Jane Eyre - Mia Wasikowska interview

MIA Wasikowska talks about some of the challenges of making Jane Eyre, including wearing corsets, braving the English weather and getting the dialect right. She also talks about working with some of her idols, including Michael Fassbender, Dame Judi Dench and Nicole Kidman on Park Chan-wook’s forthcoming movie Stoker. This was a one on one interview...

Q. You had just read the book and were looking to do Jane Eyre anyway when Cary Fukunaga first wanted to meet with you…

Mia Wasikowska: Yeah and that kind of thing never happens. Even if we were to have set it up for ourselves, it was the kind of thing that could take years and by the time it was ready I’d have probably been too old. So, it was amazing that one was out there already.

Q. What drew you to the book and what did you like about Jane when you first read it?

Mia Wasikowska: Well, I was trying to get up on my classics, so I made a list of books and Jane Eyre was one of them. I was just so struck by her character. She has such a strong sense of self and she really knows who she is and what’s right and wrong by her and she doesn’t compromise herself for anybody. I was really kind of taken with her and in awe of her strength and also just that she was 18. In my mind, she’d lived as an adult and then I realised she was 18 and that’s my age! The things that have happened of her and that are expected of her right now are sort of unthinkable for someone modern now.

Q. How much, if anything, do you think you as a person share in common with Jane? Do you notice any similar character traits?

Mia Wasikowska: I think so many people. I’m just so in awe of her. But she sort of hasn’t let things… it’s almost like these hardships that she’s faced have made her a stronger person. So often it’s the opposite and those things shape you but she hasn’t let them damage her or ruin her spirit. So, that’s pretty beautiful.

Q. Did you enjoy working with Cary?

Mia Wasikowska: He was awesome. I loved Sin Nombre and when we met and talked about this for the first time we both really liked the idea of taking it out of a melodramatic context and sort of grounding it in a more realistic reality. And so I was excited about that because I thought that was more identifiable in a way. If you’re watching people speak the same way that you speak it just sort of makes it stronger.

Q. Do you prefer his casting process to the audition one? I gather he just kind of hung out with you for a day…

Mia Wasikowska: Yeah, it was really great. We hung out for a day and talked a lot, which was really great.

Q. When did you know that you were going to be starring alongside Michael Fassbender?

Mia Wasikowska: I think he was already attached and I was so excited because, again, I admire him heaps – his career and his life. He’s an incredible character and a wonderful person. We had so much fun from the beginning and just sort of clicked. We have a very similar way of working and were able to counter the intensity of the material with a lot of fun and a lot of goofing around on-set. And then sort of channel that energy into the scene because you definitely have to… when it’s such a heavy context you have to channel that energy from somewhere. So, it was great to have a partner in crime.

Q. You’d also worked with Jamie Bell, on Defiance, so that must have helped with that too – having a pre-existing relationship with someone?

Mia Wasikowska: It’s always nice to work with someone you have a history with. It just makes it easier to click back into that dynamic and have a lot of fun.

Q. Your very first scenes were with Jamie, so did that help to perhaps remove any nerves on the first day?

Mia Wasikowska: Yeah, they were… particularly for the first two weeks it was like jumping right in there. We shot the end of the story at the beginning of the film, so it was great. Our first two days were on the moors stumbling through the rain and stuff.

Q. And the English weather wasn’t kind to you – you almost caught hypothermia?

Mia Wasikowska: I did. It was incredibly cold and miserable. But I prefer that. I’d take that any day over a green screen or something because nothing compares with being in a location and understanding just how harsh that terrain is. It was crazy but it meant that you could really feel how Jane must have felt on that moor, with the weather beating down upon her.

Q. Did you look at the photographs of Dutch photographer Hellen van Meene to help inform the look of the character?

Mia Wasikowska: I did actually. We looked at them and a bunch of photographs… anything that reminded us of an essence of her character or the world that she was a part of. I think there were some Lewis Carroll photos that had some great kids with the sort of attitude that reminded us of the young Jane. So, that was fun.

Q. So, how physically and mentally demanding was playing the role? You’re obviously carrying yourself a certain way that’s perhaps not so natural…

Mia Wasikowska: It’s definitely physically exhausting because just wearing the corset means that you can never really relax from the moment that you put it on. So, there’s a constant sort of strain and you have to hold yourself in a certain way. It’s very uncomfortable. But again you instantly understand the repression that they feel and how much they were captives. It’s sort of sad really.

Q. How did you find the poetry of the language? I gather you worked hard with a dialect coach?

Mia Wasikowska: Yes, I did. It was something I really wanted to get right. I loved the idea of her having a slight northern accent because I liked that she wasn’t entirely polished. There were certain echoes to her not being completely from that class that she’s a part of. But the language is not a language that we use any more. It’s very rich and lush and poetic and so the challenge is making it feel real and comfortable in your own voice because there’s a tendency to [acts grandiose] ‘my mortal flesh’, you know, get carried away with that. Again, it’s about grounding it in our own way of speaking in a way.

Q. There’s also a great deal that’s unsaid and conveyed through looks. Did you enjoy the challenge of that as a young actress?

Mia Wasikowska: Definitely because the challenge with this story is that the book is 500 pages of her internal monologue. Everything we know is because of what she’s telling her directly. It’s her voice and all her observations, opinions and feelings, so the challenge is keeping that intensity of thought and feeling, and everything that she’s seeing and observing, when there’s such limited moments to sort of verbally express it. I really wanted to keep that intensity of character and thought.

Q. You seem to take to accents really naturally. Are you not daunted by that or does it come with the territory being an Australian working in Hollywood and beyond?

Mia Wasikowska: I really like doing them. I like doing an accent because it sort of takes you away from yourself to a certain extent and also allows you to really embody someone else. It’s another tool in embodying another person. So, I like it, for sure, but it’s usually a challenge and the northern accent was a really big challenge because in Australia we hear a lot of American television and movies, and that’s similar with the English accent, but it’s usually more traditional. We don’t hear the more rural accents as much, so this was something I definitely had to listen to a lot to kind of get to know it. And then I worked with the dialect coach.

Q. Where did you look to get the accent?

Mia Wasikowska: I remember I saw some tapes and interviews of people in that area. Some of them were a lot stronger and I knew we just wanted to do a mild one because we didn’t want it to be a distraction, just something that was there. So, I listened to tapes. And then when I was down there, that was very helpful.

Q. How did you enjoy working alongside Dame Judi Dench?

Mia Wasikowska: She is amazing. She’s a legend in her own right and sort of comes from a different age of filmmaking. But just seeing how much she still loves her job and just enjoys it, really enjoys it… she’s so polite and professional and kind and really lovely.

Q. How much do you learn from someone like her?

Mia Wasikowska: Just sort of seeing her in that environment and knowing her career and the choices that she’s made and how she sticks with it. I hope I enjoy it that much if I continue working until that age. I don’t know if I will. I would only want to do it if I continue enjoying it as she does.

Q. You also love photography, so it must be a gift to be on a set like Jane Eyre with the stunning scenery and the historic houses? Did you get to indulge your passion a lot?

Mia Waskikowska: Yeah, I did. I took a lot of photos. It’s one of the coolest things about acting, we just get to go to some of the most beautiful locations and places. I love it. I’m never really a tourist in one sense because I end up living there for a long time, so I get to know the place and the people and we stay in those sorts of mansions for weeks. So, it’s great.

Q. You mention not knowing if you’ll still be acting at the same age as Dame Judi but you seem to be incredibly in demand at the moment. Is it a problem juggling schedules?

Mia Wasikowska: Yeah sometimes. I mean, it’s sort of just figuring out what direction you’re going in. But I think it’s possible to have the kind of career you really want if you want to. You just don’t do the things you don’t want to and you just have to be cool with waiting for something to come around that you really feel passionate for.

Q. You’ve recently worked with John Hillcoat on The Wettest Country in The World, alongside Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy?

Mia Wasikowska: Yes, I was only on that for three weeks, in a small part, but it was fun. I like John Hillcoat and I’m a huge fan of Nick Cave, and the cast is so stellar, so to be part of that was exciting.

Q. Are you also working with Nicole Kidman now as well on Stoker for Park Chan-wook?

Mia Wasikowska: Yeah, I am, I’m just about to start. I’m a huge fan of his films [Oldboy and Lady Vengeance] so to work with him and Nicole, of course… coming from Australia she’s one of the first Australian actresses to do so incredibly well in America, so she’s always been a huge idol. And to be playing her daughter is pretty cool.

Q. Have you met with her yet?

Mia Wasikowska: I have actually, just last week. She’s lovely.

Q. Do you get nervous before meeting someone like her?

Mia Wasikowska: Yeah, you kind of learn not to. But she’s lovely and, for sure, at the beginning it’s like meeting your heroes. But most of the people I’ve worked with who have been big stars or celebrities just sort of instantly put you off your guard and they’re immediately disarming.

Q. The American critics have described your performance as Jane Eyre as the best they’ve seen. How does that make you feel? Do you have a favourite response to it so far?

Mia Wasikowska: That’s awesome. It’s really great. I just really love it if… I think my friends really liked it in Australia, which is the coolest thing for me. But it’s great that people do seem to like it and I hope that it goes down well over here because this is sort of the toughest audience.