Oct 19, 2008 - Kristin Scott Thomas took a night off from her Broadway run to fly to Los Angeles and talk about her latest movie. I've Loved You So Long is already playing in Europe, as the French film debuted in its native country. Now the film comes to America, starring Thomas as a newly released convict re-acclimating to her own family. Even the basic details of her crime are vague and revealed piecemeal until the full portrait of this woman is revealed by the end.
Did the subtle nature of revealing Juliet's character make it easier to identify with her?
Kristin Scott Thomas: "Yes, but the point of this character is that she is holding a secret. The secret that she's hanging onto like an unborn child almost, that is her link to this event, to this past. And it's something that she doesn't want anyone else to get their sticky fingers on. So that was the motor, or how to play the character I felt was to keep hanging onto that secret and allowing, or being aware that the camera was going to come in and pinch stuff from time to time. But really, my aim as an actress was to keep as closed down as possible, knowing that I have to produce something for people to watch and to be able to understand."
How did you decide on the physicality of Juliet?
Kristin Scott Thomas: "By watching footage, documentaries, and seeing people and thinking about sitting, and thinking about not getting enough exercise and thinking about what is precious. Cigarettes, for example, are precious when you're shut up and you are probably hated by the other inmates because of her crime. Because there's a kind of hierarchy in prison and people who do certain things are thought of in a different way from others, so yeah, she would have been really - her life would've been miserable."
Did you decide to wear no makeup and dress in browns?
Kristin Scott Thomas: "Yeah, but finding a character is definite teamwork. I work with the makeup artist and the costume designer to find a way of being as… We wanted it to appear that she had no skin. She was just naked, was a bare person and somebody who really didn't care about her appearance, with no narcissism at all, no self love, nothing. Nothing. Just, 'Here I am, take it. Get on with it.' It's almost aggressively ugly. There's something almost aggressive in the way she is so in your face uncompromising."
It's obvious you're very vested in this film and you're very protective of it. What is it you want people to get about the film?
Kristin Scott Thomas: "It's a difficult question for me to ask, because when I choose to answer, when I choose, or chose to play this role, I didn't think about the consequences. I just felt about for me, it was just the pleasure - if you could call it that - of being able to explore these emotions and these situations, that hopefully, let's pray, that I won't ever know in my life. That's why I like this job is because you get to explore all these different avenues, and you have little tastes of different kinds of existences. That is what interests me in my job. So I rarely think about the consequences of what people are going to think afterwards."
"I'm just bowled away by the affect this film has on audiences sitting, whole load of strangers sitting in a dark room, watching a film. And they have this, and I think people really want, especially now, when people are so afraid about, everyone's so scared about everything, you know, the economy, the wars, the terrorists, you name it, and what's happening to our children in the schools, all these things are so frightening, and people really like to get together and have this shared experience in a safe environment which is a movie theater where they've spent their money. They bought the ticket so they know it's going to be over soon. They get this kind of moment of relief, which is sitting through this kind of film, which really churns everything up inside of you, and actually in a sort of weird kind of way, makes you feel better afterwards."
Did you get the same raves on Broadway as the UK, and how did you adjust your performance?
Kristin Scott Thomas: "Yeah, the reviews, there's a very good rule to stick by is just never, never read them because if they're good, then you will try and repeat the good bits. And one guy's version of something good might not be what the whole audience is like. So don't read them. But I did read them after the show. I do allow myself to read them when we finish the run, so I knew that the English reviews. Well, some of them anyway. I knew that the English reviews, apart from a few which remain engraved in my memory, were pretty good. But the Broadway ones, I know that the response has been positive because you can't help but pick up those things, but I don't really know what is. But as for playing in a Broadway theater which, of course, is twice the size of our English theater, that particular English theatre, Royal Court which is so small, we're loving it. It's just bigger and better. And what's so great is that the New York audiences are so receptive and they pick up so quickly and they're so on the ball and they just get on with all the tiny little details and this is fantastic. It's a fabulous experience I'm having at the moment."
