Said Jane Campion, "It's all about taking risks. You have to know that when you take a risk it could fall apart. So when you take a risk, you should ask, 'Who are you going to fall apart with?' That's probably more important than 'Who are you going to succeed with?'"
The acclaimed writer/director has certainly entered that unknown, perilous territory with her latest film, In the Cut, a detective thriller starring Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo, and with supporting performances by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kevin Bacon, and lesser-known actors Nick Damici and Sharrieff Pugh. Adapted by Campion and co-writer Susanna Moore from Moore's novel, In the Cut is film noir at its blackest, and, unlike most crime capers, this story is told through the eyes of a woman.
"I was kind of overcome by it," said the filmmaker of Moore's book, which she optioned with Nicole Kidman, who had previously starred in Campion's 1996 film adaptation of Henry James' Portrait of a Lady. "I read a lot, and I had never read anything quite so erotic and modern, and I loved that it was both a detective story and also had a really feminine perspective on it."
According to Campion, Kidman was initially intrigued about playing In the Cut's lead character, Frannie, an emotionally isolated high school English teacher whose quiet life is turned upside down by her romantic involvement with a New York City homicide detective investigating serial murders of women.
"She was really tantalized by it and really loved the character and was very interested," said the director. Kidman eventually dropped out of the project as an actor but stayed on as a producer. "Events conspired against it occurring. She was really traumatized by the breakup of her marriage and had so much going on at the time that she didn't feel she had the emotional platform to do a part like this when we were finally ready to do it. And we had been waiting for so long that I just couldn't wait any longer. I didn't have any other projects."
Meanwhile, Ryan had read the In the Cut script and wanted to play Frannie. "Meg contacted me through her acting coach, Sandra Seacat, who let me know that Meg had been working with her and had been doing amazing work," said Campion. Ryan gladly agreed to audition for her, and Campion was impressed by the actor's passion for the project. "She had a lot of insights into the story, and I think she really identified with the main character. I just instinctively felt quite confident about it."
Like Campion, Ryan took risks coming aboard this project. Not only does Ryan shed all her clothes in this film, she also shed her public identity as America's sweetheart. Best known for her popular roles in romantic comedies, including When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, and Kate & Leopold, Ryan's latest turn is a bold departure from her bubbly personae with whom we've come to associate her. Likewise, Ryan's co-star, Mark Ruffalo, who's had success in the films You Can Count on Me, XX/YY, The Last Castle, and Kenneth Lonergan's acclaimed play This Is Our Youth, among others, is taking a leap of faith with his most mature role to date as Detective Malloy.
Ruffalo said, "When I read the script, Malloy scared the hell out of me. I'd never done anything like that before, and I wasn't entirely sure I was right. But Jane saw it in me. She saw this man who had a kind of masculine stillness and a kind of sadness and sexiness to him all at once, and it just became very appealing to me. I had played all these boyish characters before, and somewhere in me was this longing to be a man in the world and not knowing what exactly that is anymore, and Malloy is all of that."
Good Instincts
Campion admitted that she doesn't much enjoy the process of casting her films, which most notably include The Piano (1993), starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin (both Paquin and Hunter won Oscars for their roles). Still, she recognizes the significance her choice of actors has on her work, and she wholeheartedly loves directing actors.
Said the director, "I think casting is very neurotic-making. I think once you've done it and you've committed to it, then it's all love, but while you're making the decisions it feels really painful and scary because you're making probably the most important decision for your film when you know the least."
Ultimately, she relies on her instincts when choosing to hire actors. "I feel you must consult your instincts because they're always quite a few steps ahead of you," she said. "However, it is a leap of faith, and you really don't have enough information to be sure of anything. When you cast people, you have to have some information, and the rest you build through trust and faith." Much of that trust is built during the lengthy rehearsal period she insists on for each of her projects. For In the Cut, she spent three weeks rehearsing with Ryan and Ruffalo--something that would otherwise be considered a luxury on most productions.
When it comes to advice for actors about the audition process, Campion said the best thing an actor can bring to a reading is himself or herself. She explained, "There's really no way you can calculate a result of an audition. All you can do is come and do your work, but then come willing to know that you don't know what they're looking for. Just show who you are. I think that's the best you can hope for. Everything else is out of your control."
Over the course of her career, Campion said, she has grown more conscious about the way she treats actors and the need for her to enjoy spending time with the people she's directing. "You have to be very gentle and careful with everybody so they can be vulnerable but feel empowered at the same time, or collapse and the pull themselves back together," she said. "I think it's quite a trick. Also it really helps if you like the people you're working with. Actors know all that. People feel it. So I choose actors I genuinely adore."
She especially loves creating roles that offer performers the opportunity to stretch. "Parts with risk are exciting to actors," said Campion, who can't imagine not offering actors roles in which they have to extend themselves and take a chance. "Risk in itself is an enlivening experience--endangering and enlivening--and that's what we're about in the world of drama."
Female Persuasion
Campion has always taken chances with her storytelling. She has also always consistently promoted female protagonists, beginning with her first feature, Sweetie, in 1989, followed by An Angel at My Table, The Piano (which garnered three Oscars, including Best Screenplay for Campion), Portrait of a Lady, and, more recently, Holy Smoke, featuring Kate Winslet and Keitel. As established as Campion has become as a writer/director, she admitted that she still feels alone amid a predominantly male community of filmmakers.
"I think if there were more female writer/directors, there would be more interesting female parts," said Campion, who grew up in New Zealand and now lives in Australia. "Unfortunately, because of the nature of the patriarchal society, particularly here in America, everybody tends to see things as the male story. Even women see themselves through their male stories--through their men first--before they even know who they are."
As Campion further explained, her upbringing was much different from that of most girls. "It's not really a patriarchal society in New Zealand," she said. "It's more matriarchal, funnily enough. Women are tougher. They don't demur. They don't feel that they have to appeal to a man or to be feminine or not abrasive."
She did not set out to become a filmmaker, but her combined interests in other studies would lend themselves perfectly to her eventual profession. She graduated from college with a degree in anthropology and then pursued a diploma of fine arts at Chelsea School of Arts in London, completing her studies at Sydney College of Arts, where she majored in painting. Campion then decided to study film at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney.
From the outset of her pursuits as a filmmaker, Campion found success. Her directorial debut, a short film titled Peel, won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. She directed numerous other award-winning short films before making her feature debut with Sweetie, which premiered in competition at Cannes and then won awards around the world.
Still, Campion identifies herself as a woman first and a filmmaker second.
"I think being a woman is a great help to being human, but it means that you're not so career-driven; it's not the only concern I have," she said. "I have a child who's 9, and I really want to be there as a mother. So I'm going to take about four years off from directing now because it's so full on, whereas I don't think many men would make that decision. They tend to identify themselves with their careers, whereas I don't. I don't think of myself as Jane Campion, the film director." BSW