Clockwise: Sitting for hair
and makeup on the set;
with
Blue Jasmine
co-stars
(from left) Max Casella,
Sally Hawkins and Bobby
Cannavale; working out a
scene with director Woody
Allen and Alec Baldwin, who
plays the part of Jasmine's
husband
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“I can talk to [my husband]
about anything
without fear of judgment”
Where is your Golden
Globe?
In the hotel room. My boys
sent me a video of them
leaping up and down when
my name was read. They
made a little shrine with all the
dead flowers that I had been
receiving since the start of this
week.
How important are these
acting awards to you?
When you’re proud of
something you’ve done and
you’ve made a film that you
feel has merit, it has found
an audience and it’s critically
well-received, that’s a pretty
pleasurable place to be. You
don’t want that stuff to end up
gathering dust at the bottom
of someone’s DVD collection.
Woody Allen’s chats with
actors before he casts
them in his films are
notorious for being very
brief. How short was your
talk with him?
I live in Australia so my
first two meetings with
Woody were by phone. The
conversation went for about
two-and-a-half minutes; he
told me he had a script and
would I read it. Of course, I
said yes. Then he said, “Call
when you’ve read it.” So I read
it straight away. The second
one ran for about 45 seconds.
He said, “That’s great. You
want to do it. I’ll see you in San
Francisco.” Then I saw him
at the camera tests, and of
course, I saw him every day of
the shooting.
What did you andWoody
discuss with regard to your
approach to Jasmine?
The thing about Jasmine
is that she’s already had a
breakdown. I spoke to Woody
about how you see a lot of
people in the streets who are
seemingly well put together
but are babbling.... Yeah, she’s
not in a happy place because
she’s without any support
structure. We’ve all had tough
times in our lives but if you’re
financially secure, you’ve got a
good partner or a secure social
circle, you’ve got a safety net.
Then you can move through
those difficult times. But all of
that is gone in Jasmine’s case
so she’s a woman without a
safety net. There are a lot of
women out there like that.
Critics and moviegoers
have drawn comparisons
between Jasmine and
Blanche DuBois...
I had played Blanche (in
A Streetcar Named Desire
)
— Liv Ullmann directed
me — in a production with
some wonderful actors like
Joel Edgerton during our first
year at the Sydney Theatre
Company. We took it to
Washington and New York. I
thought maybe Woody had
seen that play and that’s why
he was interested in working
with me. I began talking about
it in our two-and-a-half minute
phone conversation and …
he’d never heard of it (laughs).
You and your husband,
Andrew Upton, shared
artistic director duties
at the Sydney Theatre
Company (while the
couple’s joint tenure has
ended, he continues to serve
in that capacity). What was
that like?
When Andrew was offered the job
at the Sydney Theatre Company,
he asked, “Do you want to do it
together?” That was fantastic.
He was the first person I had met
who I could talk brutally, honestly
and openly with about my work.
Because obviously, as an actor,
sometimes you don’t want to look
too directly at what you do. But
I can talk to him about anything
without fear of judgment. He’ll
tell me to shut up if I’m being
ridiculous. He doesn’t tolerate
grandeur, either.
Are your sons performers, too?
Our first one, Dashiell John, refers
to himself as the experiment
(laughs). Every child is different
(the other sons are Roman Robert
and Ignatius Martin).
You can read as many books
as you like on parenthood. You
just have to be acutely aware of
where your children are at and
also give them a structure and a
sense of compassion and humility,
hopefully. They do get along. They
laugh together and they dance.
We dance a lot at home.
The saddest thing is that I
missed my son playing the title
role in a class play. I helped him
rehearse it. We got the costume
together. They love acting. I know
many actors who pray, “Please
God, let them not be actors.”
But if they really want to do it,
why not? My children are hilarious.
I love them.
