411 Movies Interview: Hilary Angelo of Charlie Wilson's War

Posted by Tony Farinella on 11.27.2007

411's Tony Farinella sits down with Hilary Angelo of Charlie Wilson's War.

Charlie Wilson's War is shaping up to be one of the biggest films of the year. With a cast that includes Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams, it's sure to be a real crowd-pleaser on Christmas Day, which is when the film will be released. The film is also directed by Mike Nichols, who has directed such classics as Closer and The Graduate. Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hilary Angelo, and we discussed Charlie Wilson's War and a whole lot more. Make sure to check out Charlie Wilson's War on Christmas Day!



TONY: First of all, tell us a little bit about Charlie Wilson's War. What can we expect from the film?

Hilary Angelo: Well, it's a true story, first of all, and it's about a congressman named Charlie Wilson from Texas. And in the early eighties, more or less, he was known in congress as a guy who did favors for people, but never really called on the favors. The scenes that I'm in with him, with Tom Hanks, who's playing Charlie Wilson, he sees Dan Rather doing a report on Afghanistan and how they're trying to fight the Russians and literally with goats and rocks, because they have no weapons. And the Russians are just bombing them and killing entire villages of people, so he starts to do some investigating and realizes that there's, like, one guy on a desk working on this, which is Phil Hoffman's character, and Charlie Wilson becomes very passionate about this cause and approbates secret money through communities and congress and helps fund the war. His idealism, more or less, is that he's trying to fight communism, and this was during the eighties when The Cold War was still very much something we feared in the U.S. So, that's really the gist of the movie without trying to give too much away.

TONY: How did you end up getting involved in the film?

Hilary Angelo: I auditioned just like hundreds of others actresses, I'm sure, auditioned. It's a Mike Nichols film, so films of that caliber you definitely have to read for, unless you're Tom Hanks. But I auditioned and then was called back, and I met with Mr. Nichols, and we talked for a long time about the script and the movie and how relevant it is for audiences today to see a film about a different war, although it's similar to the fight that we're fighting right now and the fight that we're fighting right now in Afghanistan is due to some of the mistakes that Charlie Wilson made. So, it's a really relevant story to be told, and we talked about that. And he hired me.

TONY: Charlie Wilson's War features an incredible cast of established actors. When you were on set, how much did you soak in?

Hilary Angelo: I wish I had a tape recorder with me, because the things that people were talking about, there's only so much you can really remember every day, but I tried so hard to remember everything, especially with Mike Nichols and Tom Hanks, because that's who I was with most of the time and Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the film and was on set every day. Mike Nichols tells the most amazing stories, and he's been in this business for so long and he's worked with such incredible people, and you just want to relish every lesson that he's trying to give to you. And, also, he's always trying to make you laugh, so there's a lot of storytelling and trying to outdo each other with funny stories. And Tom is the same way. He's an entertainer, but he took me and a few of the girls to lunch during rehearsals, because Mike still rehearses before movies. And he was at the lunch table telling us just amazing stories about working on Forrest Gump and how he got into character. What I learned the most is that all of the actors, even of the highest caliber and who have won Oscars or been nominated a couple of times, they're still struggling to find the character, they're still insecure about if they're doing it the right way, and they still know that they have to depend on others to make them look good. And I think that's what I took away the most is that even at my level, I feel the same things that they feel and it made me feel a lot better that all actors go through, "Am I doing this character right? Am I doing too much? Am I doing too much?" I also watched Phil Hoffman work, and he's the same way. As detailed as he is in his work, you can see it in his rehearsal process, because he's just beating it through and he just doesn't know where he's gonna go, but he knows that he's at least trying something. And that's what I really liked is watching the actors take chances, even if they were going to fall on their face.

TONY: What's your most vivid memory from shooting Charlie Wilson's War?

Hilary Angelo: I'd have to say that rehearsal where Tom took a few of us to lunch, and he told me a story about his first day on Forrest Gump, and how he really was very nervous, and he didn't know what he was doing. And Robert Zemeckis told him, "You better go to the trailer and figure out what you're doing, because this is not working and this is not Forrest Gump." And Tom said he was panicking, because he had 300 people on set waiting for him to figure it out and this is the first day. And he said that he realized that his habits are to make you laugh, and he comes from comedy, summer stock, and theater, so he wants to hear people laugh, so he's always gonna try and go for the joke. And he realized that Forrest Gump is the opposite. Forrest Gump is very still, doesn't move very much, and in that moment in his trailer by himself, he just said, "Oh, my god. This guy is completely 180 away from me, and I just have to try and not move and be stoic." And that story sticks out for me, because I didn't know him for longer than two hours that day, and he was telling me his insecurities and his worries. And he's even fearful about playing Charlie Wilson and is he doing too much and is he going to find the character before shooting starts. Even at his level, he feels enormous pressure, like we all do as actors, because we're being judged constantly.

TONY: Speaking of pressure, how much did pressure did you feel during the shooting of this film? I mean, this is a big movie with a lot of big name actors.

Hilary Angelo: Absolutely. At first, I was like, "Am I gonna be able to hang? Am I going to be too tongue-tied because I'm just in such awe?" There were nights where I couldn't sleep. I also had to do my first topless scene, and my first day of work I knew I was gonna have to go topless, so that was really nerve-wracking, too. But once I got to the set, it was so warm and so respectful and open and joyous, that my fears drifted away. But I was definitely nervous on the first day and then it went away for the rest of the shoot, because I realized that nobody cared and that they were just there to do their work, and they respected me, and I respected them. And that's so important. If you feel welcome on a set, then you just have a good time.

TONY: You mentioned earlier in this interview how this film is relevant to our times. Do you think it's important to raise awareness on certain issues by showing them on the big screen?

Hilary Angelo: I do. I think that that's the beauty of film. Yes, I think that there should be popcorn movies where you go and you numbly watch and be entertained, but I also think to be able to leave a film and really have it address issues in a way that you never thought about or reveal parts of history that you never knew, I think we have to, as artists, strive to make movies like that. We have a very powerful voice in Hollywood, and people will listen. And hopefully it's truthful and not blatant lies, but it's hard to control. In this film in particular, I do think people will really learn a lot about this time in history and what we did to cause our own mistakes leading up to 9/11. And we really need to learn from our mistakes, because who knows if we're making the same ones right now, but that's why we have to look at history.



TONY: Charlie Wilson's War will be released on Christmas day, which I think is a great day to go to the movies. Do you have plans to see the movie on Christmas with your family and make a day out of it?

Hilary Angelo: I am married and my husband and I, we switch off holidays, and this year is my family's Christmas, so they're all so excited. Actually, my family lives in Los Angeles, so we're all gonna go to the movies: my mom, my dad, my brother, my aunt and uncle, and my husband. We'll probably go that night and somewhere in the San Fernando Valley, where my parents live. And I'll put my hand over my dad's eyes during the topless scene, and hopefully everyone will enjoy the film.

TONY: Let's talk a little bit about Alex Mack. I interviewed Larisa Oleynik a couple of months ago when the First Season of the show came out on DVD ...

Hilary Angelo: Oh, really? I didn't know that.

TONY: It came out in September, actually ...

Hilary Angelo: I'll have to buy that.

TONY: We also see Jessica Alba in the First Season.

Hilary Angelo: It's funny, because she got Flipper, which is this show in Australia, and they needed to replace not her character, but a character like her, and that's where I came in. So, I actually came on the Second Second after Jessica left.

TONY: When you first met Larisa Oleynik, what were your first impressions of her? When I interviewed her, I was blown away by her personality. She's always laughing and full of life. She's just a sweetheart.

Hilary Angelo: I haven't seen Larisa in, I'd say, ten years. I loved that girl. If I saw her today, I would bear-hug her. She's just so full of life and such a wonderful spirit, and we had such a wonderful time working together. And my first day on set, she was so welcoming and sweet, and we became obsessed with No Doubt, when No Doubt first came out. And we were both huge Gwen Stefani fans. She and I were good friends, and we just lost touch when we went to school, to university. But I would love to run into her again. She's such a great person.

TONY: Do you have a favorite episode from your time on Alex Mack?

Hilary Angelo: There's one that we did the last season, I think it was the last season, and it was about camping. Alex Mack and Kelly become camp counselors, my character was named Kelly, and we become camp counselors in some horrible overnight camp in the woods, and everything that could possibly go wrong goes wrong. And we end up trapped in a tree that a bear chased us up. We actually had a lot of fun on that, because it was just her and I, and we got to hang out the whole weekend and be silly. She's such a silly girl, and I love, love her.

TONY: Before this interview, I was reading your bio that your publicist sent over, and it mentioned how you said no to Hollywood at a young age. Was it important to you to have a real life before entering Hollywood?

Hilary Angelo: I think it was easy for me, because I have such a normal family, and they don't care about any of that stuff. They wanted me to have success, but they didn't push me to be concerned about fame. The idea was this is a great living to make if you can make a living, and you really need to work on the craft, and we still want you to go to college and we want you to be educated and learn as much as you can. Not that they ever said you need a fall back plan, because they truly believed in me and wanted me to be an actor, because that's what I wanted. But I think they just wanted me to be well-rounded. So, it wasn't as difficult. It was also a different time in the industry. I think if I was on Alex Mack now and was of the Miley Cyrus age or these shows that are on Disney and Nickelodeon, they push the kids more into the limelight than they did when we were that age. The magazines, the US Weekly, and the paparazzi, it wasn't as bad as it is now. There wasn't a lot of pressure to do that. I know that Larisa had to do a lot more of that, because she was the star of the show, but the other series regulars weren't pushed into it. We went to Nickelodeon events, but I think it's harder on the younger kids these days, in my opinion. It's harder for them to say, "No. I want to focus on just working." So, it wasn't that difficult.



TONY: From talking to you and from reading interviews with Miley Cyrus, it seems like the main thing that both of you have in common is family. When you have that support from your family, it makes everything so much easier. Is that true?

Hilary Angelo: I know. And I don't know Miley, but her father already had fame, so he knows the pitfalls of it, so he's probably going to be very protective of her. To a lot of people, it looks very glamorous and exciting, but my favorite part about this business is working and being on set and the rush of having a really great audition and feeling like people enjoyed your performance. The limelight and the publicity, that just has to go with the territory. That, to me, is not that fun. My parents, thank god, didn't fall into this trap, but I just think a lot of parents fall into the trap of depending on their children financially and that can be a big no-no, because then you lose control of your kids.

TONY: What's also changed is now we have the Internet. And if you make one false step, it's going to be posted on You Tube or on TMZ or something.

Hilary Angelo: Yeah. Not that I did anything like that, but you just never know. These poor kids are really under a microscope, and even people my age who have been in this business a long time ... they're slipping up, and they're making magazine covers because of it.

TONY: Who are some of your role models in Hollywood?

Hilary Angelo: I think Meryl Streep, and I think almost every female actress probably says her, but I think Meryl Streep, first of all, she's had an amazingly long career, and she's done so many different roles. Her comedic ability is amazing, and obviously she's very known for dramatic roles. She's also so private and you really know nothing about her, and I think that's what I admire the most, because when you see her in a film or on stage, she isn't Meryl Streep playing the part ... she is a different person playing the part. You really separate her fame from her character, and I think that's so important, because, personally, it becomes blurry if it's the famous person that you wanna go see in the movie, or if it's the actor. And I think it's important, at least for me, I want it to be the acting that people wanna go see and not, "Oh, let's go look at Hilary Angelo do something funny in this movie."

TONY: Outside of Charlie Wilson's War, what else are you really proud of in your career?

Hilary Angelo: To be honest, I'm proud of almost everything. I mean, some things I look at, and they make me cringe. As of lately, to be honest, I've seen the scenes in Charlie Wilson's War, and to be honest, it's what I'm most proud of so far. I've done a ton of things, but I'm probably the most proud of Charlie Wilson's War. To be honest, there's nothing else that comes to mind. Most of the stuff I've done in the past makes me cringe. It's not that it's bad work ... it's just I don't like looking at myself. (laughs)

TONY: Finally, what are your plans for the future?

Hilary Angelo: Hopefully with the strike ending very soon ... TV is somewhat dead at the moment until the strike ends, but I have some things on the back-burner. I don't have any bookings yet, but I'm hoping to get a film that starts shooting in the next couple of months, because the strike has kind of put a kink in everyone's plans. But films are still going, so I'm hoping that I'll get a couple of these jobs that I've been waiting to hear about.