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Emmy Rossum:From “Phantom” to Frostbiteby Lynn B.
Emmy has just wrapped production in the starring role as young opera star Christine in the film version of The Phantom of the Opera for which, of course, she sings all of the songs herself. But, we were meeting with her in L.A.’s Century City to talk about her role as a very bright young high school student caught in a huge, environmental disaster. Emmy, wearing a super cute off-white outfit of off-the-shoulder sweater and very short pleated skirt and matching heels, is another star who just loves to chat about her work, her co-star, her directors, doing a big effects film and how she “melted the ice” with sometimes “goofy” Jake Gyllenhaal. AGW: What was the favorite disaster film for you growing up? Emmy: Twister. Because I feel like big movies are great. They’re really fun and entertaining and exciting but I think when they have that human element and that poignancy and characters you can really buy into, that makes the movie so much better. Helen Hunt was great. AGW: Is this your first special effects movie? What was it like working with all that? Emmy: Definitely different than anything I had done before. I came out of a smaller, more independent, character-driven movie tradition. Then, to go on to something like this was a complete 180. Actually, I was working on Mystic River and this simultaneously and flying back and forth. AGW: Must be really different working with soft-spoken Clint Eastwood as your director and then Independence Day’s Roland Emmerich on this film. Emmy: Yeah. Working with Clint was so much different because it was very intimate, very quiet, very character-driven and very personal and one-on-one. And then, the next day I would fly and be on Roland’s set and he’d built four blocks of New York City in a Montreal warehouse with taxis and busses and it’s flooded. There’s a pounding rain coming from the ceiling and Roland was directing us over a microphone, his voice was coming out of speakers like God. It was the most bizarre experience I’d ever been on. But, in a sense it was almost like being back at the opera for me. It was fantastic. It was definitely wet and cold and we were shivering a lot of the time. But, there was so much adrenalin behind it and it was so important to me that, coming out of that small film tradition, I needed to see if I could bring that commitment to honesty and intimacy, at least, within this love story with Jake’s character. AGW: How many days did you have to shoot in that big flooded tank? Emmy: For that one sequence, two and a half weeks. But Roland’s a perfectionist. He’ll do everything five hundred times in one day if he wants to but I think that’s a trial and engenders a lot of trust within an actor. You work with so many directors who don’t know what they want. So, when you go to a director who knows exactly what he wants I think is something that makes you feel safe. AGW: How was working with Jake? Emmy: Fantastic! He’s a fantastic guy. He’s very intelligent. It was funny because I was kind of like the only girl on the set. There was Mark Gordon, our producer, Roland, Jake, Dennis Quaid and me. So, he’s like the big brother I never had. So it was really nice. We also work in kind of a similar way. We both put a lot of emphasis on preparation but then we get there and we kind of let it rip and are intuitive in a lot of ways within the bounds of the character and the arc. I think we work really well together. AGW: Is there a side to Jake that we don’t normally see on screen that’s different about him? Does he pull pranks? Emmy: He’s quite goofy in reality. I think we were so cold and wet and shivering most of the time that nobody had enough energy to pull pranks after running through that tank 500 times in one day with Roland going ‘do it again’! But he’s very much positive. He has a lot of positive energy. AGW: So nobody gets that he’s really goofy unless you’re around him. Emmy: Yeah. Then you’ll get it. AGW: What was the most challenging scene for you to do? Emmy: Probably the one with the water because it was the most physically taxing thing I’d ever had to do in a movie before. When you run through water for twelve hours a day, two and a half weeks in a row, at the same time as trying to hold onto your character and make a real person with the strengths and vulnerabilities about her. That was the hardest thing about doing the movie was holding onto your emotional level while they’re re-setting the rain in the ceiling. AGW: Did you have to audition for the part in The Day After Tomorrow? Emmy: I definitely auditioned. I went in and sat on the bench next to all the other girls that were auditioning. I wasn’t given any kind of special treatment by any means. I got a meeting with Roland and Mark, went in and read for them, got a screen test with Jake, went in and I did that. I knew that that screen test was the moment when I had to prove myself. That’s when you’ve gotta show it. You’ve gotta bring it. I think that anybody can run through water but not necessarily anybody can run through water while bringing the heart and emotion to the character.
Emmy: No. I don’t think he looks older. I think that we got along really, really well. I just think that the screen test was the moment that I had to prove that I can portray this girl. I think she’s, in essence, the contemporary woman; strong and intelligent and confident and courageous but vulnerable and feminine as well. I realized that there had to be that chemistry between the two characters in the love story, in the screen test. Otherwise, there was no proof it was going to translate into finished film. AGW: So the chemistry was just there? Emmy: It had to be. There was no choice for me. It was gonna be there. It also wasn’t difficult. He’s terribly attractive. So it wasn’t like the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my whole life but, at the same time, I think the heat had to be there. Somebody had to melt the ice! (laughter). AGW: Was it harder to try out for the opera or Hollywood? Emmy: The opera. I think there was more competition at the opera because I was competing not only with the girls but with the boys for parts when we were younger. The girls were often excluded from auditioning. So, I was only allowed to audition for understudy and I didn’t think that was fair. That was one of the reasons I left. I also think that when you’re auditioning at seven or eight for big operas, you don’t really get nervous anymore. I think it kind of prepared me really well. AGW: Is there anything you miss from that world? Emmy: The thing I loved most about it was being on stage and the acting aspect of it and the sense that there was a big family all around you. I think that’s something that I get in film as well. When you’re thrown together with people for like six months at a time in Montreal in the dead of winter, you become a big family. And that was kind of the way it was at the opera for me. That’s one of my favorite things. AGW: You’ve been called a ‘young actress to watch’ in about four publications. Does that put any pressure on you? Emmy: (playing with us). Not until you just said that! No. What I feel is when you work so hard on something and you want to do stuff that inspires you and stuff that you can put your name on and be proud of, I think that you can work six or eight months of your life on a movie and put all of your heart and soul into a character. When somebody notices that, that makes you feel really good and proud not pressured, just encouraged. AGW: Is it really enjoyable to be singing again in “Phantom”? Emmy: Oh yeah. Every note. Definitely. When I was little I wanted to be a doctor and a lawyer and an astronaut and, especially, an opera singer. With this, through acting, I can really do that. I got to fulfill my dream of being a big opera star because I just did it (in Phantom) for eight months in a film. I really felt like I was living that. It was really wonderful. AGW: Can you tell us more about “Phantom”? Emmy: The film is really spectacular. It’s kind of similar to this film in that it’s a huge production with amazing sets and fantastic costumes. To have the opportunity to sing and act, which are my two passions, in one film is just fantastic. But, the opportunity to play a character who is so complex and conflicted…there are so many opportunities for such an emotional range. AGW: Why do you think you’ve gotten such attention in Hollywood? Emmy: I’ve just walked into the room and said ‘I love this character and this is why you should pick me’. No. I never said that. I don’t have that audacity at all but I never go in for anything that I don’t think I’d be proud of. I’d rather go back to college. College is so important to me. I think the two go really hand in hand, education and the film business, but I’ve always gone into the room when I’ve really cared about something and really thought about it before I went in and just given it my all. That’s why I’ve been proud of a lot of the things I’ve done. AGW: Was there anything about the environmental message in this movie that affected your life? Emmy: Yeah. I think you learn about global warming in science class but I don’t think that it’s given the weight that it really deserves. I don’t think it’s explained that well to be perfectly honest. I remember coming off this film, reading the script and realizing how uninformed I was. Then when I came off the set, talking to my friends, explaining it to them, they’d say ‘oh my gosh. You explained that so much better than Mrs. So-in-So in science class’. But I do do things differently now. I’m more conscious of the consumption of electricity, turning off lights, not driving. I live in New York so I try to walk everywhere. I think one of the best things we can do is talk to people. That’s one of the reasons that I’m really proud of this movie. Sure, it is supposed to be entertaining and fun and I think it really is a roller coaster ride. But, if people come out and they have more information, then I’ll be really proud. AGW: How many languages do you speak? Emmy: I speak English and a little French which I speak in the film. But, I’ve sung in like five different languages. AGW: Could you go back to the Met and do the lead in something now? Emmy: It’s feasible. I would do anything to help the opera because that’s where I came from and if I could ever do anything to help them I would. I think that would be a lot of fun but my problem is when I commit to something whether it’s film or school or just trying to be a normal person and have normal friends, who are not in the business, thank God!, I do it 150 percent. That’s why I don’t do film and education at the same time. I take a break and do one and then the other. I think I’d have to make that commitment 150 percent to doing that role at the opera but that opportunity hasn’t presented itself as yet. AGW: What are you majoring in? Emmy: If I ever finish. At this rate, I’ll probably graduate when I’m a senior citizen, I’m planning on majoring in English Lit and probably minoring in Philosophy. Pictures Copyright © 20th Century-Fox |
 
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What
was it like kissing cutie Jake Gyllenhaal and working in freezing water
up to your waist in the big summer environmental disaster film The
Day After Tomorrow? We found out from beautiful 17-year-old actress/singer
Emmy Rossum who has an interesting background. From an early age, she
was in the Children’s Chorus at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
The brown-haired, brown-eyed actress has sung almost every opera of note
including “Carmen”. She found she liked acting as much as
singing and moved on to co-star in soap opera “As the World Turns”
and has guest-starred on “The Practice and “Law and Order”.
Lots of magazines have named Emmy a young “actress to watch”.
She played Sean Penn’s murdered daughter in the recent drama Mystic
River and got rave reviews. 
AGW:
You are high school age and Jake is quite older. Was That weird at all
for you? Was the screen test scary?