Is there any type of character you’re still dying to play?
I don't know. There are people that I’d like to work with. There are a lot of people I’d like to work with. And this, the past couple years, between “Off the Map,” this one and the Sally Potter film that’s coming out, I’ve basically gotten to do earthy and grounded and I’ve gotten to do drunk and suburban and funny. And the Sally Potter film is very sensual. It’s the most sensual performance I’ve ever done. No skin. No nudity whatsoever. As of the moment, I think it comes out June 24th.
Speaking of “Off the Map,” how scary was it to garden in the nude?
That was really scary because I didn’t decide… “Off the Map” is a wonderful film that Campbell Scott directed. It’s coming out on the same day [as “Upside of Anger”] and that I was on the fence about until like a week or two before. Campbell was ready with a body double and I was like, “I don't know if I can do this.” And then I finally decided that I should do it because I felt like I wouldn’t understand the character unless I went completely there. And I don't know, there’s something about the air in New Mexico that’s like why would you wear your clothes when you garden?
Did it help you understand the character more?
It did help me. I mean, you meet people there that their babies are born in hot tubs and stuff like that. It’s really cool alternative people that are old hippies and environmentalists and all this stuff. I talked with people who lived in the area.
Who do you play?
Oh, she’s a great character. It’s a family that lives off the grid and Sam Elliot plays my husband and he’s going through a depression. The family lives on $5000 a year. We have a daughter that’s 13 years old played by a wonderful, young actress. And it’s how the family deals with the family falling apart, basically.
Sam was amazing in it because he would just have scenes, he’d just come and cry every day. Which I thought was so cool for him because everybody knows him as like the silent, strong guy. So you have that coming in when you see him, and then when you see him weeping at the dinner table and how the family copes with it… It’s very - the closest thing [comparable is] it’s sort of like Terrence Malick films. The landscape plays a huge part in it and it’s how the family copes. It just unfolds in a very gentle, kind of accumulated way that’s really beautiful. I’m really proud of it.
Are you signed on for “The Bourne Ultimatum?”
It’s not at that point yet. I think they’re just talking about doing a third one. They’re in the beginning stages.
Would you like to?
Yes.
Would your character be shown doing field work this time?
I think she should. I think definitely. When I first saw that car chase, I was like, “I wanted to do that.” I think she definitely needs to.
