Canadian actresses discuss career and country,
Two Canadian actresses share thoughts on career and country
Film festivals have been life- and careerchangers for Canadian actresses Tatiana Maslany and Sophie Nélisse, one an established star and the other a fast-rising talent.
Regina-born Maslany, 30, who lives in Toronto, got her first taste of movie glory at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, winning the World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Acting for her lead role as rebel teen Ruby in the Canuck drama prophetically titled Grown Up Movie Star. She’s since gone on to acclaim and kudos on screens big and small, most notably playing multiple clones on the hit sci-fi TV series Orphan Black.
Windsor, Ont.-born Nélisse, 16, had planned to be a gymnast competing in this summer’s Rio Olympics, but the acting bug bit her. She took what turned out to be her breakout role as grieving student Alice in the 2011 Canadian drama Monsieur Lazhar, which took major prizes from critics and the audience at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
These wins, plus an Oscar nomination for Monsieur Lazhar, attracted other awards and offers for Nélisse, who later starred opposite Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson in Second World War drama The Book Thief.
Maslany and Nélisse found themselves waving the flag for Canada at the Cannes Film Festival last May, where the Star interviewed them, both playing opposite American actors in stories of unusual romances.
Maslany stars in the Arctic adventure Two Lovers and a Bear by Montreal’s Kim Nguyen ( War Witch), opposite Dane DeHaan ( Chronicle) and a real bear. Nélisse is running for her life with Josh Wiggins ( Hellion) in the thriller Mean Dreams by Toronto’s Nathan Morlando ( Citizen Gangster).
Nélisse is one of this year’s Rising Stars at TIFF; Maslany was named into the same group in 2012. And — wouldn’t you know it? — both films had their Canadian premieres Tuesday at TIFF, with repeat screenings scheduled for Wednesday. Here’s what they have to say about their movies, their careers and being Canadian, from their differing vantage points of age and experience: Tatiana Maslany You came to film prominence in 2010 with Grown Up Movie Star and now the title actually describes you.
Yes, wow! It’s been good, although I haven’t been back to Sundance. That was, a really great pivotal point for me in terms of just visibility, and being part of a festival is so great. Even just as the experience as an actor to kind of grow through that.
How was it filming Two Lovers and a Bear in Iqaluit? Do I even need to ask if it was cold?
It certainly was, but since we’re Canadians we’re used to it. I’m from Saskatchewan, so I feel like it’s a similar experience to what I grew up with, in a way. The isolation and the perpetual winter is all stuff I relate to and I understand. But there’s something different about being up North. It’s even more quiet. And it’s even more isolated and kind of haunting.
Two Lovers and a Bear is a hard film to classify. It has elements of comedy, drama, survival thriller and even horror.
Totally, totally! That’s what was so cool about it. It just didn’t fall into any kind of conventional narrative that I was expecting and, even though the story is simply told, there’s all these different perspectives on it, almost like different ways to explore this one love story.
Had you met Dane before? You seem very natural together. No, we met maybe a month before we started filming, for a weekend we had in Montreal with Kim (Nguyen) where we just ate ourselves silly, and talked and worked on the script a little bit.
But it was pretty quick that we sort of dove into it together. Dane is incredibly generous and always made me feel like a complete equal, like a peer. And any time I needed something in a scene, anytime something wasn’t working for me, like I wasn’t finding something that I needed or whatever, he was always the first one to be there. We all bonded so much in the isolation up North. We became a real family, eating together, cooking together.
What do you make of your characters Lucy and Dane, one a taxi driver and the other a Jack of all trades? They make an odd couple.
I feel like they recognize something in each other that’s similar, which is just a deep pain and an unease and a restlessness that this place they’re in isn’t for them. But maybe no place is. And that sort of search, I feel like, would have continued their entire lives. I don’t think they would ever be peaceful people. I think together they’re peaceful, together they can kind of erase each other’s demons but, you know, any relationship does that for the first little bit and then you start to live with yourself in the relationship.
Have you reached the stage yet where a screenwriter says they’ve written a “Tatiana Maslany role”?
Oh God, no, I don’t think so! I kind of hope that doesn’t exist, because I’d like to not be defined. Do you know what I mean? I’d love it to be like, “I don’t know if you could play this, but would you like to try?”
What are your thoughts on Canadian film?
There’s a really cool movement of young filmmakers that are coming out of Canada, people like Kim, Xavier Dolan and Joey Klein, whom I just did a film with, The Other Half, which we took to the South by Southwest Film Festival. There’s this wave of young filmmakers and also actors who are just sick of waiting. They’re like, “I just want to make my own stuff! And I have so much to say!” I think we’re very political right now, with social media making everybody’s voice heard, with different platforms for expression. Canada is taking this step forward in the international market.
Sophie Nélisse You were supposed to be going to the Olympics this summer, not premiering films around the world.
I was injured a lot and The Book Thief was offered to me, so I took acting over gymnastics. It is hard seeing all my friends right now; they’re competing and I see them, and I know that I maybe could have been with them. But I’m really proud.
You’ve had great roles so far. Have you had to audition hard?
Sometimes I have to, but after The Book Thief, not a lot. I get some roles without even auditioning. They just want to attach me and I say yes and that’s it, I just get it. For Mean Dreams, I Skyped with them and they were really interested and they were like, “Well, we’d like for you to come down to L.A. and audition,” so they flew me in and I auditioned and I got the part. So, sometimes I audition, sometimes I just read the script.
How did you find working with Josh Wiggins?
I love him so much. He is, first of all, an amazing actor. He’s literally the best actor my age I have ever seen. I was so stunned, first of all, when I saw him audition; I was like, “Wow, he is just amazing! How is he not even up there yet?” And shooting with him is so amazing because he gives you so much to work with. He is fantastic and he always is as good when he’s alone as when he’s with you, which I thought was really amazing on his side. He’s just so much fun. We were really, really comfortable together.
Will you continue to live in Quebec or will you move to L.A.?
I love the American industry, but L.A. is a bit too much about the movies and about the industry. I think they have great movies and it’s obviously somewhere I would like to be later on, if I can get there. It’s obviously one of my dreams. And we have all these amazing filmmakers in Canada, people like Nathan Morlando, Xavier Dolan and Denis Villeneuve. I just love working on a Quebec set so much because we’re like this small family. We’re a much smaller industry and we all know each other, and I think that’s what I love so much. If I get to do both small and big movies, I think that’s the best.
How do you feel about representing Canada on the screen and also at a film festival?
I love it! I went to a Q&A and I started speaking French and everybody started cheering. I was really proud. I feel like I’m representing Quebec as well as Canada.