TORONTO – It’s not hard to see why having Anne Hathaway and the Kaiju genre might not sound right in the same sentence. Hathaway, a pristine, highly talented, Oscar nominated actress has never really delved in the monster genre. And yet, in director Nacho Vigalondo‘s “Colossal” the mix turns out wondrous results (here’s our review from TIFF). The 33 year-old actress plays a woman who suspects that her mental breakdown might be the reason why apocalyptic events are happening in Seoul. It’s an original and memorable Kaiju movie that has Hathaway surprising us with geek-mode range we never thought existed in her. Oh, and did I mention this movie is certifiably nuts?
Sitting in a hall on the third floor of Toronto’s famous Byblos restaurant, Hathaway, soft spoken, elegantly dressed and with that strikingly infectious smile we’ve all come to know, explains she’s always had that kind of role in her: “I haven’t avoided trying to make these kinds of movies in my career,” she proclaims, “I remember Jonathan Demme inviting me to catch Ben Wheatley‘s ‘A Field In England.’ I was so transported by it, so inspired, but really, I’m not the actress people think I am. I totally want to be in a movie like [“Colossal”]. After watching the Wheatley movie I told my agent to get me a movie specifically like that.”
Her co-star Jason Sudeikis is also an unlikely choice for the film. The 40-year-old actor has been typecast, for most of his career, in comedies like “We`re the Millers,” “Horrible Bosses” and “Hall Pass.” But he was immediately attracted by Vigalondo`s screenplay, “I read the script and was wondering: Who could pull this off?” Maybe Spike Jonze? Michel Gondry? When Nacho came into the picture I ended up watching his short films on iTunes and I said to myself “this guy can do it.” As previously mentioned, the insanity that happens in the film is hard to explain, it’s a mix of genres and emotions and unlike anything we’ve seen before and yet the actors seems to have found a way to explain it: “Anne and I actually came up with an adjective to describe the script, it’s ‘Being John Malkovich‘-y.”
READ MORE: ‘Mr. Robot’ Rami Malek Drives Himself Crazy In Surreal ‘Buster’s Mal Heart’ [TIFF Review]
The project wasn’t all easy-going at the start. Since the film industry currently banks on safe, conventional scripts instead of outside-the-box thinking and originality, a screenplay like the one “Colossal” has took major star wattage, like Hathaway’s, to secure financing. “My saying yes to the project was what got Voltage to give it the go-ahead,” confirms the actress, “I have yet to make a movie I didn’t believe in. I want to be relevant, I want to do this for the rest of my life and it takes projects like these to keep me motivated.”
A Kaiju or monster movie with a female lead is not a common thing to see and yet, when asked about what kind of doors might open up because of her role as Gloria in “Colossal” the actress ponders, thinks and then explains, “The optimist in me says hopefully this movie will help … We shot the film in Vancouver, Canada and I was so inspired by what their Prime Minister Trudeau said after having chosen an ethnically diverse cabinet with parity. He said, ‘It’s because it’s 2016.’ That is basically it in a nutshell … but, listen don’t get me wrong, I love male energy, but not when it has gone too far and there is male entitlement and there is abuse and remorse. As a society I do feel like we could do better and be better and I hope that anything I do does help the situation for women.”
The lead actors fell in love with Vigalondo during their time on the shoot. Sudeikis has nothing but praise for the 39-year-old Spanish filmmaker, “Nacho’s style is synthetic, abstract, effervescent. He’s a scamper. A little bit of a creature too. In fact I remember he wore a cat suit for Halloween, but nobody else in the cast and crew got the memo to dress up that day! If I could explain him in a nutshell, he is that cool 12-year-old you used to see in the playground that had you curious and asking, ‘what is that guy doing?’ I wanted to be a vessel for Nacho. Voltage bought the script, but with it they also bought this guy’s brain.” Hathaway felt the same way, “It is truly gratifying working with someone that is an auteur like Nacho and I enjoyed the experience very much.” After a 20 minute chat, the publicist comes in to tell us time is up, but not without Sudeikis chiming in with one last thing: “No Hathaways were harmed in the filming of this movie.”
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