It’s the stuff that Hollywood legends are made of. Four years ago, when The
Contender writer/director Rod Lurie was still a struggling film critic, he presented an
award to actress Joan Allen for her supporting role in Pleasantville, on behalf of the LA
Film Critic’s Association, and proclaimed; "I should write a movie for Joan
because I know that if she’s in it, it will be good." A grateful Allen politely
urged him on, but was shocked some months later when she actually received his script.
In The Contender, the 44-year-old actress plays Laine Hanson, a U.S. Senator caught in
a sex scandal when enemies conspire against her nomination to succeed the deceased
vice-president. But Rod Lurie knew what he was talking about and his directorial debut not
only launches his directing career – he’s currently directing Robert Redford in
a follow-up he wrote – but Joan Allen won a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for her
part.
Despite an incredible career with movies like Nixon, The Ice Storm, Pleasantville and
The Crucible, is this really the first time you’ve carried a movie?
I think so. I think the other roles you could pretty much put into more of a supporting
performance category but this is the most central role that I’ve had in my career, I
believe. Rod Lurie wrote it for me and I knew that going into it obviously, so I felt a
lot of confidence from him that he really wrote it with me in mind and emphasised my
strengths as an actress. But it’s quite an ensemble film if you really look at
Jeff’s role and Gary’s role, both of which feature prominently, so I felt like
the pressure was off a bit because of that.
Do you have the same kind of unshakable convictions as your character?
I don’t think I could probably withstand what she does. I think I have convictions,
definitely, and they are quite strong but I don’t think Joan Allen could do what
Laine Hanson did. I think I would crumble and try and fight back in a different way. But
that’s what is great about being an actor. You get to do things that you might never
dream of being able to do in your own life.
One point the movie makes is the double standard for what is OK for a man to get away
with and what may be acceptable for a woman. What is your feeling on that issue?
I think I’m actually rather sheltered in that regard because I get to do what I want
to do and I don’t live in a corporate world where I have to be a woman going into an
office every day and dealing with harassment and double standards and things like that. I
guess what I’ve come to realise more and more is that we’re just different. But
I think it is probably less acceptable for a woman to get away with potential promiscuity
on a public level without getting analysed and judged more than a man. Clinton was taken
to task for his actions but I wonder how a woman would have been treated and whether
she’d have stayed in office in that situation.
What is your own relationship with politics?
I’m not political. I don’t really like to talk about it much. I am liberal,
I’m a registered Democrat but I certainly don’t articulate about it and that was
one of the reasons why I wanted to do the role because I thought it would be really fun to
see if I could pull off playing a Senator.
In the movie your character deals with the intrusion into her personal life in a big
way. Do you have any problems with that as a well-known actress?
So far I haven’t. I live in New York and that’s a cool place. I take the bus. I
take the subway, I take my daughter to school. It really hasn’t intruded into my life
although I get recognised a little. I don’t have journalists trying to dig things up
about me so that’s nice. The most I get is people walking up to me saying ‘I
love your work’ and that’s the kind of intrusion I can handle!
What was the biggest challenge about this role?
I really wanted to make sure she didn’t come off too self-righteous. She has a very
strong stance about what she believes in but I wanted it to come from her heart. It’s
just who she is and it’s how she would conduct her life if it was in less visible
circumstances too. So I wanted to make her very human and I would have to keep asking Rod,
‘am I making her sound holier than thou’? because I didn’t want her to come
off that way.
I’ve known Rod Lurie for years as a fellow journalist. What was he like to work
with as a first-time director?
He’s actually directed a short film that had won awards so he had some experience,
but I found him to be really assured because he knew what he wanted. It would be more
frightening if he was somebody who was unclear about what he wanted and was relying on the
cinematographer or somebody else to set up his shots. From the very beginning, Rod was
very clear about how he wanted the film to look. I was really impressed.
Everybody agrees you are a great actress but nobody knows much about you. Do you
separate your career from your marriage and motherhood?
I do separate them quite a bit actually. Even if I do two films a year, I’m
unemployed a lot of the time and I have a six-year-old daughter who I’m crazy about
and I love being involved with her life; so as hard as it is, I’m happy I get time
off to be with her. When I did the movie, When the Sky Falls, we shot in Ireland and I had
to be away for two months and my husband took care of her in New York. So I didn’t
see her for two months but then I didn’t work for a year before that so I got to pick
her up at pre-school every day. When I’m not working I live a very normal life and I
am a private person by nature. I don’t go to a lot of industry events, although
I’m happy to support films that I am a part of, but I just hang out with my family
and that’s what makes me happy.
Published March 22, 2001
