Women Talking

How did you two respond to the script when you first read it?

ROONEY MARA I had read the book. It seemed to me an impossible thing to adapt. It was quite a bit later when I read the script. I loved it so much. I had all the same feelings. I was kind of blown away by it.

CLAIRE FOY This really extraordinary script was unlike anything I’d ever read before. It didn’t follow any of the tropes of scripts where you’re told what to think when you’re reading it. It was all so subtle. And you just read these women’s voices the entire time. It was really remarkable.

Rooney, how did you convey this level of serenity in light of the horror brought upon your character, Ona, who had been impregnated as a result of these sexual assaults?

MARA I was just lucky with the place I was in, in my life. I was a new mom. I was madly in love with my child. And I did have this optimism that I don’t generally carry around with me, but having this amazing person in my life, it just brought out this side to me. It was perfect timing for me to channel that.

FOY That’s interesting that that allowed you to go there because I always think of you like that.

POLLEY Me too. That’s the only Rooney we know.

FOY You can say anything to her and she’ll just go, “I believe …” and you will agree with everything she says.

MARA People have been yelling at me my whole life to smile. Everyone. From the time I was 3 years old. And I’ve never smiled so much in my life as I did in this film. Thank God I was playing that part. It would have been really hard to have played one of the other parts and go home to my baby boy. I don’t know how I would have done that.

POLLEY I have a theory about your not smiling, which I have not shared with you. Like Ona, you are so connected with what’s going on with the other person that you’re not constructing anything with your face. Most people are very aware of themselves. And I think you’re so connected with what’s happening in front of you that what it actually is, is a kind of selflessness that’s very unusual.

MARA I’m going to have to record that. I’m smiling on the inside.

When you first got to set, were you terrified about what you had signed up for?

POLLEY I was really excited and strangely calm for a lot of the process. And then that first day of in-person rehearsal in the hayloft — it was constructed so that people had to climb ladders to get up there. They just popped up one by one, these heads. They came really fast. I hadn’t quite set up the set yet. So I was kind of sweating anyway, and just seeing all of the faces of these actors I worshiped, pop up, and realizing how many of them there were and that I was going to have to figure out how to manage making this film. But also when you have that many actors, you’re kind of performing, too. Like every time I spoke, I had an audience of 12 actors that I admire.

MARA That’s my nightmare.

Was it refreshing to not have any makeup on?

MARA I loved it. Also, just less time.

FOY I love it. You see people flushing. You see the color of people’s cheeks. You can see the age of people’s skin and everyone is beautiful. You get to see people as they are, as opposed to what they’re presenting. We need to do more of it. It always really pisses me off when people are at home in films with makeup on. You don’t wake up like that. No one does.

MARA In period films, they do it all the time. I’m always like, “Guys, this is ridiculous. There is no way I’d have these eyelashes on in bed.”

POLLEY I think the fact that you all were doing it made a difference. I remember someone said, “I’m fine with that, as long as everyone does it, you know?” It’s probably less vulnerable than doing that on your own in a movie.

FOY I was secretly putting dry concealer on. [Laughs] We all thought Rooney did because Rooney, for some reason, is lit from within.

POLLEY At the camera test it was clear you were not wearing any makeup and all the other actors were just standing behind the camera going, “What the fuck]?

What’s been the most surprising reaction to the film?

POLLEY I love the way young men respond to it. Those reactions have been by far the most emotional and speechless. It’s really unexpected and hopeful. This generation of men is thinking in a different way and I’m finding that really exciting.

FOY I was so involved in the process of making it that I didn’t really understand the consequences of what it would be like when it was seen by other people. Like when an audience member comes up to you and says that you’ve represented something that they’ve experienced or they felt. It can sometimes feel overwhelming and you don’t have the skills to deal with that. But I would take that a million times over doing something that doesn’t feel like it’s changing something. It’s my first ever experience of being part of a cultural conversation.

MARA To me, the experience was the most important part. Generally, when you have an incredible experience on a film, the film is usually not very good. That’s kind of the rule. We made the film, and it was this profound experience. I’m grateful that people seem to have the same feelings from the film that I got from the book.

POLLEY The first time we showed the final cut to a small group of people, there was one person I knew a little bit but not well. She grew up with parents who were illiterate. She worked her way up with such intensity to the point where she has an amazing life and is kind of brilliant. Also as a result of her life, she’s not someone who ever makes herself vulnerable.

She watched the film in a group of 30 strangers, and at the end, she stood up and said, “I got out of an abusive relationship eight months ago. I literally have my bags packed to go back tomorrow. And this film has made me decide that I’m not going to.” It was such a shocking moment. It was very early in the process of showing the film, and the fact that it was actually changing her direction and she was willing to share that with a group of strangers was a thrilling beginning.