Diane Lane plays another formidable role
For the past four decades, moviegoers and TV viewers have watched Diane Lane grow up before our eyes. She’s played the young American who falls for the French boy in “A Little Romance” ( 1979), the kidnapped rock singer in “Streets of Fire” ( 1984), the prostitute in “Lonesome Dove” (1989), Paulette Goddard in “Chaplin” ( 1992), Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire” ( 1995), a lonely wife in “A Walk on the Moon” ( 1999), a cheating wife in “Unfaithful” ( 2002), Martha Kent in “Man of Steel” (2013), the voice of Mom in “Inside Out” ( 2015).
Lane, 55, returns to the screen in “Let Him Go,” a tense, gritty and emotional story set in early- 1960s Montana. Lane spoke about the film and her approach to acting by phone from Toronto.
Q: What’s your relationship with scripts? How much do you have to read before deciding whether to take the part?
A: When I first read a script, I sit there and think, “I’m picturing this, but do I care about these people?” That’s the first thing that has to happen. And I’m looking at it from the perspective of an actress, and saying, “Do I feel that this is believable? Can I pass a lie detector test to myself? Can I bring this to life and stand there and hold my ground within what I’m reading?” I also think about what is the larger theme, and does it linger in a good way, or does it linger in a dark or harsh way? But at the same time, variety is the spice of life, and some days you want a movie that challenges you in a different way. I mean, I don’t want to wear the same shirt every day, and I don’t want to watch the same movie every day.
Q: Did you know anything about “Let Him Go” before that first reading?
A: No, but I was caught up right away because a lot happens in the first five minutes.
There’s George and Margaret, and they’re in this beautiful bubble of being new grandparents, and the joy that brings, and there’s this sort of deep gratification that your love has manifested yet another generation of life.
It’s just lovely. Then an almost merciless tragedy occurs. And later, when it’s revealed that our grandchild is in danger of harm, it becomes such a visceral necessity to protect this child.