Jennifer Connelly

Interview By: Michael Dance
michaelmdance@gmail.com

For one of the best actresses of her generation, Jennifer Connelly is unusually quiet in person. Unlike other actors who trip over their own words in an effort to hear themselves speak, Connelly seems to prefer thinking carefully before she speaks, and then formulating answers in actual complete sentences. If that occasionally makes her seem distant, it also makes her remarkably polite and professional.

It also might have a little something to do with the topic at hand, Connelly's latest movie Reservation Road. Despite her unmistakable beauty, she has managed to turn in numerous roles over her long career that are completely different from one another - everything from a wide-eyed fifteen-year-old girl in 1986's Labyrinth to a hopelessly addict in a downward spiral in Requiem for a Dream. In Reservation Road, she once again gives a stunning and original performance, this time playing a mother grieving for the loss of her son in a hit-and-run.

"I never consciously considered my own children," Connelly says of her preparation for the role. "It seemed too frightening of an idea, too repugnant of an idea, to even consider that. But that said, I think what I did was try to do a lot of research and make a lot of decisions and choices and try to make that fictional reality as convincing as possible to me, so I could surrender to those scenes. In that surrender, what comes out, probably on a gut level, is stuff that I'm made of, and a lot of that is, I'm a mom, and I've got a lot of love for my kids. I think it informs what I do every day."

Her character grows to provide a contrast to her husband, played by Joaquin Phoenix. While she wants her family to grieve and heal, her husband seems bent on vengeance.

"This woman certainly didn't believe that [vengeance] would accomplish anything," Connelly says. "Certainly didn't believe that any more violence or bloodshed would in any way lessen the pain, or take away the fact that her son wasn't coming home. And that was really what she focused on, that she was left with this huge hole in the middle of her life. She didn't even know where to put her feet down. She's literally trying to find the space to move around in. And I think it takes incredible bravery to do that, and I think to her, it sort of seems futile, this endeavor of chasing down this monster demon that her husband's creating."

The film was co-written for the screen and directed by Terry George, who most recently made the critically-acclaimed Hotel Rwanda. "I'm already like, 'Terry, what are we doing next' Can I be in it' I'll do craft service! Anything!'" She laughs. "I really just think the world of him, I really do, on a lot of different levels. Great to go out to dinner and have a drink with. Or two. Very funny guy. And really bright and really aware. A fantastic filmmaker: a great sense of timing, he cares about the right things. And an amazing writer, which is a huge asset as a director."

Another huge asset: patience. "It's hard to discuss things, in a neutral matter, in the breaks between a scene in which you're screaming," Connelly says. "To then in between, go, [in a low, calm voice] 'Okay, now that take was really--' No. It was a little more like, [loudly and frantically] 'Terry, I just don't know, I just don't know!!' And he was always so cool about everything. 'Okay, okay, that's cool, it's okay.' I was just all the time saying, thank you, so much, for being so patient and understanding and tolerant of all of us."

For Connelly, Reservation Road is one more in a long list - with no exceptions in the last few years - of heavy, dark dramas. (Heck, even The Hulk was uncommonly heavy and contemplative). "I've certainly done many more dramas, though certainly a film like Blood Diamond is a very different kind of mood than this, I think," she says. "I like dramas, and I just sort of pick the things I've responded to. It's a combination of what I've responded to and what people respond to me for, I think. You know, what people let me do."

With that in mind, it might surprise just about everyone to learn that her next film is a comedy - the ensemble movie He's Just Not That Into You. "I play a woman named Janeane, and I work in an office with Ginnifer Goodwin and Jennifer Aniston. And we're all friends, if you can believe it, a movie set with three Je(Gi)nnifers on it. Ginnifer Goodwin plays my best friend, and Bradley Cooper plays my husband, who's a bit of a louse. And I've got scenes with Luis Guzman, who I'm really excited to work with. [My character's] a little bit neurotic. I think it's a really sweet story."

Sweet story it may be, but Connelly's been only working on it for three days so far, she explains, and steers the conversation back to Reservation Road. Apparently, she seems more comfortable talking about the dark and depressing. "I'm really obsessive about work, much to the shagrin of the people who live with me," she says. "I kind of have a hard time not thinking about it, no matter what it is. Like this comedy, now. No matter what it is, I'm just really into my work."

And yet, her work seems to make her content. On Reservation Road, for example, thanks to the shooting locations, she was able to actually go home each night. "Most nights I went home, sometimes the hours were too weird, but for the most part that's what I do. And it's a huge comfort at the end of the day."

And as the disciplined talent that she is, she makes sure her characters don't bleed into her real life. Well, as much as possible, at least. "Wen it's this kind of subject matter, it's always a little bit under my skin until we finish."