by Paul Fischer
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Last year BRENDA BLETHYN came out of nowhere to snag a Best Actress Academy Award nomination as the sympathetic mom in Secrets and Lies. This year she plays another mom, only this one is verbally abusive; a horny girl in a sagging middle aged body. We spoke with Blethyn about Little Voice and last year's Oscar (this before she landed another nomination, as Supporting Actress). |
CrankyCritic: Tell
us about Mari, the character you play in Little Voice.
Brenda Blethyn: She's somebody who used to have a good body,
or thought she did. She was sexy and voluptuous and like sadly and loud.
Colorful, sparkly. But the thing is a lot of women in the north of England,
they have a lot more social life than the South of England and they do
tend to be far more colorful and sparkly than southerners.
CrankyCritic: Is
this a matter of putting on the clothes and becoming the character?
Brenda Blethyn: No. You have to know what makes her get up in the
morning. You have to understand all that. She's someone who's proud of
her body. She talks about it most of the time in the film.
CrankyCritic: This
is a woman who can't stand silence.
Brenda Blethyn: That's right
CrankyCritic: In
real life, can you be silent?
Brenda Blethyn: I love silence. In fact at home I sometimes like
to be quiet and hear the sounds of the world outside. My boyfriend cannot
live without music. I love music too, but he cannot exist without some
music playing. Sometimes I just like quiet.
CrankyCritic: It
must be liberating to play someone so over the top.
Brenda Blethyn: It was wonderful 'cuz I normally play sympathetic
characters. It was a treat for me to just pull out all the stops and go
for it. If I said I wish I'd be more like her that would be misleading.
But I wish I had her chutzpah and her kind of fearlessness. I always think
12 times before saying anything.
CrankyCritic: Do
you have to like a character to play her?
Brenda Blethyn: You have to, even if they're despicable characters.
Whatever they are you have to embrace them enough to want to have to play
them.
CrankyCritic: So
what was it about Mari?
Brenda Blethyn: She is in such a desperate situation. Here she
is working in a fish market. She really lives alone because Little Voice
is absent, really. Never speaks. She's slaving away at the fish market,
coming home, always looking for companionship or finding a man whatever.
She's alone in the world, she's desperate. She's losing her looks, which
were very precious to her. Yet she still has this tremendous sense of
optimism. She's resilient and gets on with it. I suspect where we leave
them in the film, with the birds flying, I mean the day after the night
before; Mari'll get up and she'll probably deal with the day.
CrankyCritic: You're
making Mari sound more sympathetic than she actually is. She's a horrible
mother...
Brenda Blethyn: She's awful! That's what I liked about playing
her. She is so unsympathetic. Now there could've been a temptation to
round off the edges, but I thought that would be rather patronizing to
do that. You have to go for broke and be honest with a character, even
if people aren't going to like her. I didn't try at any point to make
the audience like her, just to be honest with her. But it's quite interesting
that most people that go through this journey with her; they laugh with
her, they laugh at her, they find her not so funny, they don't like her
and ultimately feel some compassion for her. But you only get that if
you don't ask for it.
CrankyCritic: What
do you hope people leave the theater with after seeing this role?
Brenda Blethyn: An air of optimism? When I watched the film the
other night I kind of forgot I was in it and there was Jane Horrocks and
Michael Caine and Ewan McGregor. I believed they were those people and
because you change your mind about the characters, which I think is rather
nice and healthy, but in the end I had a real good feeling about it and
I wanted to sing.
CrankyCritic: Little
Voice takes a darker turn towards the end
Brenda Blethyn: Yes it does. But I think that's good. It's like
a fairy tale that's inhabited by real people and not fantasy people.
CrankyCritic: What
do you think of Oscar as the ultimate end all of movie making? What was
it like when you were nominated?
Brenda Blethyn: Oh it was dreamy. It was wonderful. I couldn't
believe it. But I was so proud to have won at Cannes, firstly, and the
Golden Globe that's such a big deal winning the Golden Globe. Even if
I hadn't have been nominated for an Oscar, to have won the Golden Glove
was just fantastic. I wouldn't have missed it. I thought I wouldn't enjoy
the ceremony, that I'd enjoy the parties and things but it was the opposite.
I loved the ceremony. I thought Billy Crystal was quite wonderful and
those excerpts that he played around with at the beginning were hilarious.
CrankyCritic: What
about the attendant nonsense that goes hand in hand with the Oscars?
Brenda Blethyn: It's such a huge celebration that embraces so many
things; the fashion industry, the designer labels. I mean, there are spin-off
programs about what people are wearing that people are riveted to. The
diamonds, the Harry Winstons that come out. Y'know in fact at the Golden
Globe I wore dress jewelry but at the Oscars I thought I'd go for broke
and I wore about $3 millions worth of diamonds that I borrowed from Harry
Winston. I remember going from the ceremony to the parties. My boyfriend
and I were in the stretch limo going off to Elton John's party and we
were drinking champagne in the back having a wonderful time and it seemed
to be taking ages to get there. And I looked out of the window of the
limo and we were on some sort of side street and I thought where are we?
I'm going to be robbed of the jewelry! And I said to the driver "Do
you know where you are?" He said "No ma'am." [laughs] What
happens at an event like that is that they need hundred of limos so they
bring in drivers from out of town. So we had to go into a garage to ask
directions, now how embarrassing is that? I slipped down in the back seat
in my Armani finery and Winston diamonds so nobody could see me.
CrankyCritic: That's
exactly the kind of nonsense I was talking about. Did Harry Winston call
you and say we'd like you to choose something and you can borrow it...
Brenda Blethyn: Yeah. I had an invitation, yes.
CrankyCritic: And
they provide security?
Brenda Blethyn: Oh yes. [giggles] It was fun. I don't know if I
felt any different, in fact I was ridiculed at one point. I said I don't
know if I feel any different at all. I can't see them. And [Joan Rivers]
said "Don't be stupid Brenda you're not wearing them for you. It's
so we can see them." [Laughs]
CrankyCritic: The
British don't get all revved up like we do over here...
Brenda Blethyn: The academy awards in England; it's a classy affair
as well. It's less glitzy yes. People aren't so much interested in what
you're wearing. They're interested in the drama, the acting and the productions.
But I think they're as interested to know what's happening at the ceremonies
here. It just doesn't happen that way in England.
CrankyCritic: Are
you still doing theater?
Brenda Blethyn: I hope so. I hope to do some next year. The strange
thing is that since I've been offered lots of films I think that maybe
they think that I've sold out to Hollywood. Which is not the case if anybody's
listening. I've made six films since I made Secrets and Lies but
I still live in London and I'd love to do theater. I wouldn't mind doing
theater here, but preferably I'd like to be at home where I can enjoy
the house and my boyfriend [really big laughs]. I always considered myself
very successful even before the success of Secrets and Lies. Touch
wood. I've never been out of work. I think people often confuse success
with fame and stardom. No. if you're making a decent living in work; I
enjoy theater. I love it.