Toni Collette: Interview

Interview by Clint Morris

Interview with actor Toni Collette
Starring in the movie Connie and Carla.

Essentially from the moment Muriel’s Wedding hit, Australian actress Toni Collette has been busier than ski-instructor in June. She was rushed to Hollywood, as a result of her head-turning performance in the film, where she started sharing the screen alongside such talent as Gwyneth Paltrow (The Pallbearer, Emma), Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense), Ben Affleck (Changing Lanes) and Samuel L.Jackson (Shaft). At present, she seems to be averaging two or three films a year, and a lot of them are exceedingly-heavy films.

Sitting contentedly in a Melbourne hotel suite, Collette seems quite relieved that 2003 is behind her.

“I shot a film called The Last Shot, then Connie and Carla and then travelled around for the better part of the latter half of the year doing publicity and then left at the very beginning of this year – I didn’t get home until the middle of May – I did In Her Shoes. So I’m just taking a well deserved big breather.”

The unremittingly friendly actress is now back in the country to promote Connie and Carla, an aerated comedy – from My Big Fat Greek Wedding brainchild Nia Vardalos – about two bubbly hick chicks who’re forced to go undercover as drag queens, hiding their real gender ever so circumspectly.

Having heard her gruelling schedule of late and knowing some of the arduous, emotional turns she’s had to bear, it doesn’t take a genius to know why Collette picked this film. “I didn’t have to cry”, she laughs.

“I grew up in a musical theatre world, well Blacktown, where I was always in dance classes and doing musicals at school and local productions and so on.

“I kind of moved on from there and ended up on Broadway. I guess I’ve always felt a slight sense of shame being in the musical theatre world, it’s a bit embarrassing just because it’s not the kind of music I’m into.

“However, I think they can be quite powerful because if there’s a story that you connect to anyway, and you add music, which I think is the most immediate articulate art form there is, it can be quite spine tingling. Connie and Carla was perfect timing. This script came to me and I was just like ‘Oh yeah, just revel in it and go for it – don’t be so precious’. I was going to just to have to laugh at myself as I sing and dance and wear Tiaras and big lips.”

Collette shares the screen with Greek Wedding’s NIA Vardalos and former X-Files heartthrob, David Duchovny. “She’s (NIA) the writer, executive producer and Connie, so I imagine she was very exhausted. She’s so full of ideas and is constantly trying to better the script, rewriting on the weekends and making it tighter and funnier.

“She’s a very positive person and I think she spent so much time waiting for the big break that when My Big Fat Greek everything exploded all over the world she really took the bull by the horns and that’s when she decided to bring Connie and Carla into it,” she says.

“And David, he is just an adorable man. I have to say. He’s very dry, ironic, and laconic. He’s also bright, a gifted actor, and I think he’s immensely likeable in this film.”

Collette says she’s quite envious of something co-star Duchovny recently did. “He sent me the script for his directorial debut [House of D]. I later saw him when he was editing that film and said to him ‘How was it? Did you love it?’

“Most actors want to be control freaks so they love the experience of directing and most can’t wait to do it again, but David had a different answer. Nup, hated it. ‘I'd rather be an actor any day’ he said.

“So I guess that’s why he’s going back to the X-Files. I definitely want to direct. I’ve directed a video clip. I think it’s just a matter of time. It’s such a pleasure being an actor and being to explore a certain character, but I think I would rather oversee an entire film and I have more control.

“I know directors are emotionally involved but I’d like to be slightly more objective. Instead of being a piece of jigsaw in the puzzle, I’d rather be the one putting the whole puzzle together. I’d really like to give it a shot.”

Most characters Collette plays on screen are usually far from gormless or two-dimensional, and it’s a conscious choice, says the actress. “Films, or any type of art, reflects how we live, and we don’t live in a two dimensional world. So I just try to make people real and create someone people can relate to.

“We go to the movies to be ourselves and to feel nurtured and to have faith and in the world that we live in, because it’s familiar, and also to feel an array of emotions, have a laugh, whatever. They’re pretty fascinated by the image thing probably in almost detrimental sick way which doesn’t do any favours for peoples self esteem.

“Most people, when they met me, were like ‘Oh my god, you’re so thin! I can’t believe you played Muriel’. Although I think it’s not just about people feeling comfortable in their bodies, it’s about people being true to themself. I just wish people – and myself included – and society in all of its elements should be held responsible. I think there should be less fear and more freedom. I think the world would be a very different place.”

She also says she’s discovered a lot of differences between Americans and Australians, having spent so much time in Los Angeles. “It’s funny over there. The one thing I do admire about America is that it’s very encouraging, they want people to succeed. They really take pride in that. There such a false sense of being though.

“People are so polite there - and I know I’m generalising, and I hate doing that – but no one is ever that polite. I just think there’s a blind sense of patriotism over there and there’s a greater sense of fear especially in the last few years and I’m sure the government loves it. It’s a sense of control for them. Hopefully we won’t follow suit.”

In an extra effort to bear out her versatility, Collette explains that in her next film she’ll be playing the polar opposite to Muriel. “It’s called The Last Shot. It’s great. It’s a dark comedy, which has a specific tone; it reminds me of early Woody Allen or Wes Anderson’s films. It’s based on a true story.

“Alec Baldwin plays this FBI agent who goes undercover as a movie producer and he gets Matthew Broderick to be his writer/director. They go about making this film, which the audience knows will never eventuate, and along the way Alec’s character falls in love with movie-making.

“I play this bombshell narcissistic highly-sexed actress coming from rehab and the movie they’re supposedly making is supposed to be her comeback movie. It’s very funny. I look like a porn star in it.”

And being back in Australia, is she a little fearful that she’ll be horded by the ceaseless ‘Muriel’ brigade? “Sometimes I feel that, but it gave me such wonderful opportunities that I never would’ve imagined. It gave me a career I wasn’t even expecting. I didn’t even know if I would have an audience, let alone a career that’s spanned ten years so far. But at the same time I am over all the ‘You’re Terrible Muriel’s’.

“Thankfully, I think that’s lifted in the last couple of years.”

Connie and Carla commences August 5th.

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