Last night's "Evening with Lili Taylor" was excellent, and the perfect way for the Brattle Theater to kick off their 50th anniversary series of on-stage interviews. I've been a fan of hers for a long time... she's always struck me as someone very much in control of her career, sticking to her guns and taking roles that should could make her own, and make real. (well, except maybe once). She gives honesty and integrity to the female characters she brings to life.
Much of the evening's conversation, which was hosted by indie film producer Amy Geller, centered around this very topic... how she chooses her projects, her characters, the directors she'll work with. She talked a lot about what kind of price she pays for not playing 'the hollywood game', for not taking roles because of what they might allow her to do next. Since she rarely takes a role for it's commercial appeal, her "hollywood stock price" isn't very high, and it's hard for her to draw money for a project on her own... it usually involves teaming up with another 'name' to get it done.
She has no regrets, though. At one point, an audience question triggered a comparison between Lili's career path and Julia Roberts (both were in the 1988 film Mystic Pizza). Julia is clearly a celebrity, while Lili is an actress. She talked openly about the contrast, saying that she believes Julia is very well equipped to handle the kind of attention that level of celebrity brings, but that she herself isn't, and isn't sure she'd ever want that even if she could get there.
Other highlights of the evening...
- If she could start her own repertory company, it would include Frances McDormand, Martha Plimpton, and Sean Penn.
- On working with River Phoenix on Dogfight: "I could tell he was in pain. He had that something special, that ability to reach inside and show something real, something vulnerable. Few people have that. Monty Clift had it, Leo Dicaprio had it for maybe a minute there. River was just one of those sensitive souls, maybe too sensitive for this business."
- She's having a great time working on Six Feet Under, and loves working with a different director on each episode, although she believes the rest of the cast finds that harder, since their characters are more developed, and the actors are more familiar with them than a new director might be.
- On working with Kathy Bates (who is both directing and acting in Six Feet Under this season): "She's exactly as you'd imagine she'd be. She's smart, funny, generous, laid back, yet really in control on the set."
- She unflinchingly considers herself a feminist, although she realized when she said it outloud that she hasn't referred to herself as one for a long time. That said, she finds no differences between male and female directors, and there are plenty of female directors she'd never work with.
- On director Robert Altman: He does a couple of things that really help the actors feel comfortable on the set. First, everyone is individually miked, so there is very little stepping on each other's lines. Secondly, he has a specialized arm attached to the camera (which he claims he invented) that is able to determine (or accomodate for changes in) an actor's mark on the set. He's also one of those who will be directing you when you don't even know it... he makes sure the scene, the mood, the tools you need are already there before you even start a take... he'll just yell 'action' and let it go. Eventually, Lili would come to the realization that "Wow, he was just directing me there." All of these things apparantly really contribute to the fluidity and relaxed atmopshere of his movies.
- On the rumoured Janis Joplin film she was to star in: She sat down with writer/director Nancy Savoca, who had the rights, to work on the story... they felt they had a unique way to tell it, and things were moving forward. Somehow those rights got bought out beneath them, and there are apparantly now two other Janis projects in the works. Lili still hopes that whomever gets the film into production would still consider her for it. "Even if they don't ask me to audition, I think I'm just going to show up and walk in the door anyway." (that remark got much applause from the hopeful crowd.)
You could tell that Lili was happy to be at the Brattle, and humbled by the response she received. She was open, friendly, forthright, and very receptive to questions from both the host and the audience. Here's hoping that future Brattle anniversary events are half as cool as this one was.
