THR's Actress Roundtable interview

The Hollywood Reporter has uploaded their latest Roundtable interview, this one with Actresses who will possibly contend for major awards. The interview takes place with Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Amy Adams (The Master, Trouble With The Curve), Sally Field (Lincoln), Naomi Watts (The Impossible), Rachel Weisz (The Deep Blue Sea), Helen Hunt (The Sessions) and Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone). Unfortunately, this year's group is devoid of diversity but that is a sad reflection of the industry as a whole.

All have been Oscar nominees and Field, Weisz, Hunt and Cotillard are previous winners. Topics that they discuss include their fears, fame, fighting for roles, bad auditions and working with nightmare directors.

Sally Field talks about fighting to get the part of Mary in Lincoln:

I fought like holy hell to get Lincoln. Steven [Spielberg] had asked me to do it a long time ago, like in 2005. By the time it was going to be made, the original person [Liam Neeson] had dropped out and Daniel Day-Lewis came on board, and from the time that he first asked me, a little voice inside me said, "You'll never do it, Field. You'll never do it." And I have a problem with that little voice, because that little voice sometimes becomes my self-fulfilling prophecy. A lot of my life and career has been about huge compromise, about selling out. I had no choice: I had children to raise, there are my priorities. And I also know that I'm 10 years older than Daniel and 20 older than Mary Todd Lincoln, and I thought, "This is going to be a problem." And Steven said, "Yes, I don't see you with Daniel. Sorry." But I said, "Steven, test me! I'm not walking away!" And Daniel out of the graciousness of his heart flew in from Ireland and we did some bizarre improv; but I became Mary and he became Mr. Lincoln for about an hour! When I got home the phone was ringing, and Steven and Daniel were on the phone saying, "Will you be Mary?"

Marion Cotillard talks about fighting for a part and regretting it. She doesn't name the film in question but it's clear she is referring to Le dernier vol (The Last Flight):

"I fought for a project and I fought for the director because he was the one that brought the project and I fell in love with it, and then I spent two months in the middle of the desert wanting to kill him and wanting to beat myself because I fought for him and he was so bad. He was just bad, bad, bad. He had no idea of what we were doing, he had no idea of what he wanted to do.... I realized that if I don't trust the director, if I don't like him, I'm going to be bad. It was impossible. I got my French version of the “Razzie” Award nomination [for worst performance] for this movie. And the thing is, I really wanted to have it. I didn't want to be mean, but I had my acceptance speech made – 'Without this director, none of this would've been possible!'"

The THR Writers Roundtable
The THR Actors Roundtable; Executives Roundtable