411 Movies Interview: Penelope Ann Miller
Posted by Tony Farinella on 07.18.2007
411's Tony Farinella sits down with the veteran actress to discuss The Messengers, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Brian De Palma, and more!
TONY:The Messengers is not your typical R rated horror film with blood and guts. It's more of a ghost story mixed with family drama. Is that what attracted you to the project?
Penelope Ann Miller: I don't go see those kind of slash and gore type films. I think being in one would be sort of hypocritical I guess. I just don't find them appealing at all. When I'm looking for a project, I want it to be character driven. What I liked about The Messengers was that it was really about the house being haunted and all the other elements that created the scare. There was really a story going on. It's also a family drama. That's definitely what appealed to me about it. It wasn't your typical horror film. It's so hard for me to call it a horror film. When you think of horror, you think of slash and gore. Those images pop into your head. If you think of a movie like The Shining, or The Omen, or even The Exorcist, they're really more psychological scary dramas. They're definitely scary films, but it's really about what's going on with the people. I think that's more interesting. In some cases, it's even scarier. I loved the movie that Nicole Kidman did. I loved The Others. Those kinds of films I really like. I tend to get scared very easily, so I don't see a lot of scary films. There's certain ones that raise the bar.
TONY: What it was like working with Kristen Stewart, and what were your first impressions of her?
Penelope Ann Miller: I was really glad that they chose her. Of the young actresses out there, she's not in the tabloids. She's not about being at all the clubs and wearing the trendy outfits. She's not about partying and all of that. She's this girl that's becoming a woman. She's very down to earth, but also a very dedicated artist. She really cares about her craft and cares about what she's doing. She's very smart. She takes it very seriously. I was really happy to have somebody that had real depth and intelligence. She wasn't just thinking: "Oh, I'm going to make some money and be in a cool movie." Her intentions are really good. She wants to always improve, and she really works hard. She's very professional. I enjoyed her a lot. She and I got along great. We had a great time. Not that she doesn't like to go have fun. I remember we were in the middle of nowhere. We were in the middle of Canada. There wasn't a whole lot to do there. There was a Def Leppard concert in town. My husband loves them. They were playing in Canada. We drove to the concert. She's a lot of fun too. She definitely knows when to play and when to work. She was great. She's a really good actress. She's doing incredibly well. She's a beautiful girl too.
TONY:The Messengers shows how teenagers and their parents often have trouble communicating with each other. Why do you think teenagers and parents have trouble expressing their emotions?
Penelope Ann Miller: That's what I liked about the story in the film. It really was something that's relatable. Most kids go through a period of time where they have a really hard time relating to their parents. It's sort of like a rite of passage. They're growing out of being a kid and becoming a teenager and an adult. I think kids experiment and try things. When do you draw the line and set boundaries and how do you do that in a way that you don't alienate them. It's something that parents struggle with all the time. I'm the mother of a six-year-old girl, and I think about that. I think about what it's going to be like when she's out there separating from me more and making friends and having boyfriends and all that. You really don't want to lose the line of communication. You want them to feel safe, to come to you, and be able to talk to you. I think that part of the story was really well done. I liked it because it was very true to life. I think so many teenagers go through that with their parents. The mother/daughter relationship is always tricky. I liked that aspect as well.
TONY: What's your most vivid memory from shooting The Messengers?
Penelope Ann Miller: I guess that farm. The sunflowers, really. They were so beautiful. The cool thing about the movie is that it was kind of different. Most horror films aren't filmed in the daylight. It uses sunflowers, which are supposed to be this happy flower that gives people images of summer time and happy days. Inside this old house, there's all this horrible stuff going on. That image of that dark old house next to these beautiful, bright, colorful sunflowers is really interesting in terms of imagery. Every time we drove out there, it took us like an hour to get from where we were staying to the farm. They planted those sunflowers. They actually had grown. They had to film it in reverse. They had to start with the sunflowers in bloom and then go from when they had to take them all out. There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of sunflowers as tall as I am. It's just this really cool image and really beautiful to look at. I thought it was really neat. They built that house as well, so that was really cool.
TONY: I'm a HUGE fan of Marlon Brando, and he's probably one of my favorite actors of all time. What's your favorite story or memory of Marlon Brando? I know it's hard to pick one!
Penelope Ann Miller: I loved his sense of humor. He had a very wry sense of humor. He was a big prankster. I just loved the little tricks that he would play on people. He also gave me his acting advice. Jokingly of course! I remember him telling me a couple things. First, if you forget your lines, just start choking and ask your co-star what your line is, so that they never know that you've actually forgotten your line. Just say you need to go out for water. (laughs) He would always tell me these little tips. He also told me: "If you really like a take and you want them to use this one take that you think you were brilliant in, just be really bad in all the other ones. I thought: "How funny is that?" Marlon Brando could maybe get away with that, but I would probably get fired! He was so silly. He played a joke on one of the producers saying that he was leaving for Tahiti and he was on a plane. He taped the sound of an airplane, so it sounded like he was leaving. First of all, the big fear was that he wasn't even going to show up. Then he shows up, and then they're afraid he's going to leave. Because if he leaves, he might not come back. He played a joke on the producers and told them that he was on a plane with Frank Sinatra to go to Tahiti. He told them he would just be gone for the weekend. Everybody was panicking. He woke up the producer at like 2 in the morning, and he said that he made the whole thing up. He actually hadn't left.
TONY: Wow!
Penelope Ann Miller: He just did silly things. It was really cute. I remember having dinner once at a restaurant with Matthew Broderick and Bruno Kirby, and we felt these little pellets being thrown at us. They were little balls of bread. We turned around, and there's Marlon Brando eating dinner with the grip. You think of him as a recluse, but when you work with him, he really loves people. He loves actors. He loves the crew. He's not big on the hierarchy of the business like the producers and the executives. He didn't like all the politics of the business, but you could tell that he really appreciated the crew. He would hang out with them. Those were the people that he spent time with. He'd invite us into his trailer. I remember him inviting us into his trailer and this time actually giving us sound acting advice. He was saying that you really have to trust your instincts, because they're usually right. If you have a really strong instinct about something, you should really fight for it. He said: "I was doing this movie On The Waterfront." We're sitting in his trailer, and we're waiting between takes of set ups on a scene. There's me, Bruno, and Matthew. He's acting like we'd never seen On The Waterfront. We were like: "Yeah, we remember the movie." Brando goes: "There was this scene in the taxi cab where my brother was threatening my life." Elia Kazan wanted him to play this scene much more fearful and afraid of his brother and afraid of the fact that he's been threatened and he's going to kill him perhaps. He just wanted a completely different emotion coming from Marlon. Marlon said: "I don't think I'd be afraid of my brother. I think I'd feel sorry for him. It would be sort of pitiful. It would be more about how he's let me down as a brother." Then Elia said: "We'll, listen, we'll do one take your way and one take my way. We'll see what ends up in the film." It's such a classic scene in the film. Instead of saying it angrily, he said it more with such huge sadness and disappointment at his brother. I'll just never forget him talking about it in that way. It's just such a classic scene and such a brilliant performance. He had a great time on our film. He loved doing The Freshman . We had a lot of fun. That's one of my favorite film experiences. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him.
TONY: What was it like working with Sean Penn on Carlito's Way ? He seemed like he was really into that character.
Penelope Ann Miller: He really does dedicate himself so wholeheartedly into a role, which is why he's so brilliant. I've been so lucky to work with such brilliant actors. Al Pacino and De Niro as well. It's not like you can't talk to him. We were very friendly with one another. I found that we could converse and make jokes and the normal banter. Look what he did to himself physically for the role. He got himself this perm. He looked like Alan Dershowitz. He completely transformed himself. He's willing to go the extra mile, which is why I admire him so much. He takes the craft seriously. There's such dedication and passion for what he does. It's almost like he'll do whatever it takes to get into the part. It doesn't matter if it's physical or emotional. He was just really amazing to watch. He was really into it, but it wasn't like I had to call him by his character's name or anything like that. Everybody talks about method acting. They do get really into their parts, but there is a point in which you can actually talk to them as people.
TONY:Carlito's Way is probably one of the most underrated films of all time. I think it's one of the greatest films of the 90s. What was it like working with Brian De Palma on Carlito's Way ?
Penelope Ann Miller: In Europe, Carlito's Way was voted, I think, the best film of the 90s. It's very interesting that you bring that up. I agree with you. I think it's really been underrated in our country. In France, they have a poll that do they. I'm not exactly sure what's it called, but it was voted the best film of the 90s. I'm flattered that you say that, and I don't disagree with you. I think it came on the heels of Scent of a Woman, and Al Pacino had just won the Academy Award. There was so much fanfare about his performance in that. When Carlito's Way came out, it was such a restrained performance in such a good way. Having seen him do something so big and brash and then to play this guy that is fighting between two worlds, I think it got lost in the shuffle. The performances are great. It's such a great visual film. It's beautifully shot. I think Brian De Palma did an amazing job. The music is great. The period feel is fantastic. I was beyond thrilled to be working with Brian De Palma, Sean Penn, and Al Pacino. It was a great role for me. Those two have been my favorite film experiences that I've had. Not that I haven't enjoyed all the other ones, but if I had to pick two that I was so happy with the end result and I had a great experience filming them, I would pick those two roles. In terms of roles as well, I think those two roles were really cool. One is completely different than the other. One is a fun comedy, and the other one is a real drama. Brian and I got along great. He's really kind of shy at first. People can mistake his quietness for something else. He says something, and he kind of blurts it out. People can misunderstand that. I found him to be really sweet. I really enjoyed working with him. I just think he has such a visual style. He really prepares before you film. He designs every shot in such a way that he's really thought it out so thoroughly. It's really amazing. I was really impressed. There's such amazing shots in that film. There's that one steady cam shot that I think is the longest steady cam shot in history. I think it's three to four minutes long. Every steady cam guy that I work with, they bring up that scene where he's being chased through Grand Central at the end of the movie. The scene where Al Pacino breaks down the door, and there's a chain between us. I'm sort of teasing him, and he's saying he wants cheesecake. Al and I were like: "You're not going to do any coverage on this scene?" It's just going to be our eyes with the chain across us. We didn't understand it. Then when you see it, you're like: "Wow. That was really intense." It made total sense when you saw it in the film. He created that. He creates so much of the emotion and the feelings through this visual style. It was really great.
TONY: What is it about Al Pacino that makes him so powerful and so respected among other actors?
Penelope Ann Miller: I was just at his AFI Tribute show a couple of weeks ago. I was just there and saw all these actors look up to him and worship him. Not only actors, but producers, directors, and everyone. You name it. People really do look up to him so much. They talk about Marlon Brando and how he broke the mold. Al Pacino has his own style that has made people look up to him as well. He's just so compelling to watch. I think he brings so much passion to the craft. It's so a part of him. He loves what he does so much. With Marlon, it was kind of a love/hate thing that he had with acting. With Al, it's so much a part of his life. He can't live without it. You sense that. He has all these little pet projects that he has. He's a completely devoted actor. He doesn't even care about the accolades or all the stuff that comes with it. He just has a true, true passion for the art of acting. He's in love with it. I think that's why he's so compelling to watch. He just embraces it with all his heart. He just has a gift and does incredible films with it. You look at Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico for example. There's this ferocity with each performance. It's hard to explain. They want to be like him. Between him, Marlon Brando, and Robert De Niro, those are the three that actors really want to emulate. That's who they've been inspired by. That's why a lot of actors want to become actors. It's because of them. That's why they are so respected the way they are. I've been lucky enough to work with all of them. I can't believe it. It's so much fun to work with Al, because he's so dedicated. He has a script with him all the time, and he loves to talk about it. He's constantly working. Even when he's not working, he's working.
TONY: Why do you think so many young girls have so much trouble in Hollywood?
Penelope Ann Miller: It's unfortunate that these girls that are in the public eye, they're role models to these younger girls. To think it's fashionable and cool to party or get wasted or get DUI's, I don't think these girls think it's cool to get a DUI, they just happen to get caught. There's such a sense of not caring. Even though they know there is a public eye, they sort of feel like they're above it all and they can do whatever they feel like. They can be careless and reckless. They think it's cool and fun to get out of control. In some cases, it's coming back to haunt them. Paris went to jail. It took that for her to realize: "Maybe I should do something about this. Maybe this isn't the best path to take my life. Maybe this isn't helping me or anyone else for that matter." Hopefully, it has changed her as she says. They've gotten too much, too soon, too fast. There's not enough appreciation or gratitude for where they are in their life. They're so fortunate. Parenting is really important. You've got to guide a child to hopefully see what's important in life and what's to be valued. Unfortunately, I think some of these young kids don't value anything. I think that's sad. If you want to be an actor or whatever you want to do, you should take it seriously. Some of them are just celebrities just for being a celebrity. They're not really actors. That's why I think the actors we just talked about go as far as they do and are so respected. They take it seriously and love what they do. They're not just there to be flashes in the pan and go out there and whoop it out. They're not attention seekers. They're not looking to be in every magazine or be dating the hottest star or wearing the most fashionable thing. They're just really about the craft. I hope that anyone who chooses to get in the business really thinks about it. They should think: "Is this something I'm really passionate about? And if so, I should really take it seriously and should really appreciate what I'm getting the opportunity to do." Then you can have fun. It's not like you can't have fun when you're working or when you're famous. It's knowing when to draw the line.
