Uma Thurman - MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND
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Q: Romantic comedies have taken quite an evolution of late, do you think MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND is a pro-male film?
Well, and that’s a really good question because I don’t know the answer. And that was a good question if you actually don’t know the answer! Think about it this way - it’s written by a man and directed by a man, produced by a bunch of men and then there was me. So I feel the article represented, you know, me against seven of them. Is it a male nightmare? Or is it a female cathartic revolution to sort of go completely crazy and let him have it?
Q: What factors are involved when you pick a project?
There are a lot of directors that I haven’t worked with yet that I’d like to work with. But what do I look for? I look to be challenged. I look to do something new. I look to work with people I admire. I tend to focus on the director but now, I really do look also that the script is really everything. If something doesn’t offer me a good part, I’m just going to be another boring actor on the screen. And you then have the execution of the part, which is in the director. That’s so important because crazy people like me love to try all kinds of wacky ideas out.
Q: I was interested in what you said earlier about how you’d prefer a role that wasn’t pro-woman. So if you look within the script for a role that involved you as a kind of victim, would you not do that?
No. I would. I actually think that women are victims all the time. I think this is such a crazy way to think about things that if you play a vulnerable person who’s a subject to some type of injustice that makes you a bad representation of your gender. I mean it makes no sense to me. I think that they’re victims inside, each of them in turn many times in our lives.
I was watching the movie from a female point of view, and wondered from your experience do you think that men can handle women who are stronger than them?
Well, I think everybody is different. I know that I like to be around someone stronger than myself and I know people who don’t. I know women who like to have like boy toys… but generally speaking, I would prefer myself to be with someone I can look to for help or guidance or support and some sort of superior within. I think some men feel very masculine around a woman that’s too fully formed, and some don’t. Some men need to be around a woman who is two generations younger than them to feel good about themselves in which case, they should do that. But I think that there is really a great variety of men in the world, thank god.
Do you like all superheroes?
Oh yes I love superheroes, female superheroes as well.
How do you cope with bad break ups?
I don’t know. I don’t know. You just cope with them whichever way the way you can, right? Like everybody else.
Your character Jenni seems to go from a high school geek to a high school hottie in the film. How you fit in when you were at high school?
Oh, I fitted in very badly, which is lucky for me because I got out of there, got a job. I hung out with adults that were nice to me. You know, I didn’t fit in too well. You know, it really does take you until about 35 to walk well without being self-conscious - so you know, high school wasn’t much fun for me, I have to say.
Out of all the directors you’ve worked with, which ones enabled you to use qualities you didn’t think you had, and what qualities are those?
Well, each job really. I mean, each job with the exception of one or two but I won’t mention those. Each job was a different kind of challenge and you know, when you kind of jump from genre to genre like this and you’re not really making movies that are geared for you but rather movies that are geared for themselves and you’re going to figure out how to be a part of it. It’s kind of like entering each situation for the first time, you know. I really enjoyed the character work and the tone doing comedy. I’ve been trying to do it for 20 years and nobody would give me a job to do comedy. I had read the scripts and I want to do them, but they didn’t consider me. I couldn’t even get auditions for certain things. So it’s very exciting for me. I’m hoping I can do more like this because actually, this is much more fun for me and much closer to me.
Is it more fun for you to play a baddie or a goodie?
Both of them. If you’re not going to be A and B, I’ll take AB or BA but you know, it’s all fun. Our life is fascinating and rich and interesting and being on every side of the coin, getting over there and looking in the situation from a single perspective that isn’t your own, it’s such an amazing experience. I’m passionate about my job, I love my job. It enriches me. I get high from doing my job. It’s very exciting.
How do you balance your acting career with motherhood?
With motherhood? Challenging. I think any working woman is just the same as any other working woman because it’s just as hard to do it all, you know. It’s hard to do it all and I feel very lucky that - just that my children are quite wonderful and I can’t really take credit for it but I’m proud of them.
Do you feel success offers you power?
No, I don’t feel that. I’ve never even felt that you know, I’ve had a very touch and go career and I don’t feel powerful because of that. For me, I work for directors, crazy artists and look for writers that get inspired or are moved by somebody that resembles me enough that I can play them, it’s such a miracle to find the right part in Hollywood. Do you know what I mean? I don’t need a career out of those kind of blockbuster movies. I’ve made a career out of living delicately like spiders webs. I’ve been on the A-list and off the A-list and on the D-list like I can’t even tell you have many time. So to me, it’s that survival as an actress is just a miracle.
ow did you find the stunt work playing a superheroe?
People see a lot of stunt work on this movie actually if you look at it, it’s a lot of flying and stuff, which I don’t even consider as stunt work. Guaranteed it’s uncomfortable - but it’s not stunt work.
Q: How do you stay in shape these days?
I don’t know and I've got to figure it out. I run around and do things and I try to exercise when I can but it’s really hard to make time for that. It’s really hard.
Q: What’s the best excuse for a break-up?
The best excuse for a break-up? Oh, I don’t even know. I’m so not an expert. I’m really out of the loop.
Q: What is your life motto?
I don’t have a life motto. I don’t. Not really, no. My dad has a great one though. My brother came up with it for him but I like this one, which I kind of stick to. “Why do something right when you can do it yourself.”
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