Interviews of Jennifer Lawrence
Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence Interview, The Burning Plain
This interview originally appeared at: http://www.moviesonline.ca/...
Written By: Sheila Roberts
MoviesOnline had the pleasure of sitting down recently with Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence and director/screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga to talk about their new movie, “The Burning Plain,” a romantic mystery about a woman on the edge who takes an emotional journey back to the defining moment of her life. The film is the directorial debut of the Oscar-nominated screenwriter.
Oscar-winner Charlize Theron plays Sylvia, a beautiful restaurant manager whose cool, professional demeanor masks the sexually charged storm within. When a stranger from Mexico confronts her with her mysterious past, Sylvia is launched into a journey through space and time that inextricably connects her to these disparate characters, all of whom are grappling with their own romantic destinies.
In Mexico, a young motherless girl, Maria (Tessa Ia), lives happily with her father and his best friend until a tragic accident changes it all. In the New Mexico border town of Las Cruces, two teenagers, Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) and Santiago (JD Pardo), find love in the aftermath of their parents’ sudden deaths. In an abandoned trailer, a housewife, Gina (Oscar-winner Kim Basinger), embarks on a passionate affair that will put Sylvia and the others on a collision course with the explosive power of forbidden love.
Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence and Guillermo Arriaga are fabulous people and we really appreciated their time. Here’s what they had to tell us:
Q: Charlize, what was it about this character that resonated with you and why did you want to make this film?
CHARLIZE: Well, good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming out. It was this fella right here (indicates Guillermo Arriaga). Massive fan, obviously, of his writing and when he called and said “I'd like you to read this and I'd like for you to play Sylvia,” there was an instant excitement because I was a fan, and I feel like he writes and his voice is authentic to kind of what I like, so the script didn't disappoint. Then I thought, “I'm probably going to meet him and he's going to be a real asshole.” And then, we met and he wasn't an asshole. He was just really clear about what he wanted to do with this, and he really believed that the success of trying to make a good film is chemistry and that's the chemistry with the director as well. I felt like we had the right chemistry, that we would take each other's hand and kind of jump off the cliff and really set out to try and make the same movie.
Q: Charlize and Jennifer, you don’t have any scenes together obviously, but did you get to meet each other and talk off set at all about you playing her as a younger person. How did that work?
JENNIFER: Well yeah, we met because she was a producer. She came down for... I don't know how long you were there but…
CHARLIZE: (teasing) Well, that's great.
JENNIFER: She didn't make a very big impact in my life. (Laughs) Yeah, it was like three weeks after, he was on the phone. He goes, “Here. It's Charlize Theron on the phone.” It’s like “Oh my gosh!” Yeah. She came down for a few weeks, then we met. So yeah, we spent some time together.
Q: Did you pick up any mannerisms you could use?
JENNIFER: Well, she would have to pick them up from me.
CHARLIZE: Yeah. We shot all of her stuff first. No, Guillermo and I talked about this a lot. This is what I was saying earlier about, you know, him knowing the journey he wanted to take. We started the casting process and… Was it the first day?
GUILLERMO: Yeah.
CHARLIZE: It was, yeah. The first day of casting, he called me and he said “I found her.” I said “Alright, calm down. Very happy for you but you have three weeks of casting.” And, he was like “No, no, no! I've found her.” He sent me a tape and I've never been that blown away by an audition. I mean, never in my life have I ever given an audition like that. So, I think this movie was really blessed, you know. We got surrounded by really good people and the more we talked about cast, the more we'd just kind of send the script out and we got the cast that we really wanted from day one. So, he carries good karma with him, you know, and his writing's okay. (Laughter)
GUILLERMO: I want to say something. The day we met for the first time, Charlize and I, she said “You must be very careful with the casting of Mariana because a wrong cast will crush everything.” Yeah, it was the first day of casting. They were great casting directors and they sent me the tape and I was like “I want that girl.” And, of course, they were like “Come on. It's three weeks.” I said “I want her,” because, you know, she has impeccable taste as an actress , both of them. What I like about these two girls is they can tell a story without doing overacting or mannerisms. Just with your face, they can tell that there's a background, there's a story, there's a past in them. So, they have a lot of inner life which I was blessed to have in the film.
Q: Charlize, has your process of choosing the roles you take ever wavered or changed? How does that work?
CHARLIZE: Just choosing?
Q: Yeah, from day one until now.
CHARLIZE: Look, when I started, I was ready to go and do, you know, I was ready to pay my dues. By no means did I think that I was going to just walk in and do challenging work. I mean, I think in the beginning, there was a part of me that knew that there was going to be a few frustrating years and that's what you do. You get yourself out there and you work hard and you hope that word of mouth kind of carries and one day somebody will actually step up to the plate and say “I believe that you can do this.” I was very, very lucky. I was incredibly blessed. I mean, the first film that I did, “2 Days in the Valley,” was an incredibly creative experience. And, by no means can I say it was just a job. I feel like there were a couple of years there where I had to hold out a little bit where, you know, people kind of accepted me in that role of the femme fatale and so there was a lot of like “We want you to just do exactly what you did in “2 Days in the Valley.” So, I think it was a conscious effort on my part to kind of hold back and I didn't work for a couple of years and I waited and really fought for roles like “Devil's Advocate” and “The Yards” and “Cider House Rules.” I went in and screen tested and flew myself out and stalked and almost went to prison and, you know, didn't wash my hair to kind of break this idea of what people thought of me. But, I think I was very lucky. I was very blessed. I got to work on very good material and I look at my career and how I'm doing it now. I feel like there is something authentic in that process that I still try not to over manipulate. When I feel something, I try to listen to that.
Q: Why did you almost go to prison?
CHARLIZE: That was a joke, dude. (Laughter)
Q: I thought you were talking somewhat gratuitously.
CHARLIZE: No, I actually did go to prison for... I was deported when I was making “Devil's Advocate,” but that's another story.
Q: Please tell.
CHARLIZE: That's going to be for my book one day. (Laughs)
Q: Charlize and Jennifer, can you talk a little bit about the process of building this character that is so complicated and difficult?
CHARLIZE: I personally don’t really. I can't really talk about it because it's hard for me to articulate it. My process is a bit of everything, you know. I think I've learned over the years that you don't really have the luxury of just relying on one way of doing it. And so, for me, I think that if I'm emotionally tapping into something and I feel like I have a great partner that I could look to and feel like they're gonna be truthful and direct me, I rely on a lot of things and you have to, because some days it's 16-hour days and thinking about your own drama and your own life might not affect you, you know. And, I think acting is really fully adapting to your surroundings, to your emotions, to the people that you're working with, to being tired, to wanting to go home, to being lonely, to being happy. I mean, it's adapting. For me, it is anyway. And trusting. Adapting and trusting. That's my format right there.
Q: What about you, Jennifer? How did you prepare for it?
JENNIFER: I'm glad she said that because I thought I was going to have to come up with some elaborate process that I don't have.
CHARLIZE: Don't steal my answer.
JENNIFER: (Laughs) I’ll steal half of it. I don’t know. I haven’t really been acting enough… That was like one of my first, my second movie, so I had no idea what I was doing. I memorized my lines and I showed up and was like “Hey, I'm here to shoot a movie.” I mean, to be an actor, I guess we're all just like annoyingly emotional people, so I don’t know. I feel like I can't really prepare for it. Because now, when I do movies, I know that I can read the script and I can know what I'm doing. I can know my lines and everything, but until you get there and you get the wardrobe and you're on the set and then you start talking to the director and everything, that's when it really starts developing. I don't want to be close minded enough to already have it set in stone before I even show up to work and discuss it with the director. I have my thought on what I want to do but it's also important to be moldable, to be able to [say] “Well, why don't you try it this way?” “Well, okay.” So, I have my character which continues to grow through the filming. Before I start filming, I don't have all of the answers, ever. It's just developing, adapting and reacting. It's a lot of different things that happen during the filming.
Q: Charlize, you tend to go toward the darker roles, the very character- driven roles. Do you want to lighten up any time soon? Is there a romantic comedy in your future?
CHARLIZE: Guillermo and I are working on that right now.
GUILLERMO: Yup.
CHARLIZE: A documentary.
GUILLERMO: (Laughs) You don't see the making of this film. It was a romantic comedy. (Laughter) This was a comedy.
CHARLIZE: You know, I tend to not… I'm not saying that this is how it is but I don't necessarily think of them as dark roles. Obviously, I like conflicted women because I feel like we get so little of that. And, I guess, I like picking people up at kind of a crossroads where they have to... You know, you find them in a place where a lot of my characters could either make a choice that could work out okay for them or it's really gonna be not good. But sure, my God, you know, I think every director that works with me always comments on the fact that it is quite ironic that I haven't done comedy because I’m really not… I’m like, there is zero drama about me. And, the irony of it all is that. You know, I think what he said earlier about taste really applies to comedy, I think, maybe even more than drama. I think a sense of humor is a very personal thing and I don't know if I am talented enough to do romantic comedies. I don't think I could do the justice that a lot of other great actresses who really get that genre [can do]. I don't know if my comedic skills and timing would be good for that. But, I do know that I love what the Coen Brothers do. I love that kind of character wit, what Gus Van Sant does with comedy, that kind of character-driven.... So yeah, I would love to do something like that. Spread the word.
Q: Guillermo, why did you want to present this particular story? Why now and who is the audience?
GUILLERMO: The audience I hope will be larger than “Transformers.” (Laughs) You know, I have always respected the audience and I think that people now are more sophisticated and much more intelligent than we think. Many people ask me why these stories are alike, intertwined, and they are not linear. I never listen to someone tell a linear story in real life. Life can be linear, but the way we remember it, the way we express it, is always jumbled. Is that the word?
JENNIFER: (Laughs) You still change your j’s for y’s.
GUILLERMO: She was mocking my accent and my English all the time.
JENNIFER: (Laughs) It still happens. Don’t stop, by all means. Keep ‘yoing’.
GUILLERMO: But you think it’s sexy, isn’t it?
JENNIFER: What?
GUILLERMO: Sexy.
JENNIFER: Oh, it’s very, very sexy.
GUILLERMO: Okay. And, the audience is people who like to be challenged, who like to be moved. I think people will not go out of the film being indifferent to this film. I think they’ll be very moved and very emotional. And, that’s the kind of audience that wants to be involved with the film and who wants to participate. Not everyone likes to have everything digested. There were even parts of the film I didn’t know myself and I didn’t want to write it because I like the audience to fill those gaps. So, I think that’s the kind of audience for this film.
Q: Why did you want to tell this particular story?
GUILLERMO: Well, you know, most of the stories I have, they come from very ancient stories that have happened to me. When I was 9 or 10 years old, we were playing soccer in the street and a kid came running and said, “There’s a fire in the neighborhood.” So, we ran to the fire and we were watching. The kids were watching the fire and then suddenly someone said, “There’s people inside burning.” And that changed the whole perception of the event and it shocked me to the point that I am writing this right now. A fireman told me, “No, no, there was no one inside,” but you never know if he was lying or not. So, that story has been haunting me for many, many years. And this is not the first story I write about a house on fire. I wrote one that’s not yet produced, a comedy about a house on fire, and now this one.
CHARLIZE: [indicating her interest in the comedy] Me, me, me, me.
Q: Guillermo, what about the technical challenges? We know that you’re an awesome writer, but what about the other challenges of directing actors, working with a cinematographer, and an entire team of people?
GUILLERMO: Well, the reason I didn’t direct before is because I always thought that I didn’t have the technical knowledge to do it. But, there’s a line from Einstein that says “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” So, I say, “Okay. I’m responsible so I’m going to direct.” And, I began reading about directing, directing actors, for example, and none of the books worked because every actor is different and every situation is different. And, the good thing about working with actors is this dialogue you have with them. I was very fortunate to have these very intelligent women. You cannot say, “Charlize, hey, you have to do this and this and this and this.” It’s absurd. There’s a dialogue with the actors and you’re constructing. And there was a playful thing, for example, with Jennifer. We try a lot of things, very playful things. So, that was a good thing. And, I was surrounded by a great team. I have always insisted this is not my film, this is our film. And, the team in front of and behind the camera was incredible.
Q: Charlize and Jennifer, there’s a very serious subject in this that affects a lot of young women especially. It’s cutting and self-mutilation when you don’t feel good about yourself. I wondered if either of you researched that a little or what was your experience with that? Did you think about that as being such a big epidemic as it is?
CHARLIZE: Yeah, I mean, I have a real fascination with addiction and I think addiction is coping. So I think the kind of survival mechanisms that we use as humans to cope and survive boils down to some of the ugly things we don’t necessarily want to look at, which is self-mutilation or addiction. I’m fascinated by it. I think that’s probably what I could have done with my life if I wasn’t an actor because that kind of human observation is something that fascinates me. So, I’ve read a lot of books on it and I’ve spent a lot of time wanting to understand that more. I’ve never been a cutter or ever been addicted to anything, but I’ve met people and I’ve been around it. I grew up in a house with addiction and I think that grief and pain and survival, just being somebody who’s alive and having to cope with guilt, really kind of comes from wanting to numb, and I think that’s what self-mutilating is and that’s what sex addiction is. I’ve personally met a lot of parents who’ve lost children and sex addiction becomes very prevalent and they tend to split up. They tend to actually break up because one would cheat on the other one. But, it really is a moment that’s not about the sex. When we get sexually [aroused], when we have sex, we chemically change. I mean, things actually happen to our body and to our brain that chemically change us, and so it is like shooting heroin or having a drink. It’s a chemical reaction and cutting is the same thing. The endorphins that actually hit your brain from feeling pain change you. And so, it’s a need, I think, at the end of the day, the common need is to not feel, just to have one moment of not feeling.
Q: Can Jennifer just say a few things on that because so many young women are doing it? I just wondered if you had a comment.
JENNIFER: I didn’t think of Mariana doing it as self-mutilation. I think that Mariana’s entire character was completely taking away from herself because she was so disgusted with herself. I think that a huge part of her relationship with Santiago was fascination – fascination with their parents’ death, fascination with how they met. You know, they’re fascinated with each other and that’s what draws them to each other. And, it was just a morbid fascination of how the fire comes into her life and in certain ways of, you know, we talked about how Guillermo is… You can’t decide whether he’s sick or poetic. I mean, the two lovers, Santiago and Mariana, make love for the first time in their parents’ clothes and in their parents’ bed. Is that sick or is that poetic? And I think that they just have this…it’s a fascination. I don’t think that she was hurting herself in the way that girls who struggle with that problem do. I think she was doing it to form a connection, a memory, and to fulfill her morbid fascination with death and fire.
Q: You started to say “If I hadn’t been an actress, I would have been…” and then you jumped to something else. Would that have been a drug counselor or a shrink or what?
CHARLIZE: Just something that has to do with, I guess, the study of that kind of coping with those kind of addictions. I don’t know exactly what the field would have been, but I know that I definitely have a real fascination for it.
Q: Charlize, you’ve now successfully segued into the role of executive producer on a couple of films. What do you find the most challenging aspect of being an executive producer and the most gratifying aspect of it?
CHARLIZE: You know, I think at the end of the day I don’t really compartmentalize the job too much. I think from the first day I walked onto a set, there has always been a fascination that I’ve had with making a film and I think that’s just kind of grown and I feel really lucky that I’ve worked with producers who’ve always kind of encouraged that and some of them have become great mentors to me and are great friends. There’s something about that circus life that I really love and there’s also a business side of me that is really fascinated with how this industry functions and survives as a business and how you can, as efficiently as possible, make a film. But the rest of it is really… You know, once I’m on set, I’ll make a sandwich, like I don’t care, like I think that’s kind of the environment that filmmaking needs to be, for me anyway. You know, everybody’s in the same boat, man. And, at the end of the day, you’re just trying to do whatever you need to do or can do to make the best film that you possibly can, you know. That’s about it. And then, knock on wood.
