Actress Jessica Biel has a few words for screenwriters
Jessica Biel is one of the stars of the upcoming remake of Total Recall. Here are some excerpts from an interview she did with THR at Comic-Con 2012:
The Hollywood Reporter: How difficult was it to make sure that Malena was equal to Colin’s character in a physical way, and then also ensure that there’s a vulnerability to her as well? It feels like Hollywood offers actresses only secondary love interests or ass-kickers, and there’s nothing in between.
Jessica Biel: It’s just constant care and attention. It’s constantly Colin and I, or whoever you’re working with, going “we have to give this the some time — let’s do that again, and think of how we can make the scene stronger emotionally.” I know we have to shoot the big action sequence, but if you don’t care about the two people going through it, who cares at the end of the day?
And really, it’s your director. If Len didn’t care about a female character that was equally smart, cool, tough, kick-ass and emotionally vulnerable, emotionally sensitive and actually a woman, a real person, then you’re dead in the water.
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THR: How tough is it to find genre or non-genre movies that you feel like offer you a well-rounded character to play? Is it a matter of you simply transforming whatever you take on to make it challenging, or does it need to be on the page from the get-go?
Biel: No, it’s always a concern because if it’s not on the page, it’s a real question mark. The movie is made on the writing, the movie is made on the set and the movie is made on the editing table — you can do whatever you want emotionally on screen and then someone can just cut it up and chop it up. So the best possible way to start something feeling confident that you will have a well-rounded experience is for it to just be there, if possible, on the page. Because I’m not interested if something is a surface thing; unless I’m passionate about it for some other reason, I’m not moved by it. And I want to be moved. I feel like I can’t be moved unless I believe that this person really exists and the arc makes sense and where they go is interesting. But if it’s a really well thought out person, that’s what is exciting.
A couple of things:
* Yet again the importance of getting it right and getting it down on the page.
* In relation to characters, actors and writers have a similar goal: To create compelling characters who make sense as characters. But beyond that, Biel makes a point that cannot be overemphasized: Actors, and indeed all script readers, want to be moved by characters in a script. No matter the genre, a big broad comedy, a sleek thriller, or an explosive sci-fi actioner, writers have to create some sort of emotional resonance between our characters and a reader.
There is only one way to do that: You have go into your characters. You have to do whatever you can to crack them open, dive into their psyche, learn their personal history, familiarize yourself with their personality traits, understand their narrative function, all the while believing they are real and exist in a real story universe.
For more of the Biel interview, go here.
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