| 'BLACK SWAN' - exclusive MILA KUNIS Q&A! |
| Written by Q&A: SUPPLIED |
| Tuesday, 25 January 2011 23:36 |
 When MILA KUNIS looks back on her career, she’ll probably look favourably on 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'. For it was this 2008 Hawaii-set comedy in which Kunis starred, that first piqued the interest of director Darren Aronofsky. So much so, he didn’t even need to audition her for 'BLACK SWAN', his startling new psychological thriller set in the cut-throat world of professional ballet. He instinctively knew that the Kiev-born beauty would be perfect for the role of Lily, the wild-card rival to Natalie Portman’s prima ballerina in a New York ballet company. If the fact that the 27 year-old Kunis is friends with Portman in real life adds spice to the mix, it was only the very beginning for the actress, best known to many as the voice of Meg Griffin in 'Family Guy'. Kunis, who won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her work, spent seven months solidly training to become a ballerina, shedding 20lbs of weight to her already slim frame. The result is a remarkable transformation - apt for a film that sees this as its central theme. Below, Kunis takes us through the challenges that 'Black Swan' threw up, how she expects the film to impact upon her career, and why she loves flea market shopping with Natalie... Q: You won the ‘Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress’ at the Venice Film Festival for 'Black Swan' but were unable to be there. What happened? MILA KUNIS: I was in L.A. doing a movie. It was very sad! There was no flight. I couldn’t get the award. My award is being shipped by FedEx. I couldn’t get the flight out because I was shooting on Stage 22 at the Sony lot. That’s how I found out I won an award. I was in the middle of a scene, and my phone kept ringing. I didn’t fully comprehend how the awards worked, so I didn’t think anything was going to happen. So my phone kept ringing, and I wondered if somebody got hurt. So I thought I better pick up the phone, and it was Darren. I was like "Is everything okay?" And I panicked, because I thought something had happened. And he was like "Congratulations!" And I was like "What the fuck are you talking about?" And he was like "You won!" And I was like "I gotta call you back - I’m in the middle of a scene." And that’s how I found out. Not very exciting. I wish I was in Venice but it didn’t quite happen. Q: Was it a dream to work with Darren Aronofsky? MILA: I think Darren’s a brilliant director. I’ve been a fan of his since I saw 'Pi' and 'Requiem For A Dream'. So, yeah, I was looking forward to working with him. Q: What attracted you to the film? MILA: Darren did. Before I even read the script, I knew Darren and Natalie were a part of it and I would’ve loved to have worked with the both of them. So reading the script, and then having the script be as a great as it was, left no question for me. Q: Is it true you heard about the film first from Natalie Portman while you were both at a flea market? MILA: Kind of. Did Nat tell you this story? I don’t remember this and I’m going to get in trouble from Nat. But Nat and I like to go to flea markets. We were in L.A., flea market shopping for bargains, ’cos that’s what we do on a Sunday morning. I remember saying "What do you have to do after this?" And I remember her telling me "I have to go to my ballet lesson". I was like "OK!" I didn’t even think about it. That’s all I remember from it. But I guess it makes sense, because then this movie came about. So yeah... Q: Do you know what got you the role, though? MILA: 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' got me 'Black Swan'. Darren saw 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', and then I got 'Black Swan'. I didn’t audition for 'Black Swan'. I would’ve auditioned for it. I would’ve flown to New York and read for it. But for one reason or another, he trusted me hugely with what he saw in Sarah Marshall. So for me, it couldn’t be two more different characters. I didn’t ask him why. I didn’t want him to second-guess himself. I just went with it. Q: Is it true he gave you the role over the Internet? MILA: First, we chit-chatted. We chit-chatted once, then I was sent the script and I read it, and then we chit-chatted again, about the script and the character and how I viewed the character and what I thought of the script. Then the third time, he literally gets on iChat and I open my computer, and I was like "Hey!" and he was like "Are you ready to do this?" And I was like "What are we doing?" And he said, "The movie!" And then I went "Did you just offer me the movie?" And he’s like "Yeah!" So I made him get on video chat to offer it to me semi-in-person, so I could see his face saying it. And then I had to call my agents and tell them - so it was all done very backwards.  Q: Was this the most physically demanding role of your career? MILA: By far. By far. Aesthetically, I had to look like a ballerina and hold myself like a ballerina. By the end, I was 95lbs. So 20lbs was lost. It was gained back like that - I had no problems gaining the weight back, not at all. Q: How long were you training for? MILA: Four hours a day, seven days a week, for seven months. And then production was the same. This was before production. I had one day off on my birthday - August 14th. And then I had half a day off because I was doing training at the same time as the Emmys and the Globes, and the awards shows, so my ballet instructor would meet me from 5AM to 11AM, then I would go to hair and make-up and go to the awards shows. Q: That must have made you incredibly focused on the role, right? MILA: By the time you start work, you know exactly what you’re doing. It rarely happens, when you get that much time to actually develop a character. Q: What kept you going? MILA: Baths! It was so hard and so excruciating on anyone’s body - and I’m not saying mine alone by any means. I think anyone who is twenty-six and attempts to be a professional ballerina will inevitably kill themselves! I did a lot of baths. It’s what I looked forward to every single night - a bath, with Epsom salts and a glass of wine. Q: Did you compare war-wounds with Natalie? MILA: We didn’t have to compare. We saw them happening right before our very own eyes. An opportunity like this very rarely comes about. So in order to complain, you kind of feel like a baby, so you choose not to complain. Q: Did you friendship with Natalie make the intimate scenes easier? MILA: I think so. Anytime you do a scene that you have to have sex on camera is just uncomfortable anyway. Male, female, makes no difference. So if you’re comfortable with your partner in the scene, and you know them, it makes things a lot easier. Q: How long have you known Natalie for? MILA: I just knew her through mutual friends. We bonded over... flea market shopping! I’ve known her for a long time! I think I met her the first time seven years ago. Q: What is your take on your character, Lily? MILA: You saw my take on the character. The beauty of Darren is that he trusts everyone that he hires. It’s always a rarity in this industry where the director doesn’t have an ego. He trusts the actors that he works with, which is a great thing. The character was so odd to interpret because you could take her any which way, and no-one is going to be wrong. I’m assuming, when I played it, any way to have done it would’ve been fine. Because there’s the character and the interpretation of the character, based on the way Natalie’s character Nina, sees her. You just give a little bit of everything. Q: Did you have a particular plan in mind while playing her? MILA: The only thing specific was try to bring honesty to the character. I never played her as a fictional character. I never played her as an interpretation. Natalie would play in the scene, and I would play the opposite. However that would be, I would justify it and do it that way. But I never played her as an exaggeration of herself. Q: Have you had much comment from the ballet world about your role in the film? MILA: I haven’t, because I haven’t been in the middle of the ballet world since we wrapped. So I don’t know. But I’d be interested to hear. Q: Funding almost fell through a couple of times during filming. How frustrating would that have been for you? MILA: It would have been very sad if this movie never got made. It’s actually a really great movie. It wouldn’t have been sad because I’d been training; that would’ve been unfortunate. But doing a movie like this you know there could always be a funding issue. Q: Do you trust Darren as a film-maker, because he pushes actors to the limits - was that something you were willing to embrace? MILA: Yes. Even before I read the script I said to him I would do anything, craft service even, because I think he’s a brilliant director. Having read the script I wanted it that much more. Q: When you were doing research for the role, did you get much of an insight into the rivalries that exist within the ballet world? MILA: It didn’t take much, let me tell you. They exist pretty visibly. The second you go into the ballet world you see how competitive it is. They don’t try to hide it. Q: It is like Hollywood in that respect? I imagine it’s quite a cut-throat world too... MILA: It is and it isn’t. In my experiences in the film industry it’s not as competitive. There’s some aspects that are, but not nearly as much as the ballet world. At all. I can’t even put into words to you how competitive the ballet industry is. It’s so small. They work their entire lives to try to achieve perfection that’s inevitably impossible. And their career ends at thirty-five, at best. I think that’s why. Because how many prima ballerinas can you name, but how many movie stars can you name? It’s very small - they’re creatures all of their own kind. Q: Did you get any injuries? MILA: I did. Everybody had injuries. I dislocated my shoulder two weeks before production; in the first month of rehearsal I tore my calf ligament. And I have two scars on my back from where Benjamin had to lift me for six hours. I say I have scars - but he had to lift me for six hours so his arms might have fallen off at that point!  Q: 'Black Swan' deals with female madness. Do you think that Darren handled that with sensitivity? MILA: I think the whole film was done with a lot of sensitivity. But I don’t know that it has to do with female madness - it has to do with human madness. Anyone can spiral downwards, if they want to pursue perfection - female or male. I really don’t think it makes any difference. In this case, her version of perfection had to do with sexuality, and that was just one of the ways to go about it. But I do think he dealt with it beautifully. It didn’t offend me, I hope it doesn’t offend people. And if it does, oh well! Q: Do you think 'Black Swan' will be a transitional film for you? MILA: I don’t think you ever know. I stand by every movie that I did. I don’t regret any decision I made. Whatever I did, I always learned from, whether it was what to do, what not to do - it was always a learning experience. I always grew, whether as an actress or a person. But from my experience, you never know what movie is going to open what door for you, and it’s always the ones you least expected - so you can never predict it. Q: But do you expect it to open doors for you? MILA: Ask me in a year, and I’ll tell you. Every movie I’ve done - with the exception of 'Black Swan' - I’ve auditioned for. So I’ve fought for everything. 'Black Swan' is the first time where a brilliant movie was handed to me. Otherwise, from 'The Book Of Eli' to Sarah Marshall to anything in between, was me fighting for it. So I haven’t always necessarily been offered great films, but I’ve fought for great things. Q: Are you one for planning your career? MILA: In this industry, it’s not like a game of chess, it’s more like a game of checkers, as I like to say. So you can’t think four or five steps ahead, because it’s impossible. I’m in a position where you don’t have to work for the sake of working. I’m very lucky in a sense. So I can sit back and wait for a project that I respond to and that I want to do. So it’s pretty much all I do. But it has nothing to do with genre. It’s not like I particularly look and say "The next project I do, I want to be a drama." It’s just finding a project that you’re drawn to. Q: Do you have strong memories of living in the Ukraine? MILA: I’ve answered this before and it’s an unfortunate answer. I feel like I do. But I don’t know how much of it is my memory and how much of it is a memory I’ve created through stories that my parents told me - and thus it became a memory. I like to think I do, but I probably don’t. Q: Did coming to America when you were seven toughen you up? MILA: I don’t know whether at seven-years-old you build a toughness. I don’t think so. I think a kid has no fear. I don’t think there’s a toughness that needs to be built, as you don’t know consequences. Kids jump out of the window thinking they can fly out of the time - they don’t know otherwise. And so when you put a seven-year-old in an environment, by nature they’re going to immerse themselves in it. So by the end of second grade, I spoke English. I didn’t study it. I didn’t have a book. I didn’t learn it. I just surrounded myself with it. Right now, if you did that to me, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I wouldn’t. If you flew me to a country where I didn’t speak a word of the language they spoke, and they didn’t speak English, I don’t think half a year is going to help me. Q: You started out by doing commercials. Did that give you a lot of freebies? MILA: I got a lot of dolls. But the problem was, I didn’t play with dolls when I was little. I was a tomboy. I’d rather have done a commercial for a little soldier, which never happened. So all my dolls that I did a commercial for all stayed in the box. I never played with them. Q: So it was a good first insight into the industry? MILA: No, because I never really paid attention to it. I never realised how far it really progressed. I did a commercial and I got a doll. Now, I get a box of dolls. There’s a big difference. It’s very strange. One doll is enough for a seven-year-old. Now if I want a doll, I get a box of dolls. That’s how it works. You ask for one pair of jeans, they send you one pair in every colour. Before, you’d just get one pair of jeans. Q: You just wrapped 'Friends With Benefits'. What can you say about it? MILA: It’s Justin Timberlake, Woody Harrelson, Patricia Clarkson - a really fun movie. Comedy with a lot of heart. The whole movie is Justin and I. Every single scene. We’re each other’s friends with benefits, let me be specific. I am not the friend with benefits. He may be my friend with benefits! Q: What does ‘Friends With Benefits’ actually mean? MILA: It means two friends who like to have sex! Q: You’re probably best known to many for voicing Meg in 'Family Guy'. Is that where your strongest fan-base lies? MILA: Yeah. 'Family Guy’ has got a strong fan-base, man. Like no other - it’s great. Everywhere around the world, it’s pretty amazing. It’s amazing people love 'Family Guy' as much as they do. I hope it lives on forever and ever and ever. It’s the greatest job ever. I can do it from anywhere in the world. |
