Older interview but a good one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYu7iHob0E
Great interview. Kristen gives a lot of good insights into her work. Gorgeous black and white video as well.
(I forgot how to make it a clicky!)
Clicky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYu7iHob0E
Kristen certainly covered a wide range of topics in that interview Ron. And the thing I'm most amazed by regarding this interview is that even at a very young age she could recognize and was inspired by true acting talent. Heck, when I was around that age I seriously believed that Mark Hamill who played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy was the best actor working in Hollywood. In hindsight, I now consider him to be the weakest of all the main actors in this franchise. The actor who Kristen was inspired most by when she started out as a young actress, Gena Rowlands, showed incredible range in her Oscar nominated performance in A Woman Under the Influence. In a different interview, Kristen mentioned how John Cassavetes, who wrote and directed this film, was one of her favorite directors. Cassavetes is widely known as a pioneer of American independent film. Cassavetes and Rowlands both appear to still be a huge influence for Kristen as she continues to star in mostly indies and is doing quite well herself in such films. Thanks for posting Ron!
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I like how intelligent Kristen is about her craft even when she was young. I also see other actors giving good insight into what they do and it's interesting to see how much thought, learning and effort some put into their work. That's usually the more serious type actors. Acting well and portraying significant roles is a hard earned process.
shareI like how intelligent Kristen is about her craft even when she was young. I also see other actors giving good insight into what they do and it's interesting to see how much thought, learning and effort some put into their work. That's usually the more serious type actors.
One of my favorite interviews of her in her younger years was when she was interviewed for Fierce People: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ9IbDb7wNY
Although she was just a 14-year-old budding actress, the way she described this film could be likened to the way a director would describe a film after post production, instead of your average teen actress who merely played a small supporting role--the way she describes not only her character's traits, idiosyncrasies and ideals but the manner in which her character differentiates from the other character as well as how her character fits and relates to the other characters in the grand scheme of things--even touching on what goes on beneath the surface of her onscreen well-to-do family, even making an analogy to an indigenous tribe who many would consider as fierce yet admitting that her onscreen family was even more fierce not in a physical way but in a psychologically manipulative way. And finally, what any director would do, she then pays homage to the veteran actor of this film, the praises the cinematographer, even the art department for goodness' sake!!! Her passion for movie making was quite evident even from a young age.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyDq3RXNpWs
Here's another good interview from Fierce People where again she shows insights and depth of knowledge that many adults wouldn't be able to speak about. She says she likes "getting into people's minds" to learn what makes people do what they do, which is something I've heard from other actors as they dig into character roles they play. Kristen has mentioned this process in other interviews while as a younger and as an older actress. IMO, it's what gives her the ability to take on some interesting roles, usually in Indies and smaller movies with deeper and more intriguing human storylines than usually found in the big block buster movies, which while fun usually rely more on flashy stories.
Loved that interview too Ron. In relation to this she also expressed interest in studying human nature and pursuing a career in criminal psychology in the interview. In the film Fierce People, the Osbourne family, which Kristen's character Maya was a part of, were pretty much above the law even when they committed heinous crimes such as rape. For example, they live in an upper-class enclave with their own policeman who was in their pocket looked the other way whenever they broke the law. I subscribe to the belief that the vast majority of humans, even criminals, essentially do what they believe to be the right thing to do, justifying it in their mind whatever they decide to do before they act. In the case of the Osbourne family, they expected all their servants, guests and even friends to kiss the ground that they walked on and saw nothing wrong with expecting such subserviency. Unfortunately for Maya, who was innocent and naivete as Kristen mentioned in this interview, initially believed that there was nothing inherently wrong with the way her family treated others. That was until Fin came into the picture and she fell in love with him and only then did she realize her family was dysfunctional as they mistreated Fin, even committing a serious crime against him and tried to cover it up. Kristen then talks about her character arc, describing it as, "a very good arc," since now her character is torn between either choosing to side with what she previously thought was right in contrast to her newfound realization that this belief was false after her family had harmed Fin. So it's pretty amazing that she was able to recognize the importance of such a character arc in a story in the sense of her character's inner journey transforming as different developments arise. For myself, the best and most compelling characters not only involve such an arc but that such a character is put under great pressure so that their true character's human nature is revealed in the most profound way.
I didn't see Fierce People until a bit later among Kristen's movies. I found it interesting, kind of a case study, how the Osbourne family lived and acted. So wealthy and the grandfather so influential but a dysfunctional family bordering on dangerous as the older brother was. The lifestyle was hard to imagine but the wealth and dysfunction made it interesting, and brought them back to ground, so to speak. I had to feel a bit sorry for the kids, mainly Maya. She must have had an odd upbringing even with all the money. But to her credit she was still a good kid, though a bit wild in a way, due to the wealth and permissive life style.
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