The timing of the press tour for “Because of Winn-Dixie” couldn’t have been better for those interested in the upcoming “Superman” movie to be directed by Bryan Singer ("X-Men"). While the majority of the questions asked of Eva Marie Saint were about her role in “Because of Winn-Dixie,” it would be tough to conduct an interview of Saint without tossing in a few questions concerning the “Superman” casting rumors. Saint confirmed she is going to play Clark Kent’s adopted mom, Martha, when filming starts in Australia in March 2005. The veteran actress also confided that taking on the role has made her grandchildren really excited. When asked about the special effects, Eva Marie Saint said she’s looking forward to her work and confided her favorite dream is of flying.
Now back to “Because of Winn-Dixie.” Here’s what Eva Marie Saint had to say about working with kids, taking on a role in this family film, and shooting in Louisiana:
INTERVIEW WITH EVA MARIE SAINT (‘Miss Franny’):
How do you like working with kids and animals?
Oh, it’s the best when you have a director like Wayne Wang, because it’s amazing what he accomplished. And I know it’s very difficult. The dog could do right but then the parrot not. Or the actor not. And it could be raining and all that. But she was a little trooper. We would be filming at three in the morning and [AnnaSophia Robb] never got tired. We were inspired by her.
What attracted you to this part?
I knew the book. I’d read the book to my grandchildren and the agents got together with Wayne Wang and that was it. I just loved the story. I think it certainly is an important movie in the sense that everyone can see it. Everybody. [It’s] a family-type movie and I love the idea that the little girl is sort of the shaker. She gets all these individuals who live alone, [who] don’t need anyone it turns out. They’re happy, but they meet these people and you have the feeling they’re going to have Christmas together and they’re going to play Bingo. And that it changed. She was the little shaker that changed their lives. And I think that’s a good lesson, whether it’s a little town that’s only 1,000 people or the UN. That we can get along. We just have to be a little more generous in our feeling, getting to other people and not living in our own little cage.
How did you keep the movie from being too sentimental?
That’s the director. I mean, the book is not sentimental and that’s the director. And it was unusual for Wayne Wang, if you know his work. I don't think he’s worked with children, doesn’t have children or pets, but that’s right. And that’s what was so wonderful. If it got a little sad and there was something that would happen with the dogs, it was like orchestrated like chamber music that you were one emotion to another but never prayed on your sentimentality. And I think children won’t know why, but I think they’ll relate to that.
What is your take on the candy in the film?
It’s so wonderful, actually. We should all have those candies. If there’s any sadness in your life, you’ll feel it after sucking on that candy. The idea being that when people ate those candies in Napoleonville, they would bring up the sadness. Then they could talk about it with somebody else rather than just keeping it all in. And you know how important it is to therapy or whatever, or even a husband or a wife to talk things out and don’t keep it inside.
Are they magical then?
Oh yeah, it was, but they did sell it. There was a factory that made it and then the factory went kaput and so people didn’t have the candies. They didn’t have that catharsis [because they live alone].
And Dave Matthews is so wonderful in this film because, again, he’s not part of society in a sense. But they never went over the edge, which would have been terrible. They never went over that line. He was himself, a little bit slow, but they didn’t laugh at that. It was beautiful how they handled that. And that he had his pets and that he could relate to the pets and they relate to him. And then when he starts singing the “Butterfly” song to Opal, the dearest thing that entered his life. And then he comes to the party with the pickles. I mean, not a cake but a jar, my God.
