Kristin Scott Thomas Interview

By: Izumi Hasegawa

Izumi Hasegawa: Are you experiencing a renaissance in your career right now?

Kristin Scott Thomas: This is the first time I’m really enjoying the attention. I think I’m in the right place in my life to be able to enjoy being in this great production on Broadway (The Seagull), and to enjoy being in a movie (I’ve Loved You So Long) that so many people seem to appreciate and who are paying a lot of attention to the film. I feel I’ve done work that I feel proud of and I’m able to enjoy it right now.

IH: Is that because you’re doing so many things that seem to be overlapping but aren’t really?

KST: Yeah, they weren’t. Obviously, it’s all staggered because you make a lot of films and then they come out. This film, I’ve Loved You So Long, was released in France in the early spring. So then it’s been rolled out across Europe. Now it’s coming to America and in between I’ve done other things. It does seem to be strange that it’s all dovetailing and coming in together at the same time.

IH: Did the subtle nature of revealing Juliette’s character make it easier to identify with her?

KST: 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 motive, or how to play the character, I felt, was to keep hanging onto that secret and being aware that the camera was going to come in and pinch stuff from time to time. 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. It’s little dots impressionistic almost.

IH: How are you at keeping secrets? Was it easy to relate to her keeping secrets?

KST: No, it wasn’t, actually. That was quite hard, but I think there are so many of us who have these unsaid events in their childhood or relationships that are taboo or whatever it is, and just don’t want to go there. That’s how I related to that. It’s a sort of taboo subject — you’re not allowed to think about it.

IH: How did you decide on the physicality of Juliette?

KST: 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 your 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. Her life would’ve been miserable.

IH: Did you decide to wear no makeup and dress in browns?

KST: Yeah, but finding a character is definite teamwork. I work with the makeup artist and the costume designer. We wanted it to appear that she had no skin. She was just naked, a bare person, and somebody who really didn’t care about her appearance with no narcissism at all — no self love, 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.

IH: Did you get the same raves on Broadway (The Seagull) as in the UK, and how did you adjust your performance?

KST: Yeah, the reviews… There’s a very good rule to stick by — 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, 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, it is twice the size of our English theater, 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.

IH: Is it more interactive than you thought?

KST: Well, the trouble with interaction is that sometimes it can drag you away from what you’re talking about, so you have to be very disciplined and remain true to the piece, which is perhaps something that has taken us by surprise, because we come from England where people are more reserved and the reactions certainly were in a similar vein but just not quite so expansive. And so we have to keep it together, but we have a very tight company, and every week we have a little meeting and we all sit down, and we all talk to each other about what’s going on, what’s working, what isn’t, and who’s upstaging who, and just watch it, please. Every week we have a point of concentration that we will adjust, and it’s great. It’s really good fun.

IH: When you were describing creating the character and finding not only her voice but her look as well, is that something that you welcome doing on a film of this scale, or Confessions of a Shopaholic, not to say that that’s necessarily going to be a bad film, but that’s a studio film.

KST: There are different rules. You have to make sure that things are going to fit into a certain category and they’re going to be understood in a certain way, and so that was quite a different set-up. Also, in Shopaholic, we had this star costume designer who is, forgive me, I’ve forgotten her name, but she’s incredibly famous.

IH: Patricia Field.

KST: Patricia Field, who is such a huge star, says, “Wear that,” and you go, “Yes!” [Laughs] So it’s just a different thing. I usually get on pretty well with the costume designers. It’s something I enjoy thinking about because I think that when you see somebody — when somebody walks in a room and you look at them, you do, whether you like it or not, you are getting information and you’re making judgments about that person, just by the way they’re dressed. [Laughs] I mean, it’s true, we all do it. That’s why we buy clothes. Everyone buys so many clothes, which I think is awful. So I enjoy that process enormously, and with Jacqueline Bouchard, who is doing the costumes on this, we found a terrible old coat which she had for ages. [It] actually came from England; it was a Marks & Spencer model from 1983 or something, and we just used that and I put on a bit of weight, just be stodgier. There was something that should be immobile about her; there was something very heavy about her that we kind of made.

IH: Would the character have been different for you? I mean, because she’s redeemable…

KST: Well, I think that this act, this crime that she’s committed, is something that is so frightening for all of us sitting around this table, if you think that you’ve got to make this decision, then what do you do? Oh God, it doesn’t even bear thinking about. And I’m sure everyone has nightmares about accidentally killing somebody or something like that. They’re absolutely the most terrifying dreams, and so all this happens to this woman, or in your nightmares, you dream that you get falsely accused of something, and so these terrors of imprisonment or being falsely accused, or committing a crime are within us all, and I’m sure that’s why this film works so well and pushes so many people’s buttons, because we all understand those fears. So, just to get back to your question, I think that, had her crime been a different crime, this story would have been a completely different story and she would have had a different set of problems. I can’t really answer your question because the film wouldn’t be the film if it didn’t have this crime.

IH: Given what happened and what it is, what you were just saying — you know, you look, you judge people based on the way that they look — and the judgment we see her take every day of this film, does it change your mind at all, or does it give you a sense of compassion or more of an interest in people?

KST: [People] that are trying to re-establish themselves and trying to start again? Yeah, big time. I wouldn’t go to a prison to talk to people because I was too afraid of my own emotions getting in the way of being able to portray this character…I want to say crudely, but I don’t mean that in a vulgar way. But as in the most immediate fashion I can think of, which would be me using my imagination and just trying to imagine — just push myself into that position. And I was afraid that my fear or my pity, or all those things would get in the way of that. So I didn’t do that, but I did watch quite a lot of stuff about people talking about how difficult it was coming out — rehabilitation and everything like that. It’s the most heartbreaking thing, and these women particularly, once they’ve been separated from their children, separated from their families, they’re just broken, and it is so difficult to get. People have told me — therapists and psycho-specialists and those kinds of things — that it is virtually impossible to completely pick yourself up and get back going. It’s just so sad, whatever they’ve done. Of course, there’s people you have such difficulty in even feeling sympathy for or liking because they’ve done these horrible, wicked, evil things, but at the same time, you see this human being who’s trying to kind of be a human again, and [it’s] really tough.

IH: How did you establish the sisterhood in this film? It was so real for me. What did you talk about?

KST: Well, it was funny because Elsa [Zylberstein] doesn’t have any sisters, so I mean, I hope she’ll forgive me if I talk for her, but she had a slightly romantic idea about sisters, which was perfect for the role, because Lea, her sister, left when she was ten and she hadn’t seen her in 15 years or whatever. I can’t remember what the age gap is between us, but anyway, she was very small when the girl left, and she has this idealized vision. Elsa, the actress, has this idealized vision of what it’s like, thinking it must be really nice to have a sister ’cause she’s got one brother. She doesn’t know what it’s like, so she imagines all these sort of hair-brushing parties and things. [Laughs] I know the opposite. It’s sort of like knives and [laughs] how vicious little girls can be between them, and even older girls, so it was quite interesting being able to play that off, the reality vis-à-vis what we’re pretending to be in the film. It’s quite useful and it worked really well. I think we’re completely convincing as sisters, which is so extraordinary because, if she walked in the room now, you’d never imagine that would be possible, but on camera, something happens.

IH: There is buzz, as I’m sure you’re aware, because people like me to keep asking you about it, and award season can certainly draw attention to a film. Having been through this before, is it old hat or is it meaningful to you?

KST: I think it’s always meaningful. I think it’s always lovely when something gets recognition. I certainly would be over the moon if something like that happened. It would be wonderful, but who knows?