Viola Davis talks about not wearing a wig in Beautiful Creatures, playing Terrence Howard’s wife in next filmPosted by Wilson Morales
February 11, 2013
While promoting her latest film, ‘Beautiful Creatures,’ Academy Award nominee Viola Davis spoke to Collider.com about not wearing a wig for this film, her other upcoming projects, including playing Terrence Howard‘s wife in ‘Prisoners,‘ and working with Harrison Ford in ‘Ender’s Game.’
A supernatural love story set in the South, “Beautiful Creatures” tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers: Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a young man longing to escape his small town, and Lena (Alice Englert), a mysterious new girl. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.
Why was this attractive to you? Why did you want to be in this movie?
VIOLA DAVIS: It was attractive to me because, at first, I thought that she was just a regular woman, and then you peeled away the scars, and her being the keeper of this library, and her being able to channel spirits, and I liked that depth of character without beating someone over the head with it. It was that mysterious part of her. I like creating a rich inner life of a character because I sometimes feel like everybody wants to see everything played out on screen, in a way that’s very dramatic. I like an interesting inner life. I think it’s harder to play. I think it’s more challenging. That was the case with Amma. I loved it.
Was it liberating not to have to wear a wig for this character?
DAVIS: Yes, absolutely! The other day, I had to do a video thing and because I’m wearing my hair in this movie I’m doing now (Prisoners), I got a color job that fried my hair, so I was letting it rest. I braided it and put on a wig, for the first time in awhile, and I was like, “Ah!” Listen, I love my wigs. My daughter goes to my drawer and says, “Mommy, you wanna wear your wig?” But suddenly, it felt odd, in a way. Suddenly, it felt like I wasn’t being who I was. I’m still going to wear my wig, but I just think it’s interesting, at this time period, for me to just use it as an enhancement and not a crutch. That’s as much as I can say about it.
Which is the film that you’re working on now?
DAVIS: I’m working on Prisoners with Denis Villeneuve. He’s out of Quebec. He’s the French director who did Incendies. He’s fantastic. I’m working with Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Melissa Leo, Maria Bello, and Terrence Howard is playing my husband. It’s a great story. It’s about these two young girls go missing – my young girl and Maria Bello and Hugh Jackman’s young girl – and it’s about us searching for who took them and taking justice into our own hands. When does it become right or wrong? We’re exploring the humanity of the good side of justice and the bad side of justice. It’s beautiful because I think it’s just so relevant, in this day and age of child abductions, killings, sexual assaults and everything. You feel the rage. Even if it’s not your child, you feel that sense of wanting to get vindication. So, what lengths would you go to? This movie explores that, and it’s good. I think it’s going to be good. I really do. It’s a wonderful script.
Davis also spoke her role in ‘Ender’s Game,’ which was directed by Tsotsi’s Gavin Hood and co-starring Harrison Ford.
You also recently did Ender’s Game, right?
DAVIS: I did Ender’s Game. People are really excited about that one. Harrison Ford. And I would stare at him all the time and my husband said, “You gotta stop doing that! You gotta just talk to people! I talk to people! You don’t talk to anybody!” And I said, “I know, but it’s Harrison Ford!” And he said, “I don’t care! Just talk to him!” But, I would just stare at him. He said, “How you doing, Viola? You know, I would have flown you out here with your daughter, when your daughter was sick. You could have just asked me.” And I thought, “I could have?!” And then, he’d tell really racy jokes, and I would think, “Harrison Ford is telling me a joke!” And then, I’d forget to laugh! He’s awesome! And Gavin Hood, who did what I would put in the top three greatest foreign films of all time, Tsotsi, which means “thug” in Afrikaans, is the director. He’s tough and he’s specific, and I think that it’s going to be great. What a moving story. And once again, it’s relevant. It’s about training these young kids to be soldiers and to kill, and what are the after effects of that? It’s wonderful.
The full interview can be read here.
Beautiful Creatures opens in theaters on February 14th.
