Jennifer Connelly
Interview By: Dan Portnoy
In 1984 this actress made her on screen debut playing a young Deborah in Sergio Leone's final directorial epic, Once Upon a Time in America. Since then as an actress she has taken on the Goblin King (remember the Labyrinth'), romanced a Rocketeer, and tamed the incredible Hulk, and that's just naming a few. In 2001 she seized the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal as Alicia Nash, wife of Nobel Prize winner John Nash. Who is this stunning starlet' Her name is Jennifer Connelly and since 1984 she has been climbing her way up the ladder to the ranks of being one of Hollywood's biggest stars.
In her new film, Dark Water, Connelly plays Dahlia, a single mother who wrestles with the demons of her past as well as the supernatural demons haunting her present. 'I was really moved by the story,' says Connelly whose character Dahlia is being shaken by odd disturbances in her new apartment, including an unexplained dark liquid substance that begins seeping through her ceiling. With little help from anyone else, Dahlia must uncover the truth behind these strange abnormalities no matter where they may take her.
'It was a good script and it's an interesting story, and it's interesting to me to find a scary film where at the center you had a woman who is going through a custody battle, who is also confronting the ghosts of her own childhood.' The childhood 'ghosts' to which she is referring is Dahlia's memory of her abusive alcoholic mother who abandoned her when she was a child. When Dahlia moves into her new apartment she starts to have nightmares and disturbing hallucinations that cause terrible memories from her past to resurface all while she unveils a tragic mystery that resides on the floor above.
Interestingly enough this happens to be the first horror film/thriller that Connelly has acted in. 'I thought of myself as some one who didn't do scary movies.' Never say never I guess. Well lucky for us, the viewing public, a script came along that grabbed her attention. Still, she wanted to cover her bases before agreeing to do the picture. In fact, before she signed onto Dark Water she watched the original Japanese version and was thoroughly impressed. Although, in comparing the original version to the American she had this to say, 'one of the big differences between our version of the film and the original Japanese version is I think there's more character development.'
Lets back up a bit. Jennifer likes the script, she signs onto the film, then what' Once committed, Jennifer had to create her character Dahlia. 'I just sort of spent time thinking about who she was, I approached it sort the way I would any film that I'm working on, I ask myself a million questions basically is how I start'until I feel like she starts to take shape, you make some choices, and then she feels more concrete.' The end result; a passionate, caring, and courageous mother figure whose on screen radiance is able to neutralize the dark tone of the film.
In the film, Connelly's character may experience the supernatural, but has she herself ever faced any kind of phenomenon in real life' She responds with a resounding 'no,' but goes onto say, 'My house did flood shortly after Walter [Salles] came to visit me. But I think that was just a case of bad plumbing and unfortunate timing.' I guess you can chalk that one up to coincidence. However it's no coincidence that she enjoys working with director Walter Salles. 'As a director I think he's really elegant in his choices. I think he's some one who's so knowledgeable about film, so astute, and has such good judgment but at the same time is passionate and curious still. He's not at all jaded by what he knows.' Well, there are few things not to like. And his directorial ability is demonstrated in Dark Water in the way that he effectively recreates the story.
There's one thing I want to know, and that's what is it that makes the 'dark water' dark' 'Whatever it is that dyes coca cola, is it caramel color' That what I heard.' I bet it doesn't taste like coca cola. On the plus side, you'll be happy to know that she didn't drink any. Dark Water oozes its way into theaters this summer, continuing the recent popular trend of Japanese to American horror movies.
