Hope And Glory.

“She’d been acting since she was a child too,” says Day, “and we worked in very similar ways, completely instinctive, so we bounced off each other.

“She [Sarah Jessica Parker] knows everything about acting and is a kick-ass businesswoman too. Nothing gets past her. Having her as someone to message for advice is really cool and I’ve learnt a lot.”

Day will be catching up with her mentor when she visits New York for her 21st birthday in March. “SJP is a mate of mine now, and her assistant Alyssa is a good mate too so I’ll see them then. We have a lot of fun together and they are just lovely people to know.”

One of the most important things Day feels she has learnt from the Sex And The City star is how to behave, both on set and off.

“She’s the most wonderful, normal human being. We went out to dinner and she got stopped 15 times and was as nice with the last one as with the first. She’s the consummate professional. And there’s nothing she doesn’t know about her job. It was incredible to work with her and learn from her. To have her as a friend now is amazing. The first night we went out for dinner I was, ‘Oh, you’re really normal and not fazed by anything’.

“There are people that are not as famous as her who don’t behave as well. There is no reason not to be like that, no excuses, because she literally can’t go out of her front door without being recognised. She’s down to earth because the people around her are, her three children and family.”

She adds: “Actors shouldn’t be sucked into thinking they’re wonderful. Come on, mate, you’re an actor, not a nurse or firefighter. In terms of what you’re giving the world, it’s nothing imperative.”

However, Day admits to getting very star-struck when she met Taylor Swift at a party in LA when she was 18. “I’ve always loved Taylor Swift… posters all over my bedroom walls. My friend made me go up and talk to her and she stood and talked for 20 minutes. When she left I just burst into tears. I had waited for that moment for years. But you’re an actor, you can’t get star struck.”

So Day has a healthy attitude for her chosen profession, instilled no doubt by a dad who works in the financial sector and a mum “who’s had tons of different jobs,” including police officer, interior designer and now works in financial services.

She says: “They wouldn’t let me get carried away for a single second. I still live at home with my mum and dad and even if I ask for a glass of water, they say get it yourself.”

Day hasn’t yet seen All Roads Lead To Rome, admitting to finding watching herself “cringey and weird”, but her parents and relations have seen her playing the eye-rolling wild child Summer. “My mum said, ‘It wasn’t hard for you to act that part, was it?’”

In reality Day hasn’t given her parents too much of a hard time growing up in Winchester, describing herself as “annoyingly well behaved” apart from a hedonistic summer when she was 16 and performing in a play at the Royal Court.

“I used to go to the bar with other people, using my elder sister’s passport. Then the Royal Court manager emailed round the bar to say, ‘Please remember, don’t serve Rosie Day, even if she has a passport, because she’s under 18’. So that stopped that.

“My parents