Diane Keaton

Interview By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

While she has undoubtedly proven herself an accomplished actress of tremendous range throughout her long career, there isn't a more venerated and beloved staple of the traditional Hollywood modern romantic comedy than Diane Keaton.

Keaton first made her mark in the romantic comedy genre in many of famed director Woody Allen's early successes, including his 1977 classic Annie Hall, which earned her a Best Actress Oscar. Since the previous decade, she has spent much of her career in the genre that started her off with numerous successes, such as the Father Of The Bride movies, The First Wives' Club, and Something's Gotta Give.

Her latest romantic comedy outing, Because I Said So, has her starring opposite Mandy Moore as an overbearing mother who tries to protect her daughter from ending up with the wrong man. The opportunity to do romantic comedy again was one Diane could not resist the urge to pass up.

'I said yes right away,' gushed Keaton, 'I thought it'd be fun.'

When asked about how she felt about the idea of playing such a domineering mother character in the movie, Diane says it was a fun character to undertake, although she says she's had no similar experiences like that personally.

'I never imagined in my life that this would be something that I would be playing,' she claims, 'My mother wasn't like that at all, but I do remember some friends having meddling mothers and thinking, 'God, how weird is that'!' So now I've played one and it was fun because she was more wacky.'

She adds that playing the role made her realize the immense gaps that can potentially emerge in the dialogue of parents and children trying to understand one another, even with Diane herself as a mother of two adopted children.

'When I was playing it, I thought, 'I'm sure I'm not like this as a mother,'' she recollects, 'But then, the more you think about it, the more you realize that it's really hard for you to look at yourself and see who you are to your daughter or from your daughter's point of view or from your son's point of view from that matter. And then, I started to think, maybe I am, but just in a different way.'

Keaton felt that the experience of playing an overprotective mother gave much added dimension to things she's personally learned as a parent herself.

'I think being a parent is really a humbling experience if you're willing to see who you really are in that relationship,' she explains, 'You know, to really be honest about your own performance and I don't think any of us come out of it like, 'Eh, fabulous.' I think we try, but, I think, hey, it's hard to guide a person's life and somehow, the concern and the worry'I worry all the time about my kids. I'm consumed by them. And so, when you do that, you have the tendency to want to guide them too much. And so, it's really about how you do it, how you guide a person, if you have any grace.'

She also notes how deeply delighted she was to share the screen with co-star Mandy Moore and what she sees lying ahead for the acclaimed young actress.

'I think she has a huge future as an actress,' Keaton gushes, 'I think she's got everything that you need and more, because she looks like Claudia Cardinale. I mean she's like, hello, I mean, that face, forget it. I mean, you're like, 'Oh, yeah, I get to act with Mandy Moore.' I mean, I couldn't stop looking at her all the time. You're just like, 'Oh, it's just like so much fun to just take a drink in her face.' She's got that and that's massively appealing to just look at somebody who's so pretty.'

'But, she's also just a little workhorse,' Diane adds, 'She's just a hard-working girl and I love that about her, I just adore her. And she would show up and she's just spirited. And I think she'll have an amazing career and I think her work just gets better and better emotionally.'

She also shared her enthusiasm about working with Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham, who plays Keaton's character's oldest daughter in the film.

'Lauren is hilarious,' she says, 'She has a very unique approach. She's really smart. You can tell she's really smart by her approach to comedy, it's ironic. If she got the right part, she would be amazing. But also, she's on that television show forever and ever and they just keep going on and she's very funny.'

One of the exciting things Diane says she got to do in Because I Said So was physical comedy, which she makes no bones about being really enthusiastic doing.

'Yeah, I love that all the time,' Keaton enthuses, 'Anytime I get an opportunity to be an idiot, it's fun. I've enjoyed that since the beginning of my career. I remember in those early Woody Allen movies that I was just a moron. So I enjoy that.'

So she excitedly explained how she approached filming physical comedy scenes in this film.

'I approach it with zeal,' Diane gushes, 'I can't wait to do them. I like to try them over and over. I like all the physical comedy. I really had wished I had done more. I love it. I feel comfortable doing that.'

Even at the age of 61, the ever-spirited Diane Keaton says she has no qualms about reaching such an age and believes part of aging gracefully is being accepting and pragmatic about it.

'It seems ridiculous to sort of try to pretend that you're not 60 when you are 60 or now, I'm 61,' she explains, 'It just seems like what are we doing then' It's the truth. How am I going to make things better by saying that I'm not' It just doesn't make any sense to me. Fantasy is a big thing in everybody's life and I'm certainly partied to having a lot of fantasies, but it's ridiculous, it's true.'