By Christina Radish

Evan Rachel Wood at the premiere of "The Wrestler" held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif. on December 16, 2008.

Wood recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about making The Wrestler, trying comedy for the first time with Woody Allen, and taking on Broadway in 2009 for the musical version of Spider-Man.

MediaBlvd Magazine> You’ve worked with some very distinguished directors. What was it like to work with Darren Aronofsky?

Evan Rachel Wood> Amazing! He was on my Top 5 list of directors that I wanted to work with, so I would have been an extra. He came to me and said “It’s not a huge part, but all the scenes are really important for the story and for Mickey’s character, so I need somebody to really bring it. And, we don’t have a lot of money. It’s going to be handheld. I think you can do it.” It was great! He was wonderful. He really worked very closely with me. He bases the characters off of who you are. He wants to get to know you and where you’re coming from and work on a back story, so when the day comes, he knows how hard to push you, and when to stop and let you breathe.    

MediaBlvd> What was your favorite movie of his, prior to doing this?

Evan> Requiem for a Dream. The first time I saw that, I was in the middle of filming Thirteen, and I’d just never seen a movie like that. It made me up my game, definitely.

MediaBlvd> Had you been a fan of Mickey before working with him?

Evan> Yeah. My parents were film geeks, so you had to go to your room and think about what you did wrong, if you hadn’t seen Angel Heart. I still have that reaction with some people. I’ll say, “Have you seen Angel Heart?,” and they’ll say, “No,” and then I look around the room and say, “Nobody say anything about the movie or the ending. Just shut up, everybody! I have to get this DVD for somebody.” So, yeah, I was really excited. I thought he was a great actor and I was glad that he was getting this opportunity to come back, considering that he is so close to the character. I don’t think anybody else could have brought what he did to the role.

MediaBlvd> Did you ever discuss the backstory of father and daughter with Mickey, as your characters already have quite a history before the audience sees them together?

Evan> Not with Mickey, no. I didn’t speak to him until we were in the middle of a scene and we were rolling. We didn’t even rehearse. I didn’t go in the hair and make-up trailer when he was there, and I didn’t see him out of character or talk to him between takes. It worked because the characters were supposed to be awkward, and it helped me to not see him as Mickey Rourke, so I wasn’t intimidated or anything.

MediaBlvd> Did you film your scenes in order?

Evan> Pretty much, yeah. The last scene that we filmed was the boardwalk scene, which was nice because it came right after the big breakdown scene. To have that afterwards, knowing what we had just done, made it 10 times more heartbreaking. But, we basically shot in order, and I think all of our scenes were shot towards the end of filming too.

MediaBlvd> Did you stick pretty close to the script in your scenes with him, or were there moments where the two of you ad-libbed?

Evan> No, we stuck pretty close. I know there were a couple things that we both threw in because we were personally relating to the scenes so much. Darren would even come up to me and say, “I think this is too much. I want to cut this.” And I’d be like, “You can’t cut that! I’ve said it in real life and it’s going to take me exactly where I need to be.” We wanted to keep as much of the original script as we could.         

MediaBlvd> Was the final scene between the two of you a tricky thing to do? Your character was so angry and wanted to get that message across. Did you have to shoot that in multiple takes?

Evan> Yeah. That took all night. That was a really hard night to have to keep doing that, over and over and over, with the waves she goes through. First, she’s trying to keep the anger under control, then she just completely explodes, and then she’s got to bring it back and make the decision to just tell him she never wants to see him again, and that was in one take. First, I was too emotional, and Darren kept telling me to fight it and bring it back and not let him see how upset I was because I was just bawling. Halfway through the night, we got all of my coverage done and it was time to turn it on Mickey and, right before, I cut my thumb open on one of the things I was throwing at him. It was a soda can, and I squeezed it and it just cut me. So, I was in the middle of my scene and was wondering why my hand was wet. I thought it must have been soda, and I looked down and it was covered in blood. Darren said, “Use it! Look at your hand! It’s bleeding!” But, I got really light-headed because I was already exhausted, and then I saw that and was like, “Oh, I’m going to have to get stitches.” So, he laid me down in a room and an ambulance came and the guys were like, “We could take you in and give you a couple stitches, or you could super-glue it.” We didn’t have a lot of time or money and couldn’t really come back to shoot the scene, and Mickey Rourke is looking at me with his cigarette dangling out of his mouth saying, “What are you going to do?” So, I said, “I want to super-glue it!” And, Darren had the make-up people take pictures of the blood to make sure the blood in the movie was authentic. It was worth it.

MediaBlvd> You recently shot in New York City with Larry David for the next Woody Allen film. What was that experience like, and what was Woody like to work for?

Evan> It was very stressful. I had never done a comedy before, especially that kind of character. She’s very over the top. She’s broad. I say broad because that’s the only note I got from Woody about it.“She’s very broad, very big. Just act the shit out of it.” So, I was really scared, but it worked. When I read the script, Larry’s character is Woody Allen, so I thought, “Who’s going to play this?” They said, “Larry David,” and I said, “Yeah, he’s probably the only other person that could do that.” He had never done a film where he had to memorize lines and I’d never done a comedy, so he would look at me and say, “I’m freaking out. I don’t know any of my lines. We did 5 takes. Is that bad?” And I’d go, “It’s not TV.” My biggest problem was thinking, “Am I funny?,” and if I was making Larry laugh, then it was good. But, he’s also a lot better at holding the laughter than I am, which is bad when you’re on a Woody set because he likes doing everything in one take, with no looping and no cutaways, and all his stuff is just dialogue that’s like 10 pages. We could be on the 7^th page, and I’d look at Larry and just break out laughing, and the take would be ruined. Nobody else was laughing because it wasn’t funny at the time. Everybody was just, “Oh, God, we have to go all the way back!” I’ve only heard good things about the film. On the final day, Woody Allen finally talked to me and told me that he would work with me anytime, and that I was great.

MediaBlvd> How did you get cast? Did you go in to audition for Woody?

Evan> I didn’t, no. I don’t know what film he saw me in, but I just got a phone call saying, “Woody Allen wants you to do his next movie,” and I said, “Okay, send me the script.” They said, “Okay, we’re going to send the script over, and you have to read it and give it right back because he’s really secretive.” I was scared.

MediaBlvd> How close is Larry David, in person, to his Curb Your Enthusiasm character?

Evan> He is that character. That is him. It’s so funny. One time, we went out for lunch and something happened with the waiter and he even wrote it down and said, “This would be good for the show.” It’s that thing you have, where you’re hanging out with your favorite comedian and you wonder, “Maybe they’ll write about this.” He actually did. I don’t know if it’s actually going to end up on the show or not, but it was really funny.

MediaBlvd> What was it like, filming on the streets of New York with Woody Allen?

Evan> It was awesome because he hadn’t been back to New York in so long and the script is total old school Woody Allen. It was just weird. He just owns that city. We could film wherever we wanted to. I felt like I was with the king of New York.

MediaBlvd> Is there one of his films in particular that you can compare this one to?

Evan> It kind of reminds me of Mighty Aphrodite a little bit  because it’s an older man and a very young, ditzy, naive girl, so it reminds me of that dynamic a lot. It’s like an Ebenezer Scrooge character that hates everything, and a little Southern girl that is so dumb that she just sees the good in everything, and somehow they end up together. It was just really sweet.

MediaBlvd> Do you have a favorite Woody Allen movie?

Evan> I love Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex but Were Afraid to Ask. I love Gene Wilder and that scene with the sheep. I loved that movie!

MediaBlvd> Do you think this type of role will open you up to other kinds of films?

Evan> I hope so, definitely. I think it’s a side of me that nobody’s ever seen. I knew that I could do comedy, so to get that chance in a Woody Allen movie, I couldn’t ask for a better situation.

MediaBlvd> You haven’t done straight comedy before, but you were funny in Pretty Persuasion, which was a dark comedy. Does that require a different skill set for your performance?

Evan> Yeah, definitely. It’s funny because it’s so deadpan. You are still trying to make it as real as possible, and that’s what’s so ridiculous about it. But, no, I’ve never had to be really over the top. I was giving Larry all the punch lines. He would set it up, then I would come in and my character would say something stupid. That’s what’s funny about it. I had to really deliver in a different way with a different kind of timing. So much of comedy is about timing. Missing a beat is like missing a line. Those guys are just geniuses. Michael McKean is in it, as is Ed Begley, Jr. and Patricia Clarkson. They’re all just pros at comedy. They’re like mathematicians to me. So much of comedy is mathematical and counting. It’s insane how their minds work. It was really cool to watch.

MediaBlvd> How do you feel about getting to play Mary Jane in the Spider-Man musical on Broadway?

Evan> I’m really excited! It’s Julie Taymor, who did The Lion King on Broadway, and she’s doing the same thing with this. I remember hearing The Lion King was going to be on Broadway and wondering how that would be, but then Julie Taymor just takes it to this whole other level. That’s what she’s doing with Spider-Man. Bono and The Edge (of U2) are doing the music for it. I did the workshop and the little run-through of it, and it’s awesome. It’s really spectacular. They’re using new technology and wirework, and Spider-Man never sings in tights, only as Peter Parker. A man does not sing in Spandex.

MediaBlvd> Have you gotten any of the music yet?

Evan> Yeah. I had to do a read-through of it for Marvel, in person, that was kind of an audition. So, I’ve heard all the music and it’s so good. It makes me cry.

MediaBlvd> Did you work with Bono and The Edge on the songs themselves?

Evan> Yeah. They would say, “We wrote this song. Sing it.” Jim Sturgess, who played Jude in Across the Universe, did the workshop with me. We’re still trying to convince him to play Spider-Man. But, I got to read it with him and he’s such a huge U2 fan. There was one time he was learning the song and Bono and The Edge were playing the other parts, so they were basically his back-up singers, and I just remember taking him to the side and going, “Bono and The Edge were just your back-up singers! Can you just enjoy this moment, right now, for me, please? It’s 4^th of July. We’re never going to forget this!” It was awesome! It was amazing!

MediaBlvd> Are the songs the type that, in the tradition of a musical, you have to listen to them in the context of the story, or are the songs more stand-alone?

Evan> I think you can hear them just on their own. One of the cool things about it being Bono and The Edge is that they actually sound like hit songs. The soundtrack will be good too because they’re like pop songs.

MediaBlvd> Was there one song, when you first heard it, that you thought it would definitely be a hit?

Evan> Yeah. There are a couple. I love my solo. It’s just a beautiful song. I said, “It’s like the ‘On My Own’ moment from Les Miserables.” It’s that kind of feeling. I’m obsessed with David Bowie and my favorite David Bowie song is “Ashes to Ashes.” I heard this song and it has this twangy instrument in it, and they looked at me and said, “We wanted this song to sound like ‘Ashes to Ashes,’” and I just went, “Whoa!”

MediaBlvd> When you signed on for Spider-Man, how long of a commitment did you have to give?

Evan> It’s going to be a year total. But, I’ve always wanted to do it and I’m never going to get another opportunity like that again -- originating a role on Broadway with Julie, and with so many people that worked on Across the Universe. It’s just the most fun! Across the Universe was eight months, so it’s not that much longer. I can’t wait!

MediaBlvd> How do you feel about taking the time out from your film career to do this big project?

Evan> I’ve been asked to do Broadway in the past and I haven’t because I’ve been too afraid to leave, but I think this is just too special to pass up. And, after going through so much with film, I just need a break, and to do something that is going to be really fulfilling for me, every night, is just going to be a great experience. I don’t think it’s really going to take me out of the game. I think it’s going to be big. Everybody will go see it, so I’m not too worried about it.

MediaBlvd> How long is the rehearsal process?

Evan> Three months. We start in June and we go into October.

MediaBlvd> What is the story? Does it follow the comic book or the films’ storyline?

Evan> It’ll pull some things from the films, but it’s based more on the comic book and the origin of Spider-Man, even before there was a Spider-Man. It’s going to be a little different. There’s going to be old villains and new villains. Wait until you see the villains! I wish I could tell you who the villain is.

MediaBlvd> Are there villains we’ve never seen in the comics or movies?

Evan> Yeah. There’s one that’s more of a Greek mythology kind of thing. I can’t say the name, but it’s going to be awesome.

MediaBlvd> Having done episodic television, studio films, independent features and now stage plays, what’s been the most grueling schedule for you?

Evan> Woody Allen was pretty grueling, I’ve gotta say. Comedy, just because I wasn’t used to it, was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

MediaBlvd> You’ve really blossomed and transformed since you first came to recognition with Thirteen. Has it been hard growing up, in front of the public?
Evan> Yeah, and it gets harder and harder. I try to stay away from having my personal life in the press because it’s just too hard and, unfortunately, I’m kind of a weird girl, so it draws attention sometimes. It is hard having to deal with those judgments. No matter how much you want to say, “It doesn’t bother me,” it’s never fun. And, it does interfere with your life a lot, so that’s another reason why I’m glad to be stepping out for a bit and doing theater. I just need a break for a bit.