Cinema Confidential - July 2002
"Me Without You" InterviewBy Thomas Chau in New York City
British sensation and beauty Anna Friel walks into the room of the Parker Meridian hotel in New York City and immediately claims "It's so cold in here," she shivers. As she sits down to begin the roundtable interviews with a small group of six reporters, a sense of comfort and ease sweeps over Anna as she is sans the paparazzi, tabloids, and fans she's so accustomed to overseas.
Anna had been exposed to stardom at a young age, having done several soap operas and various theater as a teenager in England. She made her film debut in 1997 at the age of 21, where she starred opposite Rachel Weisz and Catherine McCormack. The following year, Anna continued doing film, where she was starring opposite Ewan McGregor in "Rogue Trader" before heading back to live theater. Anna won a Drama Desk award for Best Supporting Actress for her work on the play "Closer." Her success continues into this year, having appeared on the cover of the English version of FHM magazine and starring in the indie drama "Me Without You," which opens in wider release on July 12th.
In "Me Without You," Anna co-stars with "Dawson's Creek" star Michelle Williams in a film that follows the ups and downs of a tight friendship between two neighbors, Holly and Marina, through three rebellious decades. Friel plays Marina, the more chatty and expressive of the two who becomes more and more dependent on her friend Holly as they age. Together, they live through the triumphs and tribulations of what it's like to be friends for life.
Anna was immediately asked if she based her character at all on Michelle's character, Jen, in "Dawson's Creek." Jen has been known to be somewhat promiscuous and troubled in the series. "Um, no, cause I think she would have found that to be a bit rude!" Anna laughs.
She continued by commenting on Michelle's willingness and hard work, for Michelle was flying back and forth between North Carolina and England in order to shoot "Dawson's Creek" and "Me Without You" at the same time. "Honestly, you really can't not like Michelle, cause she's an incredibly sweet and lovely girl, and very professional to work with. It was quite a difficult shoot, 14 hours a day and six days a week, which required a lot of concentration and professionalism on our behalf, so it was nice that she was very hard working. And she stayed in her British accent all the time! She was really good, and worked very, very hard."
This was the first time Michelle had attempted a British accent but Anna says that she was told not to help her out. "Yeah, she had a voice coach and voice coaches are always like, "Don't say anything. Don't get involved in my practice." We had an adjoining trailer and we'd be shouting across the street from the back. The tune of English is very much different from American."
Along with having a great co-star, the script also had huge draw towards Anna. "Yeah, I did," she responded regarding whether she had a high opinion on the themes of the film. "Regardless if it was American or British, it's so three-dimensional and complicated for both characters. It's a journey, like in all films, you know where you start and where you finish, but this was over a period of 20 years. It's like three movies in one: One morning, you wake up, and you're 16 in 1972. And in the afternoon, you're doing 1982 and you're ten years older."
Anna and Michelle find themselves growing up through three decades in the film, but Anna prefers the 80s because "it was such fun." Continuing on, she also revealed that she loved the scenes in which she was 16 again. But not all was fun and games. "That required a lot of rehearsal with the director, because there's lots of improvisation and [she] made sure we could jump into the differences quickly but it was not obviously something in chronological order. We just worked on the posture and how you react when you realize you first got breasts and how sexy you are."
I asked Anna whether or not she ever had a close relationship with a friend as much as Holly and Marina. "Nothing ever that extreme," she answered. "I grew up with my best friend since I was 4, and that was kind of codependent. She was a bigger girl and much more quiet [whereas] I was much more chatty and the louder one. She'd bring me back down and not let me be too loud. You always, as an actress in any part you play, try and draw certain things [from reality] and make the rest up."
After seeing Anna in person and comparing her with other actresses I've met this summer, including Vivica Fox, Penelope Cruz, and Kristin Davis, Anna has been, by far, the most gorgeous celebrity I've spoken to this summer. Having been in FHM and Vogue magazines, you would think that this girl eats like a typical model. " I like my sweets and cakes!" she laughs. Anna continued to tell a story about a producer grabbing a doughnut out of her hand, saying " I don't work out so I put a little bit of weight on my tum and they didn't like that so they said 'Anna, we got a little bit of a problem with your stomach. It's not quite looking right on screen.' And I said 'What do you mean not right?' What a stupid thing and [it's] so dangerous to say to a girl, especially [with] how many people who have eating disorders. I said 'Do you want to hire an actress or a model?' I was proud of myself of being tough and strong about it."
"Me Without You" is now playing in New York City and will open wide on July 12th.