Actress Laura Linney has been making a name for herself with realistic performances in films such as "You Can Count on Me", "Primal Fear", "The Mothman Prophecies", and "The Truman Show". She now tells you how, in playing an anti-death penalty activist in Alan Parker's "The Life of David Gale", she got to tackle one of the toughest situations of her acting career.
Was the fact that this film is implicitly anti the death penalty an influence on your taking the role?
It wasn't important at all. But it's difficult to explain because there are always circumstances. Would I do an intentional propaganda piece with the KKK? No, of course not. Will I do a film that intelligently looks at a political issue? Yes. In the end, though, it's really all about the character.
Nevertheless, you must have an opinion on the death penalty?
Of course I do. But I hesitate to tell you, because if someone knows exactly what my opinion is, they're sitting there watching the movie and for 45 seconds they're going to be thinking, "Laura Linney thinks this." It's going to take them out of the movie, and I don't want that. I don't want them to see me. I want them to see the story.
This film is about other issues than just the death penalty...
Yes, exactly. People are grabbing onto the political issue, understandably, particularly in the United States where it's such a controversial subject. What I find fascinating about this film is that it's three genres put together in a way that you rarely see. It's a murder thriller, it's a political piece, and it's a character-driven drama. So it's an interesting kaleidoscope of things.
How challenging was shooting the scene in the kitchen where you're handcuffed, naked, with a plastic bag over your head?
That scene was not easy for anybody. Everyone was uncomfortable doing that. You have to make sure, as an actor, that you really believe a scene like that makes an impact in the movie that cannot be made any other way. And you have to trust that, or else you'll deeply regret it. Personally.
It looked tough...
That was one of the roughest scenes I've ever done. It's not one of the roughest scenes I've ever acted, but it's just that the circumstances were difficult. I couldn't breathe, quite frankly. It wasn't rigged. There was a bag with tape around it over my head, and it was very scary.
