Sarah Polley: âSpliceâ makes you âsquirm in a deeply uncomfortable, ethical, emotional wayâ
- Share via
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Amy Kaufman is back on the Hero Complex with an insightful piece about âSpliceâ star Sarah Polley. This is a longer version of Kaufmanâs story in todayâs edition of the Los Angeles Time Calendar section.
Sarah Polley had just arrived in Los Angeles after stepping off a plane from her native Canada, but she was already feeling out of place in Hollywood. Late last month, she sat on the patio of a massive hotel suite reserved for Joel Silver, the producer of her new film, âSplice,â gawking at the luxe surroundings.
âWhenever I come to L.A., I always feel like Iâm not wearing the right thing or I havenât got the right haircut or Iâm not wearing the right makeup,â she said, looking down at her plain cargo pants and sneakers. âThatâs somewhat self-imposed, but itâs also a function of being in a bit of a factory town, where everybodyâs thinking about movies all the time and what they look like, and those things never occur to me when Iâm home.â
From the beginning of her career, Polley has always been a bit left of center. As a child actress, she made a name for herself playing oddball characters in such films as âThe Adventures of Baron Munchausenâ and the TV series âAvonleaâ and âRamona.â
She cemented her place as an independent film star more than a decade ago in Atom Egoyanâs âThe Sweet Hereafterâ and later earned a screenwriting Oscar nomination for 2006âs âAway From Her,â which she also directed.
Her latest role is just as characteristically eccentric. In the sci-fi thriller âSplice,â out Friday, Polley stars opposite Adrien Brody as Elsa, a radical scientist who mixes human and animal DNA to create a dangerous new creature named Dren.
âI always assume that Iâll be interested in small independent films, but every now and then, something really surprises me and makes me want to do a bigger film or a genre film,â she said of the script. âThis pushed me a little bit. It challenged me and made me feel very uncomfortable at times. I was fascinated by my own response to it, because it really does make you squirm in a deeply uncomfortable, ethical, emotional way that I wasnât necessarily prepared for.â
To gather a better understanding of the science in the film, Polley spent time trailing a geneticist in a science lab â a dedication that impressed the filmâs director, Vincenzo Natali.
âShe is the most disciplined actor Iâve ever worked with. Sheâs obsessed with it,â Natali said. âIn order for her to feel comfortable with the technology and the language that was being used, she spent weeks in real labs, so it would become second nature. She rehearsed a great deal. She knew her lines backwards and forward â better than I knew them.â
âWhatâs wonderful about Sarah is sheâs got an eagerness about her,â added Brody. âSheâs very collaborative and obviously very intelligent and well spoken, but she has a great sense of humor that comes across in the way she works.â
Polley said she was stirred by the thought-provoking story, which challenged her to question her own beliefs about the morality of tinkering with genetics and âplaying God by messing with nature.â
âIâm not a religious person, so, for me, I feel like if [science] can save lives and move us forward, it seems like a really positive thing,â she said. âI think weâre afraid of what science can do and how it can be misused. I see this film as a fairy tale that shows us the absurdity of our fears.â
Though sheâs had experience as a director (next month sheâll begin shooting a film she wrote starring Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams), on set, Natali said Polley allowed him to take the reins.
âShe was very sensitive to me. Sheâs a more successful director than me â an Academy Award-nominated writer and, yet, she came only as an actor,â he said. âEven when she isnât doing much superficially on the screen, you sense there are tremendous things going on under the surface â very deep and tumultuous things. Her acting is very restrained. Youâre not ever going to see a hysterical performance from Sarah Polley.â
In the film, the creature Dren was played by a real-life actress, French model Delphine Chaneac. Being able to interact with an actual human instead of pretending to interact with someone in front of a green screen, Polley said, was extremely helpful in the production process.
âWith a film like this, normally youâre at such a disadvantage because youâre working with so much that isnât there,â she said. âWith a lot of these movies where there are special effects, thereâs some kind of layer between you and the creature -- like thereâse too much thatâs computer generated to really connect and feel. But there was so much emotion in Delphineâs face, and she was able to do so much without words, that she was incredibly evocative and moving in each scene.â
Polleyâs career choices â such as turning down a leading role in Cameron Croweâs âAlmost Famousâ â are evidence of her âgreat intention to avoid mainstream success,â Natali said. âShe has chosen the harder road, and she doesnât care to be famous, which I think means sheâs making movies for the right reasons.â
Though she became a star through the work she did as a girl, Polley is troubled by the idea that many children are thrown into the industry at too young an age.
âItâs always a complicated thing, I think, kids working,â she said. âItâs a complex issue that weâre not mulling over enough in this industry. Weâve decided as a society that we donât think that kids should work, period. But for some reason, we make this exception in an industry where thereâs enormous pressure, long hours, and a lot of people who arenât necessarily equipped to be around kids all day.â
The fact that she hasnât ended up like the late formerly troubled child stars Corey Haim or River Phoenix is something she can only attribute, she says, to pure luck. âIt wasnât merit. There were a lot of kids around me who were more talented, and didnât continue on and their lives became anti-climactic in various destructive ways,â she said. âAnd itâs understandable, right? If you have the moment of greatest success when youâre 12 or 13, what does that do do the rest of your life?â
Still, the actress admits she has yet to come to terms with her relationship to acting, even at age 31.
âI think it takes a lot of focus and determination to stay in a relationship with film and acting thatâs productive and stimulating,â she said, pushing a strand of her reddish blond hair behind her ear. âActing can be the most shallow, vapid thing you can do with your life, but it can also be one of the most profound experiences in the world. Even my experience acting as a child is something Iâm very ambiguous about. Iâm not sure it was the best way for me to spend my time. But at the same time, I probably wouldnât be where I am now without it. And Iâm very happy with where I am now.â
-- Amy Kaufman
RECENT AND RELATED
George Romero says zombies are âthe gift that keeps givingâ
Wes Cravenâs retirement plan: âDie in my 90s on the setâ
GUEST BLOG: Jamie King hits bottom on âMotherâs Dayâ
A decade later: What is the legacy of âBlair Witchâ?
JOHN HORN: âParanormal Activityâsâ careful execution
âHouse of the Devilâ and feathered-hair horror
Maggots, vomit and mud: Raimi dragged starlet through hell
Wes Craven on the âinheritance of violenceâ
PHOTOS: Top, Sarah Polley and the creature of âSpliceâ (AP Photo / Warner Bros. Pictures); Second and fourth, Sarah Polley on May 22, 2010 in Hollywood (Mario Anzuoni / Reuters). Third, Delphine Chaneac, left, and Sarah Polley are shown in a scene from âSplice.â (AP Photo/ Warner Bros. Pictures); bottom, George A. Romero in the shadows (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times).
Clicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites.