Catherine Keener         Cameron Diaz  

stars of Being John Malkovich

Part 3: In which we talk of celebrity, monkey cages and metaphors for acting (blame Malkovich, it was his idea) and pose the stock question: If you could jump, who?

CrankyCritic: Malkovich said he thought the portal was a metaphor for what you do as an actor. Do you see it that way?
Cameron Diaz: I see it that way now, after all the interviews. It's not something I considered. This is our therapy in a way. We get to talk with you guys. Yeah, this is what we do. We become other people for a period of time
Catherine Keener: Yeah, we think that we become other people, which is exactly like the film. You think that fifteen minutes inside John Malkovich would let you know what it's like to be him. Lottie says "I was John Malkovich" but she was fifteen minutes in a shower [laughs] That was all. There is sort of an analogy to actors. We try to convey, and sometimes think that we've captured another person's being, in two months of work. It's impossible.

CrankyCritic: If you could each get into someone else's head, would you want to?
Cameron Diaz: Life is an adventure. I'm up for adventure. Certainly it would be interesting to jump into somebody's head. If you decide to do something, like drive a race car, the first time you do it it would be exciting. The next ten times you do it you have a better idea of what's going to come around. If you jump into a random person, you have no idea what to expect. There is no way you can guess what's going to come next. Much like this script. That's the thrill of the ride. Yeah, I'd do it.
Catherine Keener: It occurred to me that it would be interesting to be a man for a short amount of time, just to see if there actually is a difference in the way that we think and feel, like people are always talking about. I don't really know that there's a difference because I've only been a woman.
CrankyCritic: Do you have a guy in mind?
Catherine Keener: My husband. [laughs] I'd love to know what the hell he's thinking!

CrankyCritic: Can we talk about the compulsion to "get inside" a celebrity? That's a theme of this movie.
Catherine Keener: Maybe it's really based on that thing you have as a child. When you make believe you're somebody else. As an adult, I think people have a fascination with acting, as well. A lot of people I know would love to act and it's all in a very kind of innocent way. It's so much fun to do different things. To experience new things all the time. Maybe it's starts from that and kind of unravels. When you see the material things that celebrities have
Cameron Diaz: Where they shop, in In-style Magazine. There's a whole media culture devoted to the lives of celebrities. Where they shop and what they have and who they're with and what privileges they have. People start thinking "that's really cool and interesting." And (they're) buying that magazine because they want that. They want to have everything that other people have.
CrankyCritic: The grass is greener on the other side...
Cameron Diaz: When it comes down to it, it's all about finding happiness within themselves and going in and finding out what they love.
Catherine Keener: Exactly.

CrankyCritic: Cameron, would you jump into a monkey cage again?
Cameron Diaz: Oh, absolutely. Working with the chimps was an amazing experience. I had two chimps that I bonded with for a week before we started shooting and they were with us a lot.
Catherine Keener: It could hurt your feelings being around her. The chimps like attention and they'll play with you but as soon as Cameron came around you were completely rejected by them. It wasn't good for my character <vbg>

Part 1   Part 2