Orphan
Written by Judy Sloane Thursday, 23 July 2009 17:53
Interview
As new movie Orphan gears up to set the horror genre alight, we catch up with stars Peter Sarsgaard, Vera Farmiga and Isabelle Fuhrman...
Saarsgard and Farmiga star as a husband and wife who's decision to adopt sweet nine-year-old Esther (Fuhrman) proves to be the biggest mistake they ever made. Already lauded by international critics as one of the best scary movies to be released in ages, Orphan hinges on the stellar central performance of 12-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman who is genuinely terrifying as the unhinged Esther.
ISABELLE FUHRMAN [It was] a lot of fun and challenging playing someone evil because I'm so different. I'm not evil at all, I promise you that! I could dip out of character, but I mainly stayed in character during the week. When I had days off, I would monkey around! Sometimes I would go and talk to Vera and Peter about acting, because they're just amazing and I'm new to this.
Vera, you've starred in horror films before, including 2007's Joshua. What attracted you to this particular project?
VERA FARMIGA For me, it was the story. I’d never read anything like it. I loved the genre. It’s very rare to find characters that you can really believe in and want to invest in. I found what my character was going through, which is this miscarriage, very compelling. It’s such a complex grief. And the dysfunction of this family, I was in it. Then, really, it was just a matter of who was going to be a part of it and that was the deciding factor for me.
And Peter, what made you sign on the dotted line?
PETER SAARSGARD When I [saw] it, [Vera's] name was already floating out there. I remember seeing Vera in the break through movie she did which was Down to the Bone, and just going 'Oh my God'. Since then, I'd always wantedd to do anything with her, and when I read this I thought, 'Well, that would be very interesting."
Isabelle, you're obviously still very young. Is it difficult to star in a film that you won't be able to see at the movies?
FUHRMAN This movie I'm allowed to see! My sister is going to be sitting next to me at the premiere, and during some scenes she's going to have [my] eyes covered!
But [the films I choose to do] is mainly up to me. The challenge that I saw when I read the script was very large. The challenge of playing a conflicted, complex character who can be happy one moment and then turn her head and just be thinking of a diabolical plan of something to do. What will be next on the list to check off that can make this family even more miserable. It was challenging but it was a lot of fun. I had such a great time and it was such a great experience and I really learned a lot from his, from Vera and Peter and from Jaume [Collet-Serra, the director]. I learned a lot about myself through this.
What was it like to be filming in Toronto during a rather heavy winter?
SAARSGARD It was ferocious. We didn't intend for some of those scenes to have quite so much snow in them! I think there was a Halloween scene at one point that we had to get rid of, because it was just not believable that it would be so snowy!
FARMIGA But it just added to the oppression of the film
Are you all fans of the horror genre?
FARMIGA Very much so. I don't think you could participate in the film if you weren't an enormous fan and loved being scared.
SAARSGARD You kind of have to be if you're going to do something like this.
FUHRMAN I like watching the trailers. I can't do the movies. I'm always like, 'Oh the trailer grossed me out. I'm not going to be able to see the movie!'
FARMIGA But these films in the genre only work if I'm invested in the characters and find them compelling. Often you want to go and see these films, but you feel so duped and it's not scary because you're not buying into their lives
SAARSGARD Because they need a witness in the movie. Like Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist. We all talk about the image of [Linda Blair's] head spinning and everything, but that's not what makes you scared. It's seeing Ellen Burstyn go, 'Oh my God!' I think that sometimes in this genre [film-makers] put actors that are not up to it or actors that are dismissive of it, and they don't witness the stuff that is happening. In the end it's not about all the goop, it's about these witnesses to these events and that's what always draws the audience in.
Vera, your previous film Joshua is also about a young child who terrorises his parents. Was this film a different experience?
FARMIGA It is a mother in distress, but the characters are suffering from two different ailments. Joshua is [about] a woman who's going through a post-partum psychosis who does nothing to better her situation. She just wallows in it. Whereas, my character [in Orphan] who suffered a very complex grief with a miscarriage, is trying to heal her family and seek forgiveness. She wants to repair her marriage and she wants to fill that hole in her heart.
Orphan is obviously a film full or serious and terrifying themes. Isabelle, did your parents have any reservations about you taking part?
FUHRMAN No, they were really all for it because I really wanted to do this film. Before I went on the audition, I was talking to my mom and I was like, 'If I get this, I really want to do this..' And she’s like, 'Alright, well let’s do it.' So, after I got it, my mom was actually in Africa on a press trip. She’s a journalist. She gets a call in the middle of the bush riding an elephant in the morning saying, 'Your family needs to speak to you right now'. And my mom’s thinking 'What the heck happened?' She picks up the phone [and hears] 'She got the part!' So it was very exciting. I was just so happy.
Macaulay Culkin was famously not allowed to see the full script of The Good Son when he starred in that. Did they allow you to see the whole script for Orphan?
FUHRMAN Yup. I read the full script and all the revisions of it because I really wanted to understand who she was to be able to actually play her. I really needed to become her.
Interviews by Judy Sloane
Oprhan opens in the USA on July 24, and in the UK on August 7
