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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. How much more physically demanding has this movie
been than others you have done?
A. It’s certainly been more physically demanding
than Girl With The Pearl Earring…
We’ve been doing a lot of running, it has been physically
demanding, it is something you want to be in shape for.
Early on, I was coming home with, like, shin splints: “Okay!
I got to start working out.” But, you know, I think you
don’t realise how hard you run when you are running for
your life. I mean don’t know if you’ve ever run for
your life before, to freak out and a full sprint. Yeah, it has
been quite physically demanding.
Q. Is that more fun?
A. It is different, I have never really done anything
like that before. I did train for a few months for Mission Impossible
when we were going to do it last fall, but we were basically doing
weapons training and stunt work and that kind of thing. We weren’t
really doing such physical stuff from point A to point B, horizontally
anyway.
Q. What did you find in the script that was close to
your tastes as an actress?
A. I think I as a movie watcher and an audience member
I'm always one for a good genre movie. If it’s done well,
Jurassic Park is one of my favourite movies of all time because
it transports you, or an Indiana Jones movie.
It doesn’t have to be some character-driven story for you
to believe it for two hours. And when I read the script I really
bought it, I thought 'wow, this is fantastic'.
It was very exciting, I was turning the pages, wanting to know
what will happen. I thought if this is done how I am thinking
and reading it, then it will be larger than life, a really fantastic
science fiction thriller.
And, of course, when I met Michael and he showed me some of the
work he had been doing with digital storyboarding and that kind
of thing, it was kind of like, 'yes this is going to be really
cool'.
Q. Michael Bay is known for being pretty difficult sometimes,
pushing his actors. Have you found that?
A. Michael has never screamed at me, if I did I would
probably scream back. I found Michael to be very reasonable with
us.
He’s never made me do anything I don’t want to do.
He’s been very thoughtful about the fact that Ewan and I
are not stunt people. We’re acting at the same time we are
running and that kind of thing.
He’s not trying to exhaust us or anything like that. He’s
certainly very demanding of the crew. He’s somebody that
knows what he wants, and you want to give that to him. He’s
not undecided. When you are making a film of this magnitude, you
have your hands in a million pockets or whatever the phrase it.
Q. Is it a bit strange having to wear white the whole
time?
A. Yes, it’s really flattering and glamorous. Ewan
and I are sweaty and smelly and greasy the whole time, it’s
so funny. This is not a glamorous industry at all. Trawling through
greasy, oily water. But it is a little bit different in the prep
for an award show.
Q. It is difficult for an actress or an actor, to work
with blue screen?
A. Yeah, I don’t know that it’s like more
difficult than anything else. You just have to have a good imagination
I guess. You are reacting to a tennis ball or something, but you
are doing it. I mean look at Ewan he did it for, what, a year
and a half on Star Wars.
You are learning how far you can push yourself as an actor. You
become familiar with your ability to put yourself in an uncommon
situation. You are experiencing, even though that massive truck
isn’t coming towards me, but you are thinking 'Jesus Christ,
a massive truck is coming towards me!'
I don’t think that is harder than trying to fumble through
dialogue, or make something silly sound realistic. We have all
sorts of bizarre challenges that are only in this industry.
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Q. Is it a challenge to stay
level headed given you’ve had a meteoric rise in terms of
your acting career?
A. I don’t know, I just do things…. I do
magazines and things when I want to. I think to stay level-headed
you have to know when to say, “No, you know I’ve had
a really long week I can’t deal with this right now…”
You have time for yourself and the time when you are working and
never mix the two up. In a sense I am always working, I find even
when I am trying to spend time off, I always have something going
on with a film I am working on – working on scripts, when
it is coming out, working on ideas, working on things that need
to be rewritten, all kinds of things.
I mean to actually do that kind of work… The media side
of it, that is what gets you lop-sided. When you start believing
it - “I am the most incredible thing of the last ten years!”
or whatever they are saying. And you start to incorporate that
into you private life. If you separate the two things and realise
that one is used to help you in your work, then you have your
own private time and private life.
Q. Your mother said you were making too many films, is
she right?
A. She would probably like me to take a vacation, probably
a vacation with her. It’s like, “I never see you anymore…”
But she gets it, she knows I am happy, she knows what I want.
She’s good in that way. Even though she might advise me
to not take something and hang out at home in her motherly way.
She gets it. She knows I am really enjoying it. That goes for
all of my siblings, she cares that we are doing stuff that we
really care about.
Q. How much fun has it been working with Ewan McGregor?
A. It’s been so much fun. I couldn’t wish
for a more lovely or sweet person to work with. It’s very
rare that you actually work for the whole day and then you actually
want to hang out with somebody off set. He’s such a sweetheart,
he’s got a wonderful family, and he’s such a regular
guy.
I mean we laugh a lot, especially when you are working this hard,
working this long on a show, you want to make sure you can laugh
a lot when no one else is laughing. Everybody is working so hard,
and you’ve been running for your life, you want to be silly
about it. I would love to work with him in other capacities, outside
of this film, in a dramatic piece, in a comedy. We make a good
team.
Q. If you were literally stuck on an island what would
you take?
A. How many things are you allowed?
Q. Three.
A. I would take a giant tub of water… A bayonet
knife, I could think of things that would be useful like rope.
Q. Possessions?
A. I don’t know – my sister, sunblock and
my mum. The girls.
Q. Why you surprised to be offered a role like this?
A. I wasn’t surprised, I was pleased that the studio
and Michael could see me outside of a dramatic actor, or outside
of In Good Company or Lost
In Translation.
I’ve had 12 years of all different kinds of films, but I
have never done an action film. It’s nice to know they think
I can go the distance.
Q. The next film you make will be The Black Dahlia…
A. Well, Black Dahlia is based on the James Ellroy novel,
and I play a character called Kay Lake who is a very complicated
girl, she is very broken. She is kind of the girl crying behind
her smile. It is a wonderful story, wonderful book, I think it
is going to be a pretty exciting movie. Brian De Palma has brought
together an amazing crew, right through the cinematographer, costume
designer, set designer, and it’s a great cast as well, so
it should go pretty well I think.
Q. How was it working with Woody Allen on Match
Point?
A. It was fantastic. He would probably want me to say
he was a beast or a monster or something. That’s what he
said, “When you do your press interviews make sure they
know how horrible I am.” Okay… He was more than I
ever could have dreamed, I just adored working with him.
I think we made a good pair, he was hysterical – very insulting.
He was always trying to dig into your personal life, he wants
to know every aspect of your romantic life, trying to live vicariously.
He was very funny, I adored him. I would do it a million times
over.
Related stories: Read
the review
Ewan McGregor interview
Match Point preview
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