Did you come up with the throat maneuver you use in the movie?
No. What was very upsetting about that was there were a few people on the set who had no authority, but kept commenting that there was no way I’d be able to kill that guy by sticking my fingers in his throat. And I totally, completely disagreed with them, especially with those nails. I knew I could have done it in real life because there’s nothing you can do if someone sticks their nails into your throat and starts ripping out your trachea. You know what I mean? The other way is you poke someone in the eye really, really hard and you [making a hooking motion] pull out their nose bone. I mean, I can do that. Anybody can do that.
Was the only concern that physically you couldn’t do it?
There were about four people on the set that were like, “There’s no way she’d be able to do it.” So they changed it. Yeah.
What it was it like working with this cast?
Oh man, it was great. Everybody has their own thing. Everybody brought their own thing. Like John [Leguizamo] would make us laugh. Laurence [Fishburne] was just this calm, cool king, you know? He’s a king to me. There’s something about him. In this business, I don’t know if anyone really recognizes just how special he is. His energy is so, so special.
Ethan [Hawke] was like my brother. We just kind of had fun together all the time, joking around, horsing around. He and my boyfriend were always just playing guitar and hanging out and singing in the camper. Who else? Maria [Bello] is like the acting chick. She’s like, “What did you find in that scene?” and “What was this like?” I’m the one that’s like, “What did I find? It was freezing, I don’t know.” So she was actor girl and just everybody was so great. Brian Dennehy with his old war stories and all the old theatre stories. It was great. It was so much fun.
Were there any problems working with a director who is from a different background and didn’t speak English very well? Was there a language barrier at all?
Not for me. I mean, I’m sure for some people, maybe. But for me, I know that he cast me based on “’R Xmas,” which was Abel [Ferrara’s] movie and he’s a huge Abel Ferrara fan. And then when I went and watched his film, I realized just how much of a fan he must have really been of Abel’s because it was a very similar feel. Almost identical to Abel’s kind of filmmaking. So he and I had an unspoken understanding, I think.
He hired actors that he knew were just going to do what he wanted them to do. He had a lot on his plate. This was his first big American film, action film, fake snow, this, that, explosions. He had a lot of pressure on his back, so as much as we could do to just do the job that we needed to do for him, I think the better it was. And I think there was an understanding there.
How familiar were you with the original film?
I’d seen it. I don’t remember it that clearly. But I think the differences… I mean, I think that mainly the foundation of the film was the same and then we opened it up and made it a much bigger picture.
Would you have done it if it was just a remake of the original?
Well, it depends on how it was handled. I definitely think the way the script was written separates it from a lot of the average action films. So, I don’t know. Well, yes, if it was the same cast. I picked it because of the cast, not because of the script. I picked it because of the cast and the filmmaker, and the reasons he hired me.
So Laurence Fishburne and Ethan Hawke were already attached when you were hired?
Everyone was, I think.
When you read the script, what did you think of your character?
I mean to be completely honest with you, I didn’t feel I needed to play another Italian-American girl. I didn’t think I needed to play another slut, another tough chick. Not another tough chick because Adriana was not tough, she was the victim. So it was more based on the action of it. The fact that I hadn’t done an action film and the fact that the cast was so great.
PAGE 3: Drea de Matteo on Being Typecast and Going Behind the Camera to Direct
