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Hangin' With Archives
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Rachel McAdamsCatches the “Red Eye”by Lynn B.
In Red Eye, her latest film, a tough thriller, Rachel plays a smart, busy businesswoman taking the red eye flight back home only to meet someone that will rock her world and ruin her day. Been, there, done that you say? Well, listen to Rachel’s take on the intense film process she and co-star Cillian Murphy went through to bring us a new kind of Wes Craven thriller. Again a blonde [she tells us it’s for her, not for a role] after her brunette turn in Wedding Crashers, Rachel came to chat with us in brown polka dot blouse, lighter brown polka dot pants, long brown pearls, a huge amethyst ring and some really hot pink stilettos. AGW: This was a great female character to play. Did you just want to jump on it when you read it? Rachel: Yeah, I mean, for all kinds of reasons, I was just flattered out of my shoes that Wes even knew who I was, let alone was considering me for this part, because I hadn’t done anything like it. And I’m always interested in doing things that I haven’t done before, and just seeing what kind of fit that is. I just thought she had such a great arc. She really finds her steel in the end, and I was intrigued at the notion of finding this girl who fought back, really dug down deep inside and finds the strength within her, but doesn’t turn into a superhero. She’s not wearing hot pants all of a sudden with a machete, it’s based in some kind of reality. AGW: You like to do different things. Now that you’ve found some success are you worried that you might get typecast? Rachel: I’m hoping that based on the diversity that I’ve had so far that I’m not going to be pigeonholed or typecast, but that said most of the roles out there for women are the ingénue, the girlfriend, the daddy’s girl. It’s all pretty sweet and straightforward, so I’m just looking for roles whether they’re so-called attractive people or not. I’m more concerned with the depth of the role, and the uniqueness of the character. AGW: Cillian said that he was uncomfortable with the bathroom scene where he roughs you up, and he said it took a level of trust, what was your mindset on that day? Rachel: I trust Cillian completely. We’d spent a lot of time together at that point, and he is such a good physical actor. He’s really good with the choreography. He’s so convincing when it comes to being shot at or being stabbed, he’s just so believable, yet it’s very controlled. Sitting side by side I can tell that he’s completely within control, so I trusted him wholeheartedly, and we were kind of used to each other at that point. But at the same time, there was always an element of danger and urgency, because he’s a good actor so you can see it in his face. AGW: This film really puts the camera right in your face for so much of the time, is that hard on you because you lose most of your hand and body movements? Rachel: Yeah, I was really nervous about that going into the film, but it was also one of the reasons that I was compelled to the script in the first place. I really wanted to explore this notion that if you think it, the camera can see it. Just keep working in subtleties. Because I knew I’d get to do the action stuff and that was going to be really fun too, and I have an athletic background, so I hoped that that would work, but this presented a unique challenge. In terms of the confinement, that actually worked for me, the cameras were so close, and Cillian was there at all times, and I was literally stuck in this seat for twelve hours a day, and everyone’s watching you, it’s you, it’s all on your head and that kind of pressure added to the tension and the urgency. I was actually kind of grateful for it, it helped. AGW: In between shots did you decide not to be friendly – how did you handle that? Rachel: There is this certain distance but, at the same time, we really tried to keep it light and enjoy ourselves. It’s such a weighty project, and the scenes were so terrorizing and intense that – Cillian is very funny, he’s actually really funny, and there’s a real lightness to him. He’s a joker, he loves to tell really bad jokes, and I’m a sucker for bad jokes, I love them. So he just told corny jokes all the time. But there was a silence between us when we were shooting a scene, even if we were waiting for a light to be put up or something. Unless we were between scenes, there was kind of a quiet respect for the fact we were supposed to be at odds with one another. AGW: The character is a real take charge, executive type, her job is her life – do you find some of that in you or is that totally not like you? Rachel: No, I definitely find some of it in me, to have to leave your home and go off and live in another place for a couple of months, there’s a fair amount of pressure involved with making a film, and especially if you’re a lead, so you kind of develop this tough skin to get through it, so I understand that. I understand wanting to immerse yourself in your work and that sometimes personal things can kind of drop by the wayside. Sometimes you can feel falsely complete because you’re immersed in your work. AGW: Were there any injuries making the movie? Rachel: I mean, there’s some bumps and bruises and scrapes along the way. You can’t avoid that. And those feel kind of good at the end of the day, like ‘Alright, I really put in my time today.’ AGW: How about the customer service aspect of the character? She manages at a big hotel. Do you identify with having to bite your tongue and be nice? Rachel: I worked at McDonalds, so I understand the customer’s always right. Rule number one, the customer’s always right, rule number two, refer back to rule number one. And I was a waitress for a long time. AGW: Was McDonalds your first job? Rachel: Yeah, I did a little bit of work at a theatre before that, but that was my first. AGW: Your name keeps coming up all the time about being a quickly rising star but you seem kind of shy about it. Does that embarrass you? Rachel: It’s funny, I almost forget that the movie’s going to come out when I’m making it. You forget that people are actually going to see this, because it’s so far away and you’re really just in the process, so fortunately the nature of the film is such that you try not to focus too much on the outcome. I’ve learned that it’s so fickle. You never know where an audience is going to be at, what’s going to hit, what people feel like seeing. Sometimes people aren’t in the mood for a love story and you happen to have made one a year ago when they were. So it’s really hard to predict the masses, it’s so impossible.
Rachel: We shot in sequence, and I think that was personally great for me for this film, because like I said, the arc had so many steps along the way that I could just build on it and remember where I was yesterday and where I want to be tomorrow. That helped with today. AGW: What’s your own worst flight experience, and are you a good flyer? Do you ever get nervous when you get on a plane? Rachel: I’ve been really lucky, which is why I get more and more nervous. Every time it’s like, ‘Wow, they’ve gone smoothly a lot. How long does that keep up?’ AGW: Are you like that with your career as well? Rachel: [smiling] Yep, there’s a strange parallel there. AGW: Was there a great female character that you admired in films when you were growing up? Rachel: I watched so many movies growing up, Saturday was pop-and-chip night at the movies. It was the only night of the week that we got junk food and watched a movie. It was just so thrilling. There are so many, I loved Robin Wright-Penn in The Princess Bride, I just thought she was so great, I love those quest films. And Elisabeth Shue in Adventures in Babysitting, she was my idol, my hero, I loved her hair. There are so many. AGW: We know you have a sports background…. Rachel: I figure skated, that was my main sport, and I loved gymnastics and things like that. And then I played soccer and volleyball. AGW: Were you a tomboy? Rachel: No, I was pretty girly. I’ve always been kind of girly. I’m more of a tomboy the older I get actually. I just loved sports, that what I did in my town, that’s what we did, if you’re a girl, you figure skate and if you’re a boy you played hockey. AGW: You’ve played nice girls and then Regina in Mean Girls, is it more fun to play bad girls? Rachel: I’ve gotta say it’s pretty great playing the bad girl. I’m a little bit nastier in the last film that I shot The Family Stone. It’s a supporting role, but I just wanted to do it so badly because she was so kind of troubled. AGW: What do your friends and family say when they see you being so nasty? Rachel: They have such a good sense of humor about it. Sometimes I get a little nervous, like what are people going to think about this, and I hope everyone knows this is a movie – they always think it’s so funny, they’re just like ha ha ha. AGW: Okay, let’s say you’re in an airport, like your character, you meet somebody cute, they don’t know who you are, would you have a drink with them? Rachel: Now, I might think twice. I guess it depends on their demeanor. I think that was the thing about Ripner [Cillian’s character] is that he came off as so harmless; he’s so good at that. But, you like to think that your gut would kick in. AGW: Do you have a preference of where you sit on an airplane? Rachel: Window for sure, because you’ve got to lean against the wall of the plane, because the seat just isn’t enough support. AGW: We were given these weird little pens by the studio [we show her our pen with a creepy little character on top] which your character uses to her advantage in the movie. Settle an argument. Is this Frankenstein or Dracula? Rachel: [checking out the pen] I don’t know. I always thought he was like a weird little butler. A bloody-nosed butler. AGW: Can you demonstrate the correct way of holding it? Rachel: You know, it was very specific, I remember it was like Wes was directing me through the whole thing, (whispers) ‘Okay, now slowly push the cap off, put your thumb around your fist, yeah, that looks better.’ It was well choreographed. AGW: Do you enjoy that sort of technical acting, like hitting your marks? Rachel: Sometimes, it’s hard to strike that balance because you want to lose yourself and not be thinking about where your feet are and if your chin is down too far and you’re getting circles under your eyes. But the more you do it, the more natural it becomes, the less you think about it and it actually becomes automatic, so there’s a balance. You have to respect that it is a craft. AGW: This summer has been comedy and drama for you, do you prefer one or the other? Rachel: I’m probably more comfortable in drama, but that’s why I want to do more comedy. AGW: Tell us about running in heels. Hot women in films are always running in the highest heels…or were you wearing tennies? Rachel: No, those were heels. We found a pair that I could run in when we were doing the costume fittings. I ran up and down the halls in different pairs of shoes, ‘these are the ones, I can do it in these.’ AGW: Fun parting question: Is there some toy from today that you wish you had as a kid? Rachel: All my cousins are having babies, so all I can think of are those Baby Einstein tapes, I would have been so much smarter. Instead of watching Transformers I would have been watching Baby Einstein. I’d be brilliant.
(EDI TOR'S NOTE: This movie is rated PG-13, and is very intense. Not recommended for the squeamish or faint of heart.) |
 
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Do
we sit down and chat with Rachel a lot? Yeah, kinda but she’s worth
it. We’ve talked to the talented young Canadian-born actress for
The Notebook, Mean Girls and Wedding Crashers and seen
her as a blonde (two different shades) and a pert brunette but what is
underneath the glam window dressing is a sensitive, friendly, not yet
jaded by Hollywood, young woman who is taking her ride to fame with grace
and style. 
AGW:
Did you shoot this movie in chronological order?