|
|
|
 |
||
|
Although both are from different parts of the world, how both British actress Emily Mortimer and Brazilian actress Alice Braga came to REDBELT were similar: David Mamet was a fan of both. Mortimer has already had a storied career with lead roles in films such as Woody Allen's MATCH POINT, YOUNG ADAM, LOVELY & AMAZING, and to horror fans in SCREAM 3. In REDBELT, she plays the vulnerable Laura Black, whose encounter with Mike Terry sets off this chain of events within the film. Braga made her big screen debut in the acclaimed CITY OF GOD and recently appeared opposite Will Smith in I AM LEGEND in her big budget Hollywood debut. In REDBELT, she plays the debt ridden wife of Mike Terry, Sondra, who tries to take matters into her own hands with disastrous results. To promote REDEBLT, the two ladies at the forefront of Mike Terry's story took part in a roundtable to discuss the film, nudity in movies, working with star Chiwetel Ejiofor, and the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (or lack thereof in one case).
Alice, you’ve been busy, with I AM LEGEND and now REDBELT, you are everywhere. Did you expect that? ALICE BRAGA: No, I always love movies and working on movies. After LOWER CITY, I moved around and you never expect when to work again but when it happens, it’s such a joy. Alice, David Mamet said that one of the first movies he saw with you was LOWER CITY. Did he talk to you about it? AB: He called me right away when he finished the movie and I was a little shy because I was naked halfway through the movie. He said it was really nice and he enjoyed the movie and said such great things about my performance. I was honored because to hear that from David Mamet was really special and emotional. That’s an interesting common ground you both share. EMILY MORTIMER: Nakedness? (Laughter) Lots of actors do that, we’re just shameless. AB: The great thing is for those characters, there’s so much meaning to it. I remember when I was invited to do LOWER CITY and when I started rehearsing for it, the first thing that got my attention was the challenge for it and I really went straight to that challenge. Once I would get into it, if I would think that I was shy or I’m this or I’m that, I wouldn’t do either or the other. I wouldn’t portray the character right and I wouldn’t be protecting myself. It would be one or the other so what I decided to do was to commit a hundred percent into it and pour all my passion and belief into it. EM: I once had to do a nude scene in England for a TV thing. The director persuaded me that it was really vital for the artistic integrity of the piece if I took my nightie off for this one scene before I got into bed with the main character because I had just performed an operation on him. It was so weird. Anyway, I went through hell trying to work out whether or not it was a good thing to do. I talked to my agent, my mom, and my dad, and finally I just went “Fuck it” because I didn’t have a good enough excuse not to. I did the scene and the director came up to me and he said “That was lovely Emily but could we try it one more time with your nightie on,” and I was so offended (Laughter). I finally got the courage to take this thing off and they seemed so disappointed. I’m never embarrassed ever again to take my clothes off. I’m just relieved that someone allows me to put them back on. You were very brave in that scene in LOVELY & AMAZING. Why did you agree to do that scene? EM: I think in the right context like Alice was saying, it’s the most liberating and incredible feeling not because you are naked, but just because there’s this weird faith being in the moment which I just kind of feel constantly that I’m not enough or feeling if I am in the moment. In that scene in LOVELY & AMAZING, I was standing naked in a room with another man who was analyzing my body, telling me everything that was wrong with it and everything that was right with it, more with what was wrong for it. They written this speech specifically for me so everything that he was saying was true. From that moment, I was vulnerable, foolish, and brave as that character but there was no division from what I was feeling and what the character was feeling. It was incredible and I was very grateful to have done that film. Emily, your character in REDBELT seems to be in another film entirely. How did it feel to be part of this ensemble? EM: I was just really excited by the script. I think the only way you can decide what work you are going to do is by whether or not you respond to the script. If ever I have done a job and not like the script because people have told me it would be a good idea, it’s always been a disaster and I’ve been covered with shame as a result of it. This was not one of those, to me it was a really striking and original script unlike anything else I’ve ever read. The character of Laura I loved as well. It’s not a huge part but there’s something incredibly interesting to me about this woman who’s a strong advocate of what she believes in. She’s an eloquent, tough woman in a man’s world but she’s also on the verge of a nervous collapse and I think that complexity is rare for women in movies. Just being able to do a Mamet film was just thrilling. What did you both experience in being directed by Mamet? AB: I was very honored by it but at the same time I was really frightened because you didn’t know what was going to come up. After talking to him, I read the script. It was interesting because you think that he’s going to be picky with the words he wrote or being a writer, he would be honed in that sense. On the other hand, he was so gentle, kind, and so open with us all the time. He was generous with letting it be. I felt really welcome and really taken care of. I liked the way he directed because the best thing about the movie was connecting with him and being able to tell the story together. It was an honor and a joy being I knew him through his books and his plays. My parents are also big fans of his being they are both in cinema. When the news came up, there was happiness in the house because everyone was so proud that I would get the chance to work with him and be part of something very special. EM: I had read a little of his stuff about acting and it’s very interesting. He has a cool take on it I think which is that we as actors shouldn’t act. We don’t have to feel the burden of telling the story through our own emotions somehow. A story is being told and all we have to do is turn up and say the lines. To a degree, it’s facetious and funny but in some ways I also think it’s true in that there’s nothing worse than seeing someone act and have the sense that they’re acting and they’re in something very important and he takes the pressure off the need of that kind of emoting. It’s very liberating as an actor. That doesn’t mean to say that you don’t feel restricted. If the moment requires it and you feel it, emote, but it’s what expected of you and you can’t be a serious actor in a serious piece of work unless you’re really fucking acting. I love that about the way that he directs. People think that if you’re in a Mamet film you’re going to be called upon to say the dialogue in a specific way and that’s not true. He’s the least descriptive director I’ve ever had. There’s something about knowing his work so well and being aware of the school of Mamet that doesn’t sort of inform how you perform something in his movie. I feel the same about Woody Allen. He never tells you to do anything at all. He never gives you any direction but somehow you end up at the end of that you have that familiar feeling of being in this director’s world for so long and it’s so much part of our culture, that I think it might inform a little bit of how you work. Did you take any lessons in Jiu-Jitsu? AB: I got a lesson. I did a couple of classes to get a feel of it. In Brazil, we are used to Jiu-Jitsu because it’s a big thing in Brazil. People really practice there and the Gracie family are huge, but even though I knew about it, I never learned it. Once I started working on the movie, I felt it was important to learn it for my character to just for me to understand this world because her father is a fighter, all her brothers, and her husband is a fighter so she grew up in that world. For her to marry someone, she probably met this person in that environment. It was important to know where she was coming from and how her life was surrounded by it. Emily, you did a bit of training in one scene. EM: But I didn’t do any training prior to that scene which was really to my cost because I was unable to move for about three weeks. (Laighter) My body was in shock. I hadn’t done that amount of exercise ever I don’t think. It was so nice. Alice and I did an interview earlier where we were asked about this. I was a total stranger to Jiu-Jitsu. I hadn’t even heard the word Jiu-Jitsu before I did this movie. The interviewer asked “Emily, now that you’ve done the movie, can you tell us a little bit about what you’ve learned about Jiu-Jitsu,” and I went “Well, it’s a mixed martial art,” and I turned to Alice and asked “Is that right?” AB: And I said no. (Laughter) EM: I guess I haven’t learned very much. Could you talk about the philosophical aspect of the film and did you learn from that? AB: I did and it’s interesting because REDBELT is a movie that talks about Jiu-Jitsu, it has Jiu-Jitsu in the story, it has the fighters, but it’s not a movie about the martial art. It’s not about the meaning of it. Of course it has the quality of it but it’s about Mike Terry, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character, it’s his journey through this martial art and apart from that, what he believes in. He’s trying to fight against this system that’s surrounding him or he’s trying to get the money to survive. There are so many things in this script. Mamet writes so many different things where I could get an idea of it, you could get another one, and so on, and it’s there but it shows a lot of what Jiu-Jitsu is. In my opinion, it’s a martial art that’s not about the fighting. It’s not about being aggressive and hurting the other person. It’s much more about avoiding the fight and it’s much more mental than it is physical. Of course, you’re grappling and rolling around, but it’s much more to dominate. EM: You’re overcoming adversity. AB: I thought the scene with Chiwetel and Emily was so beautiful and so moving because she could not be touched and when he touches her, he’s so powerful. The stabbing is so beautiful because he’s teaching her she doesn’t need to be aggressive to anyone to protect herself. She could turn around and defend herself without avoiding it because the more you avoid it, the more it’s going to affect you. How was it working with Chiwetel? EM: He is the sweetest, most soft spoken, unabrasive person. He’s very much like he is in the movie, he’s very dignified and calm and despite the fact that he was in every scene in the film, he was getting a physical punishing every day, he never made it about himself. You didn’t feel that he was putting the focus of the film on him at all and he delivered this brilliant performance in the most quiet, unobtrusive way. He’s a very cool guy. AB: He’s very sweet. What’s next for the both of you? EM: I haven’t got a job coming up. I just finished a play and I have a film coming out called TRANSSIBEREAN with Ben Kingsley and Woody Harrelson, directed by Brad Anderson, and then there’s THE PINK PANTHER PART 2. How was it working with Brad Anderson? EM: I love Brad Anderson. I think he’s the real deal. He’s an auteur and he never stops. He’s just full of energy with this crazy shit that goes on inside his head. He just slams it out there on celluloid and he loves it. Alice, what do you have coming up? AB: I have some movies to be released. I have CROSSING OVER, a movie about immigration in the United States. I have BLINDNESS, which is Fernando Meirelles’ latest film, and there’s REPOSSESSION MAMBO but I think it’s delayed until 2009. It’s a movie about talks about the possibility of artificial organs, it’s a wild script. I had a lot of fun on that film. Thank you ladies. EM: You’re welcome. AB: Take care. REDBELT opens in theaters on May 9th from Sony Pictures Classics. (Special thanks to Caitlin Speed at Falco Ink)
|
HOME
BLOGS
|
|||
