| Ron Livingston Rescues Holly and Finds Something of Himself - Page 2 |
| Saturday, 17 November 2007 09:36 | ||||
Page 2 of 2  Thuy Nguyen as Holly trying to run away from her captors in the movie "Holly"  Patrick showing Holly what she's suppose to be doing at her age living life without worries Q: How was it on set, working with children who came from orphanages and such places? Was it difficult to leave them? RL: My first concern was, how many children are we going to exploit to make this movie about exploited children? I sure hope it was under 10. My first concern was the girl who played "Holly." And they did a fantastic job of finding Thuy Nguyen, who is extraordinarily gifted, possessed of that talent of an actor who knows what the truth is and is stubborn enough not to let someone talk her out of playing it. She had a real empathy for this character and what she went through. The trick was how do we tell this story that protects her from the experiences of this girl? As an actor, you want to get inside the head of the character. But you don't want your 14-year-old girl to get too far into the head of this girl. Ultimately you have to be creative sometimes in the way you shoot things, so things happen off-camera. We did a very good job of managing to do that. We'll ask Thuy in five years and ask what she thinks. [laughs] Q: Were there any days that the subject of the film became overwhelming for you? RL: The hardest days were the days when we were doing a scene, they were having to shoo the hordes of street kids from the lunch table, to make sure there was enough food and water for the crew. One of the things that's hard is when it makes you realize how hard it can be to do a good thing in the world. In America, we're used to results. If you don't win, you lose. I think part of the story of this movie is that a good deed attempted is a good deed, regardless of what happens. What happens is not in human hands. What happens, happens on a higher level. We can't fix everything. But that doesn't mean we should fix nothing. Try to fix something, and then pour yourself a glass of lemonade and take a seat and enjoy the evening. Q: How different was that experience from making "Music Within" [the true story of Richard Pimentel, who returns from Vietnam severely hearing-impaired so he fights for the rights of Americans with disabilities] which came out recently? RL: "Music Within" was a little easier. It was funny. There're things in "Holly" that are funny and charming. I think what ties them both together, they're both about people who think of themselves as broken, damaged goods and not worth anything. In "Holly," it's both Holly and Patrick who feel that way. In "Music Within," I think Richard has that experience. Art [Honeyman played by Michael Sheen] doesn't have that feeling about himself, and I think ultimately Richard doesn't feel that way about himself. Both of these characters, at the end, change the way they think of themselves. They feel that the world they live in is broken, but it can be fixed. Q: You have had an opportunity to explore these deep subjects—how does this contrast with your TV experiences? RL: Both of these films I made before I did the television show, "Standoff," last year. When I got back from "Holly," I was pretty spent. I had an intestinal parasite at the end of it. I think I lost 15 pounds at the end of shooting. The last week I pretty much couldn't keep anything down except vegetable broth. During that week we had a whole program of doing the running stuff, the sprinting stuff. So...I was kind of ready to do something light and fluffy for awhile, and sit in my nice armchair, go to work making some television for awhile. Q: Would you do it again? RL: The television or the parasite? Q: A challenge like "Holly"... RL: In a heartbeat. I think before I went to Cambodia, I would put out some feelers as to what they thought of the movie. I don't know how welcome we are there. Q: Are you going to make a guest appearance in the "Sex in the City" movie? RL: I'll be appearing in the audience, [watching the film]. It'll be nice to see the girls together again. © Brad Balfour 2007 |
