Doom – Junket Interviews, Pt 4
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Q: So, how would you sum up your experience in working on this film?
Rosamund Pike: Unexpected, gory, dirty, fun.
Q: I'm interested in the unexpected. What happened?
Rosamund Pike: The unexpected... what I was expected to deal with. I didn't expect to be cutting up cadavers in the
Q: Interesting. So you actually went there and cut up, opened up some...?
Rosamund Pike: Yeah, real cadavers. They were halfway through, I mean the medical students were into their second or third week so they had partially excavated the face and had gotten inside the chest cavity so we were looking at real livers and lungs and looking at, you know, the veins in the legs. It was quite revealing, quite kind of challenging. By the time they threw me the pig's livers on the set I wasn't impressed.
Q: So the bodies were real?
Rosamund Pike: Yeah, they were. They used, you know, it was good that they used [real]. Everyone who saw the film thought that they were kind of mocked up but they were real animal innards.
Q: So it was your choice to go and learn?
Rosamund Pike: Yeah it was. They were shocked. they were kind of like "Are you sure you want to do this?". And I was like "Yeah, yeah, I want to do it.". Come on its your chance. You know no other career can you kind of walk into these strange wonderful worlds. That's the one thing about film is that it just opens doors.
Q: So you liked playing doctor?
Rosamund Pike: Yeah. there's always been a part of me that wished I'd done a medical degree, you know, that could have been a doctor. There's that fascination with medical science. That's partly why a film like this interests me because I got to, even though I didn't have to, through the whole film I didn't have to do any of this but I kind of started to read about genetics and about human evolution. I read books about, you know, humanoid remains that have been discovered throughout Africa and
Q: Are you fascinated with all the prosthetics and all the?
Rosamund Pike: Yeah, yeah I am. I'm fascinated by the process. I mean I think the real thing about films is not about the actors really. To me its not all about everyone thinks its all about the actors but its not. We just sit on the set and all of these other people around you... there's cinematography, the spark department who are kind of lighting you, the prosthetic people that what they create. In some ways, I think it’s the model of an ideal society because everybody works so closely together.
Q: Do you enjoy watching your movies?
Rosamund Pike: Um, I'm getting better at it. I enjoy because I'm so self-critical but I don't mind being like that. Its a learning curve, I want to be as good as I can. I can't watch it too many times though because there will always be the bits that make you cringe. I always say that watching your own movies is a process mixed between um kind of horror and relief. You're either kind of really embarrassed and appalled or you're kind of relieved that its ok.
Q: Have you seen yourself in Doom yet?
Rosamund Pike: I've only seen it once and that first time its just a matter of [gasping]. Its just so jerking you don't really get a sense of the whole so I'm looking forward to the premiere on Monday. Also seeing it with an audience because I've heard that the audience is really vocal.
Q: Especially with The Rock in the opening scene where he's scantily clad. I heard a lot of cheers.
Rosamund Pike: Really?
[laughing]
Q: What do you look for in a script?
Rosamund Pike: Storytelling. Its all about storytelling and making beautiful things because I think cinema is amazing. Its the best form of art, storytelling.
Q: What's the story about?
Rosamund Pike: What's the story of Doom about?
Q: Yeah, from your perspective.
Rosamund Pike: In terms of what I see the story is about, is that we're set 40 years in the future on planet Mars and we're playing with strange testing, strange weapons, and a genetic research project. My character Sam is a doctor who's engaged on a genetic research project to create a superhuman. She's using gene therapy and fiddling with the human gene code to try and create a superhuman inspired by the remains they had found on Mars. and evidence that there has existed this race of human beings or humanoid beings who seem to have conquered disease, seem to be super intelligent, super fit. But something has gone violently wrong and these terrifying creatures have been coming from somewhere. No one knows quite sure where and what's happening until this Marine squad is teleported from earth. and they meet Sam, my character, and they're not sure whether she's responsible for this carnage or whether she's innocent of it and how far the genetic research project has gone. I mean, its about men playing God, really.
Q: So the message is, don't touch human genetics?
Rosamund Pike: Maybe. I think its to the credit of the producers that they decided to put quite an intelligent story onto this basic action movie. I mean I think the morals are in the right place. Its playing with good and evil.
I think that we shouldn't play God. I mean I'm not a religious person so I don't say that in a religious sense, but I think that we shouldn't tamper with the natural order. I think, I don't know, I feel that the world is rebelling against us human beings in some very violent way for all that we're creating. I mean, I'm a modern woman living in a modern world and I'm embracing all the developments and the magic of science. I think it's brilliant that we're going to live longer. healthier lives. But cloning human beings or bringing people back to life? I don't think we should tamper with the natural order of things.
I mean, the thing is that you never know what you'd do if you're in that life or that situation. You know if you're about to die you'll try anything. You'll try anything for the people that you love, whether it's your baby or your if I knew there's a future and I know I've got a child inside me that's deformed and there's some gene therapy that could, you know, reverse the process I'm sure I'd want to do it. You can never moralize, can you? Until it comes to the moment, until it affects you.
Q: Were you aware that Doom was based on a video game before you were involved?
Rosamund Pike: No, I didn't even know it was based on a video game. I think that's credit to the story that when I read it I just took it as a story. And I didn't know it was based on a video game. And then they showed me the graphics of all the demons and everything when I went in to audition for it. And I saw these and I just thought they were created by the art department. and it wasn't until after that that I found out that it was all video game.
Q: Were you playing the video game to get into character?
Rosamund Pike: No, no, no. I felt that my time was better spent doing that autopsy stuff than it was sitting in a room playing video.
Q: Can you talk about some of your favorite horror elements to the story and if you are a fan of the genre?
Rosamund Pike: I always think of something like this as kind of a guilty pleasure. Its that sort of sickening feeling you get in your stomach seeing the blood and the gore. I suppose the worst horror was in my dreams doing this. There was that blood that they used on the set which wasn't normal. You know as actors you come across fake blood quite a lot but this one they made extra thick. They thickened it and they used these little black pellets, then they added this stuff called ultra slime. They added that so it became extra stringy. I had these nightmares about being cocooned in that like something out of Aliens. I'd wake up in a cold sweat, even though you didn't feel squeamish on the set, you know it's not real you're all creating a movie and then somewhere in your subconscious it penetrates serving horrific dreams.
Q: You're the only woman in the cast. Do you feel a difference when you're the only woman, that they treat you differently or is it pretty much like any other set?
Rosamund Pike: Umm, it was a very male dominated set. I mean I'd come off very scientific. I think if I'd been dressed as kind of a sex bomb I would have been treated very differently to the way that Sam was dressed. If she'd been in kind of a little bra top I'd have had a completely different relationship with the men in that film than as she was dressed in her lab coat.
[end]
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Staci Layne Wilson reporting