Cinematic Corner Interviews

(from NuReel.com)

Interview with Mira Sorvino of

TRIUMPH OF LOVE

Ritz Carleton in San Francisco
April 23, 2002

Mira Sorvino, daughter of Paul Sorvino, has won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite". She has demonstrated her versatility in a number of films, portraying characters ranging from goofy, to bold, to vulnerable in movies that include: "Barcelona", "Summer of Sam", "Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion", "Mimic", "The Replacement Killers", and "At First Sight".

When asked what she hoped young girls would take away from seeing this film, Sorvino responded:
My character the Princess is somebody who believes in the possibility of things and I have always believed in the possibility of things. When I love something and I believe in it, I always believe that where there is a will there is a way, and that it can come true. And that attitude has helped me so much in my life, I can't even tell you. It has helped me overcome obstacles that people never thought I could. It has taken me places all over the world and given me a very fascinating life so far. It helps you kind of combat the depression of adversity, when things seem like they are going to be difficult and you feel like you should just give up; when you have that feeling like 'I don't know, I really might be able to do this- let me just try it', it allows you to push through it and see the light of day. And I think that that is almost the most important thing for a girl to take away from it. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the dating techniques that the Princess employs: dating three people to get one, a lot of work and a lot of deception for a risky end.

 

When asked what advice she would give to young girls, Sorvino responded:
"Try and get your education, even if they want to become actresses because acting will be there after college, but college won't necessarily be there after acting."

Sorvino's parents were very firm on her attending college, and luckily she wanted to attend college. She obviously capitalized on the opportunity to attend and graduate from Harvard University. She is the first person in her immediate family to graduate from college. Sorvino firmly believes that "it can never hurt to get more of an education than less of one. You will always have more confidence, more knowledge, and more areas in which you could sort of direct yourself, the more you know about the world".

 

Do you feel like it gives you a greater sense of confidence in the entertainment industry, knowing that there are so many other things you can do?
I think so because I think I have seen that there is a whole other world out there. And that if this all ended tomorrow for me as an actress, I might be bummed out, but I would not be devastated. I didn't build my whole life on this concept of becoming a famous person. I love acting and I do it because I love to act. But I do it more for the love of the acting than the concept of becoming this huge star that makes zillion of dollars. I could be very happy teaching. I could be very happy going back to school and getting like a Ph.D. and becoming a professor or something. I would love that. In a way, I would probably like it better than what I do now. I that sort of cloistered academic environment- I love it! It's just like this place where, you know, pure thought is honored and revered. And people can spend like a month in the library and come out smiling.

 

Why do you act?
Because I love to act too. I have a lot going on inside me. Even though part of me is kind of bookish and quiet and would like to curl up in a library; the other part really wants to express itself. And acting allows me to express those parts of me that need to be expressed and to reach out through performances emotionally to people.

Sorvino also described her love of dancing. She and one of her friends go out dancing. However, Sorvino stays clear of the meat-market scene by only dancing with her woman friends. She explains: "I try to stay clear of the whole dating scene attached to dancing since I have a boyfriend. I just love the pure dancing part; it makes me so happy. So that's sort of how I blow off steam when I can."

 

What did you learn from your experience portraying a man in "Triumph of Love"?
I learned that it is very difficult to be a man. I learned that it is difficult to have all the self-confidence that is necessary to seem manly; because in order to seem manly, I had to show no fear or uncertainty, or even introspection. I had to be actively pursuing my goal with a real certainty of what I was doing, what I wanted, and my conviction that I was going to get it.

 

In contrast to many actors who describe how acting empowers shy people to be bold, and allows people to portray a fantasy character, Sorvino selects roles that depict aspects of her real life persona. She elaborated:
I think it's interesting because Marlon Brando once said to me, and I was of course enthralled that he was saying anything to me. He said 'some people act in order to escape who they are, but that is not the case with you. You act to become more of what you are. You act because you cannot be all the things you are in life so you do it through acting'. And I think that was an astute observation about me. I don't look to escape myself. I actually look to kind of distill certain aspects of myself in pure uncut form as the character. So like all of my characters are me, just pure aspects of me, sort of distilled down to their pure essence and that being the operating course in that personality... The disguise liberates me to be more that way (one aspect of her actual personality), rather than hiding. It is not as much hiding a part of myself, it is actually magnifying myself. It is like I am a schizophrenic and I have all these people living in my head and I let them out to play in these roles. (laughing)

One thing she does not like about acting is nude scenes, although she has never had to be completely nude. She argues, "it's horrible! I hate doing scenes when I am exposed and really sexual scenes. It's not fun. It's very embarrassing."

Some of her favorite roles to date include her characters in "Triumph of Love" (Princess/Phocion/Aspasie), Norma Jean/Marilyn Monroe because of her admiration for the real life character, and Mighty Aphrodite because she holds the honest nature of that character dear to her and believes that she was the easiest character to play due to her unfiltered reactions. She explains: "there was no artifice, she was just straight forward and I liked that about her". Sorvino wishes that she could conduct interviews, at times, as her "Mighty Aphrodite" character, Linda Ash, because it would help her deal with some of the tougher questions from tabloid-like reporters.

 

Did you enjoy the experience of doing a film and a play at the same time for this project?
It was (interesting). I sort of worked on the play before I worked on the script... I read the play in French and looked as some of his (18th Century playwright Pierre Marivaux) other plays in order to get a feel for where he was coming from as a playwright. And then, of course, I had to throw that away and just work from the script, like a modern script and do all of my acting preparation as I do for any film; and try to make it as fresh and real as possible, rather than trying to make it staged.

 

What is the toughest challenge facing actresses in Hollywood today?
Probably, scarcity of great parts because of the way films are written, there are seven different good guy roles, where they are all kind of an ensemble, and one woman. A big star vehicle that is written for a huge male star and then there is this ingenue female part written into it. And so, if you are already an established female actress, you can't really take that girl role because that is kind of going backwards. But there aren't that many woman roles or that many films where the female part is as good as the male parts.

Following up to her producing debut with "Lisa Picard is Famous" (a hilarious and accurate film, well worth seeing, by the way), Sorvino is actively looking for material to produce and develop because she feels that "it is important to try to find the great material and try to bring it forward because it is so scarce. I mean, great material is scarce anyways and great material for women doesn't get produced always. So it is important to try and build an infrastructure among the women in Hollywood to make projects for them." Her dream project was a Joan of Arc project that has not hit the big screen due to financing. This film was originally slated at the same time that Jean Luc Bresson's "The Messenger" was scheduled to be released.

What's next for you besides acting?
I think that I could be interested in trying to write, but trying is the key word there. I am very terrified of writing fiction. In college I wrote a lot of essays, so I feel confident as a prose writer, but not a fictional one; I am nervous about that. And I would love to direct at some point but I would really have to have a project that I am very passionate about.

Who has inspired you professionally?
I think Woody Allen really was liberating when he said to me in our first meeting after I had the role, that I didn't have to say any of the lines that he had written if I didn't want to. And I was like 'what?!' I had done 'Play it Again Sam' in high school and here's this comic genius telling me that I didn't have to say his dialogue. And he said 'no, no, whatever makes you the most real and natural and funny as possible. It's really just a blueprint and you just take it and run with it and fill it with life.' And I just thought 'wow! That's confidence.' Because there are so many directors who write who are very dictatorial about you saying every like every comma on the page and every and. You know, and that makes you feel a little bit fearful sometimes when you are acting like 'what if I forget something? What if I didn't do it exactly as written?' So you are always coloring within the lines with those directors and this statement that he made to me feel like 'okay, of course I am going to say his lines, but if something happens in the middle of the scene that wasn't planned for, we can follow it and I am not going to be in trouble, in fact he is going to like it.' So there were all sorts of things that happened in 'Mighty Aphrodite' that weren't in the script that are in the film because we went with it... And with Spike Lee, he did the same thing. When we have the fight scene in the car, this thing came flying out of my mouth, and I was like 'oh God, I wonder if he is going to get upset- that was not in the script'. And afterwards he came up to me and said 'Mira you know that thing that you were doing?' And I was like 'yeah'. And he was like 'That was good. Do more of it'. And I thought 'oh wow, there's that license again, that artistic license when the director has a firm vision and you are all on board with what that vision is, and yet on the day, he or she encourages you to fly with the performance. And doesn't try to keep you in a little cage which he has already preset. It's sort of like they want you to go as far as you can in terms of taking the character and making it your own, rather than them sort of moving you around a chess board. And that I think is the best kind of directing when you can sort of encourage the actors to really let it happen like life rather than choreographing it every step and inch of the way and looking at each moment when they are doing it, to make sure that they are coloring within the lines.

 

What is your favorite genre in terms of acting?
I think comedy is my favorite because you have more fun doing it. It's a little harder; it's harder than drama. Drama you just have to be real; comedy you have to be real and funny. But it's light, you know, it makes you feel good. Usually the people making a comedy are funny themselves and so everyone is sort of laughing on the set and coming up with ways to amuse the audience. It's kind of a fun, positive endeavor rather than soul destroying one, like when you are playing a very sad part- it eats you up... I find it rather unpleasant to portray fear (as in 'Mimic'). And I think that is because fear is a very short emotion.

"Trimph of Love" does feel very staged like a play, but in a good way. The fast-paced action and use of dramatic irony to create humor is very characteristic of other French farces. The director, Clare Peploe did a fine job of working with her tremendously talented cast to balance humor with drama. In addition to Mira Sorvino, the players include: Jay Rodan, Fiona Shaw.and Ben Kingsley, in a refreshingly light role to follow up on his terrifying role in "Sexy Beast". The use of cinematic space, the historic production design by Ben Van Os ("The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and Her Lover"), and the vibrant costumes by Metka Kosak ("Besieged") make "Triumph of Love" colorful and spectatular to view. I would recommend this film to moviegoers who seek sophisticated entertainment with a strong, sympathetic heroine. "Triumph of Love" opens in a platform release pattern starting May 10th.

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