In writer/director Ed Solomon's dramatic film, "Levity," Holly Hunter stars as Adele Easley, a woman who Hunter describes as kind of a mystery. Adele's younger brother was murdered during a robbery and now, decades later, Adele's son Abner (named after her beloved brother) is caught in his own cycle of violence. Unbeknownest to her, the man who murdered her brother is now providing her with the best chance at helping salvage her son from a life of violence.
Here's what the Academy Award-winning actress has to say about her role, working with Morgan Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton, and offers an explanation as to why moviegoers don't see her more often on the big screen:
HOLLY HUNTER ('Adele')
How did you react the first time you read this script?
I could relate, I could relate. I need to be forgiven [and] I need to forgive. It's very immediate, rich material - I would imagine for anyone who would read it. I think that's why people could relate to seeing the movie, because we need those two things, to forgive and to be forgiven. That was very compelling.
This is such a serious film. Was the atmosphere serious on the set?
No, but they almost never are. Actually some movies that are kind of funny have pretty serious sets. You know, Billy Bob Thornton is a pretty funny guy and so is Ed Solomon who wrote it and directed it. They're pretty funny. There was always that and, of course, I loved to work with Morgan Freeman because he's just so great, and he's kind of light. Morgan doesn't take himself for anything terribly serious. That's why his work is so wonderful.
What about the cold? Your fellow castmembers have been complaining about the cold.
I don't know, man. To me, that's just all part of the day. Weather doesn't effect me [that] way. I get cold really quickly, but I don't care. I like weather. I never understand why people move someplace so that they can avoid weather. "I live in L.A. because I love the weather." Why?
How much personal prep time did you have on this film?
I had enough time. I didn't do a lot of traditional preparation. I didn't do research the way that I do on some movies because the character didn't demand it. That's not how the task at hand presented itself to me.
What was your working relationship like with first-time director Ed Solomon?
Just great, and of course, I can't always say that. Ed has a flexibility that is almost unprecedented.
He had something else going against him in that he had not spent a lot of time on a movie set. I've worked with some first-time directors who had been DP's before and they know what it feels like to be on a set. So, they're very comfortable, they're very at home. But with someone like Ed who has been a writer all of these years, he doesn't have 'on set' hours that he can kind of refer to. It's a very foreign, alienating world for someone like Ed and he really adapted so quickly. He learned so quickly how to listen to people because I think that it's a 'deer in the headlights' phenomena that happens. I mean, there are so many questions. It must be a humbling experience. I've never directed, but it must be humbling.
Why don't we see you in more films?
Hey, I want to see me more, too. It's hard for me to get good work. You don't see me more because it's hard for me to find stuff that I want to do. I would love to work more - I really would - but there is not a lot of stuff around and the stuff that is around is not very complicated; it tends to lie a little flat.
Once you have a certain amount of experience in the movies, you begin to have respect for the longevity of a ten-week period. Ten weeks can be a lifetime if you're doing something that's just loathsome. If it's loathsome, you've got to be paid a lot of money to make it where you lift your head up and say, "Okay, at least I'm making a killing." So, you've got to have one or the other. Basically, what I'm saying is that good roles are tough to come by.
Does it also have to do with being a more mature actress - not getting the offers?
That's true. However, it's never been an easy road for me. My career was never fashioned like that. I've never had that kind of rhythm. The rhythm of my career has always been very static, staccato and then silent, and then a lot of work, and then none. I've never worked as much as I would've wanted to, and that's why I end up doing a lot of stage as well, because stage is a full course meal.
Why has your career taken this path?
Because I am who I am. Because I'm part character/part leading lady. I can't quite be named entirely. I've done a broad range, hopping to different kinds of projects, different kinds of women. I've never played a single kind of person, and like I say, I really do love doing character work.
In the long run, did winning an Oscar work in your favor or against you?
There are no downsides to winning an Oscar, there just are none. There are none. I mean, the only downside that could come from an Oscar would be coming from oneself, it certainly wouldn't be coming from the industry. You would have some wild expectations that the Oscar is going to be your golden key. It's not. But look, it's just the greatest honor that an actor can have. Although I think that the Cannes Film Festival, that also is a premiere award.
Have you found your next project?
A movie just got cancelled this weekend that I was going to do. Some money fell out and that was tough.
Is that the first time that's happened?
No, it's not, and it's actually not the first time that it's happened with this movie. This was the second time that this movie didn't start.
Does it get easier with time?
I think that I have more compassion as time goes on because I understand that it's really a difficult climate. The climate doesn't get easier with the validation of some of these smaller movies like "Boys Don't Cry" or "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." It's different because "Boys Don't Cry" didn't make a lot of money but it got critical acclaim, and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" got huge box office acclaim and so, between the two, you would think… And at the Oscars, these small movies are making it to the front of the line all of the time now. You would think that would give credence, but it actually doesn't. In fact, I feel like there is more of a corporate sensibility in the market place now than there ever was, that that's the way to make movies now and the smaller movies are having a tougher time than ever.
How do you explain that?
I just think that there is more of a formulaic sensibility now than ever. We've come so far in terms of praying to that God, you know, worshipping at that altar. If you just look at the movies from the seventies, thirty years ago, they were made totally differently than they're made now, totally. Even the blockbuster movies are made much more [by] punching in a certain code for different genres.
Interview with Morgan Freeman - >Page 3
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