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March
14
2008
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Anna-Sophia and Charlize are “Sleepwalking”
Categories: Interviews and Sleepwalking
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Sitting across from talented actresses Charlize Theron and teen Anna-Sophia Robb is like looking at the same person… past and future. The beautiful, blonde-haired, blue/green-eyed girls look very much like sisters but they play mom and daughter in the dark drama Sleepwalking which Charlize also produced. Both actresses have reps as hard-working professionals.
Anna, now 14, first caught our eye as a young girl befriending a stray dog in Because of Winn-Dixie. She was really annoying as the gum-popping gal in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, endearing as the doomed girl in Bridge to Terabithia and creepy in The Reaping. Charlize has a wonderful career playing everything from a future, butt-kicking heroine in Aeon Flux to a bank robber driving a Mini-Cooper opposite Matt Damon and gang. And, she won the Oscar as a mankiller in Monster.
The duo met with us in Beverly Hills recently to talk about working in Sleepwalking in which Anna-Sophia plays a runaway and Charlize her irresponsible, down-on-her-luck mom. Picture Anna-Sophia wearing a cute off-white, silk print dress with brown and turquoise flowers. Charlize was in a black, sleeveless top with button decorations on it, big silver hoop earrings and pants. They dig into each other’s necks to check the designer labels when I ask who they are wearing and come up with “Porridge” for Anna and something like “Mark and Chris” for Charlize.
TeenHollywood: Charlize, we hear that you were really a hands-on producer on this film. Was that always your intention? Some people produce and they just take the credit.
Charlize: I think that’s something that happened around ten years ago; people throwing their names on screen, on credits for vanity but there’s a few people out there like Drew Barrymore, that I know goes out there and does it. At the end of the day, you really can’t sit around and wonder if people are going to know if you did the job or not. There’s no way I could take a credit if I didn’t feel I did the job. I really like the job. It’s hard to call it a job. I think, it’s just the idea of taking a story and, somehow, servicing it on all levels to try and tell it the best way you possibly can.
TeenHollywood: What was it about the script that made you want to produce it and also take a part in it?
Charlize: It just stayed with me. I felt it was beautifully written and wasn’t a watered-down version of a dysfunctional family. It thought it was pretty real. It carried a philosophy that I really believe in and that is, at the end of the day, you have to be responsible for your own life. I like that it had that message towards the end. I didn’t want these people to wallow in self-pity and then kind of hope everybody has sympathy for them. I wanted them to stand up and wake up at some point and realize that they are the driver of the bus.
TeenHollywood: You two have such a strained mom/daughter relationship in the film. Did you stay that way between takes or was there some fun?
Anna-Sophia: There was a ton of fun. It was not at all like Joleen [Charlize's character] and Tara’s [Anna-Sophia's character's] relationship. Charlize and I would always talk about the scenes, about anything, really. We bowled, watched movies. It kind of felt like….
Charlize: [leaning over to her..whispering] Don’t tell them that. We worked very hard [laughter].
Anna-Sophia: It kind of felt like a family on set. We all lived in the same building and were with each other pretty much all the time except when we were sleeping.
Charlize: I wanted her to understand that, if she felt comfortable, that she could go to as dark a place as she needed to go to play this part. So much of the story is relying on her character and I think Anna did a beautiful job carrying the emotional weight of the story. She could only do that if she felt like she was in an environment where she felt safe enough to go to some really not pretty places. So, it wasn’t even intentional. I think it’s like the human condition. When we go to those places, we tend to go the extreme opposite. So, many times we were dancing in the back of the shed, making up raps and things like that.
TeenHollywood: To stay warm, probably. We hear it was really cold in Saskatchewan.
Anna-Sophia: Yeah, that’s true.
TeenHollywood: Tara and James [played by Nick Stahl] go on the road together. Did you feel that this was more James’s story than Tara’s or Joleen’s?
Charlize: I find it really interesting that women think it’s her story and men think it’s James’s story. A lot of men come in and say it’s great especially to see Nick Stahl play this character and then women come in and they’re ‘it’s all about her’. I find that, psychologically, quite interesting to watch.
TeenHollywood: Anna, this is such a dark movie and you go through so much, emotionally. Did you ever have second thoughts about doing it, at your age?
AnnaSophia: It wasn’t about where I would go. I didn’t think about that. When I first read it, I didn’t understand the story because I couldn’t relate to it. As soon as I met with Charlize and Bill [the director], they explained how it’s about second chances, and taking control of your life. It’s a real story about wounded people. And, this happens in our world. I think we told it really well. On set, I never had any mental breakdowns, or anything like that. [Laughter] Actually, the darker it went, the more I loved it because I knew that Charlize would be there to help me come back out of it, and Dennis [Hopper] and Nick [Stahl], and everybody there.
TeenHollywood: Did you enjoy doing that scene at the pool with the roller skates and the boys? When you put on the sunglasses and get kinda flirty, at first, I thought it was going to go in a “Lolita” direction but was glad it didn’t.
AnnaSophia: Yeah, it was a fun scene. [Laughter] She’s just playing with the idea of maturing. And, she was pretending to be her mom and pretending to be older, skating. But, instead of falling into the pool, she dives. It’s a choice, and she’s in control. She’s on the very edge and she dives in. It’s a metaphor that she’s going to change, and she’s not going to be like her mom. She’s accepted growing up. It’s like she’s going to look at life from a new angle, taking more responsibility. That’s how I saw it.
Charlize: Yeah, leaving those childhood thoughts behind.
TeenHollywood: How did it feel jumping in the pool with your clothes on and roller skates?
Anna: I’ve done it before but not with roller skates. At Universal Studios, I played in the fountain with my friends and then I went back and we were soaked anyways so I just jumped in.
Charlize: You know, I love that scene. I always thought of it as the postcard of the movie. It’s the postcard that she sends home. We knew that the only reason it would work is if Anna completely committed to it. Anna and I went out, a couple nights before, and we talked about that scene, right before we shot it.
AnnaSophia: And, you talked to my parents, too.
Charlize: And, I talked to your parents. [Laughter] [She's] a tough little one. But, from the moment she sat down, it was all in her attitude. She laid down [on a pool-side chaise] and crossed her feet, and she smoked that cigarette, and that came out of nowhere. We printed the first take. She looked over and she dropped her sunglasses, and we all just freaked out behind the monitor. We were like, “This is brilliant!” [Laughter] It was so much fun. It almost became the same energy because those little boys were infatuated with Anna. I had to hold them back. [Laughter] They were falling in love, left, right and center. [Anna looks like she's blushing].
AnnaSophia: It was just a fun scene. I had practiced before we started shooting, before we got to Regina (in Saskatchewan), just skating around. I was looking forward to it. Instead of walking, it’s just gliding along. And, with the smoking, I’m never going to do it when I get older, so I got it over with. It wasn’t real. Now, I’m good.
Charlize: There was another great little brilliant moment when she was on the diving board and she was holding the cigarette, and you can see that she doesn’t know what to do with the cigarette, and she takes one last puff and she just drops it in the pool. Those are the kinds of things that you can’t really direct somebody to do. Anna just has this innate [ability]. Once it’s under her skin, it’s there and it’s really brilliant.
TeenHollywood: Anna, now that you’re a teen, are you okay with playing younger [a 12-year-old], or do you want to just keep going forward?
AnnaSophia: I was at that age then. I turned 13 on the shoot. I don’t feel like age is a big thing.
Charlize: No, it’s not, sweetheart. [Laughter] Take my word for it.
TeenHollywood: Charlize, was it refreshing to work with younger talent, like AnnaSophia?
Charlize: It’s refreshing to work with talent. It’s not about age, like Anna just said. Anna was incredibly inspiring to be around, as an actress. I don’t look at her and see a kid. I look at her and see a tremendously talented actress. And, when you see somebody make those kinds of choices, at this age, you know that the reserve is just packed. There’s going to be so much more. She wants to have longevity, and I think she wants the challenge. I didn’t act when I was her age, but I imagine it’s really difficult to come across this kind of material when you’re her age. So, I think that this was a really good experience for her, now that I know her and know what kind of actress she wants to become.
TeenHollywood: Anna, you’ve worked with Johnny Depp and Charlize. How much higher can you go?
AnnaSophia: Well, I want to keep on working with Charlize.
TeenHollywood: And what about working with Nick Stahl playing your uncle in this?
AnnaSophia: We met and it kind of worked really well. As Tara and James’ relationship grows throughout the film, Nick and my relationship grew. I feel so comfortable around Nick. He’s like my uncle. It can feel dangerous sometimes on one of these serious films mentally and I never felt that on the set. Nick was so good about encouraging me and making me feel comfortable and always laughing and hanging out with me all the time. I loved working with him.
TeenHollywood: Are you guys shooting anything right now? Do you have anything coming up?
Charlize: I’m about to go and do the The Road with Viggo Mortensen. We’re just doing the flashback stuff, yeah.
TeenHollywood: Are you looking forward to working with him?
Charlize: Oh yeah. I love that project. It’s my favorite book. It’s going great.
TeenHollywood: Anna, are you getting ready to shoot anything?
AnnaSophia: Yeah, I’m doing Race to Witch Mountain.
Source: teenhollywood.com
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