Jena Malone in "The Go-Getter"
- Photos:
-
Although she started as a celebrated child actress in films like "Bastard Out of Carolina" and "Stepmom," it was Malone's uncanny down to earth essence that won over indie audiences in "Donnie Darko." Since then she's popped up in a series of classy Oscar nominees including "Cold Mountain," "Pride and Prejudice" and "Into the Wild."
Now Malone co-stars opposite Lou Taylor Pucci and Zooey Deschanel in director Martin Hynes’ debut feature, "The Go-Getter." Her role as Joely—a fiercely sexual high school student who knows how to get what she wants using her physical assets—may seem meant for an established seductress like Evan Rachel Wood, but Malone proves she has the chops and the bod to pull it off.
From atop a rusty old air conditioner unit, Jena sat with Metromix to talk about her road trips, falling in love in the digital age and her comfort with being "white trash."
How did "The Go-Getter" come to you?
Martin Hynes had done a few of short films, one being "Al as in Al" that I worked with him on when I was 10 years old. 10 years later I get the ["Go-Getter"] script and I’m like "Martin Hynes, I know that name." I look him up on IMDb and I’m like "Al as in Al? Are you kidding me? This is the guy!"
He told me later [that] he kind of wrote it with me in mind and that they were ready to put an offer out to me, but I had [already] read it. I tell my agent to send me everything because I am a ferocious reader and I love reading scripts. They already wanted me, but I contacted them, so it was kind of this strange serendipity.
Joely is a much different character than most of your usual sweet, girl next-door roles. Is that one of the things that attracted you to her?
I had never played a girl like her. I’ve played a girl on the cusp of her sexuality, but never a girl who was fully in control of it. In control of the manipulation of it, the fantasy of it. And in control of what it was to uphold a woman’s sexuality as something you are using to further yourself, which is such a strange thing I think.
We all do it in some ways, you know, smile and wink and get a free cup of coffee or whatever. I don’t always understand those types of girls, sometimes I judge them. I wanted to appreciate them for what I don’t understand.
The film is a road trip movie at heart. What do you think it is about the act of traveling by car that helps young people find themselves?
I think it’s a very unique language and category within American film. It's something we have developed for ourselves. Our cars are such an intimate part of our identity. As soon as you’re old enough to own your own vehicle, becomes the time you discover who you really are. They all happen at the right time. 16 is when you get your driver’s license and 18 is when you get out of school.
Was the production like a road trip in itself?
Yes, they did the whole thing from Portland to Mexico. It was a road trip that I had taken many times. From Reno to LA, that’s my trip. It was funny to have all these caravans following me finally. [I would say] "OK, this is the good bathroom, this is where we can take showers, and there is a really good vista point along the way." I kind of like that, I have strange fantasies of being a concierge or waitress and taking care of large groups of people.
I read that you moved around a lot as a child. What was that like?
It was beautiful. We lived in cars, hotels, motels, apartments, houses, friends’ houses, couches, and trailer parks. I loved the whole existence. It sort of prepared me for the life I am in now in a really gentle and strange way. I can live anywhere. We weren’t military; we were just sort of white trash.
I knew you are also a musician and singer. Can you tell me a little bit about your impulse to make music?
Basically I have singing Tourette's and it has sort of mutated into a lot of things. If you have something inside of you that you want to experience or creatively draw out, you just sort of start doing it. I’m just doing things in a way that I feel can still be completely a part of who I am, and that I can do myself instead of offering up to someone else as a product to market.
In "The Go-Getter" two people fall in love over a cell phone. Do you think people can fall in love if they have never met?
Yes! I believe you can fall in love with anything without having met it. I feel like there is a lot of love to give and love to be created. I think it is instantaneous almost always, what we’re seeking with love.
What’s interesting about this film is it couldn’t be made 20 years ago. With the way we are able to communicate with cell phones and other forms of technologies now, it has kind of elaborated and diminished a lot of our love stories. No longer are we waiting for a letter from our lovers, you know? We’re seeing video chats and we’re sending texts and it’s a new way to romance and woo and fall in love. It is so much easier and accessible, but it’s also a whole new realm of complications. Yeah we can talk all the time, but what are we talking about? Where is the connection? How is it being shared? Are we talking too much? Are we taking the magic away?
Add a comment