Born in Hollywood, the daughter of the late actor Vic Morrow and veteran screenwriter Barbara Turner (The Company, Pollock), Jennifer Jason Leigh immediately established a reputation as one of the most fearless actresses of her generation. Over the years, Leigh has specialized in playing characters on society's bottom rung—she's played a sex worker three times (Last Exit To Brooklyn, Miami Blues, and Short Cuts) and a junkie twice (Rush, Georgia)—but she's also shown a knack for playing hyper-intelligent women of bygone eras, in The Hudsucker Proxy, Kansas City, and as Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle. In 2001, Leigh and her friend Alan Cumming tried their hand at directing with The Anniversary Party, a digital-video project shot over 19 days with an impressive cast list.
Two years ago, Leigh married writer-director Noah Baumbach (The Squid And The Whale), so she had the inside track for a plum role in Baumbach's new film, Margot At The Wedding. Leigh plays Pauline, an emotionally fragile woman whose monstrous sister (Nicole Kidman) threatens her impending marriage. Leigh recently spoke to The A.V. Club about growing up in Hollywood, naturalism versus stylization, and the perils of bringing a role home.
The A.V. Club: With this movie, you had the unique advantage of literally living with the material. What was that like for you, and what sort of influence did you have on the process?
Jennifer Jason Leigh: It was great for me, because by the time we started shooting, I was really, really familiar with the characters. I had seen so many drafts and versions that I knew so many details. I felt like I had been living with them all for a really long time. We talked about it constantly. I'd read the latest draft, and I would tell Noah my thoughts, and we would brainstorm and talk about the characters and things like that.
AVC: When you make a movie, do you usually familiarize yourself with the other characters in the script?
JJL: No, I'm just dealing with my own character that I am playing.
AVC: And you were always going to play this role from the beginning?
JJL: No. Not necessarily. I didn't know if I was going to be even in it, in the beginning. I was hoping I'd be in it, but I wasn't sure. And then one day, I don't remember quite when in the process, Noah told me that he wanted me to play Pauline. But Noah doesn't like to write with actors in mind, so I wasn't sure.
AVC: Did you feel like that was going to be the role for you?
JJL: I was trying not to read it with any kind of… I was really just trying to read it as a piece on its own, without thinking about it as an actress. I was looking at as the director's script, trying to see it as someone reading and helping Noah, and my thoughts about it, as opposed to scanning it for a role for me. But I was really thrilled when he wanted me to play Pauline.
AVC: The sisters you and Nicole Kidman play are estranged, but they know each other extremely well, and they fall into what feels like a familiar dynamic. Is that all there in the writing, or did you and Kidman have to work beforehand to give that impression of familiarity?
JJL: I think it's a combination. We had two weeks' rehearsal, which was incredibly helpful, and I think there's something that felt very familial about her to me. And probably vice versa. Like, I really did believe we were sisters and we bonded very quickly, and it was very easy to believe we had that history and all that stuff between us. It was effortless, kind of. Also, the script is very layered, so it was easy to just believe it.
AVC: Do the two of you have a fairly similar process?
JJL: I think so, even though it was kind of unspoken, but I felt it, you know? I felt like our approach to acting is very similar.
AVC: The performances in Margot are very naturalistic and sort of de-glammed. What goes into not making it look like you're acting? How can you be natural as a character who's not you?
JJL: Well, that's an interesting question, and I think Noah has a lot to do with that, because we live together and he knows me so well. He knows my qualities in real life. So he knows what I'm like when I'm really laughing. And he knows what I'm like when I'm really upset or angry… he just knows all the shades of me, so that's what he wanted. Even though I'm nothing like Pauline, he wanted me to bring myself to it. And so it's really very naturalistic, probably because it's the closest to me, in a sense, even though she's nothing like me.
AVC: To look on the other side of the equation, you've also done very stylized roles, like the ones in Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle, The Hudsucker Proxy, and Kansas City. How do you strike that balance between giving a stylized performance while still connecting with the character?
JJL: I have a lot of fun making that connection. It takes a lot of vocal work and a different kind of walk and some particular mannerisms. You try to find the internal life, but a lot of it is creating it through physical behavior and figuring out the voice when you create as much of a past as you would in a naturalistic piece. But it's fun, because it's like you're learning something, learning some kind of physical skill.
- Comments