Taraji Henson Interview - Curious Case of Benjamin Button

with Rebecca Murray

Transcript: Taraji Henson Interview - Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Taraji Henson – One of Variety's 10 Actors to Watch and in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

You are always so fantastic in every role. It's a good thing they're recognizing you as one of the 10 to Watch. It's about time.

Taraji Henson: "Thank you."

You've had a great career but now you've got The Curious Case of Benjamin Button coming up. Who do you play?

Taraji Henson: "I play Brad Pitt's surrogate mother."

Okay, that's an interesting part. And he starts out old, but you're young…

Taraji Henson: "Yeah, everybody's aging. I age from 26 to 71. He ages backwards from a little old man to a little baby. And Cate Blanchett ages to like 81, so everybody's aging."

The makeup process for that, how does it feel when you're so young and beautiful to see yourself at 71?

Taraji Henson: "I laughed because I'm never going to look like that. I'm always going to look like this."

Botox? Whatever it takes?

Taraji Henson: "I don't think I need Botox. I think I have great genes."

You lucked out. What's it like on the set when you see Brad Pitt in that kind of age makeup?

Taraji Henson: "He's still fine, even as an old man. He's just gorgeous, any way you slice him."

The trailer is different and I don't know what they're going for with the tone. Comedy, drama, thriller, sci-fi…there's a lot of elements to this thing. How do you describe it?

Taraji Henson: "It's an epic, that's all I can say. It's an epic. It's like a modern-day Gone with the Wind. They don't make films like this anymore. It's beautiful to watch. The cinematography is going to blow you away. The message, the story… I mean, in the screenings grown men had to collect themselves before they could get up and leave. It's one of those movies that will touch you in ways you've never been touched in a long time in film, you know?"

Did it touch you like that when you read the script? Did you always react like that?

Taraji Henson: "Absolutely, absolutely. Yes. You know, it's a story about life and how to go through life and not live with any regrets, how to really cherish life. At the time I had lost my dad. I had just lost my dad to liver cancer so it meant even a little more to me. So I think the timing was perfect for me to get that script."

Do you always have to connect like that with a project to sign on?

Taraji Henson: "For me it's all in the script. If I'm sold by the 10th page of the script, I want to do it. If I can fall in love with the character and I feel the character in my soul speaking to me, I want to do it."

Are you also involved in a movie set after Hurricane Katrina?

Taraji Henson: "Yes."

That's based on a true story?

Taraji Henson: "Yes, that's based on a true story. Coach Allen Collins, who is played by Forest Whitaker, I play his wife, it's about Katrina and it's actually told through the eyes of all the different team players, and how the storm came and ripped apart the city pretty much. The schools closed down. Everybody went off into their own different directions, and how they all came back as a team. They had to Band-Aid a team together and come back to win the championship. It's a beautiful story."

More on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button News, Trailer and Credits

The Cast of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett

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