I love this interview so much. Even if you don’t like Sucker Punch I think it’s worth watching.
![Aussie starlet Emily Browning isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. Barely six months after stepping out from the pigtailed blitzkrieg that was Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, the 22-year-old has landed another head-turning lead role, this time in Julia Leigh’s provocative drama Sleeping Beauty. LWLies sat down with Browning recently to chat about her whirlwind year so far.
LWLies: We just saw a quote from Jane Campion that read, ‘Emily Browning is Flawless’. That’s quite an endorsement.
Browning: Yeah [laughs]. She’s been fantastic, she was kind of mentoring Julia before the film. I think it was one of those deals where she was only going to put her name to it if she liked it, so it’s kind of nice to see that she’s really enjoyed it. But yeah, she’s been great – she was with us in Cannes and she’s been really helpful throughout the whole process; making me more comfortable. Knowing she liked it made me feel like I didn’t care if no one else did.
We first saw the film in Cannes…
…I wasn’t at that first screening, but I heard it was very divided. Our screening was pretty good, though.
Yeah, it’s funny because it’s been six months, but it seems to be growing on people.
I understand that, I get that it’s definitely not to some people’s tastes. But for me I think that a lot of the dislike for it is rooted in this idea that the old men are disgusting, and I don’t really… I mean, I’m aware that I look very young but I’m an adult, and I just think that there’s this idea in society that only young, hot straight people have sex, and have sexual feelings. The idea of fetishes is pushed to one side and I think that’s kind of ridiculous. I find something really touching about the idea that these guys want to be with someone who can’t see them, because they’re afraid or conscious of their aging bodies. They just want to hold on to something young. Obviously the second man is quite disturbing in what he chooses to do with Lucy, but the other guys… I don’t know, I guess I feel like they want to just hold onto something young before they come to the end of their life. So I don’t really see it as disgusting as other people do.
They’re ordinary guys, ultimately?
Yeah.
Lucy consents to what happens to her, but she later burns the money she makes. How much do you see her actions as being her way of satisfying her own fetishes or desires?
I definitely think that she has this kind of perverse fascination with allowing these things to happen to her. I wouldn’t necessarily say that she’s self-destructive, I don’t think she’s going out of her way to harm herself, but she’s somewhat nihilistic. There’s definitely something perverse within in, and that’s something that’s very interesting to me. It’s about her asking, ‘How far can I go?’; ‘How far can I push myself before I lose myself?’ And I think that at the end when Birdmann dies, that’s her last finger on the cliff and she completely loses herself in that moment. And in terms of the money – Julia and I discussed this a lot – I think it’s something that she does need but ultimately the scene where she burns the money is her releasing this frustration. She doesn’t want to be controlled by the money. It’s her most rebellious moment, she’s very passive and I think that it’s really just… I’ve had that feeling before; that feeling of wishing that I wasn’t bound by these material things.
When you first read the screenplay what stood out?
I read the first scene and I had a panic attack. I had to put the script down and couldn’t read it for about two hours, it felt too physical to me. It all got a bit too much. But that, in a weird way, drew me to the film even more because it’s a level I’ve not really pushed myself to before. And what I liked about her is that she flips the idea of the victim on its head; she’s allowing herself to be objectified because she has this kind of twisted addiction to being in danger and just staying still in the face of danger. I just found that really interesting because I’ve never really read a character like that before. And also I was just really sucked in by Julia’s writing. She’s an author and just something about it was really mesmerising. There was something about the script that meant I knew exactly what it was going to look like. It was so… she described it so well and it was so cinematic in the way it was written.
Often you read a book and think, ‘I’d love to see this made into a film’, but here it’s almost the opposite. You want to read it, because it’s quite sparse in terms of the dialogue.
Yeah. It’s probably my favourite script that I’ve ever read. I had this visceral reaction to it, especially the Man Two scene when she’s burnt with the cigarette, I remember crying when I first read that scene. It’s a world I knew nothing about but I just felt touched by it in this really profound way. I’ve said before that I’m not particularly brave in my day-to-day life and if I can just be fearless in the work that I do then that balances everything out a bit. So I guess I’m tempted a little bit by seeing how far I can go.
How did you prepare yourself mentally for some of the ‘sleeping’ scenes?
Well, in terms of the sleeping scenes Julia actually suggested that I learn to meditate, which actually really helped because… People have asked whether those scenes were difficult but the thing is I wasn’t really present for them.
How do you mean?
In that I’m asleep. I just learnt to focus on my breathing. I didn’t need to be reacting to people, I just need to make sure I don’t blink and don’t react to anything. That actually made those scenes a lot easier for me, I think it was a lot more difficult for the men in those scenes.
Did you look up the real-life sleeping chambers on the internet?
I didn’t, although I’d heard of them, because I didn’t want the character to know any of that was going on. I didn’t want to see it from an outsider’s perspective. The last scene we filmed was the one where Lucy wakes up and I sort of almost wanted… I remember going into the sleeping scenes feeling very relaxed, I’d just go in and get on the bed and close my eyes immediately. But when we filmed that scene, which was the most difficult to film, it became more intense. It tired me out so much because for that first time in those scenes I had to be emotionally, mentally and physically present. It made it more real for me, because those sleeping scenes, for me, aren’t about her, they’re about the men wanting and needing to project themselves onto her. I got back from the set that day and there was wine and all these biscuits waiting for me because I think they realised how completely fucked I was after doing that scene.
Do you see Lucy as an innocent character?
Maybe not innocent, I’m sure she has an idea of what’s going on, but I don’t think many people would have seen those videos of the sleeping girls and I think she more just fascinated by what’s going on. She’s very aware of what’s going on but she’s allowing herself to be objectified. Being a young woman in this society she can’t avoid being objectified so she decides to allow it on her own terms. There’s something radical about her, it’s like radical passivity. She’s so aware of it and she’s almost just watching everything around her.
But she has to make a point of being radical by burning the money, etc…
Yeah but I think it definitely… at the beginning it’s that she is fascinated by it but the point that she burns the money is the point where she feels she’s losing control, and she has to regain it somehow. And then when Birdmann dies she realises that she’s fucked and she’s pushed herself too far into being this still object. That’s why I love the end scene so much because I think she should be dead, you know. Julia has said that she’s ‘death haunted’ and I think you feel this feeling that she’s going to die all the way through the film. It’s interesting to see her claw her way back from that.
It’s quite a calling card movie. What’s next for you?
I don’t have a career plan set out to be honest. If I like something I’ll always want to be a part of it, but right now I’m looking for something different because I have tended to play the kind of quiet girl with the dark past a lot recently. Lucy is different but she also has similarities with a lot of the characters I’ve played recently. But I could never be, like, the love interest, I couldn’t think of anything worse. But I’m starting to do rehearsals on and English film, a comedy, and that makes me nervous because I think comedy is really hard. But it’s not laugh-out-loud comedy, it’s more naturalistic, so hopefully it will be okay.
You could so easily play the straight up victim, but you seem to be drawn to stronger characters.
Yeah, I think I played that victim character a bit when I was really young… I don’t know, I guess it can get a bit boring after a while. The whole damsel in distress thing really isn’t for me.
Have there been more of those roles sent your way since doing Sucker Punch?
Yeah. I’m very aware of the fact that I look young and innocent, so I don’t want to keep doing that. Baby Doll and Lucy look fragile and feminine, but I’m interested in playing the complete antithesis of that. Victim roles are often just a little bit boring.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvhyx8nZ5r1qgcmbyo1_500.jpg)
Aussie starlet Emily Browning isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. Barely six months after stepping out from the pigtailed blitzkrieg that was Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, the 22-year-old has landed another head-turning lead role, this time in Julia Leigh’s provocative drama Sleeping Beauty. LWLies sat down with Browning recently to chat about her whirlwind year so far.
LWLies: We just saw a quote from Jane Campion that read, ‘Emily Browning is Flawless’. That’s quite an endorsement.
Browning: Yeah [laughs]. She’s been fantastic, she was kind of mentoring Julia before the film. I think it was one of those deals where she was only going to put her name to it if she liked it, so it’s kind of nice to see that she’s really enjoyed it. But yeah, she’s been great – she was with us in Cannes and she’s been really helpful throughout the whole process; making me more comfortable. Knowing she liked it made me feel like I didn’t care if no one else did.
We first saw the film in Cannes…
…I wasn’t at that first screening, but I heard it was very divided. Our screening was pretty good, though.
Yeah, it’s funny because it’s been six months, but it seems to be growing on people.
I understand that, I get that it’s definitely not to some people’s tastes. But for me I think that a lot of the dislike for it is rooted in this idea that the old men are disgusting, and I don’t really… I mean, I’m aware that I look very young but I’m an adult, and I just think that there’s this idea in society that only young, hot straight people have sex, and have sexual feelings. The idea of fetishes is pushed to one side and I think that’s kind of ridiculous. I find something really touching about the idea that these guys want to be with someone who can’t see them, because they’re afraid or conscious of their aging bodies. They just want to hold on to something young. Obviously the second man is quite disturbing in what he chooses to do with Lucy, but the other guys… I don’t know, I guess I feel like they want to just hold onto something young before they come to the end of their life. So I don’t really see it as disgusting as other people do.
They’re ordinary guys, ultimately?
Yeah.
Lucy consents to what happens to her, but she later burns the money she makes. How much do you see her actions as being her way of satisfying her own fetishes or desires?
I definitely think that she has this kind of perverse fascination with allowing these things to happen to her. I wouldn’t necessarily say that she’s self-destructive, I don’t think she’s going out of her way to harm herself, but she’s somewhat nihilistic. There’s definitely something perverse within in, and that’s something that’s very interesting to me. It’s about her asking, ‘How far can I go?’; ‘How far can I push myself before I lose myself?’ And I think that at the end when Birdmann dies, that’s her last finger on the cliff and she completely loses herself in that moment. And in terms of the money – Julia and I discussed this a lot – I think it’s something that she does need but ultimately the scene where she burns the money is her releasing this frustration. She doesn’t want to be controlled by the money. It’s her most rebellious moment, she’s very passive and I think that it’s really just… I’ve had that feeling before; that feeling of wishing that I wasn’t bound by these material things.
When you first read the screenplay what stood out?
I read the first scene and I had a panic attack. I had to put the script down and couldn’t read it for about two hours, it felt too physical to me. It all got a bit too much. But that, in a weird way, drew me to the film even more because it’s a level I’ve not really pushed myself to before. And what I liked about her is that she flips the idea of the victim on its head; she’s allowing herself to be objectified because she has this kind of twisted addiction to being in danger and just staying still in the face of danger. I just found that really interesting because I’ve never really read a character like that before. And also I was just really sucked in by Julia’s writing. She’s an author and just something about it was really mesmerising. There was something about the script that meant I knew exactly what it was going to look like. It was so… she described it so well and it was so cinematic in the way it was written.
Often you read a book and think, ‘I’d love to see this made into a film’, but here it’s almost the opposite. You want to read it, because it’s quite sparse in terms of the dialogue.
Yeah. It’s probably my favourite script that I’ve ever read. I had this visceral reaction to it, especially the Man Two scene when she’s burnt with the cigarette, I remember crying when I first read that scene. It’s a world I knew nothing about but I just felt touched by it in this really profound way. I’ve said before that I’m not particularly brave in my day-to-day life and if I can just be fearless in the work that I do then that balances everything out a bit. So I guess I’m tempted a little bit by seeing how far I can go.
How did you prepare yourself mentally for some of the ‘sleeping’ scenes?
Well, in terms of the sleeping scenes Julia actually suggested that I learn to meditate, which actually really helped because… People have asked whether those scenes were difficult but the thing is I wasn’t really present for them.
How do you mean?
In that I’m asleep. I just learnt to focus on my breathing. I didn’t need to be reacting to people, I just need to make sure I don’t blink and don’t react to anything. That actually made those scenes a lot easier for me, I think it was a lot more difficult for the men in those scenes.
Did you look up the real-life sleeping chambers on the internet?
I didn’t, although I’d heard of them, because I didn’t want the character to know any of that was going on. I didn’t want to see it from an outsider’s perspective. The last scene we filmed was the one where Lucy wakes up and I sort of almost wanted… I remember going into the sleeping scenes feeling very relaxed, I’d just go in and get on the bed and close my eyes immediately. But when we filmed that scene, which was the most difficult to film, it became more intense. It tired me out so much because for that first time in those scenes I had to be emotionally, mentally and physically present. It made it more real for me, because those sleeping scenes, for me, aren’t about her, they’re about the men wanting and needing to project themselves onto her. I got back from the set that day and there was wine and all these biscuits waiting for me because I think they realised how completely fucked I was after doing that scene.
Do you see Lucy as an innocent character?
Maybe not innocent, I’m sure she has an idea of what’s going on, but I don’t think many people would have seen those videos of the sleeping girls and I think she more just fascinated by what’s going on. She’s very aware of what’s going on but she’s allowing herself to be objectified. Being a young woman in this society she can’t avoid being objectified so she decides to allow it on her own terms. There’s something radical about her, it’s like radical passivity. She’s so aware of it and she’s almost just watching everything around her.
But she has to make a point of being radical by burning the money, etc…
Yeah but I think it definitely… at the beginning it’s that she is fascinated by it but the point that she burns the money is the point where she feels she’s losing control, and she has to regain it somehow. And then when Birdmann dies she realises that she’s fucked and she’s pushed herself too far into being this still object. That’s why I love the end scene so much because I think she should be dead, you know. Julia has said that she’s ‘death haunted’ and I think you feel this feeling that she’s going to die all the way through the film. It’s interesting to see her claw her way back from that.
It’s quite a calling card movie. What’s next for you?
I don’t have a career plan set out to be honest. If I like something I’ll always want to be a part of it, but right now I’m looking for something different because I have tended to play the kind of quiet girl with the dark past a lot recently. Lucy is different but she also has similarities with a lot of the characters I’ve played recently. But I could never be, like, the love interest, I couldn’t think of anything worse. But I’m starting to do rehearsals on and English film, a comedy, and that makes me nervous because I think comedy is really hard. But it’s not laugh-out-loud comedy, it’s more naturalistic, so hopefully it will be okay.
You could so easily play the straight up victim, but you seem to be drawn to stronger characters.
Yeah, I think I played that victim character a bit when I was really young… I don’t know, I guess it can get a bit boring after a while. The whole damsel in distress thing really isn’t for me.
Have there been more of those roles sent your way since doing Sucker Punch?
Yeah. I’m very aware of the fact that I look young and innocent, so I don’t want to keep doing that. Baby Doll and Lucy look fragile and feminine, but I’m interested in playing the complete antithesis of that. Victim roles are often just a little bit boring.
Fascinating, shocking, beautiful and a bit of a mind-blow, Australian director Julia Leigh’s “Sleeping Beauty” was anything but a passing fancy in Cannes where it had its world premiere in May. Ahead of its red carpet debut, journalists packed into the press screening earlier in the day and after the credits rolled, opinions flared in the foyer afterward.
“It will never be released in the U.S.,” some said. “I’m ashamed to be Australian,” said another about the film that takes place down under, starring Australian actress Emily Browning.
But the film, which did find American distribution via IFC Films and is opening Friday in limited release, also had its supporters at the festival - a group that seemed to increase as time went on. While not a resounding endorsement, IW’s critic Eric Kohn observed that the film ”will scare off a lot of audiences…[but] Leigh has firmly put herself on the map as a director to watch.” And while the initial round of viewers debated the film’s journey of a young woman’s “reckless descent into a shocking world of erotic desires” as the official description states, most agreed that Emily Browning’s acting was top notch.
Interview with Empire.
Emily discusses Sleeping Beauty, her favorite Disney movie, and her next film Cassie and Jude.
(Source: thelionheartedcookie)
Aussie starlet Emily Browning isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. Barely six months after stepping out from the pigtailed blitzkrieg that was Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, the 22-year-old has landed another head-turning lead role, this time in Julia Leigh’s provocative drama Sleeping Beauty. LWLies sat down with Browning recently to chat about her whirlwind year so far.
LWLies: We just saw a quote from Jane Campion that read, ‘Emily Browning is Flawless’. That’s quite an endorsement.
Browning: Yeah [laughs]. She’s been fantastic, she was kind of mentoring Julia before the film. I think it was one of those deals where she was only going to put her name to it if she liked it, so it’s kind of nice to see that she’s really enjoyed it. But yeah, she’s been great – she was with us in Cannes and she’s been really helpful throughout the whole process; making me more comfortable. Knowing she liked it made me feel like I didn’t care if no one else did.
We first saw the film in Cannes…
…I wasn’t at that first screening, but I heard it was very divided. Our screening was pretty good, though.
Yeah, it’s funny because it’s been six months, but it seems to be growing on people.
How was your trip into town? It’s such a long flight. How did the post-screening Q&A go?
I actually came from London, so it’s not too bad. But then I got in and I stood in the customs line for two and a half hours. I had such a nice flight! I slept, it was awesome. Then I got in, and then the line was just mental. And you know how it is when you’re shuffling at such a slow pace? I was a zombie by the time I got in [Friday] night. I was just not on the ball.
I don’t know how it went! I hope it went well, but honestly, I was on another planet. I think I might have been talking a bit of rubbish, but…
It’s a polarizing film. What kinds of conversations have you encountered or personally had with people about this since Cannes? Yeah! I mean , when I first saw it, I was proud of it, and it worked exactly as I wanted it to. But the automatic response “I love it”? I kind of like that people have to think about it. And apparently it’s stuck with people, which is great. It’s all I could ask for. What was your own reaction the first time you saw the film? Then watching it at Cannes was a different experience — with the huge screen, thinking, “Wow, I’m this giant naked person, and there are thousands of people looking at me.” It changes it a bit. So at Cannes I was sweating profusely and gripping onto Julia’s hand and kind of shaking a little bit. In discussing both this film and Sucker Punch, you’ve expressed your interest in the subject of female empowerment. But in both cases there’s objectification and exploitation going on that threatens to bury the message. Surely there must be a clearer way for you to get it across? Sleeping Beauty, on the other hand… I think Lucy’s being objectified within the film, but she has what Julia calls a “radical passivity,” which is to say, “I have this understanding of this world where I’m going to be objectified, so instead of raging against that, I am going to see where it takes me. I’m going to turn the other cheek. Do your worst.” So I don’t see the film itself as being sexist in any way. Also, for me personally, as a feminist, I’m pro-sex work. And I believe that a portrayal of that — though she’s not quite a prostitute, but someone who’s in that line of work — I don’t think that’s automatically going to be innately sexist. Does that make sense? Yes.
I think in terms of people speaking to me personally about it, their reactions have been positive. The guy who was just interviewing me said a reaction that I’ve gotten a lot, which I quite like, which is, “When I first saw it, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know how I felt about it; it made me uncomfortable. But then it stuck with me, and now I really like it.” And I love that reaction. I think that’s great, and that’s what we want. It’s so weird when I do a Q&A, and somebody asks a question and they begin it with, “I loved the film!” I’m like, “You loved it?” That’s kind of a weird response.
Well, I was meant to see it for the first time at Cannes. I said to my publicist and others, “I can’t do it. I need to see it before them, because I might pass out.” It was the most nerve-wracking experience. So they gave me a copy, and I watched it in bed with a bottle of vodka by myself because I was so nervous. But I was really happy with it, and it’s so rare for me to feel that about a film. I think so often the things that I’ve done have been muddled with, and I was just really happy — so happy that I watched again the next day, sober. Which was good. But yeah. It made me feel the way I think it’s meant to make people feel, which is uncomfortable and a bit squeamish. It was what I wanted it to be.
I have to speak about the two films separately here. Sucker Punch… It’s hard for me to be objective about that film, because I had the best time working on it. I love every single person I worked with; I love Zack [Snyder, the director]. And I loved the script — how it was originally. But I think that message did get muddled a bit in terms of studio rewrites and having to go from an R to a PG-13. I can definitely see people’s complaints about that being a little bit sexist. As I said, it’s so hard to be objective, because I genuinely love that film, Sucker Punch, and being such a part of it. But I do get that.
And when I say I’m “pro-sex work,” obviously there are some terrible conditions, and there are obviously horrible circumstances where people are forced into that line of work. But there are also people doing it because they want to do it, and their rights need to be acknowledged. I think that their rights need to be fought for, because that profession in itself — when it’s all done in a way that should be done, and everyone has rights and it’s safe — is a necessary and honorable profession.
Crane.TV’s interview with Emily Browning
Filmbeat TV’s interview with Emily Browning and Julia Leigh
Picturehouse Podcast: Sleeping Beauty Special with Emily Browning
Famed for her lead role as Baby Doll in Zack Snyder’s fantasy action adventure Sucker Punch about an institutionalised young girl who retreats into an alternative reality as a coping mechanism while planning to escape from a mental facility, Australian actress Emily Browning talks to us about her next controversial film, Sleeping Beauty.
Officially selected at Cannes 2011, debut film-maker and author Julia Leigh’s film is a haunting portrait of Lucy, a young university student drawn into the mysterious hidden world of beauty and desire. Lucy, played by Browning, takes a job as a Sleeping Beauty, where drugged, Lucy must be absolutely submissive to the erotic desires of old men. But her work starts to bleed into her daily life as she develops an increasing need to find out what happens to her when she is asleep.
Emily talks intimately about her part as Lucy, being comfortable with nudity, the controversial sleeping scenes, working with Leigh, her favourite actress and what her Nana said after seeing the film.
HeyUGuys: Lucy is a very bold role to take on – why did you want to do it?
Emily Browning: First of all, the script was unbelievable. Julia’s writing is really mesmerising. I’ve never really read a role like this before. Lucy is aware she’s going to get objectified to some degree, and instead of raging against it, she decides to adopt what Julia calls this ‘radical passivity’, where she’s almost in control of the situation by allowing the situation to control her. She relinquishes control so that she can kind of sit back and become an observer, which I think is kind of an interesting, f***ed up way of doing things. I love the fact that she does that to the point that she literally cannot do it anymore and she has to claw her way back to reality. I just found that fascinating and I really loved how mysterious Lucy was.
HUG: Are you comfortable with doing nudity?
EB: I don’t have a problem with nudity. It’s never been an issue for me. Honestly, in terms of this film, I felt more self-conscious in the scenes where I had to be in the lingerie because it’s like presenting you as ‘I’m looking sexy’. In the scenes where Lucy is naked, some people have said they’re erotic. There’s nothing erotic about them to me – they are disturbing. The point of the film is they are disturbing. In our society when you get to a certain age you are told you are not allowed to be a sexual being any more, and that’s ridiculous. I think there’s something quite touching about these men, in the case of Man 1 (played by Peter Carroll) and Man 3 (played by Hugh Keays-Byrne) who decide to be in the presence of this sleeping girl because they don’t want to be looked upon, there’s this shame there, and they just want to hold onto something young, and I just find that a heartbreaking and sweet.
HUG: Man 2 (played by Chris Haywood) is the sadist in the film. How difficult was it to stay completely passive when he is licking your face?
EB: It was weird for the first few takes, to be honest, especially the cigarette burn on the neck. I actually had prosthetic skin put onto my neck so he could actually burn me and I wouldn’t feel it. But still, for the first two takes, I flinched, especially when someone puts a cigarette to your neck. Julia spoke to me about learning to meditate through those scenes, so I was focusing on my breathing and learning to shut myself off. I also think I get this kind of weird, super human strength when I’m in front of the camera because it’s what I love to do. I mean, when I was working on Sucker Punch, I’d do a fight scene and feel nothing, and then as soon as the camera stop rolling, I’d think s**t, I’m bleeding. You kind of lose yourself. You’re not really inhabiting your own body.
HUG: Even when being dropped in the film by Man 3, you must have wanted to react?
EB: Yeah a bit, but we’d had so much rehearsal time with Chris Haywood (Man 2), and he’s just such a sweet guy. We spoke at length about my boundaries and what he could do and what he couldn’t do. Julia wrote the bones of it, but he and I decided pretty much what he was going to do. When we were filming a scene, I actually think it was harder for him than it was for me. He was so apologetic. He kept saying, ‘I’m so sorry! Are you ok? I’m so sorry!’ That made it really comfortable. If he’d come in with an attitude, like this is awesome, then it would have been horrible. Knowing that he was there with me and on my side, and at any point when I wanted it to stop, it could stop, it made doing it ok.
HUG: Did you research into ‘Sleeping Beauties’?
EB: Julia told me a little bit about it, and she said I can send you some things if you like, but then we decided it was probably best if I didn’t, purely because I wanted Lucy to be ignorant to the whole thing because she doesn’t really know what’s going on. I thought if I had an outsider’s perspective, it would ruin it for the character. In all of the sleeping scenes, we filmed them in order. I went in when people were setting up, took of my robe and just laid there, and so I really wasn’t present for those scenes as such. I liked the idea that in the last sleeping scene, and I wake up, that’s really the first time that I’m present in that world, and that’s what I find out what’s going on, and it made it more intense for me and made that reaction more real.
HUG: Lucy’s job interview with Clara (Rachael Blake) in the film is quite intrusive – how was your first meeting with Julia?
EB: Yeah, she made me strip, she was behind double-sided glass [laughs]! No, I was filming Sucker Punch when I read the script, and I decided to put myself on tape – the film’s interview scene, where Clara asks Lucy to strip, was actually one of the scenes I had to put on tape, and so I had to make the decision during the audition, do I actually strip or not? I thought I really want this so I will. But the poor guy behind the camera really wasn’t expecting it, and I saw him trying to look everywhere but at me. I think he thought I was such a freak! But meeting Julia for the first time, I’d already been offered the role, so that made it a lot less intimidating. We discussed all of the films that she thought I should watch…
HUG: Which films in particular?
EB: There were quite a few, but the ones I remember and the ones I drew from the most were Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher with Isabelle Huppert because her character in that is kind of similar to Lucy, very quiet and still and slightly perverted in a way. I watched Belle de Jour, a film called Under The Skin with Samantha Morton in it – she’s my favourite actress. Watching any film with her in it is amazing. Julia also asked me to watch Lars von Trier’s Antichrist – and I think the only reason she wanted me to watch it was to say, our film’s not that bad [laughs]. At least there’s no female circumcision!
HUG: Was there anything you felt pressured to do, and told Julia that you weren’t going to do?
EB: Not really. I think Julia was surprised with how much I was ok with. I felt pretty good about everything. She said if there’s anything you want to change, tell me how we can fix it. The only thing I changed was when Lucy was getting a bikini wax. Originally in the script it mentioned that ‘everything was gone’, that Lucy gets everything waxed off. I said I’m not comfortable with that because I’ve had that done once before and I felt like a ten year-old. I mean, I already look very young, and I figured that just stepped over the line into paedophile territory. Julia said I totally agree. Let’s not do that! The Man 2 scene was not even as intense in the original script. Me and Chris were kind of hilarious when we got together because we were like, oh maybe you can do this, or maybe you can do that, and just kind of made it even more gross than it was!
HUG: Obviously Lucy does all these jobs to fund her studies, but is it also to help her alcoholic mother out, as it’s not completely clear.
EB: Yeah, I asked the same question. I thought does Lucy just do it to give her Mum money. I also asked Julia when Lucy says, ‘My Mother’s an alcoholic who runs an astrology hotline’ and I said is that a lie or is that truth? Julia said that’s truth, and so I think her Mum’s just annoying and asks her for money and she gives her a fake credit card number. I think in the being there isn’t a purpose – that’s the whole idea of Lucy that she’s just going through life and allowing things to happen to her. I think the turning point of the film is when Birdman dies, who’s her last connection to something emotionally real.
HUG: Can you give us more insight into Lucy’s relationship with Birdmann (Ewen Leslie) as it’s very ambiguous in the film.
EB: They are old friends, and he’s in the dark stages of alcoholism where he’s quite sick. I think she just wants to be there for him. I see Birdmann as being a little bit in love with Lucy, but she’s kind of not really emotionally available. I think the character of Birdmann is so important because without him, Lucy wouldn’t be human. When you see Lucy with him, she’s smiling and she actually loves something, that’s why when he dies, that’s like the last finger on the cliff. That’s her falling off the cliff. That’s the moment when she needs to find something and needs to pull herself back. I do think at the beginning there isn’t a purpose and he’s the only thing she cares about, and he’s gone and that’s why the waking up at the end is so cathartic for her. She realises what she’s been doing. I kind of like to think about what happens after that waking-up scene and where she goes.
HUG: Has this part and going nude uninhibited you to take on similar roles in the future?
EB: I definitely have the same issues as other women when I don’t like this or don’t like that, but I like my body more when it’s naked than when it’s dressed – I know that’s kind of a weird thing to say! I think when people are naked every single person is flawed in some way. I just hate the way that actresses are told how they’re supposed to look. I’d just finished Sucker Punch so I’d been under quite a lot of stress, and I’d been working out, so I was actually quite skinny at the start of this film. Now that’s the one thing I watch and go [sharp intake of breath] you can see my ribs. I feel more comfortable when I have a bit more meat on me because I’m naturally very skinny. This film was almost pushing me to say I can except my body and everyone else can accept it, too, because everyone’s different and my body’s normal and I’ve got small boobs and I don’t care. I just don’t think people should be scared of being naked. I also think society needs to stop deciding how people should look – how dare you decide what I’m to look like?
HUG: Have friends and family seen you in the film yet, and how do you think the public will react when it’s out this week?
EB: Well, my Mum and my Nana and my Auntie have. They loved it, but they’re biased – they’ll just love anything that I do. My Nana said to me, ‘I loved every bit of it, except the part where you offered the man a blow job’. I said, ‘ah thanks Nan. That’s great [laughs]‘! I’m happy if opinions continue to be divided because I’d rather make something that gets people talking, to something that people feel ambivalent about. I have no idea what the reaction’s going to be.
(Source: heyuguys.co.uk)
Emily Browning spent the spring of 2011 ricocheting from one controversy to another. Sucker Punch, a hyperactive video game-influenced fantasia in which she starred as the scantily clad Baby Doll, was released at the end of March to a barrage of dreadful reviews deriding its rancid lucubrations” (Observer), “chaotic and nonsensical” battles (the Independent) and “pervasive ugliness” (the New York Times). Then in May, she went to Cannes for the premiere of Sleeping Beauty, to hear a ruffled audience greet the film with as many boos as muted cheers. Reviews were similarly divided, between those who thought its stately depiction of fetishistic prostitution amounted to “psychosexual twaddle” (the Hollywood Reporter) and those who found it a “strange, ensnaring achievement” (Daily Telegraph).
At least in the case of Sleeping Beauty, the response was much as the 22-year-old Australian expected. “I knew there was no way everyone was going to like it, and I’m OK with that,” she says. “I’d rather make an interesting film that gets people talking, that maybe some people hate, than make the kind of ‘entertaining’ film that everyone feels ambivalent about.”
Emily Browning discusses Twilight.
