|
Mira Sorvino, daughter of Paul Sorvino, has won an Oscar
for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody
Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite". She has demonstrated her
versatility in a number of films, portraying characters
ranging from goofy, to bold, to vulnerable in movies that
include: "Barcelona", "Summer of Sam", "Romy & Michelle's High School
Reunion", "Mimic", "The Replacement Killers", and "At First
Sight".
When asked what she hoped young girls would take away
from seeing this film, Sorvino responded:
My character the Princess is somebody who believes in the
possibility of things and I have always believed in the
possibility of things. When I love something and I believe
in it, I always believe that where there is a will there is
a way, and that it can come true. And that attitude has
helped me so much in my life, I can't even tell you. It has
helped me overcome obstacles that people never thought I
could. It has taken me places all over the world and given
me a very fascinating life so far. It helps you kind of
combat the depression of adversity, when things seem like
they are going to be difficult and you feel like you should
just give up; when you have that feeling like 'I don't know,
I really might be able to do this- let me just try it', it
allows you to push through it and see the light of day. And
I think that that is almost the most important thing for a
girl to take away from it. I wouldn't necessarily recommend
the dating techniques that the Princess employs: dating
three people to get one, a lot of work and a lot of
deception for a risky end.
When asked what advice she would give to young girls,
Sorvino responded:
"Try and get your education, even if they want to become
actresses because acting will be there after college, but
college won't necessarily be there after acting."
Sorvino's parents were very firm on her attending
college, and luckily she wanted to attend college. She
obviously capitalized on the opportunity to attend and
graduate from Harvard University. She is the first person in
her immediate family to graduate from college. Sorvino
firmly believes that "it can never hurt to get more of an
education than less of one. You will always have more
confidence, more knowledge, and more areas in which you
could sort of direct yourself, the more you know about the
world".
Do you feel like it gives you a greater sense of
confidence in the entertainment industry, knowing that there
are so many other things you can do?
I think so because I think I have seen that there is a
whole other world out there. And that if this all ended
tomorrow for me as an actress, I might be bummed out, but I
would not be devastated. I didn't build my whole life on
this concept of becoming a famous person. I love acting and
I do it because I love to act. But I do it more for the love
of the acting than the concept of becoming this huge star
that makes zillion of dollars. I could be very happy
teaching. I could be very happy going back to school and
getting like a Ph.D. and becoming a professor or something.
I would love that. In a way, I would probably like it better
than what I do now. I that sort of cloistered academic
environment- I love it! It's just like this place where, you
know, pure thought is honored and revered. And people can
spend like a month in the library and come out
smiling.
Why do you act?
Because I love to act too. I have a lot going on inside
me. Even though part of me is kind of bookish and quiet and
would like to curl up in a library; the other part really
wants to express itself. And acting allows me to express
those parts of me that need to be expressed and to reach out
through performances emotionally to people.
Sorvino also described her love of dancing. She and one
of her friends go out dancing. However, Sorvino stays clear
of the meat-market scene by only dancing with her woman
friends. She explains: "I try to stay clear of the whole
dating scene attached to dancing since I have a boyfriend. I
just love the pure dancing part; it makes me so happy. So
that's sort of how I blow off steam when I can."
What did you learn from your experience portraying a
man in "Triumph of Love"?
I learned that it is very difficult to be a man. I
learned that it is difficult to have all the self-confidence
that is necessary to seem manly; because in order to seem
manly, I had to show no fear or uncertainty, or even
introspection. I had to be actively pursuing my goal with a
real certainty of what I was doing, what I wanted, and my
conviction that I was going to get it.
In contrast to many actors who describe how acting
empowers shy people to be bold, and allows people to portray
a fantasy character, Sorvino selects roles that depict
aspects of her real life persona. She elaborated:
I think it's interesting because Marlon Brando once said
to me, and I was of course enthralled that he was saying
anything to me. He said 'some people act in order to escape
who they are, but that is not the case with you. You act to
become more of what you are. You act because you cannot be
all the things you are in life so you do it through acting'.
And I think that was an astute observation about me. I don't
look to escape myself. I actually look to kind of distill
certain aspects of myself in pure uncut form as the
character. So like all of my characters are me, just pure
aspects of me, sort of distilled down to their pure essence
and that being the operating course in that personality...
The disguise liberates me to be more that way (one aspect of
her actual personality), rather than hiding. It is not as
much hiding a part of myself, it is actually magnifying
myself. It is like I am a schizophrenic and I have all these
people living in my head and I let them out to play in these
roles. (laughing)
One thing she does not like about acting is nude scenes,
although she has never had to be completely nude. She
argues, "it's horrible! I hate doing scenes when I am
exposed and really sexual scenes. It's not fun. It's very
embarrassing."
Some of her favorite roles to date include her characters
in "Triumph of Love" (Princess/Phocion/Aspasie), Norma
Jean/Marilyn Monroe because of her admiration for the real
life character, and Mighty Aphrodite because she holds the
honest nature of that character dear to her and believes
that she was the easiest character to play due to her
unfiltered reactions. She explains: "there was no artifice,
she was just straight forward and I liked that about her".
Sorvino wishes that she could conduct interviews, at times,
as her "Mighty Aphrodite" character, Linda Ash, because it
would help her deal with some of the tougher questions from
tabloid-like reporters.
Did you enjoy the experience of doing a film and a
play at the same time for this project?
It was (interesting). I sort of worked on the play
before I worked on the script... I read the play in French
and looked as some of his (18th Century playwright Pierre
Marivaux) other plays in order to get a feel for where he
was coming from as a playwright. And then, of course, I had
to throw that away and just work from the script, like a
modern script and do all of my acting preparation as I do
for any film; and try to make it as fresh and real as
possible, rather than trying to make it staged.
What is the toughest challenge facing actresses in
Hollywood today?
Probably, scarcity of great parts because of the way
films are written, there are seven different good guy roles,
where they are all kind of an ensemble, and one woman. A big
star vehicle that is written for a huge male star and then
there is this ingenue female part written into it. And so,
if you are already an established female actress, you can't
really take that girl role because that is kind of going
backwards. But there aren't that many woman roles or that
many films where the female part is as good as the male
parts.
Following up to her producing debut with "Lisa Picard
is Famous" (a hilarious and accurate film, well worth
seeing, by the way), Sorvino is actively looking for
material to produce and develop because she feels that "it
is important to try to find the great material and try to
bring it forward because it is so scarce. I mean, great
material is scarce anyways and great material for women
doesn't get produced always. So it is important to try and
build an infrastructure among the women in Hollywood to make
projects for them." Her dream project was a Joan of Arc
project that has not hit the big screen due to financing.
This film was originally slated at the same time that Jean
Luc Bresson's "The Messenger" was scheduled to be
released.
What's next for you besides acting?
I think that I could be interested in trying to write,
but trying is the key word there. I am very terrified of
writing fiction. In college I wrote a lot of essays, so I
feel confident as a prose writer, but not a fictional one; I
am nervous about that. And I would love to direct at some
point but I would really have to have a project that I am
very passionate about.
Who has inspired you professionally?
I think Woody Allen really was liberating when he said to
me in our first meeting after I had the role, that I didn't
have to say any of the lines that he had written if I didn't
want to. And I was like 'what?!' I had done 'Play it Again
Sam' in high school and here's this comic genius telling me
that I didn't have to say his dialogue. And he said 'no, no,
whatever makes you the most real and natural and funny as
possible. It's really just a blueprint and you just take it
and run with it and fill it with life.' And I just thought
'wow! That's confidence.' Because there are so many
directors who write who are very dictatorial about you
saying every like every comma on the page and every and. You
know, and that makes you feel a little bit fearful sometimes
when you are acting like 'what if I forget something? What
if I didn't do it exactly as written?' So you are always
coloring within the lines with those directors and this
statement that he made to me feel like 'okay, of course I am
going to say his lines, but if something happens in the
middle of the scene that wasn't planned for, we can follow
it and I am not going to be in trouble, in fact he is going
to like it.' So there were all sorts of things that happened
in 'Mighty Aphrodite' that weren't in the script that are in
the film because we went with it... And with Spike Lee, he
did the same thing. When we have the fight scene in the car,
this thing came flying out of my mouth, and I was like 'oh
God, I wonder if he is going to get upset- that was not in
the script'. And afterwards he came up to me and said 'Mira
you know that thing that you were doing?' And I was like
'yeah'. And he was like 'That was good. Do more of it'. And
I thought 'oh wow, there's that license again, that artistic
license when the director has a firm vision and you are all
on board with what that vision is, and yet on the day, he or
she encourages you to fly with the performance. And doesn't
try to keep you in a little cage which he has already
preset. It's sort of like they want you to go as far as you
can in terms of taking the character and making it your own,
rather than them sort of moving you around a chess board.
And that I think is the best kind of directing when you can
sort of encourage the actors to really let it happen like
life rather than choreographing it every step and inch of
the way and looking at each moment when they are doing it,
to make sure that they are coloring within the
lines.
What is your favorite genre in terms of
acting?
I think comedy is my favorite because you have more fun
doing it. It's a little harder; it's harder than drama.
Drama you just have to be real; comedy you have to be real
and funny. But it's light, you know, it makes you feel good.
Usually the people making a comedy are funny themselves and
so everyone is sort of laughing on the set and coming up
with ways to amuse the audience. It's kind of a fun,
positive endeavor rather than soul destroying one, like when
you are playing a very sad part- it eats you up... I find it
rather unpleasant to portray fear (as in 'Mimic'). And I
think that is because fear is a very short emotion.
"Trimph of Love" does feel very staged like a play, but
in a good way. The fast-paced action and use of dramatic
irony to create humor is very characteristic of other French
farces. The director, Clare Peploe did a fine job of working
with her tremendously talented cast to balance humor with
drama. In addition to Mira Sorvino, the players include: Jay
Rodan, Fiona Shaw.and Ben Kingsley, in a refreshingly light
role to follow up on his terrifying role in "Sexy Beast".
The use of cinematic space, the historic production design
by Ben Van Os ("The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and Her
Lover"), and the vibrant costumes by Metka Kosak
("Besieged") make "Triumph of Love" colorful and spectatular
to view. I would recommend this film to moviegoers who seek
sophisticated entertainment with a strong, sympathetic
heroine. "Triumph of Love" opens in a platform release
pattern starting May 10th.
|