A Lonely Place To Die – Melissa George interview

MELISSA George talks about some of the physical and mental challenges of making Highlands set survival thriller A Lonely Place To Die and why she feels drawn to darker, edgier material. She also talks about the various cuts, scrapes and bruises she got while filming and why being dunked in a river was her least favourite part. This was a one on one, conducted at The Soho Hotel, on the same day that I trod on a nail in my driveway at home and had to go to a walk-in centre in Soho shortly afterwards.

Q. How physically and emotionally demanding was this role?

Melissa George: It was pretty tough just because you had to do so many of the scenes so many times and re-enact it to be real from every angle and every frame and every shot – mid-shot, long-shot, close-up. It was just so many months [three]… and the weather… the hailstones and then the sun coming out and then climbing up to the top of the mountain and the boulders falling. But I don’t like things easy so I always take those kind of roles.

Q. How fit did you have to be?

Melissa George: I was already in good shape anyway but this really made me in good shape. I mean, I was running and diving and bouncing and hurling myself off mountains, so it was fun… lots of fun!

Q. Had you done any climbing before?

Melissa George: Not really. I was very athletic. I did the Chelsea Piers in New York City. It’s great indoor rock climbing but it doesn’t prepare you for the real rock. But I had such a team of experts around me when I was doing that… they just showed me exactly how to rock climb. I learned from the best and that’s one of the things about being an actress and actor in general is that you always take these roles and you learn a skill that you can take with you forever.

Q. So, will you carry on doing it for pleasure?

Melissa George: You know, it was a little tough on my body, just because I did it for so many hours a day for so many months. I think I overdid it, so I think I’ll probably take a bit of a break.

Q. How much is you and how much is your stunt double?

Melissa George: [It’s] all me besides the fall through the trees. I couldn’t do that! She did it so well, so well. She got really beaten up.

Q. Did you pick up any injuries?

Melissa George: Oh yeah, I was brutal. Bleeding nails, knuckles, elbows, knees… all the things that you don’t want to last on your body.

Q. But no broken bones…

Melissa George: No. Not one person. We had a great stunt team and people that facilitate the settings and stuff.

Q. Were you on-set the day the boulder fell and narrowly missed hitting the crew?

Melissa George: Yeah, yeah, I was there and I wasn’t happy. I said: “That’s it. We’re calling it a day.” We never came back up there the next day because it was too dangerous. It hit one of the camera guy’s legs and could have killed someone. It narrowly missed a lot of people and it was really, really scary. I got really upset and I was like: “We have to leave this mountain. This is not fit for this many people…” But that was what the shoot was like.

Q. I gather the rivers were unforgiving as well?

Melissa George: Yes, exactly! I didn’t like that. It was freezing cold and everyone had wet suits that were in the water, like two of them, and I had a T-shirt on and no protection, so I really felt like I thought I was going to die. It was really, really hard on the heart and the blood. I couldn’t take a breath I was so cold. Julian tried to beg me to go in a few times but I was very reluctant.

Q. Did you have a trailer within close proximity to go and get warm?

Melissa George: Yeah, they brought mine up close to the mountain, so I had a little place to change and get warm and have a shower and all that. At one point, we had Rod Stewart’s trailer and we had fun in that because it was the only trailer up there. After I was using it, Rod Stewart was going to use it, so my assistant was taking photos, or Polaroids and writing little notes and putting them in the drawer for Rod [laughs].

Q. How was working with Julian? Is he collaborative?

Melissa George: Brilliant! He’s just such a class act but he has such a vision. He wrote it, he directed it, he edited it… he did it all himself. It was unbelievable. He’s an absolute champion at it. He’s incredible. I mean, he’s the king… he’s the boss of the set, for sure, but he really explains every shot so that you know exactly what to deliver. So, he’s the most communicative director I’ve ever worked with, which was a joy. I mean, often they don’t tell us anything and we have to imagine what the director wants. But I loved him.

Q. What draws you to more mentally demanding characters?

Melissa George: Because it’s so nice. You don’t want to see an actress just sit around. It’s nice to see her do something. I don’t care what genre, as long as it’s dynamic, she saves the day… or not. Or there’s some scenes in there that make you go: “Oh my God, she can act!” Or: “My God, she’s really making me believe that she’s in that situation.” It doesn’t matter for me what it is, it’s just nice to go to work and make these films that are exciting and entertaining.

Q. So, what was the most challenging aspect of this role overall and how much did you find out about yourself when doing it?

Melissa George: Just how resilient I am and how patient I need to be in life… because I wasn’t so patient at the beginning but I became very patient by the end. It was so difficult because the environment and it was really hard. But it wasn’t too mental.

Q. Did you develop a technique for becoming patient?

Melissa George: I’d keep telling myself it was going to be over soon [laughs].

Q. How easy is it for you to switch off from some of these roles when you go home at night?

Melissa George: Not good. Not anymore. So, I’ve got to be really careful what I take. It’s starting to affect me. I want to take it easy a little bit.

Q. How do you go about choosing roles?

Melissa George: I just read it and if I get chills in the first 10 pages I’ll keep reading, and if I get more chills and my skin tingles, or my hairs stand up… if there’s one moment in the movie that I know I’m going to blow away, I’ll take it. And then there’s director and studio and cast.

Q. On the subject of difficult roles, I saw you in In Treatment and thought you were amazing…

Melissa George: Oh thank you so much. That’s my best work. I loved doing it and I think, for me, it was the most enjoyable work.

Q. Did you enjoy getting to spend so much time exploring a character’s psychology? And did you feel almost like you became her as a result, more so than embodying other roles?

Melissa George: Just me talking, just Laura. What a multi-faceted, interesting role to play… I couldn’t believe I got it and I now have that work forever.

Q. How did you go about getting that?

Melissa George: I really fought for it. Sometimes you’ve just got to fight. I got the Golden Globe nomination, Gabriel Byrne won. We all celebrated. We got the AFI. It was just a great year. There was so much dialogue. Sometimes I’d be like: “Oh my God, I can’t remember anymore words!”

Q. How did you get this role? Did you have to audition?

Melissa George: This was an offer.

Q. Is it nice to be in that position of being offered stuff?

Melissa George: Yeah, you get offered great things and then you have to fight for the certain ones you want. But then you get offered ones you want, like A Lonely Place To Die. So, it all balances out. Julian wrote me a big letter and I watched his movie, Rise of the Footsoldier, and was blown away. I love that kind of movie. So, I was like: “OK, I’m in… he’s good.”

Q. And how was working on Grey’s Anatomy?

Melissa George: Well, on that I just laughed for eight months. I was in my scrubs and got to work with those actors… it was such a hit show. And then the day I quit I woke up in the morning and I got the nomination, so life just kept getting better.

Q. You don’t differentiate between TV and film? Anything’s possible?

Melissa George: No because TV is getting bigger and the cinema is getting smaller, so it doesn’t matter anymore. Some of the best roles are on TV, some of the best directors are doing TV and creating shows – Martin Scorsese. Thank God, it doesn’t matter anymore. Now you just read a script and if you like it, you do it.

Q. Do you to look hard still for strong roles for women? Or is that getting better now as well?

Melissa George: I don’t care. I don’t care if I don’t work for a year as a woman. I’ll stay home and cook! I don’t care if there’s no roles for women. I’m so easy with that.

Q. What about the rent or the mortgage?

Melissa George: Oh yeah, yeah. Whatever… I’ll find something.

Q. So, what do you do in between films? What are your hobbies?

Melissa George: Just live in New York. I love New York City. I go to art galleries, go to The Hamptons, hang out in my apartment with my dog.

Q. Are you at home much?

Melissa George: No, I’m working solidly.

Q. So, do you miss it?

Melissa George: Yeah, I’m wanting a bit of balance but that’s never going to happen, so I just keep going. But I’m not complaining. I just go where the work is. I could also take a year off, too, but I don’t.

Q. Are you working with Pierce Brosnan now?

Melissa George: I am. I’m working with him now in Nova Scotia. It’s a four hour TV movie that Sony Pictures is producing. It’s Stephen King’s Bag of Bones, the book. I play Matty, the lead girl… the happy, bouncy Labrador. And I love Pierce. He’s extraordinary man to work with and he has a wicked sense of humour. He’s a fantastic man.

Q. Are you working with Julia Stiles as well?

Melissa George: Yeah, we just did a movie based on a Broadway play that’s the finest writing. It’s so incredible. It’s four actors on two sets for the whole movie and I play kind of like the Virginia Woolf kind of role. Amazing. We just wrapped that. I was in every scene with Julia. She’s become a really good friend. We both live in New York.

Q. Do you read your own reviews much?

Melissa George: I do, actually.

Q. Do you find it helpful?

Melissa George: Yeah because people don’t lie. I really like it: good and bad. I know who I am and I know what I’m doing and I know what the movie is.

Q. Would you consider going into directing or producing?

Melissa George: Producing yes, directing no. Directing is too hard and I have no desire. But producing my own material, yes.

Q. Have you made any steps in that direction?

Melissa George: Yes. I got the rights to a book called A Woman In The Lobby, which is brilliant, and I’m doing a second deal on a book that I can’t say more about because it’s five years in the making – a memoir that the family have given to me.

Q. How happy are you with where you are in your career at the moment?

Melissa George: I’m getting there… getting the nomination for the Golden Globe was great but then the recession hit so it sort of affected a couple of choices that I wanted to make. But now it’s building up again.

Q. Have you noticed that the industry is suffering in this economic climate?

Melissa George: Big time! Big time!

Q. Is it harder to make a film like A Lonely Place To Die?

Melissa George: No, that was the best thing I did because it was such a great budget and a great gig for me and I got to work outside of America. I couldn’t believe it; it was a set movie. All my friends movies were falling through in the States and this one was: “No, we’re done!”

Q. What’s been your favourite reaction to A Lonely Place To Die so far?

Melissa George: Just the reviews have been top, top, top. I couldn’t believe it. You have no idea when you make a movie what people are going to like.

Q. Have you watched it with audiences?

Melissa George: No.

Q. Do you ever do that – sneak into a cinema and watch one of your films with an audience?

Melissa George: I have done. It’s great. I did that with 30 Days of Night with Josh Hartnett… snuck into a screening. They loved it.