Interview to Empire Online

Like Richard Linklater’s Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly was shot live-action then „animated“ by the Rotoscoping process. Did knowing it was going to be Rotoscoped affect your performance?

I didn’t even think about it. Waking Life really is one of my top five favourite movies of all time, and with that I felt like the performances came through so vividly; it really captured the subtlety. So I knew this was going to be that times a thousand. And if I’d thought about it, it would probably have been distracting. I just did things the same as always.

Was it strange seeing yourself Rotoscoped?

Not really. I love it, I think it adds so much emotion; I certainly felt that with Waking Life. I don’t really know what Rotoscoping means, but it just moves me in some strange way.

We don’t see as much of you as we used to. What does it take too get you to work these days?

Well, Richard Linklater for one. I’d do anything for him. And I find the movies I do for a lot less money are the ones I enjoy most. I’m working now; I just came from the set. I haven’t even slept.

Are you still in costume?

No, I changed very quickly.

Well, you look great! What set have you just come from?

It’s called Sex And Death 101. I’m Death. I literally do play Death.

That’s with Heathers writer-director Daniel Waters. What was it like working with him again?

Amazing. It’s a dream for me. I love him very much as a person and I think he’s a phenomenal writer. We’ve been trying for a long time to do the sequel to Heathers too, which hopefully will happen at some point. I can’t tell you anything about the script but it’s so Dan, it’s so twisted and great. He’s a great director and it’s wonderful to be working with him again.

And how was it teaming up with Keanu again, your Dracula co-star?

It was fun, wonderful. And we didn’t have to do the accents or wear the costumes this time. I remember on Dracula having to lay down on the floor with someone’s foot in my back while they pulled the strings on my corset. Keanu helped me so much with the A Scanner Darkly material too, which I found and still find very challenging. I feel if we were making this movie forever we’d never get to the end of it, it’s so complex, scary.

You’ve worked with Robert Downey Jr. before, too.

Yeah, I worked with Downey when I was 15. He played my brother (in 1988′s Vietnam-era melodrama 1969) so it was great to be around him again. They both made me feel very safe. And Keanu knows I have a huge crush on him, I tell him all the time. My character cares very much about Keanu’s character, and with Keanu it’s very easy to care about him. I was frustrated because we didn’t get to make out properly.

A Scanner Darkly is based on the novel by Philip K. Dick. You have a fairly close connection to Dick, don’t you?

Well, my godfather (acid guru Timothy Leary) was his roommate for a while.

That must have been one far out pad.

I know. I still have the note he left on the refrigerator when he moved out. It’s very simple, it says: „Tim, I’m gone. You won’t see me for a long time. Phil.“

Did you ever meet him?

When I was little I met a lot of really interesting, amazing people. I wish I could remember them all. But at the time they were just grown-ups to me. [Dick] was always part of the crowd that my Mom and Dad were in, a kind of literary circle. I read his books early on and always hoped there’d be an adaptation of A Scanner Darkly one day. My dream was that I’d have the chance to be in a really great adaptation of it. I’m not sure if I ever met him, but my dad has a jacket of his in his closet. My Dad was very close to him. My Dad gets very misty when he talks about Philip K. Dick.

What do you think of Dick’s powers as a prognosticator? There are clear parallels between the themes of A Scanner Darkly – societal control, covert surveillance, misinformation – and what’s going on in the world today.

It was really weird watching the news while we were making the movie because it’s happening right now, the whole Haliburton thing. It’s eerie how relevant A Scanner Darkly is politically and socially. And I’m very happy to be part of a movie like that, aside from just loving it as a personal story. I think Dick was really on the money when he wrote it; it’s amazing what he predicted. I think it’s a terrifying time right now in this country and the world. But Richard Linklater said something very perceptive to me about how the more terrifying the world gets, the more people find humour in the situation, how people don’t just become sheep, how humanity asserts itself.

Interview: Simon Braund

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Pale, unbearably slim with very short dark hair, Winona Ryder slips into the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles looking like a junior model on a day off, in an ankle-length brown leather skirt and matching top.

At 28, Winona Ryder looks like a teenager — a fragile, waif-like teenager, very much like the 16-year-old mental patient who is at the heart of the film, “Girl, Interrupted,” described by some as an all-girls “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

Doing a film based on the true story of Susanna Kaysen’s experiences while a patient at a New England mental hospital for two years in the late 1960s would seem far removed from Ryder’s experiences, but, as she revealed recently, that’s not the case. At age 19, a mixed-up Ryder put herself into such a place for five days.

In promoting “Girl, Interrupted,” the actress best known for “Bettlejuice,” “Mermaids,” “Little Women” and “Alien Resurrection” discusses some of these painful memories, revealing the real Ryder.

In her chat with JVibe.com, she also touched upon her Jewish roots. Ryder, born Winona Horowitz, is half Jewish on her father’s side. Another aspect to her Jewish background seldom mentioned is the fact that many of her relatives died in the Holocaust. This horrific event was something that affected her as she grew up, despite her unusual upbringing, which included living on a 300-acre commune in Northern California with her parents and seven other families.

JVibe: Before we talk about your new film, I’d heard many of your relatives died in the Holocaust.
WR: Yeah, my family is from Russia on my father’s side. My grandparents immigrated through Ellis Island and lived in Brooklyn. My grandmother still lives there–she’s 99.

JVibe: When did you learn about your family history?
WR: My dad told me about it when I was the right age to hear about something so tragic. They waited for the right time.

JVibe: How has that history affected you as an actress?
WR: I’d rather not get into that today. I think it’s affected me the same way it would affect anyone who had lost so many. It’s been a very big part of my life.

JVibe: Okay, about Girl, Interrupted, why do you say this is the most important movie you’ve ever made?
WR: I could have been that woman. I strongly identified with what she went through. I, too, have been a patient in a mental hospital and have suffered from depression, panic and anxiety attacks. I checked myself into a mental hospital once for a week.

JVibe: What happened to you to get you to that point?
WR: My heart would suddenly start thumping at 90 miles an hour and I’d be sweating. I was 19 at the time and felt totally alone. I felt I couldn’t tell anybody in the world how I felt. It’s a horrible feeling not to be able to describe that fear and terror. You’re on a plane and you want desperately to get off. So you turn to the stranger in the next seat and you want to say something but you don’t know what to say. It’s scary, real horrible and scary.

JVibe: What was it like being in a mental hospital?
WR: Scary. It was a lot like the hospital wing in “Girl, Interrupted.” It was a very bare sort of stark place where they take everything away from you. I was only there for five days, but it was definitely something that I could use for the movie. That feeling when you first walk into a place you feel very alone and frightened. But I was a volunteer patient so I could leave at any time so it was different.

JVibe: Did it help?
WR: I didn’t really get anything from that place. I really didn’t. I went there. I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep. They didn’t help me at all.

JVibe: Susanna Kaysen was in for two years.
WR: Yeah, she saw a psychiatrist for 20 minutes and they locked her up for two years. It’s absurd. She didn’t need to be there. I mean I do consider Susanna a rebel, in a very internal way, but she didn’t need to be locked up.

JVibe: So did you learn anything from the experience?
WR: At l9, I learned that no matter how rich you are, no matter how much you pay some hospital or doctor, they can’t fix you. They can’t give you a pill or a secret answer to anything that’s going to make you better. You have to figure it out for yourself.

JVibe: So did you figure out what it was all about, why someone who should have been on top of the world was in such trouble?
WR: I grew up in front of everybody. I got my first pimples on film. I went through puberty on film and even had my first period, literally, on film. At the time, my boyfriend was an actor (Johnny Depp) and everything we did together was photographed and endlessly written about. My whole life was amplified for public consumption. And every time I complained, I was called a brat. So I learned I wasn’t supposed to complain about anything. That was the way I was programmed. The message was we were perfect people who led perfect lives.

JVibe: Why are you talking about it now, apart from the obvious – to help promote the film?
WR: I didn’t talk about it for a long time because I was scared I wouldn’t be able to control it. I’ve now made a conscious choice to talk about it.

JVibe: Do you think it will have negative repercussions on your career?
WR: As actors we have a rough time if we mention we’re going through a depression. We get slammed and called utter brats. We’re sickeningly wellpaid, we get these amazing bonuses and lead these very charmed lives. But along with it there’s the stuff the public doesn’t see. A lot of ugly stuff, and soul-selling stuff. When you turn on the TV and see, ‘Oh, another actor goes into rehab, or another actor has a breakdown or another ends up in a car crash with a hooker, or whatever there’s demons the public doesn’t see. I live a very privileged life. I’m very blessed. I have money and lots of material things. But I also have the same pressures that any their human being has, only amplified because of the work I’ve chosen to do and because our lives are a lot more public.

JVibe: Is talking about what happened to you part of the recovery process?
WR: I had to learn to talk to people about it. I read Susanna’s book. Over the years I heard from other women who were like me–and they were grateful to learn they were not alone. It’s not an isolated incident that happens to one girl—it’s something that’s sweeping the country. A loneliness we all go through.

JVibe: Is that why the book had such a profound effect on you?
WR: When I read the book when I was 21 I fell madly in love with it. I hadn’t read something so brutally honest without being self-indulgent before. That’s pretty rare in literature especially for a female character. But the characters were all so captivating, heartbreaking and funny.

JVibe: Was it easy to get the film made?
WR: It took me six years to do. Hollywood seems to want to make softer romantic movies for women like “Runaway Bride.” I’m not out to bad mouth those films but most of what is offered to young woman in film today is terrible. It’s really an insult. I couldn’t make this movie today because I’m 28 and I’m already taking shots from the press about playing a teenager again.

JVibe: So you’re obviously not turned off completely to show business.
WR: No. I still feel like a kid in a way. I get excited when I get a job and on my first day at work. But I live up in San Francisco—and it’s important to have a life outside of this business.

JVibe: Are you thinking of marriage and kids ever?
WR: Not yet. At 28, I’m not ready yet to get married and have kids.

JVibe: Let’s lighten up. Tell us about your boyfriend Matt Damon.
WR: We’ve really made it a long time–a lot of that has to do with keeping it low key. I’m very, very happy. It’s nice when you get to know yourself and your flaws and get to know someone (like Matt) and they embrace them too.

JVibe: So what are your flaws?
WR: I’m weird looking. My ears stick out and I sometimes look like an alien.

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Ryder exorcised the devil from her life at a young age.

“My father is an atheist. My mother is Buddhist. They encouraged my siblings (Yuri, Sunyata and Jubal) and me to take the best part of other religions to make our own belief system .“

“I still practise Buddhism to a certain extent and I believe in karma.”

Ryder was forced to examine her spiritual side when she agreed to star in Lost Souls, the supernatural thriller that opens Friday. She plays Maya Larkin, a staunch Catholic who was possessed by demons. A great deal of faith and a determined exorcist released her from the torment of the demons. Maya has made it her mission to help others wrench their souls from the grip of Satan.

“Playing someone who is devoutly religious was a huge challenge for me and, in particular, playing someone who is Christian.“

“I found it far more fascinating than I thought I would. As part of my research, I read the Bible for the first time. I found it so very beautiful.”

Ryder also spoke to Father James Lebar, a Catholic priest in New York who has performed numerous exorcisms.

“Father Lebar was the first priest I ever had a real conversation with. I was surprised by his honesty and sincerity. He agreed that many people who think they are possessed are severe schizophrenics or suffer other severe mental disorders.“

“But he did not discount the real possibility of demonic possession and I respect him for that. ”

Ryder was shocked by some of the cases Lebar related to her. He even allowed her to view some tapes of his exorcisms.

“It’s terrifying to see what the human body is capable of. In their states of delusion, people can contort their body and even break their bones.”

What struck Ryder the most was that “many of these people are young girls.“

“They’ve lost their minds completely and my greatest fear has always been of losing my mind.”

“The terrifying thing about talking with Father Lebar and watching the tapes was not that there was some entity making these people do this but that they did it to themselves. ”

Ryder shot Lost Souls just before she started work on her pet project Girl, Interrupted.

She admits she “took a lot of what I saw and learned from my research for Lost Souls with me to Girl, Interrupted.”

Lost Souls marks the directing debut of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, a longtime collaborator of Steven Spielberg. Kaminski received Oscars for his work on Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan and is currently working with Spielberg on A.I.
Kaminski met Ryder when he shot her 1995 movie How To Make An American Quilt. Meg Ryan developed Lost Souls as a project for her Prufrock production company and as a possible vehicle for herself. When Ryan passed on playing Maya, Kaminski approached Ryder.

“We’ve seen Winona play romantic, sweet and vulnerable. I wanted to give her the opportunity to be haunted and more mature,” says Kaminski, “I saw glimpses of these qualities in her performance in The Crucible.”

Kaminski feels Ryder was ” brave to venture into this kind of genre film. There is a real stigma attached to these horror movies. That’s why actors traditionally shy away from them. ”

Ryder says the fact Lost Souls is a horror film is what appealed most to her.

“It’s a complete genre movie and it’s something I haven’t done. It’s like The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen in that it relies on suspense rather than gore. It’s like the old movies that frightened me. You feel the presence of the monster rather than see it.”

Lost Souls was scheduled to open last fall but found its thunder preempted by The Sixth Sense, Stigmata and Stir of Echoes. Now it is being released while The Exorcist is in theatres.

“No one can touch The Exorcist. It and The Shining are the grandfathers of all scary movies,” says Ryder, “What we hope is that The Exorcist will whet viewers’ appetites for more supernatural thrills and they’ll come to check us out.”

With Girl, Interrupted, Autumn in New York and Lost Souls, Ryder has had three films out in less than 12 months and she feels that’s at least two too many.

“From now on, I want to do maybe one movie a year if even that. I feel there is a tendency toward overexposure. I think it’s refreshing when you don’t see the same actors all the time. I know there are some people I don’t want to see for a while and I don’t want to become one those actors myself.“

Interview by the Calgary Sun

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She’s also knocked our socks off on the fantasy side with work in Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorshands and Alien Resurrection. Lost Souls, in which Ryder plays an obsessed secular exorcist hunting down the Antichrist, is one that has been sitting on the shelf for a while. Finally released, the film’s tag line (right out of one of the character’s mouth) is “They’ve had their 2000 years. Now it’s our turn” We started with that ‘cuz, being a Member of the Tribe, we felt kind of left out . . .

Winona: I don’t like that tag line very much. I felt they could come up with something a little scarier, don’t you think? I think it’s kind of confusing if you haven’t seen the movie.

CC: Then let’s talk about scary movies. Are you a fan? Do you have favorites?

Winona: Actually, to me this is a genre movie. Supernatural. Alien was a Sci-Fi movie, in my mind. I don’t like the slash ‘em up movies very much. I love psychological thrillers. I think the ultimate is Don’t Look Now, a Nicholas Roeg movie with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. Anything dealing with clairvoyance; The Dead Zone is a great movie.
I think we sort of collectively have a fear of the unknown and the invisible and I always find it much more terrifying when you don’t see the gore; you don’t even see the bad guy, if it’s the Devil or if it’s an alien.

CC: And you’ve had first hand experience with Aliens

Winona: The first Alien movie is a great example because you only see the alien like, maybe three times but the entire movie you feel its presence. There’s this great scene where Tom Skerrit is in the vent and you know the alien is in there, but you never see it and he turns around and it just cuts and you know he’s just got it but it never cuts away to the alien so I always think movies are a lot scarier when you don’t see what our imaginations are very sick aren’t they?

CC: What fascinated you about doing a Hunt the Antichrist flick?

Winona: I’ve always fantasized about being older and looking back on my career and having all different types of movies. I really did want to explore this genre of film. To me, I would call it more of a supernatural thriller, ‘cuz there’s not a lot of gore. I’m not a big fan of gore unless … there are exceptions, I guess. I learned a lot of stuff about; y’know, I read the Bible for the first time and we got to talk to this very prominent priest who had performed so-called exorcisms and watched videotapes of them. That was very disturbing.
I don’t believe in the devil at all but I believe that these people had severe mental disorders and maybe some schizophrenia

CC: Anything paranormal?

Winona: Yeah, there are things. It’s so amazing to me what the human body is capable of doing when you’ve lost your mind that much. Contorting and insane positions and breaking your own bones and things like that. The interesting thing I found was that, in all the tapes we watched, it was always a teenaged girl.
It was very clear to me that they were very disturbed people. I wasn’t raised to believe in the devil or that there was Hell. I actually think it’s a very abusive thing to inflict on a kid to make them think that they’re going to go to Hell and burn if they do something wrong. It’s not how I would raise my kid.

CC: This was the first time you read The Bible? Were you not raised in a religious tradition or is it that you didn’t have exposure to the New Testament?
[Note: Ryder was born surnamed Horowitz. We just made the natural assumption...]

Winona: [laughs] I was raised in a really great way. My mom is Buddhist and my dad’s an atheist but they both encouraged me and my brothers and sister; they never badmouthed any religion.
They said take all the best parts of everything and make up your own, sort of. My father was more “it’s the opiate of the masses” and things like that and I do, really, having read the Bible now, it’s talking to me. A lot of it is very beautiful and that people could really use it – look at Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland and all over the world — to kill people and to hate people and to cause so much pain; it’s amazing to me that religion is used that way.
I’ve always been aware of that but I was aware of it without having read the Bible. And so I was so shocked, like, god these are beautiful little stories and this is tearing apart our world. But it’s not. Religion isn’t. We are using it just like we’re using the devil as an excuse – blame the devil for the things you do. The old saying and it’s ridiculous

CC: It’s Flip Wilson …

Winona: … to not take responsibility for yourself. “The devil made me do it” is crazy.

CC: So, as an actor, when you’re trying to get across a concept which may be alien to most people — even in the Christian religions the Antichrist isn’t a universal thing — what do you draw on to help get across the fear and the mysticism?

Winona: I’m not sure. In my mind it was so absurd. I was so aware that we were making a movie and that it’s a genre movie and that what I was thinking was absurd was a lot of people’s reality. Acting was required in terms of whipping around and looking at a piece of tape next to the camera lens and stuff.
[Director Januscz Kaminski] created an incredible working environment on the set. I’d known him for years and known his career. I’d worked with him before and he was so amazing. He really brought an amazing energy to the set. When I was confused or when things didn’t make any sense to me, I knew it would look great and that he could make sense of it as a conductor.

CC: Are you happy with the non-traditional ending?

Winona: I think there should be more of ‘em. Bowtie endings drive me crazy. There are so many of them.

CC: Bowtie?

Winona: Where everything is tied up perfectly. It’s getting harder and harder now. Studios really want bowtie endings and you really have to fight. I love ambiguous endings but I think it’s very important that she’s such a convicted person that.
Actually, I haven’t seen the actual final, final cut of the movie. I think it’s really great that you don’t know if she did the right thing. She’s just so convicted. It’s very important.

CC: So how does it feel if you’re told that the focus group didn’t like the ending . . . ?

Winona: I can’t believe that movie scenes can be edited and endings can be changed because Susie from the mall didn’t get it. Or didn’t like the ending. When I started out it wasn’t like that. There weren’t focus groups. And I remember when they started happening for every movie. It was just terrifying for the director because he would have to alter his movie because y’know this group of people in Costa Mesa wanted a happier ending.
A lot of people say that that’s why The Crucible didn’t do well. Because it had this really depressing ending. It’s, like, it’s The Crucible! The ending is so powerful. I really love that movie. I think it’s a movie that, in the years to come, will be shown in schools. It’s an incredible, powerful movie. It’s so heartbreaking to know that this whole thing of final cut; director’s don’t get final cut anymore. It’s very sad.

CC: Have you been in a film where they’ve shot alternate endings in anticipation of this?

Winona: I have, yeah. But most of the time we just show them how bad it can be [laughs]. Hopefully all this madness with the media, no offense, with the box office… you’re not going to look back on your life and reminisce about your picture in People Magazine.
You’re going to hopefully look back and think about your performances and your films. When you’re promoting a movie you have to do stuff like this and talk about it and you have to go to the premiere. It’s something you do to support your film and support your work. And it’s important and it does make a difference. I just think it’s the work that matters.

CC: This movie has been on the shelf for 2 years and is being released the same week as The Exorcist . . .

Winona: Yeah.

CC: Do you hate the wait?

Winona: I am now of the mindset that I just want to do one movie a year, if that. You see the same faces out there. You see the same things over and over. I’m sick of it. It makes me not want to go see movies when you know everything. How much they cost. What people are paid. What the story is, the cast, everything. There’s no mystery anymore, so I don’t concern myself with any of it.
I work with people who take care of that end of it. If I did that I would be a really fucked up person. I would be incredibly worried all the time and neurotic. I think it’s very unhealthy for an actor to read the trades. The day I do that is the day I quit acting.
Years ago, I started acting fifteen years ago, it was only about the work. Nobody in the actor community knew about; it only mattered if the person was good and directors would hire you because you were good. It didn’t have anything to do with how much your last movie made.
The climate has really changed out there. It’s kind of frightening that you see the same faces twice a year. It just doesn’t seem real. It just doesn’t seem honest. For me, when I look back on my career I want to look back on performances and work not “oh that movie made this amount of money” or “that movie tanked” or whatever. It’s really the work that matters.

CC: You’ve never paid attention to the back end?

Winona: For a little while I did sort of follow the business end of it and I drove myself nuts. I was not in good shape because when you think about that stuff … that’s why you hire people. To shield you from that stuff. All you should be thinking about is your own work and your own performance.
I’m not saying I don’t care if my movies don’t make money. If my movies make money that gives me an opportunity to make movies like Girl, Interrupted and things I’ve been developing for years. So I guess it is important but just as an actress I can’t think about that kind of stuff.

CC: Are you comfortable looking at your work when it’s done? Some actors can’t look at themselves on screen.

Winona: Yeah, I can. I think probably because I’ve been doing it so long, since I was a kid that I can watch myself grow up and go through adolescence basically on camera. I’ve seen the worst of it. Also, I’m such a film fanatic; I love movies so much that there’s a couple of movies I’ve made that I don’t realize I’m in them. Like Age of Innocence and The Crucible and Heathers and these movies I think are so amazing that I don’t even mind watching myself at all.

by CrankyCritic.Com

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You never know what to expect from Winona Ryder. The actress who practically grew up on screen has been everything from funny and scary, to romantic in movies. Having just recently played a character who falls in love with Richard Gere in Autumn In New York, Ryder is now mixing it up with the devil in order to rid the world of evil in Janusz Kaminski’s Lost Souls. Sitting down with Ryder, I decided to play devil’s advocate and probe along with her the kinds of demons she’d like to exorcise from Hollywood.

PM: Which question are you sick of being asked, so we can avoid that one?

WINONA RYDER: Hmm…No, just shoot. I’m fine.

PM: Are you a horror movie fan?

WR: Well, actually to me this is more supernatural than a horror movie. I don’t like the, you know, slash ‘em up movies very much. I love psychological thrillers. Like I think the ultimate is Don’t Look Now. Anything dealing with clairvoyance, things like that. And The Dead Zone was a great movie. I would call Lost Souls more of a supernatural thriller. Because there’s not a lot of gore. I’m not a big fan of gore. There are exceptions, I guess.

PM: What’s the fascination for you with the occult?

WR: I think we collectively have a fear of the unknown and the invisible. And I always find it much more terrifying when you don’t see the gore, and you don’t see even the bad guy, if it’s the devil or if it’s an alien. The first Alien movie is a great example. Because you only see the alien like maybe three times. But yet through the entire movie, you feel it’s presence. So I always think that movies are a lot scarier when you don’t see what’s there.

PM: Your career is filled with so many types of movies, from Alien: Resurrection to Celebrity, Beetlejuice and Heathers. Why are you always interested in doing very different projects?

WR: I’ve always fantasized about being older, and looking back on my career. And having , you know, all different types of movies. And with Lost Souls, I really did want to explore this genre of film.

PM: How did you prepare for your role in Lost Souls as a kind of demonologist?

WR: It was a great opportunity for me to explore that as an actress, and as a person to step into this role. I learned a lot of stuff. I read the bible, and I got to talk to this very prominent priest who had performed so-called exorcisms. And I watched videotapes of them.

PM: What was that experience like?

WR: It was very disturbing. I don’t believe in the devil at all. But I believe that these people had severe mental disorders, and maybe some schizophrenia.

PM: Was anything paranormal going on?

WR: Yeah, there are things. That’s why it’s so amazing to me what the human body is capable of doing, when you’ve lost your mind that much. I mean, contorting into insane positions and breaking your own bones, things like that. The interesting thing I found was that in all the tapes we watched, it was always a teenage girl. And it was clear to me that they were just very disturbed. I don’t know, I wasn’t raised to believe there was a devil or there was hell. I actually think that’s a very sort of abusive thing to inflict on a kid, to make them think that they’re going to go to hell and burn, if they do something wrong. That’s not how I would raise my kid.

PM: What did you draw on as an actress, to play this part?

WR: Gosh, you know I’m not sure. Because in my mind, it was so absurd, in a way. But I was so aware that we were making this movie, and that it’s a genre movie. And that what I was thinking was absurd, is actually a lot of people’s reality, you know? But Janusz really created an incredible working environment on the set. I’d known him for years, and he was just so amazing. He really brought an amazing energy to the set. And when I was confused, or when things didn’t make any sense to me, I knew that it would look great, and that he could make sense of it, as a conductor. He’s great.

PM: Are you happy with the ending of the movie, that it isn’t one of those Hollywood endings?

WR: Oh yeah. Bow tie endings drive me crazy. And there are so many of them.

PM: Bow tie endings?

WR: Yeah. You know, where everything is tied up perfectly. It’s getting harder and harder now, because studios really want bow tie endings. And you really have to fight. I love ambiguous endings. But I think it’s very important that my character is just such a person of conviction. I think it’s great that you don’t really know if she did the right thing, but she’s just has so much conviction. Yeah, it was very important, I think.

PM: Are you working on anything else right now?

WR: No. I’m now of the mindset that I just want to do maybe one movie a year, if that. You know, there’s so much out there, and you keep seeing the same faces saying the same things over and over. I just am so sick of it that, it makes me not want to go see movies when you know everything. How much they cost, how much people are paid, what the story is, the cast, everything. There’s no mystery anymore. So I don’t concern myself with any of it. I mean, I work with people who take care of that end of it. But if I did that, I would be a really, really messed up person. I mean, I would be I think incredibly worried all the time, and neurotic. Like I think it’s very unhealthy for an actor to read the trades. The day I do that is the day I quit acting.

PM: What do you think has gone wrong in Hollywood?

WR: Like I started acting fifteen years ago. And at that time, years ago, it was only about the work. Nobody in the acting community knew about anything else. The only thing that mattered is if the person was good. And directors would hire you because you were good. It didn’t have anything to do with how much your last movie made. Now the climate has really changed out there, and it’s kind of frightening that you just see the same faces promoting their films and saying the same things.

It just doesn’t seem real, it doesn’t seem honest. And for me, I just feel like when I look back on my career, I want to look back on performances and work, not, oh that movie made this amount of money. Or that movie tanked, or whatever. It’s really the work that matters. It interesting, because for a little while, I did sort of follow the business end of it, and I drove myself nuts. Like I was not in good shape, because I was thinking about that stuff. That’s why you hire people, to shield you from that. Because all you should be thinking about is your own work, and your own performance.

PM: Is it possible to just stay focused on your craft, and forget about everything else?

WR: I’m not saying I don’t care if my movies don’t make money. You know, if my movies make money, that gives me an opportunity to make movies like Girl, Interrupted. And things that I’ve been developing for years. So I guess it is important. But just as an actress, I can’t think about that kind of stuff. And I can’t believe that scenes can be edited and movie endings can be changed because, you know, Susie from the mall didn’t get it. Or didn’t like the ending.

When I started out, it wasn’t like that. There weren’t really focus groups. Like it was kind of rare. And I remember when they started happening like with every movie. It was just terrifying for the director, because he would have to alter his movie because this group of people in Costa Mesa, or wherever wanted a happier ending. And a lot of people say that’s why The Crucible didn’t do well, was because it had this really depressing ending. Like, it’s The Crucible! The ending is so powerful. I mean, I really love that movie, I think it’s incredibly powerful. But it’s just so heartbreaking to know about this whole thing of final cut, and that directors don’t get final cut anymore. And most of them don’t. So it’s very sad.

PM: Have you been in movies where they’ve shot alternate endings?

WR: Yeah, I have. But most of the time, what we do is we just show them how bad it can be, probably! Like you’re not going to look back on your life and reminisce about your picture in People Magazine. You’re going to hopefully look back and just think about your performances in your films. When you’re promoting a movie, you have to do stuff like this and talk about it. That’s something you do to support your film, to support your work. That’s important, and it does make a difference. But I just think it’s the work that matters.

PM: Are you comfortable looking at yourself in movies?

WR: Yeah. I think I can probably, because I’ve been doing it for so long, since I was a kid. So I sort of watched myself grow up and go through adolescence like basically on camera. So I can. I’ve seen the worst of it! And also, I’m such a film fanatic. I love movies so much. And there are a couple of movies I’ve made, that I don’t even realize I’m in them. And I think they’re so good. Like Age Of Innocence. And The Crucible, and Heathers. These movies I think are so amazing that I don’t mind watching myself at all.

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