Video:Whatever Works - Evan Rachel Wood, Larry David Interviews
with Rebecca MurrayThe cast of the Woody Allen movie 'Whatever Works' - Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr chatted up the film at the LA premiere of the Sony Pictures Classics comedy.See Transcript
Transcript:Whatever Works - Evan Rachel Wood, Larry David Interviews
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the LA Premiere of Whatever Works.
Evan Rachel Wood - ''Melodie' in Whatever Works
She's a little different than characters you've played before. She's sweet, she's innocent, and not quite as strong as some of the ones you've done before. So how fun was it to get into that?
Evan Rachel Wood: "It was fun. It was hard, though. I mean Larry - Larry's character just insults me to my face constantly and having to find a way to not laugh and have it just right over my head, that was interesting. But it was difficult to stay in character with the accent. I've just so much respect for comedians now. It's just so difficult. I think it's easier to make people cry than to make people laugh so if I make one person laugh, I've done my job."
Who did you have the hardest time keeping a straight face around - Larry David or Woody Allen?
Evan Rachel Wood: "I think definitely Larry. Woody kind of takes a step back and lets you do your thing so yeah. I would ruin takes that were like 10 pages of dialogue in one take and you know we'd get to the 8th page and I'd just lose it. Larry would thrown something at me and I wouldn't be ready and I'd just die. And I would be the only one laughing because then we'd have to start all over again. So it was a little hard."
Larry David - 'Boris'
You get the script and you're not only in the movie, but the star of a Woody Allen film. How daunting is that?Larry David: "It was certainly daunting at the beginning when I first got the script. I didn't want to be the one the reason if the movie wasn't received well. So I sensed that I better learn these lines and deliver."
But he let you play with the lines, right? He didn't make you stick to that script.
Larry David: "No, he doesn't make you stick to the script but the character's so much smarter than I am that I really had to stick to the script because it would have been glaring what I was making up and what was in the script."
How tough is he on the set as a director? How easy is he on the set?
Larry David: "He couldn't be easier to work with."
He's just like one take and you're out of there? How does he work?
Larry David: "No. He ends when he's satisfied but he gives you as many chances as you'd like."
Patricia Clarkson - 'Marietta'
How well does Woody Allen write a Southern woman?Patricia Clarkson: "He got this Southern woman very right, and I'm very particular about Southern characters."
Because you're from the South, right?
Patricia Clarkson: "Yes. I'm born and raised in New Orleans. I mean I've lived in New York for 25 years, but my whole family is still there. But he took a kind of archetypal character, but you go through her and you come out the other side."
Was it fun to play around with that?
Patricia Clarkson: "Oh, fabulous. I mean fabulous. I loved every minute of playing this character."
Ed Begley Jr - 'John'
Working with Woody Allen, does he give you the complete script or how does the process work?Ed Begley Jr: "I thought he would would be a stickler for every single period, every comma. Not at all. He says, 'Say what you need to. You have freedom with the words. You've got to hit all the jokes, though. Don't mess up any of the jokes, the set-ups for the punchlines.' Okay, fine, we're talking about Woody Allen. You're not going to mess that up. But you have freedom. It must at least be as good as what he wrote. If you're going to change anything, it's got to be as good as what he wrote or, if you're in a particularly brilliant mood, better. I can't imagine that. So, it was great. He was very accommodating, wonderful in every way."