Ep02 - Amy Adams / "Arrival"

and we've been watching movies all weekend. How are you doing great? This is the film fast of all as far as I'm concerned. I missed the last two because I was living in Paris working from there for a Variety when I come back in Paris, you know, seriously, it's the thing I missed most about the States. I'm so glad that I'm at Tell Your Ride Venice happens at the same time. It's a great film festival. But the thing that makes this festival so special is that

it's small. It happens over Labor Day weekend. It's really uh closely curated. It's a very uh you know, small crop of films, all of them excellent. It doesn't mean that I'm going to love all of them, but compared to any other film festival with there are a lot of just you know, stinkers mixed in Toronto next week, which is going to be garbage. You know. It's like that's what happens when you have that volume. Yeah, and

Tell Your Right is the cream of the crop. It shows here early and uh so we've kind of gotten a headstart on the best movies of the rest of the year. Absolutely, and you mentioned Venice. A couple of movies came from Venice to Tell Your Ride this year. It's an incredible trip to make. I mean those people, Damien Chazelle with La La End and then a Stone, they're just tired as you would be. Um a few

filmmakers do it. This is the first year that I've driven out here, so it's like, I feel it's like the tired, jet lagged or whatever is they must but but it's worth the trip for them for you know a lot of reasons. And this film festival insists that every film they show have someone representing it, so you know that can be challenging for movies that are at both festivals. It's a La La Land. It's arrival this year.

I'm trying to think, is try to understand he's very just crushed that he couldn't be here because he's filming Blade Runner, which is why Ryan Gosling isn't here as well. And uh, Danny loves coming here and he couldn't make it this time. But let's talk about La La Land. Though.

Sure we're on the subject of these movies. That movie kind of kicked off the festival, you could say, And it's the first time been the four years I've been coming here that uh, you know a kickoff film is not one that I had to rush back to review because it had just opened Venice a couple of days earlier. But you know what a fun, lively, really energetic, you know, swoony kind of or just swoon of a movie, I

guess you could say, to energize everybody who's here. You know, it's like this festival, any film festival, can be full of these kind of heavy, kind of downer movies, and this is just you know, it's a love letter to l A. But it's also, you know, just a really great contemporary romance with just brilliant themes. I find because I've said this and what I've written about the film, but it really kind of grabs a hold of you and says, hey, you can shake off pragmatism, you can

shake off stability, and you can still dream. And I think that's a really, uh, for me, potent theme and in one that just plays itself out in kind of expressionistic ways in the film. People have compared it to the New York New York a lot. They're both kind of expressionistic, you know, displays. But La La Lends is so much its own thing. You know, it's it's uh, Damien Chisel, as we say, director of Whiplash, and you know,

ambitious as hell. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's one of the things that's It reminded me a little bit of Birdman, which is another movie that played here went on to win Best Picture, you know, in in terms of this sense, not just that you have these kind of you know, long sequence shots, but it's like the the idea that you just have this kind of ambition going into the conception of it. But I like what you say about it's kind of like being a movie about about dreamers

and what because that's what Los Angeles is. It's kind of like where the people who you know, kind of believe in luck and their own chance and you know, kind of of expressing themselves creatively, whether that's as an actress, as a musician, as a writer, uh, you know, as film critics are journalists. You know, it's like the end uh, and it can be a very unforgiving place to just the volume of people who come in, you know, searching

those things. So it's like you can anyone who has lived in Los Angeles can identify with what these two characters are going through and the balancing act that sort of um, trying to decide between the progress you're making towards your dreams and investing in a kind of a personal life of relationship anything like that, and the degree to which the latter can can actually give you the confidence to achieve your dreams, and how that plays out

ultimately on whether the couple can stay together. I mean, all of these things I think are so intrinsic to you know, the l a experience. Let's jump into Moonlight, which you just before we started here said you felt was the film of the festival. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely my feeling in the sense that, uh, the reason I feel like, you know, Moonlight is such a discovery here is because I tell you, right, as a festival, when you arrive here, you don't know what the lineup

is going to be. You trust the programmers here and Julie Hunt singer, you know, is the leads a team that really go out of their way to find, you know, things kind of in the weeds, you know, and the so yes, we're hoping for you know, the next Argo, the next you know, a Birdman Best Picture winner. But it's these things that maybe may not be on any other festivals lineup or or may not have been on

our radar that are the best surprises. And so Moonlight is that here in the sense of you know, it's like I'd admired Barry jenkins first movie, Medicine for Melancholy UH as a movie that takes black characters and uh and looks at them and in a in a sense that's very realistic. It's not you know, it's not a it's not a genre film, it's not kind of a sitcom, it's not phony. I mean, he's dealing with kind of like the intellectual side of the black experience in that movie,

and here it's present as well. This is the portrait of a young man over three stages in his life, who who's grappling with his sexuality, grappling with his relationship to his community. To uh, the broken homie comes from. Yeah, And I think that it's every bit as intellectual, but all of that is put into subtext, informs the characters instead of kind of like kind of spilling from their mouths, you know, medicine for melancoun colleges almost too talkative, you know,

to Gabby. Uh. And here it's uh, you can tell that Jenkins is thought about all these things, thought about what it means in the black community to sort of have absentee fathers, what it means for the community to kind of rise up and supply kind of a surrogate family around someone. The way that he's kind of half adopted by the man who's selling crack to his mom,

it's I mean a powerful kind of irony there, you know. Um. And of course you know the D. L. Downbow experience of trying to come out or or identify whether that's what you are in a in an environment that you know is so macho and so intolerant of that, you know, and all of the things are there without, you know, with the substance of the movie is just this this

kid's story, you know. And I thought it was incredible the way that it was um, you know, to me, it's uh, it's what I admired about Boyhood done better in the sense of it. It's not that it's the same actor over these number of years. In fact, I

think the three actors almost don't resemble. Well, I want to jump in here because regarding the three actors, I think one of the most amazing things that Barry Jenkins is able to accomplish here is that you feel the spirit of that character in every single one each of those three actors. Like that's that's hard to do because they're they're obviously look different, they're they're completely different actors, but they exhibit the same quietude that the character has

from from stage to stage. And it's just palpable and and and each actor is amazing. Do you have a favorite? Gosh, I don't know them. I think that I so connected with the film from the beginning that in a way that I was looking into the other two to kind of be that you know, that that good you know or that kid you know grown up, but you're right.

I mean, to me, this is a movie about a character who feels profoundly alone in you know, in his own life, you know, and he's reaching out for any sort of connection to parents who are that are not they're distracted, uh, you know, to friends who bully him, to potentially any sort of you know, lover or sexual partner. You know. It's like the and that carries across the three chapters. And I think the third chapter, which I don't want to say too much about, you know, where

he's roughly twenty six years old. Um, he's Uh, it's a real surprise to see what's kind of transpired in the ten years since the second one. And uh, and yet you recognize that, you know, even though he kind of wears almost as a mask, you know, kind of this new identity that he's created for himself, he's still this lonely little boy looking for I don't know, looking for some other person in this world that you know, that connects with him, which is which is why I

think that closing shot is pretty phenomenal. But you know, well let's move on from there, though, because we could, we could talk about each of these movies for so long Sully was a big coming out here with Tom Hanks and Clint Eastwood. Here you had a chance to see that. Yeah, Sully is great. Silly opens in a week. You know, it's like so it's it's almost funny for anyone, you know, I tell your right to be running out to see it. And yet it's, you know, a really

terrific film. I mean it's like Tom Hanks just makes it look easy. You know, it's like he's so good and yet it like he slips into these roles so naturally that I mean like I would, I would fly a plane with Tom Hanks, you know as the pilot. Um, it's it. It's like, you know, he inspires that kind of confidence and that's what you know Sully did in real life, you know, as as someone who doesn't fly too well lately. That it was a gripping movie for me. Uh,

in fact, it gave me back to back nightmares. Well, like I joked that it's like six plane crashes for the price of one, because they like it's like a two eight second kind of incident that you know, they but they find a kind of creative way to by beginning after the incident has happened you know, to feature the flashbacks and replays all this kind of the structure of the film is is very interesting for that Bleed for this with Miles Teller as Vinnie Pozzians of the Boxer,

I mean, I think Miles is a great actor. Whiplash was for me so far the role of his career. I mean, this is one where he gives everything. But for me, it's actually Aaron Eckhart, who has not a lot to do in Sully, who is the you know, the actor who really you know, surprised me and bleed for this. He plays the manager and he's almost unrecognizable.

He's like, you know, he's made himself look as though he's balding, he's put on a ton of weight, and he's like, you know, playing this alcoholic schlub who you know trained Tyson and is now you know, they're trying to resuscitate the Pacienza's career. Um and uh and he's terrific. You know. It's like um and Ben Younger, who I think is is a director who you know we all thought had a ton of promise back at Boiler Room. It's like, is this is kind of a comeback for

him too. I think you know, yeah, it's a movie that's I think it's has familiar narrative strokes. It's it's it has conventions, but I think he he works hard to break it from convention. I think the editing in particular was really interesting to me. It's the way it kind of propels the story forward in interesting ways. What surprised me maybe about this movie is that, like, even though Martin Scorsese is a producer on it, it owes less to Raging Bold than it does to The Fighter.

I mean, this is like a post David O. Russell, you know, the kind of weird, quirky portrait of family, you know, and everybody's kind of talking on top of each other and crazy. You know. It's like reminds me of all those weird sisters in The Fighter. You know. It's like and uh, the and I like that liveliness of the movie. But in a way, it's just another boxing movie with some great performances in it. Yeah, exactly.

Uh you got to interview Isabelle Hupera up here. Yeah, I mean that's thanks for mentioning it, because like who

buries for me, the you know, best actress living. You know, it's like she she just is fearless, and it takes on these incredible roles and has a couple of movies coming out this fall, Things to Come, which is here in the festival, and L, which I think it's kind of a crime that they haven't, you know, they didn't decide to invite you, especially since she's here, and because they brought this movie Una, which you know, it's not

that they're afraid of prickly material. In L she plays a woman who's raped and who has a really unexpected reaction to the situation and uh, and it really engages with that subject in a way that I was kind of afraid of before i'd seen it in the movie

Smart but but who bears amazing and UH. And getting to talk with her here, which you know I'll get to to write up for a variety down the road, was great because I've just admired the fact that she doesn't you know, she's not skittish about going there in movies. And I think maybe what I learned talking with her is that for her, the important thing in movies about like the Michael Hanaka movie, she's made like the Piano Teacher, a ceremony where you know she's a murderous you know.

It's like, uh, she can go to these really darker, jagged, edgy places by kind of keeping this measure of irony in it, by keeping it a little funny, by keeping you know, it's like and it makes me want to go back, and because I just don't think of her

performances as being that way. But as we talked about it, I'm like, you know, I could almost have a little mini Isabel Rey pair of film festival now where i'mlike analyzing how she's um injecting humor into these roles and things to come, which is here Mia Hansen loves kind of tribute to her mother, who is basically you know, abandoned by her father late in their marriage and had to kind of pick herself, pick herself up off the ground,

rebuild and move on. I mean, it's it's another incredibly strong, you know, female performance from upert and in this case, one where um, she finds humor in it, but it's not you know, kind of a sexually transgressive, you know woman like we've seen in so many other of her movies. And this is a this is an academic intellectual and she's great in that role as well, you know. And speaking of strong female performances, we have Amy Adams and Arrival,

which I'll be speaking with Amy shortly after this. Uh, you weren't able to see the film, but I'll just comment briefly about it. I I it's thoughtful sci fi. But what's what's amazing to me about the nieve Villeneuve is he elevates material off the page and in ways I think few filmmakers do lately because the scripts he's worked from, in my opinion, have been lacking. But what he does as an atmosphere with atmosphere as a filmmaker

is something to behold. And what he does with the score with Johan Johansen's score and Arrival, just as they did in Cicario, which was a score that scared the crap out of me, just the foreboding of it. What they do together and Arrival is really fascinating. An Amy is really interesting in the movie because there are themes of parenting and it hits you in an emotional place and as a new father, it's it's I'm seeing things through that lens a lot lately, so it's uh, for that,

it's it's fascinating. And then she's also in Nocturnal Animals, which is not at the festival, but is that played Venice and will be in Toronto, so she's got a busy fall going on. I'd be curious to know if with the arrival it's a case like Cicario where the role wasn't necessarily you know, nor intended, or I haven't read the short story, you know, for a woman. And yet I love that we just have so many great actresses out there. I love that there are more movies

being seen where they're leading them. You know, there are a couple of its just really great performances. I want to go into great detail, but it's worth mentioning Richard Gear in this movie Norman, the Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer. I just think Richard Gear is giving some of the best work in the last few years, at the tail end of a career that started out kind of a matinee idol almost kind of you know, and it's like, this is another tourific performance.

And then uh, and then Brian Cranston, who we all love for good reasons, is finally kind of like getting the acclaim thanks to Breaking Bad that you know he deserves is it basically pulls off a one man show in Wakefield, this movie where you know, he basically holds up in the attic of his garage outside his own home and spies on his family for a year. Um, I mean he's he's narrating the whole thing. The whole

thing is seen through his eyes. It's if And I realized watching the movie, it's like this character is a reprehensible human being. Who if it weren't Brian Cranston playing it, you know, it's like the it just it would be a totally different experience. You know, we're gonna have to wrap it up right there. Man. Unfortunately, there's obviously so

much we can discuss beyond, like the tributes. Amy Adams had a tribute, Casey Affleck had a tribute, and we's here with Manchester by the Sea, which is an amazing film. Pablo Lorraine, the filmmaker had a tribute. But you did a good job of explaining what tell You Right is to everyone. And I think if anyone's thinking about coming here, they should just pull the trigger because it's the best film film festival I've ever been to. Agreed, I mean, this is the film festival if if I lost my

job tomorrow, I'd still be coming to this one. All the other ones are, you know, industry overrun and here it's film lovers, the best films you can find. You know, absolutely we'll stick around for Amy Adams. Everyone, We'll be back with that in just a moment. There are days that define your story beyond your life, like the day they arrived. What happens to now? My god? How do we clarify their intentions? I go back in. Well, I guess I don't need to tell you you put yourself

a risk. And now that's a proper introduction. I need everybody working on us. I feel like everything that happens comes down to the two of us. I know what it is. What does this say for a weapon? Welcome back everyone. We are still in til you Ride and I am now with Amy Adams. Thank you for being with me today. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. We're here to talk about You have two films hitting

uh the festivals this fall. One is Nocturnal Animals. The other is a Rival, which is playing Till You're Ride and you're fresh from Venice where Nocturnal premiered. Yes, I guess I shouldn't say fresh because wait, what are you saying? Well, that's quite, that's quite the trip. I mean it is. Yeah, No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't call me fresh this morning either. I think everyone can agree on that you had been there before the right for the festival. I hadn't. Oh,

I didn't go with the Master. Okay, I didn't know. I didn't go with the Master. I was doing um musical in New York at the time. What did you think? It was so much fun? It was sort of like everything that you fantasize about, like on on the like sort of glamour side of things as an actress um when you're growing up. But but it was also their celebration of film and and the audiences were amazing. But

it was it was kind of surreal, to be honest. Yeah, and especially probably to go from like the red carpet of the Lido to the Patagonia aware of of tell you right, strikingly different environments. Is this This feels like coming home, though this is closer to my actual personality and the sort of the way I think it is coming home because I'm from Colorado, So this feels very very welcoming and Homie, which part of Colorado, Castle Rock. Okay,

it's a beautiful state. It's probably my favorite state actually, that I could live here. You can we just move everything to Colorado, Like if we all just started going, maybe maybe we could like maybe we get everybody over here. Exactly, there's enough land, I think to go around. Yeah, well you're here. Also receiving a tribute, which is uh, you know, I think Tell Your Right is interesting because they don't

really necessarily cling to like a lifetime achievement vibe. And that's very evident in especially this year's three You and Casey Affleck and Pablo Lorraine. They will often go for people who might be in their prime. But nevertheless, was the idea of a tribute kind of daunting to you at the stage in your career? Um it is, I mean, it's it's always an honor and it's always um it's it's one of those things. To look at your work as a collection is very odd and I don't do

that very often. Were don't unless there is a tribute or something like that. So it's interesting to sort of see a collection of your work put together in that way and and uh kind of see the evolution kind of be a life play out in front of you in a strange way. Did you have any epiphanies watching that happen? Um that I'm really excited to be kind of where I am in my career and and kind of with the roles that are becoming available to me

as I age. It's it's been. It's been really really exciting actually, and I love the roles that I did, but granted I'm not gonna be able to it's it was wonderful to do those that at that time, like playing the Innocence and playing some of these things were but now getting to play people who are you know, just to evolve with the characters that I'm getting offered

is really fun. Yeah, that's kind of. That kind of leads into my next question, which is, I think many people were introduced to you through June Bug, which was eleven years ago. Now. I don't know if you can believe that or if it feels like longer or shorter or what. Oh gosh, it looks it looks like a lot longer when you look at the right now and kidding, wow, eleven years is really no, it's a no, it's it's a lot. It's been. It's been really a lot has

happened in eleven years now that I that's amazing. Well, I was going to ask you, how do you think you've changed just as a person, specifically as an artist since that stage in your career and now and I'm a lot less self conscious? Yeah, I'm so much. I'm not. I'm not as UM. I think I as self conscious as a human being, and now it's still more comfortable, and I'm I'm less interested. I still care what people think about me. I always going to be a part

of my personality, but UM, my journey is not. I feel like I've gotten to a place where my journey can't be about sort of trying to meet expectations, and that has really helped in my work. I feel like I get to um explore in a totally different way because I'm not UM. I don't feel tied or bound by expectations like I used to, and it's really freeing and makes work really a lot of fun. Cool. I just want to let everyone know in case they think

they're losing their mind. The droning you might hear in the background is the gondola, which Amy has a view of right now. I do going across into tel you right, Uh, you know, I was just taking note of the filmmakers

you've worked with in that stretch. There's some towering names, really, Mike Nichols, Nor Fron, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Jones, Tim Burton, David O. Russell h who do you What kind of a filmmaker do you seek out or is it just if the script speaks to you, that's like the main thing. Well it starts with the script absolutely, but um, but the filmmaker is key, and a filmmaker can definitely help me define a role that maybe, um, you know, isn't

the protagonist. Um. And so it's it's been. I always feel like my job as an actress is to execute the vision of the director. Of course, I want to honor my character, but you know, I if the character belongs to both of us, you know, and belongs to the story, So I always want to honor that. And so for me, the directors, um, it's key, you know. And and but kind of what I've looked for is

also changed over the years. And a director, you know, well, I hate to put you on the spot, but I would just love to hear I would just love to hear a story like a like a Mike Nichols is an amazing director. Story like some did he dial with the U N in some way that really just amazed you or anything come to mind about that, because obviously he's such an amazing talent. He was just amazing. He was really amazing. Um yeah, oh gosh, he he was awesome.

I Mean, it's funny because I can't think of an anecdote because really the experience of Mike Nichols wasn't It can't be boiled down to like one thing he told me. He was sort of just watching him work, watching the way he perceived with his intelligence and his humor, and ah, the joy he got watching actors. I remember him sitting behind the monitor and watching um, Tom and Philip do some scenes and just seeing the light in his eyes.

And that was so inspiring to me that somebody can have this really full and very um celebrated career and just never lose that. That was a huge thing I learned from from Mike. And yeah, that was Charlie Wilson's war with Tom Hanks and Tom around town. Yeah, I have seen him, have you seen now? I'm I'm very excited.

I do love this time of year when when we get to see all these films that people hold for for sort of this festival time, and it's it's a it's a really fun time for cinema and there's so many I want to see and so many I'm hearing great things about. So are you scared of flying it all? Yes, don't see the film. Yeah, this is one of the reason I am very scared of flying it It's pretty gripping, gave me back to back nightmares. It doesn't well, but

it's still got me. Yeah, I believe uh, these two films. Actually, before I get into that, I did make a note here.

I'm always curious about actors who work with Steven Spielberg early in their career and if because you know, he often works with character actors who might go on to you know, their own level of stardom, and a lot of people have worked with him early in their in their early stages basically, and I'm always curious if there's anything that they recall that specifically they retained that was just like they've they've managed to maintain throughout their career

because of working with him. Is there anything that comes to mind. Yeah, it's Actually it's funny because when you said the thing about Mike Nichols, I do have one thing that happened with Stephen that has stayed with me.

I was doing a scene that ultimately didn't end up in the movie, but it was a scene UM where I was meant to, like, you know, it's written like tears spring to eyes, and whenever I read that like it's always, especially at that time and in that film with those actors, I was like, what if I can't

spring tears to my eyes? So I got really heavy about it and we were doing it and it felt really good, but it just wasn't I wasn't connecting without again because I had expectations and I was worried about that. It was blocking sort of my emotional connection and I Stephen could see that, and he came up to me and he just looked at me very gently and touched my head and he said, you're using this, and then he touched my chest and he says, use this. And so he got me out of my head and into

my heart. And that's something whenever I'm tired of emotional and arrival always rects me when I present it. UM but that's something I've kept with me whenever I'm struggling and I just try to work from the heart, and then you have to work from your head. It's a technical craft, but sometimes working from my head is cotten in my way, especially when I'm in my head about how I'm feeling and how the character is meant to feel. Well, the hardest key, you gotta put human emotion into the part.

I think he's underrated for how he works with the actors. Frankly, he's so great with actors. He kept me right in there um with with Leonardo and Tom at a very early point in my career where I really didn't have the confidence. Yeah, you know, and the time after that when I didn't work was because of that crisis of confidence. So working with him built my confidence up during that period of time to be able to to be Brenda in that film. So kind of surprising, honestly, that that

daniel LEA. Lewis was the first actor to win an Oscar for Spielberg movie and Lincoln. Are you serious? It took that long, plenty of nominations along the years, but oh my gosh, I hadn't really put that together. Yeah,

it's interesting. It's amazing. Yeah, he's he's very special. Well, you're working with two filmmakers here, with Tom Ford and Deny Villeneuve, who are I think masters at building atmosphere in their films, and given that similarity in their work, I guess, uh, I'm curious if there's anything that was similar about the filmmakers to you, because they seem like strikingly different people. They are strikingly different people and both

really value have a have a really different way of working. Um. With with Deny, the aesthetic sort of happens around you, do you know what I mean? Like the tone and stuff he creates is through uh, an emotional connection, like it really is, and that way, I guess it's similar. In watching the two films, I was struck that they both have this sense of tension and melancholy that's sort of run through them. And and yet they're very different films,

very different directors. Um but I think that the kind of what they had in common, at least in the making of these two films was the emotional connection with the characters, and it both the films felt very personal to them. Um but um, so funny, I'm so like in my characters. When I work, then it's hard for me to think about what what was what is their style? Um Denia is like he's basically it's like it's like a self esteem boot camp. Like it's so great working

with him because he thinks you deeply. He's like a deeply thank you for that take. I love your work so much, Like he's so sweet. Oh my gosh. It's like, well, the problem is that then you get greedy and then like he'll do something and he was like, we have what we need and you're like, no, no, we have to go back. You need to deeply love it, you need to thank me and spoils you. It spoils you, and then you do You're like, wait, wait, we've always

the deeply love. Yeah, it's fun. And then tom um Tom. It was interesting because a lot of what I did in the film was very I did it alone, because a lot of what's happening is happening in her mind as she's reading the book. It's it's her imagination of what's happening in the book, and then it's happening also in flashback while she's remembering her relationship. So it was really important for me that the director. Um, well that

the director did let me breathe. You know, I never felt like he was in a hurry to get to a moment um and tom allowed. He was so patient and he just let the camera roll on what you know. Some directors would be like, oh, she's just thinking and reading, you know what I mean. Like, but he trusted that I had done the work and then I had, you know,

and I had a connection with this character. And he was fantastic because sometimes he would read the story to me as he was going and his tom Ford voice Tony approaches the car and I'm like, tom Ford could just read me anything and it would just sound like it was like the phone, voluntual and glamorous and um. But he was really wonderful to work with. Yeah. He then he loves it here. I always expect him to come here with his film. He is heartbroken. Was he

not able to come? He's not here. I didn't realize that. No, he's not here. Um, he's he's directing Blade Runner. So he is in Budapest. I think I bet he is heartbroken because he loves it here. He loves it and he kept saying, please have such a good time, my friend acts and is bad. So I hope no one's offended. Sorry to our friend listeners. Yeah, so Marianne is safe.

Well let's talk about arrival. Um. You know, I have a feeling I will be uh saying this to my guests on this show a lot this year because I'm a new other and so I see everything now through that lens and it's It's a difficult movie to talk about without spoiling, so just to be light about it, it is. It is a movie that deals very emotionally, emotionally with parenting and I just imagine that when you read the script as a mother yourself, that leapt out

at you. Yeah, so could you talk about a little bit about that? That That was the thing that first got me into the script because in the first fifteen pages, uh, is this mother's journey and the way it was presented, Um, it was really devastating. And then to sort of put that as the lead into a sci fi film was kind of different and daring. And I know it was based on a short story. At that time, I knew have you read that? By the way I did? I

read it like so long ago. Someone was talking about the details and I thought that my brain is so feeble after having my daughter, Like information just falls out as it it's like there's only so much information. Um and and there are some differences, but the core, the core of the story is there, and that it is a woman's journey and a mother's journey. Yeah, when I read that short story of a few weeks back and I was like, how did they make this into a movie?

I know, because it's it's very heavy stuff and it gives you a lot of room to obviously go in different directions, which the movie does. But yeah, you're right, I mean that that very key element of of we're dancing around it is what we're doing, you know what I mean? Because it's very difficult talking about a movie that you can't actually talk about has been challenging. But but but it's it's a good experiment and like how we communicate speaking like I think Louise would be interested

in our choice of words when discussing um. But but but Tony, even with all the the sort of scientific and political tones that the film takes on, always would say, like any time there would be discussions about this or that, he would always just say, look, whatever happens with that, this is a mother's journey. This is louise Is story. So he never lost sight of that. He never lost sight of it. I should probably start stop doing imitations

mean him. I can't help it because it was so much fun and there was so much miscommunication and a film about communication. There was a lot of miscommunication as I talk really fast sometimes, especially if I'm trying to figure something out, because normally I'm trying to figure it out myself, so I just do it a loud and then he would be like, um, Amy, I'm going to ask you to stop because I have not been listening to now for about a minute. I can't understand you.

It's it's which I loved so much. Instead of just pretending to me, Amy, I'm going to tell you to stop talking. It's a fun impression. I think you should work with her song next so you can sorry on that. That was not the name drop, but Kenneth Lanagan has an amazing for herd Sog name drop. That's awesome. It's an amazing h impression. I want to talk a little bit.

You know. One of the filmmakers I mentioned there was David oh Russell, and you're on the record about the difficulty of working on American Hustle and working with David. I'm just curious if that means you're not interested in working with David again. I'm I'm kind of a never saying never kind of person, but not currently. It's just what it requires of me. It just it's hard for me to then, um, kind of be the mom I want to be because I can't give that much energy

and emotion too. And I'm really invested on sets, so it's not as though it's not something I'm interested in doing on other sets. But but the way he works just requires a different um part of me that I just don't have to give right now. But that's not to say never. You can keep an eye on that too. Yeah, And I mean maybe I don't know, maybe since I've come out on record, he's not gonna want to work with me, So maybe it's maybe it's sort of a non issue. He seems to have had his TIFFs with

actors that he's worked with. You. I don't think that. I don't think I'm the first person and probably not the last. But but he does create wonderful characters for women, and I really value that, and he's given me a lot of opportunity to sort of change people's expectations of me this that word, um, but to change people's perception and expectations of me. And I really appreciate that, So

I don't in any way. Um, you know that what happened doesn't take away from how much I value what he provided for me, an opportunity not only to work with him, but to work with Christian twice and to work with the amazing cast that I got to work with. So gratitude overrides any sort of other thing. Well, you know what's interesting about that is it just got me thinking about the way we perceive difficult male directors and the way we perceive difficult female directors. Oh my gosh.

Mean you know, in some ways with with male directors that are difficult, that's considered part of the charm of their genius. Yeah, but it's not just indirecting, it's not just enacting that. It's not just in Hollywood, like just in humanity. The way we view difficult males versus the way we view different If it's difficult, complicated, let's go with complicated, challenging. Yeah, the way we perceive women and men, that's that type of personality it's it's not just a

Hollywood issue. So but yeah, I mean, it wouldn't. I don't think it would be accepted that kind of behavior accepted. How would Uh yeah, I think there would be, it would be different. But that's not just as that happens. Indeed, it's just interesting in the in the realm of art because that quote difficulty becomes a part of the fabric of what makes a great male director's film great, and then maybe an exact ding or difficult female director might

not get hired as much. And it's just unfortunate. It is. Yeah, it's very unfortunate. I wanted to talk a little bit about the this giant d C movie university or a part of these movies are such a huge part of the business. They really have become, right, Yeah, And you know, earlier this year Batman versus Superman, it took you know, critical thrashing. I think it's fair to h yeah, well

come back up. You know I was gonna ask. I mean when I saw that, I was like, you guys were going back to shoot like the next month or the next couple of weeks. I don't know if you were there from the from the beginning on Justice League. But no, I wasn't when you were there? How was morale? Was everything? Everybody and everyone's really excited. It's it's a totally different film. They're introducing a lot of different characters

and um. You know it's funny because my husband went back and watched the Ultimate edition and he was like, ah, he was so mad. He's like, why didn't they we do some? But it was a longer version. Yeah. I don't know if you've gone back and watched that. I have. I haven't yet, but I've talked to Chris Terrio about that actually, the screenwriter, and there's a lot of a lot more information in that version of the story. Yeah, sure is. But I know it's one of It's one

of those things. I mean, you want everybody, you want there to be sort of this mutual respect and for the films you do. And when that doesn't hit, you know, I I it does, you know, hit A hit a soft spot for everybody involved, and you know, I I've just felt for Zach. I mean, I don't know, it's acts like the nicest person ever, and I just to see him kind of talked about like that. It was really hard for me because he's really such a respectful director.

You know, how does he work with you as an actor? Because he's an interesting director. He's he's very great with iconography, especially and just getting an amazing image, but working with actors, and especially working with actors when you got well not you, but you know they're all wearing these suits, these super

hero suits and stuff. But just talk about how he works with you as an actor, because we've talked about completely different filmmakers, and well, it's interesting because it's it's hard to any good director is going to change the way they direct to some degree to work with different actors because every actor has a different way of working. And so I found, you know, my my favorite directors to work with kind of can They definitely have their style and their way of working with actors, but they

respect an actor's process. And Zack's one of those people. So depending on what an actor needs, UM, Zach kind of adjusts for me. I need very technical notes, like the emotion of what's happening with Lois Is, Like I love doing that, but sometimes I'm so internal, like which is what I love about doing like a rival is because it's so internal, um that sometimes that doesn't really

play when you've got like explosions behind you. And so he's really kind of like kind of, Um, we've got kind of a dialogue now where he'll go I do it again, but like, um, I really want to see it. Okay, got it, Okay, got it. I know what I'm doing. I'm thinking it instead of living at um. But he's

really fun to work with. And and again he's he's he's like everybody's biggest cheerleader on set, and you know, I want for him to, you know, sort of I would love for him to, uh, I don't know, just to kind of get you know, for people to to see how special he is, you know. And then the last thing I have for you, I'm just curious where you want to go from here. I mean this having this tribute now, you know again, like I said, it's not like it's lifetime achievement or something like. It's not

like you're wrapping things up here. But are you are you curious about directing it all? Or do you want to produce more? Or do you are you content to just remain in front of the camera, I mean directing right now. I like idea of directing because I really love story and I love character and but um, I think that again the time requirement. UM. For for how I want to a parent, I just can't. Oh, I can't parent the way I want to. Not to say other people can't, because there are a lot of people

who can do it and do it very successfully. But UM, for me, I'm I'm sort of all or nothing kind of thing. So I think directing would take a little too much at this current time. But I'm definitely I'm starting to work on producing and finding projects. UM. And it's been really fun to be a part of sort of the development process and to see, um, you know, how how things work. I mean, as an actor, you're only given so much information you know, probably not all

of the information ever, which is frustrating. So as I've sort of become more of a grown up, I want to be involved. UM. I want to understand the creative decisions behind the editing, like why did you choose? And now I just watched something, I'm like, oh that was cut. That's strange. UM. But I would love to understand the wise. I'd love to see sort of the creative process from the beginning to the end UM and be involved. And as as sort of I become more confident in my

voice as a storyteller. I'd i'd like I'd like to um contribute a little bit more. Yeah, well, I wish you luck in that. Thank you, and enjoy your time here and tell your aut I hope you get to see some movies. I will. I don't think my family is up here because I'm from Colorado, so I kind of want to spend time with them, but this is I'll get. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, thank you, Thank you,

Thanks again for listening. Everyone. Remember to subscribe and check back next week when I'll be talking to American pastoral star and director you and McGregor Again. I'm Chris Tapley, and you've been listening to playback at Variety, Seen Fair Seen