Liv Tyler - Exclusive
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Liv Tyler, best-known for her roles in the Lord of the Rings movies, her rock-n-roll parentage (her dad is Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, and her mom is famed model/muse, Bebe Buell), and her ethereal beauty, finally gets a chance to get down and dirty on film this month in The Strangers, a movie about a young couple terrorized during a home invasion.
Still, she manages to look pretty through the muck. The actress chuckles at the suggestion. "If that's the case, then that was their lighting because I didn't have any makeup on and I have snot streaming down my face. I was in tears the whole time, I was so sweaty, and hot, they couldn't really keep any makeup on me even if they wanted to."
Staying on the superficial for a moment, Tyler admits that the first thing that struck her about first-time director Bryan Bertino was, "He's extremely good-looking!" But of course beauty is as beauty does, and it was the young filmmaker's original script that won her over. She was drawn to the fact that the characters were somewhat flip-flopped (when her Kristen says no to the boyfriend's marriage proposal, it is he who goes to the freezer and breaks out the gallon of ice cream and a single spoon).
Tyler was also impressed by Bertino's drive to tell this particular story in his own way. "It was his first film, and he was really passionate about it," she says. "He would make CDs of music for us to listen to. We would talk about the visual things a lot and I loved that; that is what's so fun about making movies. The visual aspects, the cinematography, the final look.
"Bryan grew up in Texas and he had a really specific idea of what he wanted everything to look like. The style of house, being a ranch house. All the furniture in the house and the lighting.
"Whenever you make a movie and if the nighttime scene or you are in a house and it is dark usually it's on the set really bright and it just appears kind of dark on screen where they can kind of mess with it and make it look darker. That's always really hard when you are literally supposed to be in a completely pitch black room terrified, and it's actually really bright. It was the kind of house that I had never really seen before or been an but it was something that was really specific to Bryan and that was what was so great about what Bryan brought to this."
Staci Layne Wilson: You and Scott Speedman, who plays your jilted would-be fiancé in this movie, have some believable chemistry together. Can you put your finger on why it works so well?
Liv Tyler: Bryan's casting. That was what was more important to him, that there was something interesting and believable between these people. Scott was an amazing support to me because he could see that it was really difficult part for me. It was just challenging physically and emotionally and like he kind of is in the story, very supportive of her and he was like that for me. I really needed that.
Q: I see what you're saying. Of course it's a role, and you're acting; you're pretending. But you really do have to 'go there' at some point, and that's not a fun character to play at all, I would imagine.
Liv Tyler: No, and I had to go there 24/7 every day. You know, usually when you play a scene you want to make it really emotional. Or physically demanding scenes, [have their own level of intensity]. And this was just a raw moment where I am completely flipped out the whole time, you know, and so to keep that up all day long… I couldn't ever really eat ever, because I was crying and screaming and running, and you are just so on the edge all the time. So that was really hard for me to keep up. But everybody was really kind to me and took care of me because I would just kind of get into this space. I had to push myself so much all the time, and I would hurt myself all the time but of course Kristen was hurting herself too; it was, like, the last thing that she was thinking about you know. [mockingly] "Another blister!"
Q: So how much did the physicality really factor in? Did you do most of your own running and falling, and all that?
Liv Tyler: Oh, course. Yeah, I mean there is nobody there but me as far as I remember. Little things would happen. Like there is a scene where I go to the bedroom for the last time, and it is supposed to be like an animal in a cage. It's like my last attempt and I start trying to beat my way out of a window, and that was sort of something that we kind of came up with a few minutes before we did it. So I just started doing it. I mean it was a plexiglass window but I still was hitting it so hard, just because you had to. And I got what I think is called a hematoma. Where you like whack yourself so much that it fills up with blood. It was kind of crazy. And I actually got really scared, and I started to cry. For real. It really hurt. But I was okay. That was a bit much. Maybe I took it too far. Bryan was like, "I think we got that take. Maybe we should move on, and you should calm down now."
Q: Then you have to contend with the actual Strangers, who are terrorizing you.
Liv Tyler: Something really kind of magical happened, in a way. Especially in the scene at the end, where there was so much leading up to that and there are no mirrors or gimmicks. There was no tricks, there is nothing. It is very bleak. It's just us tied to those chairs. And we were really tried to those chairs and we couldn't even get up. If we had to go to the bathroom they had to untie us, and then really tie us in again. And it was a very scary thing to have happen. I think that we were all really nervous about what would happen, and how it would go. I remember that we just started to do it, and we did a couple of takes — but the takes were fifteen minutes long, I guess, and so it became very real. I don't know how to describe it better.
Q: A lot of horror movies do have some levity to them, comic relief. Or you know that you are cheering for either the good guy, or the bad guy. But in this case, there is no room to exhale. You can't really root for anybody, because nobody's larger than life; so how do you entice people to come see it? Because it is so bleak.
Liv Tyler: Right. Right. Well, that is what I like about it: that it is itself and it's not trying to be any other kind of movie. It's just itself, and I really like it for that reason.
Q: Is this the kind of movie that you would go see?
Liv Tyler: Yeah. I'm kind of a nerd. I don't go out to the movies much, because I'm always home with my son. I don't even get to watch TV that much. I often pick the movies that I am going to go see depending on who is in them, and I really do like to go see scary movies. A long time ago, I remember I went to see The Ring, and The Grudge and everything… and oh, Dark Water.
Q: Yes. But you just mentioned a slew of remakes — and the thing I do like about The Strangers is that it is not a remake of yet another Asian horror movie.
Liv Tyler: I know. Exactly. Also, you can't beat the experience of a really scary movie being in a big dark theater with other people. There is that vulnerability of not knowing what is behind you, or who is behind you. It's just not the same as watching it in your house on DVD or on television. There is something for me especially about going to see a scary movie and being in the theater that is amazing. Like, I always get nervous about keeping my feet down on the floor in the theater as if someone's going to cut my foot or something. I remember being a kid and sitting up all curled up in a ball and being just terrified. Anything or anybody could reach out and grab, you know.
Q: There is also the scope, since you mention the big screen; the scope also is something to take into consideration. The visuals. Even though this takes place mostly inside a house, the cinematography is really beautiful.
Liv Tyler: Thank you. I mean I can't say thank you, I didn't do that, but I agree. [laughs]
Q: Since this was so draining, and you are a mom, will you be taking some time off now?
Liv Tyler: I basically did three movies this year. I did The Strangers, Smother, and the Hulk, all in a row and I was pretty wiped out after that. I took the past few months off, and now I'm just promoting. I really didn't want to read any scripts for a while because for me I always I end up bringing so much of my real life and myself to the things that I work on, that if I am exhausted or I have done it too much, I have nothing left to give. So I really needed to recharge my batteries a little bit and just enjoy a little bit of normal life. I am just now starting to feel ready to look at stuff again, so I am trying to decide on what I want to do next.
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