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I sit in the second row at the press conference for the upcoming film Third Person, only ten feet away from some of Hollywood’s most creative and respectable directors and actors. From my left sits director Paul Haggis, whose previous film Crash won him critical acclaim and many Academy Awards (including Best Picture). Next is Mila Kunis with a beautiful pregnant glow, whose confidence is inspiring. Then there’s Moran Atias, the gorgeous Israeli actress who has not only starred in, but also co-developed Third Person with Haggis. Sitting on the far right is Maria Bello, the veteran of the group whose work has spanned across television and film successfully. Spirits are high as we settle into our seats to talk about this unique and ingenious film. We begin:

 

I’VE GOT TO CONGRATULATE ALL OF YOU; THIS IS SUCH A RICHLY TEXTURED STORY AND FILM. IN TERMS OF PLAYING A MOTHER, MARIA, IS THAT SOMETHING YOU CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE TO DO? CHOOSE THE DEEPEST, DARKEST PARTS OF PLAYING A PARENT?
MARIA BELLO: When I read Paul’s script it’s about so many things, but really, it’s about love. All the aspects of love, whether it’s romantic love, familial love, mother and son love, and what moved me and pained me the worst was parental love… and how in the end, for me, it’s the most important love of all; the love between me and my son.

WAS IT IMPORTANT THAT EACH CHARACTER BE SYMPATHETIC OR LIKE-ABLE?
PAUL HAGGIS: It was important to me that they were human. All these actors look really challenging roles, and I think that’s the bravery of these actors.

MILA KUNIS: Oh I totally agree, I think sometimes being “unlikeable” makes you “likeable” and makes you human. I don’t think anybody goes into a character thinking, “Oh, I can’t play this character because they’re not likeable.” I think my character is quite sympathetic and likeable for her faults.

MILA, WE’VE SEEN YOU IN A LOT OF ROLES WHERE YOU’RE THE GIRL NEXT DOOR AND THE ROMANTIC LEAD- DID YOU ENJOY PLAYING SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT?
MK: I loved it. First of all, I wanted to work with Paul and then reading the script and having it not be a “girl next door” character was a relief, so to speak… I looked at this film as an “end to my twenties” so it was like a massive therapy session for myself and it was, selfishly, incredibly gratifying… i don’t know how to explain it. I loved doing this movie because I felt like I was doing something that I loved again. You go and do a film with a director and they make you do a character every which-way because they don’t trust themselves and they don’t trust you and they want to ultimately do what I call “Frankenstein” you together in the edit bay, and make a character that they feel comfortable with six months later. Paul is the opposite. Paul trusts you and empowers you and gives you this great character to play with so that you live it for a little while. It was the greatest experience.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT IT WAS LIKE WORKING WITH JAMES [FRANCO]?
PH: The wonderful thing about working with really skilled actors is, you turn the camera on and you watch. You want really brave actors and actresses and that’s what I have here in this cast. The scenes that you think are most difficult for an actor can be the easiest…The very first take [Mila & James fight scene] we used, and it was a mistake- James wasn’t supposed to fall over- he got caught up in the carpet, and thank god I had two actors that stayed in the scene and played it and used it.

CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW THIS SCRIPT WAS MADE?
PH: I so admired the filmmakers of the 70’s who redefined cinema forever and didn’t explain everything to you- they trusted the audience. They allowed the questions to be the most important thing in the film and that’s what I wanted to do here, the writing process was that. From the time when Moran [Atias] came up with this idea and asked me to start playing with it until it was finally finished was a long, torturous process. I allowed the characters to lead places I didn’t want to go and trust that [the script] would get there. I wanted to make a film where you were emotionally moved at the end, you felt satisfied but then you walked outside afterwards and thought ‘what the hell happened?’ and come up with answers for yourself days later.

I WAS GOING TO COMPLIMENT YOUR SCRIPT-
PH: I just did it myself, but thank you.

[Laughter]

PAUL, YOU MENTION THAT YOUR SCREENWRITING PROCESS WAS A “CREATIVE OBSESSION,” DID YOU APPROACH THE CHARACTERS IN THE SAME WAY? OR FOR THE ACTORS, DID YOU FIND YOUR OWN CHARACTERS INDEPENDENTLY?
PH: Every actor finds their own character in their own way… Like Moran, you came out like three months early to live with gypsies, live with them, find out what it was like to live on the streets. Maria is an actress I’ve always wanted to work with; for ten years now we’ve been trying to work together. You see these two in a scene and you’re like ‘wow,’ I can just sit in my director’s chair and order a cappuccino.

MB: I didn’t know you spent three months with gypsies?

PH: And taught herself Albanian, for Christ’s sake!

MORAN ATIAS: For me, I was in a different position; nobody wanted me for this part so I had to convince a lot of people that I’m suitable for the role. So I first started researching from the U.S., reading every book, article, listening to music or watching any documentary I could about gypsies. Then I thought I’ll go to Italy and try to find this character in my bones and in my skin and lived with them for a period of time. I begged for money, and that was probably the hardest thing I did because nobody wanted to give me money and it didn’t matter what I was wearing or how nice I was. It was impossible to come back home with more than one Euro. Then I started washing windows with these people… all these activities just helped me be confident about how she wouldn’t be apologetic for who she’s become. I didn’t want to victimize her. It’s easy to read a character like that and think, ‘oh poor woman.’

PH: One of the earliest directions I gave was when she showed up and I said ‘If you have hair on your body, let it grow. Any hair you have…”

MK: That’s what you told me!

[Laughter]

MK: That’s right, I had like a unibrow! I totally forgot about this!

PH: Yeah, it’s just a direction I give all actors.

[Laughter]

PH: Moran moved into a place where there was no electricity, no running water, and she didn’t bathe, so we didn’t hang out…

MA: Ok, ok, enough with the details.

I WANT TO ASK ABOUT THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT THESE ROLES HAVE…
MA:  I tried to transition into… an object of disgust and when I finally glimpsed a little bit of that I felt this sense of humiliation and rejection that one can have by dressing differently. In a way, it liberated me. It was very freeing that I had to focus on something other than myself, [I had to focus on] getting my daughter back- whether she existed or not, that’s for the audience to decide. But I like to stay with my characters a little bit; they help me learn things about myself.

MB: When I’m [playing a parent], I can never use my son. I can’t. If I go there for a second I think I’ll kill myself, right? I can’t put [my son] Jackson in my brain while [I’m acting]. Most characters, I can do something really emotional and then be like, ‘ok, what are we having for lunch,’ don’t carry it with me, but the child thing… I don’t know how people function if they use their child.

MK: I will live it for those twenty minutes that I’m on set and need to live it, but it’s called acting for a reason…I do a lot of homework before and then I disregard it. That’s my horrible take on it, but mind you I’m not a trained actress, I didn’t go to Juilliard, no one should listen to me ever.