| Young Actress Zoe Weizenbaum Grows with "12 and Holding" - Page 2 |
| Written by Danny Peary | ||||
| Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:23 | ||||
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Weizenbaum and Annabella Sciorra in "12 and Holding"
Weizenbaum gives her fans a smile
The kids in "12 and Holding"
ZW: I hadn't thought of that. My idea was that she is really lonely and going through all these changes. It's hard enough being a teenager and experiencing a roller coaster of emotions and whatever, and not having support or someone to talk to, and not having a father figure. I think she kind of looks at Gus as a father figure, even though she goes to him romantically. She's really confused and doesn't know how girls are supposed to act with guys really. With her young male friends, she doesn't think about that stuff at all. DP: Another possibility is that she approaches Gus to compete with her mother, who shares intimacies with him because he's her client. ZW: I hadn't thought of that either. I can see that. She has a lot of spite toward her mother. She doesn't know how to relate to her and maybe she's jealous of the relationship her mother and Gus have. DP: Do you believe if a kid has a bad parent that she's ever guilty for going astray? Is Malee at fault in any way? ZW: I don't think so really. This movie is a lot about kids relationships with their parents and how disconnected they can be. It really shows how that can take a huge toll on the kids and how they will go to great lengths to try to get their parents attention—"Look at how lonely I am" or "Look at all this suppressed anger I have" or "I am having a lot of body issues." I think the parents are at fault. Even with Jacob's parents, there is a disconnection because they're grieving over his brother Rudy. And the mother plants the seed for Jacob to get revenge by being happy justice was served when one of the boys responsible kills himself in the reform school and when she tells him she wants the other killer dead. DP: What do you think the relationship was between Malee and her mother and her father before the movie begins? ZW: That's another question I haven't been asked (and I have all these standard answers for all these other ones). I bet their relationship got worse as Malee went into this "12 and Holding" period. She is going through changes and has emotions and is unruly—but that could be controlled normally if she had a support system or an adult saying "that's not okay," or just someone guiding her through the teenage drama period. I can imagine their relationship before that being better. Malee's relationship with her father may be better than the one her mother has with him. Or she's ignorant to what her parents fight about and what's wrong with the dad. She might think, "Well, I like him, why did you have to screw things up?" They got divorced and she blames her mother for his leaving, without understanding the real reasons, and that sparks the resentment. DP: One of the sad parts about their relationship is that Malee's mom also could be happier if she was connected to her daughter, who is a great kid. She could get a lot of fulfillment from her. Their relationship does improve when the mother finally pays more attention to her daughter, particularly in regard to her need to see her father. ZW: She's too caught up in her work to pay attention at first, but that changes toward the end. Her mother finally admits to her, "He hurt me." So there's a revelation: Malee sees that it wasn't only her mother's fault that her father left, and her mother realizes Malee still needs a relationship with her dad. DP: Did you know Annabella Sciorra before working with her? ZW: I had seen "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "True Love," which is a really good movie. She's a great actress and I loved working with her. She's the only one who really improvised. She'd throw in a line and I'd think, "Whoa!, That's so good!," and it was really fun to just go with it. I really liked that. DP: What was it like working with Michael Cuesta? ZW: Michael was an amazing director to work with. He is very serious and gives his actors a lot of respect, no matter their age. He was very focused on the path he was on, and where he was going with each scene in terms of the plot as a whole. He was good at explaining what happens right before the scene and what is about to happen. DP: When he corrected you, were you okay? ZW: I was. Sometimes it's hard to be corrected, but he did it with a lot of respect. When I got it right, he'd praise me. I had another director who after every scene would say, "Okaaay…" And you'd never know what you did right or wrong. DP: He's great at working with kid actors. Did you have a different approach to acting than the boys? ZW: I don't know if we had a different approach, but we worked really well together. We were really close on the set and I think that showed on the screen, because it felt like we were just having another conversation in front of the camera. All our personalities came together and we were able to show how kids actually talk. That was cool. This was definitely my favorite film to make because I got to work with other kids. DP: Did you learn anything from being in this film? ZW: I learned a lot, as I do from every experience. One important thing I've learned is that every director is really different. So you can't be set in your ways about anything. You can rehearse a scene one way over and over again, and it still can change. DP: You're only 14, but do you think of yourself as an instinctive actress or do you want to take acting classes to improve your craft? ZW: I'm not sure. The acting classes I've taken have just been improv games and stuff, and haven't really caused me to change anything. If I find a good acting class now or in high school or college, I'd take that. DP: Since you're going to the School of the Performing Arts, can we assume you're committed to a show business career? ZW: I have no idea. I'm pursuing it now. It's looking like I'm going to do that, but I like to be open to other things. DP: Are you auditioning for other movies now or are you waiting for reaction from "12 and Holding?" ZW: Yeah, I'm auditioning up the wazoo. There are some really cool parts I'm hoping to get. It's amazing how many Chinese actresses are becoming more known. I hope to be up there with Sandra Oh and Lucy Liu, who I like so much. I like being among the first.
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