Really? That’s cool how they brought it into the film. It’s a great way to get into the character without all the screen time. The character first appears as a mostly silent student in the middle of a lecture hall, receiving praise from Mark Wahlberg’s character. The next time we see Amy, there’s been a transference of power and she’s the one calling the shots. It could be a jarring shift but you make it convincing. How did you figure out that endearing balance, between patience and daring?
Brie Larson: Before this [story] had started, there must be at least some little glimmers of something beneath the surface… not really enough for either of [the characters] to grasp onto in any way. I think she’s always had these little things in the back of her head, of wondering if her notion [of Jim, Wahlberg’s character] was correct. Then, because she so purely sees him, I feel like those two characters really… I feel like we all have that in our life where you just meet someone and you’re like, I know you, I don’t even need you to talk, I just know who you are. They have that. She sees through all of this aggro façade, all of the colorful language, all of these things that are his way of building up a persona but it’s not really him at all. And she finds that rather humorous.
And so, when he turns on her and pushes on her, it’s like an intelligent kid on the playground that makes fun of the girl that they like. And she picks up on it right away. I think because she understands that, she’s able to come back into the classroom that next day and have full confidence to say, “What are you doing?” and be up front.
It’s really a terrific scene. He has shown such bravado and he’s a ballsy character, and it’s nice for someone to finally put him in his place. It’s refreshing. One of the main criticisms of the film that I have seen, although I don’t agree with, is that his bravado and arrogance is a turn off. What do you think Amy sees in this man, who so many could find repelling?
Brie Larson: I think she sees him. It’s interesting because in the whole process of working with [Wahlberg] and making the film, I always found him incredibly compelling and complicated. I think he represents a side of our humanity that maybe we don’t want to recognize. That’s the only reason why I think people would find him repelling. I actually find him to be very similar to myself and a lot of other people I know. I don’t know what could be missing for an audience. I don’t think that every leading person has to have it all together and be charming. It doesn’t always have to be enjoyable.
How was working with Mark Wahlberg?
Brie Larson: Wonderful. He’s the hardest working person I’ve ever worked with. His day starts before the sun’s up and it ends after the sun has gone down, and I don’t know how he has as much time in the day as he does. But he was completely off-book right before we started shooting. He lost all that weight, which I never even knew that he did because he’s such a pro – he never complained or talked about it. He was just so prepared and incredibly present.
For the lecture scene at the beginning of the movie, I watched him do that monologue and that whole scene over 100 times, I imagine. We shot it for two days. He would do the whole thing through every time. Every single time was incredibly dynamic and interesting and fascinating… such a command over those hundreds of extras that are in the room. You never knew what he was going to do on each take, and he kept all of us in the room really engaged. It was incredible. It was like watching the longest run of the shortest play over and over again.
Right, and William Monaghan’s dialogue is so rich. I’m sure he didn’t mind doing that scene 100 times.
Brie Larson: It was an incredible opportunity for all of us. It’s so beautiful, everything that he writes.
I’m very excited for Trainwreck this summer, and some of the other projects that you have worked on recently. I’m also intrigued by Room, as I really adored the book it’s based on. What can you say about the adaptation?
Brie Larson: It’s still in the editing process. We shot so many interesting things, and I’m really excited to see how it’s all assembled. It was adapted by Emma Donoghue, who wrote the book, and directed by Lenny Abrahamson, who did Frank. It basically explores the book further.
I love that the book is from Jack’s perspective, and so you get this very innocent, and therefore obscure, view of the situation. It’s really easy to handle in some ways because we let our imagination wander where we want it to and not where we don’t want to imagine the horrible things that are happening. The film actually explores all those things. You can’t really hide things on film like you can in a book.
So, you’ll get to see more. You get to really see his mom, who he sort of loves no matter what. She is complicated and is going through something really painful. You’re watching her struggle to put all of these pieces together. I’m really excited about it. I think we did a really great job.
That concludes our interview, but we’d like to thank Brie very much for her time. Be sure to pick up The Gambler when it hits Blu-Ray/DVD tomorrow.