Kerry Washington and Patrick Wilson play an interracial couple who move next door to a police officer who's not happy with their mixed marriage in Lakeview Terrace, a Screen Gems thriller directed by Neil LaBute. A beautifully maintained suburban neighbor in Walnut, CA was invaded by the film's cast and crew, and About.com was there to see some of the action go down. On the night Screen Gems opened up the set to a small group of journalists, we were able to watch a scene featuring Washington and Wilson in a panic over both their neighbor's threatening presence and a nearby fire which was coming ever closer to their home.
Kerry Washington's parents joined us when we sat down at a middle school near the Lakeview Terrace set to talk about her character. Washington, who's just plain gorgeous, had bruises on her face but quickly let us know it was a part of the scene she was working on and not a real injury.
Kerry Washington Interview
Do you find yourself acting a bit differently when your parents are watching?
"No. Much to their dismay, no. Does anybody have any curiosity [as] to where I get my performativity from? This [indicating her bruise] is for the film. This is not because my parents beat me. I have an accident towards the end of the film so this is all fake bruisery."
Is it an accident that Sam Jackson's character caused?
"Maybe. I can't tell you. It's a thriller."
How long did it take for them to do that?
"I work with an amazing makeup artist. Her name's Sarah Vaughn. What I love about her is that she does all the kind of red carpet glamour stuff. She was just in US Weekly for some makeup she did on me a couple weeks ago, but she also has a lot of experience in this prosthetic kind of stuff so she's fantastic. It took maybe like 15, 20 extra minutes."
Is Jackson's character a little harder on you than he is on the character of your husband?
"Harder on me than he is on my husband? No, he kind of gives it to us equally. I mean, I think that the two of them interface earlier than Sam and I interface. But I think just because it's sort of a man to man, they kind of get to know each other as neighbors before I get to know Sam's character. So they're acquainted with each other more in the beginning and then I slowly kind of get to Sam's character after that."
What was it like working with Sam?
"I'm still working with him so the jury's out [laughing]. He's awesome. It's kind of amazing at this point in my career to work with people who I've always wanted to work with, and Sam in particular. I've worked with his wife before but I've never worked with him. I've seen him through the years and he's always been incredibly supportive. Like my first year at Cannes with L'Oreal, he was actually a juror that year and I remember he ran out on the steps of the Palais to welcome me and was like, 'I'm so happy you're here and I'm so excited for you with this L'Oreal campaign.' He's just always been super supportive, so it's really fun."
"It's not only being able to work with him but it's like a lot of our interaction in the film, I really have to be able to hold my ground with him. I really have to be able to look him in the eye and say some scary stuff. It's so fun to kind of be a peer on some levels, and yet at other times feel like I'm in a master class. It's really fun."
What was the big draw for you in doing this film?
"I read this script a long time ago, actually, and I've been tracking it. I've been tracking it as it's passed hands from different directors, different producers, so I've liked this project for a really long time."
"I like it for a lot of reasons. I feel like I've never seen a character like this on the big screen. I'd never seen a black woman who is in a healthy loving relationship with a person of another ethnicity who is strong and smart. One of the things I love about the character of Lisa is that she does not fit into any of the kind of stereotypical frameworks of how we identify black women on screen. She's really this kind of modern woman, this modern kind of progressive, intellectual, hippie, Berkeley chick dating a white guy. And I feel like she's somebody who I know in my life. Like, I have lots of friends like her but I've never seen anybody like her on screen. She's the kind of person who, if she was an actress, I feel like studios would say, 'We don't really know what to do with you. You can't really play ghetto,' you know what I mean?"
"To me the extremes have always been the urban, inner city ghetto chick or Whitley Gilbert, you know, and she's not either of those extremes. She's really just kind of like somebody we all went to college with, and I love that about her character. I come from a very diverse, multi-racial family and so I also like the idea of just having this kind of multi-racial family on screen - and that's not what the film is about. I feel like most of the films that have interracial couples up until now, that has been what the film is about. And I feel like for us as a couple, that's not what this about. We're in love and we're healthy and we like our choice. It's like we live next door to this crazy LAPD officer who doesn't like us. No matter who you are, no matter who you're married to, that's going to be a problem. So I like that. It's an issue but it's not the issue completely. It's complicated."
Has the script changed a lot since the first time you read it?
"It's changed a lot. Yes, it has evolved a lot. I like it more now than I ever have."
What's the biggest difference from the first time you read it?
"It would be hard to tell you without ruining the ending. The biggest change was the reasons why Sam has issues with us as a couple. I can't say any more than that or I'd have to kill you. Wait, let me be really clear though. As some of you know, I'm a little bit of a workaholic, obsessive actor person so I follow a lot of projects just so you know. Like, I find scripts that I like and I am the girl on like Studio Services going, 'Who's authorized to that book now?' So just so you know, when I find something I like, it's mine. Until somebody else tells me otherwise, it's mine."
