Amber Heard Interview: ‘People Categorise Me For How I Look’
Amber Heard’s star is rising in Hollywood, thanks in so small part to a blossoming acting CV that includes supporting roles in ‘Pineapple Express’, ‘Zombieland’ and ‘The Stepfather’.
But now she’s a bona fide leading lady, and following a stint alongside Nicolas Cage in ‘Drive Angry’, she’s impressing audiences as Johnny Depp’s love interest in British director Bruce Robinson’s latest effort ‘The Rum Diary’.
We were lucky enough to be in on a chat with the star during her whirlwind promotional visit to our shores, in which she discussed the making of the quirky drama, and how she fears her stunning looks will hold her back as an actress.
Q: What attracted you to The Rum Diary and how did you get involved?
What didn’t attract me to this project? I did not think about it for too long, let’s put it that way. There was a beautiful story written by one of my favourite authors and told by Bruce Robinson, who’s a genius in my opinion. Opposite Johnny Depp didn’t hurt; shot in Puerto Rico, not a bad thing! I kinda didn’t have a long list of cons in this case! I also liked my character. I liked Chainault. I liked the juxtaposition, that she looks like this archetype of a leading lady, this 1950s housewife-in-the-making, an iconic symbol of a woman at that time… But yet, she’s not that underneath. She’s flawed and kind of vulnerable, and you know, fiercely independent and rebellious. I relate to a lot of those qualities and like that shes not what she looks like.
Q: Bruce said he knew you were perfect from the moment you walked in the room. Were you aware of that?
No! Damn that Bruce Robinson, I swear! I’m plotting some form of revenge for that because it was such a gruelling process that they put me through. It was not the most relaxing of circumstances to walk into a room with Johnny Depp and Bruce Robinson, and have some kind of ill-fitting wig on, and brand new lines that you’ve just prepared, and having to go through this process over and over again. It’s an intensely uncomfortable situation to be in and I did it over and over again, so when he says things like that I wanna reach over the table and… [laughs] I’m charmed, I’m charmed of course.
Q: How was he as a director, because he made several comments like, ‘It was so lovely working with everyone, so easy to direct them’… is it true that he was so laid back and let you do your thing on set?
He’s very laid back, and I think it comes from a confidence that he knows what he wants to create and he’s an artist. True artists know where their strengths lie and where their weaknesses take them. I think he allows other artists to do their thing and at the end of the day he knows what he wants and will work around the various personalities that are his paint, you know?
Q: He gives you a hell of an entrance, coming up from underneath the water. How was that to film?
It was very difficult because it was our third attempt to film in that bay. It’s a very deep, very cold bay that I think the US navy uses for some sort of practise. The water is murky on a good day but it was also raining, and it was our third attempt to film there because we kept getting rained out. I couldn’t even see my elbow in the water, and Bruce told me they had a diver down there to ward off any creatures that were dangerous, and I said ‘you have a diver? ONE diver? What is he gonna do if a shark comes?!”. Anyway, later at some point not long after, we were on the boat and standing looking out on the bay at night, and there were lights hitting the water and we just kept seeing glimpses of these creatures swimming past the boat. I was mortified that I was swimming in there, pretty much naked, just a few nights before that! I said, ‘If I had seen what I see now I we would have had to rewrite that scene to something else’, because it was not friendly looking, what was down there!
Q: A lot has been made of the story of a young Hunter S Thompson. As a fan of his writing, how do you think Bruce and Johnny approached that and pulled it off?
I think what makes this movie so great is it didn’t set out to change the book, it didn’t set out to compete with the book, it just set to augment an already wonderful perspective on life. And I have made movies that were adaptations before and I’ve been frustrated by the process. You know that old axiom “it’s never as good as the book”? It’s often true because nothing competes with your own imagination. When you’re reading a book and you imagine something in your head, nothing’s going to compete with that. I feel like Bruce did so well because he didn’t try and compete with the book, he didn’t try and set any new rules.
Q: Johnny Depp is probably one of the greatest screen actors of his generation. Was it intimidating working alongside of him?
I guess it must have been, but luckily… you just don’t remember what that kind of pain feels like. For me, I take from this project so many things and they’re all so positive. Working with Johnny is wonderful, I didn’t know what to expect and didn’t know what I was getting in to. Anything I expected he far surpasses. He’s wonderful to work with, everybody on set respects him and likes him, and it’s because he brings so much to work with him in such a wonderful presence. People are drawn to him in a way I’ve never really seen before. Perhaps that’s why he is the movie star that he is. I also respect his work ethic, he’s true character actor trapped in a leading man’s body, and I respect that.
Q: On screen Puerto Rico looks great….
Yeah, we really had it tough on this gig!
Q: The beaches, the carnival scenes… any highlights?
Puerto Rico is very much a character in our story. It’s provided the impetus for Hunter S Thomson to write this novel in the first place. The platform that Puerto Rico is lends itself so well to our story. There’s a duality to Puerto Rico that very much encompasses the struggle that our book sets out to expose. It’s two flags, two anthems, two songs, two classes… there’s a duality in and of itself, just being half-America, half-not.
Q: There’s quite an other worldly kind of element to your character, that you’re seen as this angelic sort of figure… does that create a lot of pressure as an actress?
If I think about for a moment the way I’m being percieved on set or off set then I lose me. That’s not something I take with me to work, it’s not something I think about on a regular basis. I am aware that the way I look puts me in a certain category and people tend to categorise me in a certain way based on the way I look, but beyond that, no.
Q: What attracts Chainault to Paul (Johnny Depp)?
Every moment that we meet Chainault in her element she’s rebelling in some way. She’s struggling to free herself from Sanderson’s (Aaron Eckhart) grasp in the nightclub because she wants to go dance with the locals. She’s escaping a party to go skinny dipping in the middle of the ocean at night. She’s very much rebelling against the system but the cage is guilded! Her handcuffs are, like, very nice! She’s probably the daughter of a wealthy man and is expected to go from a rich father to a rich husband and stay in the system, and I think that she, with the audience, takes a journey that is from one lifestyle to the other. She falls love with the antithesis of that, which is Johnny Depp, and his world. His madness.
Q: How difficult is it for you to be a character actress in a leading lady’s body?
Thank you. I hope I am. I try to be. It’s damn near impossible because the parts aren’t there. We categorise women in one of two ways, and if you’re seen as beautiful or sexy then you’re only options in terms of character descriptions are beautiful, sexy, cute… that’s it! And that affords you a certain amount of opportunity, but that opportunity ultimately leads to a spark, never a flame. The other category, there’s so much more to do. You can be seen as witty, intelligent, independent, you can be seen as a bitch, you can be seen as vulnerable, you can be seen as smart or funny. We might take you seriously as a politician, as a writer, as whatever as a character actress. You can be all these things, but you can not be beautiful or sexy. If we see you as sexy you are out of that category.
Because we compartmentalise women and our female characters in that way, it’s very limiting. I very much want to be in the latter category where we I feel there is opportunity for a flame, a real fire, I want to be able to create characters as long as I can. I want to tell stories for as long as I can, but unfortunately I’m not given those categories as I’m often boxed into the former category and I will continue to try and blend the two as best I can.
Q: Is there anybody in particular whose career you’re looking towards?
I think part of my frustration is that there is one… possibly two references that people always fall back on. I don’t even need to say these women’s names. You know them. That’s the frustrating thing, that there’s been two. Charlize Theron in Monster and Halle Berry in Monster’s Ball… Ha! That’s the ticket! I need to do a movie with the word Monster in it! I’ve figured it! Thank you so much gentlemen, I’ve got work to do, I am producing a movie called Monster Something!
But both of them had to abandon the characteristics in category one in order to be appreciated for the character actresses that they are and have always been. Monster did not make Charlize Theron a great actress, she’s been one. Just no parts allowed her the opportunuity to showcase it. I think that’s a perfect example of the frustrating reality that I work in. They both had to take all sex appeal away of their characters in order to be respected and seen in a serious light. That’s frustrating, it’s really frustrating. I kinda feel like, you know, although I would love the opportunity to gain some weight, part of me is frustrated that I would have to do that in order to be taken seriously. Why can’t I just be taken seriously?
Q: Is there any sense that that might be beginning to change? People point to Kathryn Bigelow winning the Oscar and the success of female-driven films like Bridesmaids, and even The Help…
I’m so optimistic. I went and saw Bridesmaids, twice, bought my ticket and went with all my friends to show support for a project that I am so glad did well. But we still make up like 1, maybe 2% of the directors. And until we make up a bigger portion of the filmmakers we won’t accurately accomplish a representation.
Q: It’s unusual to see a mainstream American film with a 40s/50s feel to it, with such fizzy dialogue… was that something that attracted you to it?
I love period pieces, I love things that have a vintage feel. Just because there’s a certain texture to them that we just don’t have anymore. In fact I think I’ve been stuck in the 50s or 60s for a while! But i like that quality very much. its a style, and i think weve lost a certain appreciation for style.
Q: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?
Good one! I love the dancing scene. Also it’s my character’s fall from grace. I think they steered away from that in the movie because I believe they wanted to not take advantage of that moment, you know? I think we get it. We get what happens, and that’s enough. Her fall from grace!
Q: Was there anything that’s been cut that you were sorry to see go?
I haven’t the latest edition of the movie. I saw it a long time ago, a very early draft, so I don’t really know what’s in it. I was making this movie at one point, and I’m in the car with Johnny Depp, in this convertible, driving up the coast of Puerto Rico on a beautiful sunny day, listening to the radio, and driving ourselves – we weren’t on a picture car – and I thought no matter how this comes out, this is great! I like this scene!
Q: Did you get behind the wheel? You terrorised the stunt man on Drive Angry…
I did not, they did not let me anywhere near the steering wheel of that car! That’s probably a good thing! I would have done significant damage…
The Rum Diary is released this week in the UK.
