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Even though she only has a handful of roles to her credit, Olivia Thirlby is quickly setting herself out as one to watch in the near future. The beautiful actress first gained notice as a doomed passenger on UNITED 93 and then broke out into the mainstream in JUNO as Juno's best friend Leah. However with THE WACKNESS, Olivia has her biggest role to date as the stepdaughter of Dr. Squires, the wild, rebellious Stephanie who forms a relationship with Luke over the course of the summer of 1994. To promote THE WACKNESS, Olivia sat down with the Crypt and talked about her character Stephanie, her preparation for the role, hanging out with Method Man, her love of hip hop music, and future projects in this Colonel's Crypt exclusive.
COLONEL’S CRYPT: What was it particularly about THE WACKNESS that wanted you to do it? OLIVIA THIRLBY: The script was amazing though it was kind of like the movie was a little better. Actually, the script and the movie were really good in different ways but the movie comes to life, takes on a life of its own in a way. The script was a mixture of so many things. I thought the characters were very unique. I had never read characters like that before, especially Dr. Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley). At the same time I thought that while the characters were these unique prototypes, there were all these universal themes that I thought were relatable and cool. CC: What was it like working with Sir Ben Kingsley in this type of environment? OT: You mean like a typical stoner environment? (Laughs) CC: That and working with him in general. OT: He’s amazing. The way he can embody a role and submerge himself in it and become somebody who he is not, it is amazing and inspiring to watch. It’s a major learning experience especially for a young actor who isn’t sure of what they’re doing. To see somebody working on his level is really amazing. He’s nothing like that so it’s cool seeing the two different sides of him where between takes he still looks like Dr. Squires but he’s speaking in this extremely proper British accent talking about philosophy and making this really far reaching and wise points about humanity, and the next scene he’s on set going “Do you have any weed because the dog ate mine,” so I’m just going “My god, who are you?” CC: Was your childhood growing up anything like your character at all? OT: Yeah, kind of. I grew up here in New York so yeah, we have that in common, Stephanie and I. The thing is I didn’t basically change myself very much for Stephanie. I just let myself be her and I’m saying her words and doing her things, but that’s me exactly as I am, I played it as myself. There’s no deep character work. I certainly didn’t have to transfer myself the way that Ben does. That’s how the director, Jonathan Levine, wanted it. He cast me to be myself and he cast Josh to be himself as well. CC: You were eight years old in 1994? OT: In the summertime of 1994 I was still seven (laughs). CC: Did you feel in looking at that time the differences in the slang between then and now. OT: I heard you got a slang glossary in your press kit. CC: Unfortunately. OT: I’m sorry, that’s pathetic. (Laughs) We just came up with our own words, Josh and I, so we didn’t follow that glossary. CC: How did you look at 1994 through the eyes of a teenager in this film as opposed to your real life when you were seven? Did you see anything different? OT: I guess yes and no. The thing about the characters is that they’re just existing in the time they’re existing in. It’s just their perspective and what they know and as an actor you can only bring your own perspective to things. I think in a lot of ways the city has changed of course, the city has cleaned up tremendously and we’re in a post-9/11 New York. I look at that time as a golden age of sorts. I think for the most part, the high school experience in New York City has not changed. I graduated in 2005. I think 9/11 was the major distinction. Even in my early high school years, the neighborhood I lived in, the East Village, was still very gritty and nobody went down there. It was safe and everything, but people didn’t go to hang out down there. People I went to school with had no idea that I lived down there. The Alphabet area was very foreign and that’s definitely changed. CC: Who would you say is Stephanie being that you say she’s not too much different than you? OT: I think that she’s kind of every girl. I always felt that when I was a teenager which wasn’t that long ago, that there were parts of me that were almost always conflicting. There’s two opposite traits that I would possess both of. I think Stephanie is kind of that way. She’s a girl who’s really confident, sexy, and sexual. She’s very laid back, relaxed, and goofy. I also think there’s a side of her that’s deeply lonely and really in need of companionship and friendship all the time which might be a flaw. I think she can be really self-absorbed and I think that while she can be understanding, genuine, and non-judgmental of Luke and his lack of experience she kind of takes him under her wing in a very sweet way but she doesn’t handle the situation as maturely as she could and that’s another big part of being a teenage girl because they’re a lot smarter than their age allows them to be so you feel that you really know what you’re doing. You feel like you’re really smart and all of a sudden you find yourself in difficult situations and you realize that you don’t know how to handle them. CC: Did you become more of a fan of hip hop since making this movie? OT: I was already a huge hip hop fan. I really like all the music that’s in the soundtrack. It’s so good. It’s funny because one of my favorite songs of all time that I had designated as such long before THE WACKNESS came along is actually on the soundtrack which is “Can I Kick It?” by A TRIBE CALLED QUEST. I actually was given a gift which is one of the most adored things I own and it’s a doormat that says rhythm rug because I love that song so much and there’s a lyric that goes “Wipe your feet really good on the rhythm rug” so it was my dream to have an actual rhythm rug and now I do. It was all before THE WACKNESS came along so it was quite serendipitous. CC: Even though you have no scenes with Method Man, did you get to hang out with him on set? OT: I did, I couldn’t miss that so I went to set on the day he was filming even though I wasn’t working. I just kind of hung out and watched it all go down. I tried to stand next to him but he’s twice my size literally. There’s a picture taken of him and I and he’s like gargantuan compared to me. I look like the tiniest person in the world next to him. He’s throwing up some cool sign and I didn’t know what to do so I just have one finger up. I never looked so lame, white, and tiny in my life (laughs). CC: What to you is the definition of independent? OT: The financing of a movie without a major studio. CC: That’s it? OT: That’s it, sorry. (Laughs) CC: OK. In the very last scene that Stephanie is in, when Luke is leaving she smiles at him, which was interesting. Would you care to describe that scene? OT: That was one of my favorite parts. That was the only take that I smiled and it was the last take. It was really fun that you’re so absorbed in a character that you do things that surprise you. You end up seeing them and they’re just really right. I loved that moment because it was in danger of getting heavy and serious. I think in that moment Stephanie that she realizes that it’s fun and Luke is being a little bit dramatic. I think she also has a moment where it hits her really hard that she hurt somebody that she cared about. It’s a very upsetting realization to come to and I think at that moment she felt “I’m going to be fine. He’s going to be fine. Maybe we’ll be friends and meet up one day.” I really like that moment too. CC: How was it in particular filming that scene where you teach Luke? OT: I think Stephanie wears the pants in the relationship. Luke’s kinda the bitch. He’s kind of just weepy and I don’t think she has a problem with that. I think that in her own way, how she was talking about the wackness and the dopeness is that she thinks he was looking at it in a negative light already and they just started this relationship, why don’t they just enjoy each other’s company. That’s what she’s trying to say to him and he obviously didn’t really get it. The sex scenes were interesting. We talked about them a lot beforehand and Josh and I had some specific parameters. There were parts of our body we didn’t want to show. We spent a lot of time working on it with the director and the DP. We had a very closed set. It was kind of awkward where you take your towel off and you’re naked except for a flesh toned thong and these little flesh toned stickers. Josh and I felt like neutered Barbie dolls. It’s very awkward between takes because you’re waiting for the people behind the camera to get their shit together. Once they are ready and action is called, you do the scene and it feels like any other scene. CC: You recently finished NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU. Who did you work with on your segment? OT: My scenes were with Anton Yelchin and James Caan. CC: And how were they to work with? OT: James Caan is so cool and funny. He’s just totally nice and it was very fun to get to know him. I’m such a huge fan of his and he plays my dad. Anton was also fun to work with. It was my first time working with him but I certainly had been following his work for a long time. It was a crazy shoot. We were doing some ridiculous things but we had a lot of fun working together. CC: Anything else on the horizon? OT: I also just finished a film called DREAM OF THE ROMANS. It’s a romantic comedy with Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham, two really awesome people. I have a very small part in it but it was very fun to work on and I’m looking forward to seeing it. There’s also SAFETY GLASS which is another film that Josh is in. Our characters in that movie almost have nothing to do with each other which is funny. We filmed it after THE WACKNESS and when we got there, everyone was meeting each other but we knew each other very well. Nobody was really getting how well we knew each other. A few of our friends and crew from the movie went to the LA premiere of THE WACKNESS a few nights ago and then after seeing our scenes, and in particular one, they all looked at us and went “So you two REALLY know each other.” (Laughs) CC: Thanks for your time Olivia and best of luck with THE WACKNESS. OT: Thank you. THE WACKNESS opens in theaters July 3rd (Special thanks to Caitlin Speed at Falco Ink) |
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