Keri Russell finds the recipe for success

11 August 2007

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Keri says: "Adrienne had 100 per cent control over this movie as a director. She didn't just write it and direct it and act in it, she was the creative force behind everything, from the jokes, down to the expressions."

Adrienne not only had creative control but also played one of the starring roles as Dawn, a shy and reserved waitress whose relationship with Jenna and their feisty co-worker Becky (played by Cheryl Hines) forms the centrepiece of the film's touching portraying of friendship.

For Keri, translating Adrienne's vision as the film's focal point was a tough ask, but one she achieved with aplomb. Her performance comes from an assurance built up through a wealth of experience which belies her age.

She began aged just 13 on the 'New Mickey Mouse Club' alongside the likes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake before making her screen debut in 'Honey I Blew Up the Kid' in 1992 when still only 16.

Her next big break came with the title role in hit US TV series 'Felicity', which ran from 1998 until 2002. The show saw Keri pick up a Golden Globe for Best Actress, and raised her Hollywood profile enough to win her a role opposite Mel Gibson in war film 'We Were Soldiers'.

It was 'Felicity' creator and film director J.J. Abrams who provided her with the chance of a lifetime when he offered her a role opposite another huge star, Tom Cruise, in 'Mission Impossible III'.

It was an opportunity Keri certainly made the most of. Undaunted by her co-star's status as perhaps the most famous movie star in the world, the actress reports that on set she and Tom were like close, but bickering, siblings.

She said: "We were like brother and sister on the set. We just had fun, we were pushing each other around. My experience with Tom was pretty great."

But despite already being an acting veteran, 'Waitress' represents Keri's first foray into comic acting. The role sees her attempting to pull off the traditionally tricky feat of making the audience laugh and cry at the same time.

Although Jenna lightens the tone of her troubles by baking amusingly named cakes such as the 'I Hate My Husband' pie, the 'I Don't Want Earl's Baby' pie, and the 'I Can't Have No Affair Because It's Wrong And I Don't Want Earl To Kill Me Pie', she also goes through the emotional trauma of conducting an affair with her married gynaecologist Dr Pomatter (played by Nathan Fillion) while expecting her hated husband's baby. Keri deals with the challenge with a skill which is sure to capture the attention of many a director.

Luckily, Keri is in an altogether different domestic situation, happily married to carpenter Shane Deary and currently getting to grips with motherhood following the birth of their first child, River, in June.

Here, Keri talks about filming the movie, child stardom, life as a new mother, and her sadness that Adrienne could not be around to witness her own success.

Q: What attracted you to the role of Jenna?

A: The thing about this movie that I loved, when I read the script, was that it was exactly the kind of film that I love to watch. It is not just funny, it's serious, just when you need it to be and true to life in a way. I just thought that Adrienne wrote a great character. And it really was all on the page. Adrienne had 100 per cent control over this movie as a director. She didn't just write it and direct it and act in it, she was the creative force behind everything, from the jokes, down to the expressions. She would say 'How are you going to do that face? Nnnn-nnah, I don't want you to do it like that.' And she would explain exactly what she was looking for. This was her movie. She wrote the songs that I sing in it. She wrote everything. She chose the colour of our outfits; she designed the set of the diner. She was very, very involved at every level.

Q: What sort of a woman is Jenna?

A: This character is a smart woman who gives us her real thoughts in the voiceover narration during the film, but she's in a painful marriage that makes you wonder why she's there at all and why she is staying with this man? Why doesn't she just walk out? You wonder what makes her stay but it is very hard if you have no money like Jenna, when you are really poor.

Q: Do you think many women will identify with Jenna?

A: I think her situation is quite common and realistic. There are many stories like this. Her marriage looks really horrible up on the screen, but I think there are a lot of people in bad relationships who wake up and think to themselves 'Wow, how did I end up here? Why am I still here and so unhappy and not satisfied with my life?' And I think she doesn't have much self-esteem. She has no money and being poor is a big issue for many women. She's a waitress. It's not as though she has any financial power or freedom or a lot of options, if she were to leave him. She doesn't really have anywhere to go and she has no family. I think when you don't have self-esteem, it's hard to see your way out of something bad like the marriage she is in.

Q: Jeremy Sisto does a great job playing your husband Earl, doesn't he?

A: Yes, I think what Adrienne did really well in this movie was create the character of my husband, the bad guy. My husband is awful, but he's not a complete monster. He is needy and in one scene towards the end of the movie, we see how weak he is, how pathetic he is. Clearly there's something in that pathetic quality that Jenna danced with at some point in her life. She was part of that relationship and that dynamic - as a lot of women are.

Q: What did you think of her relationship with the dishy doctor, played by Nathan Fillion?

A: It is a fantasy in some ways, but I think it's totally realistic. Her affair with the doctor is a catalyst to change her life, which I think is true to life. And I love the fact that the way they get together and have sex is not sexy, it is funny. They are both so awkward and carnal and just embarrassing.

Q: Did you learn how to bake great pies like your character?

A: We shot the movie in 20 days so there was not a lot of time to learn. There wasn't a lot of pie baking going on, at least not by me. But we always had pies while we were filming, we ate two different pies every day for lunch.

Q: Do you cook yourself though?

A: A little bit, I can make cookies and do easy stuff. Pies are very specific and hard to do well though. With a pie, the crust is a real delicacy. It is very hard to get it just right, it's got to be cold and just the right consistency. There's a whole art to it and I have not learned how to do it because I spend so much time on the road, being on location, in different cities and hotel rooms. There's not a lot of time for cooking, especially when you're shooting nights or working until 11 o'clock at night. I tend to come home and eat a bowl of cereal. I am not thinking about baking a pie when I am off work. But now I will be home a little bit more with my baby, so maybe I will do some more baking and cooking.

Q: Can you talk about your obvious rapport with Cheryl Hines, who plays your outspoken confidant Becky in the movie, and, of course, the late director Adrienne?

A: I love Cheryl so much and had so much fun with her. Off set we got on so well and would tell stories. We would be chatting and then they'd say 'Well, we've got to shoot,' and we'd say 'but Cheryl's not done with her story!' We'd whisper to Cheryl 'just keep talking. Just keep talking.'

She is so funny and entertaining. And all three of us got along so well. We would sit around discussing motherhood and babies and relationships. So I love them both.

Q: How true to life is the friendship between the three waitresses, Jenna, Becky and Dawn, do you think?

A: I think that's the part of the film that is very real, the relationship with the women. It's something that I have in my life. Specifically I think friendships between women are something southern women do really well. That is very important to them, even if their life at home isn't so great, they really have in-depth, almost romantic relationships with these women in their lives. The women often provide more of an emotional connection and bond than they have at home with their husbands.

Q: Do you think the 'Waitress' is a positive film for women?

A: That's interesting that you say that, because watching it for the first time at Sundance was fascinating - it was so different from the experience of making it. I wouldn't say that my experience making it was necessarily uplifting, but watching it with an audience, I was surprised at how hopeful it was at the end. And really it was a story about believing in yourself ultimately, and caring enough about yourself to change your life, so that you say 'I deserve to have a great life and I deserve better than this,' which I think is a really common story. So, yeah, I do think it speaks in a positive way for women, and it was surprising for me to see it for the first time as a movie all put together with music. I really liked it a lot.

Q: How difficult has it been not having Adrienne around to see the film's success.

A: It's definitely a unique situation that we're in. And, yeah, it is difficult not having our ringleader here with us to talk about the film, not having our main person here. People are also asking in relation to the film 'What would Adrienne say about this or that?' But I don't know. I don't know what she would say. So it's hard. Cheryl and I sat through two screenings at the Sundance Film Festival and during the second one, we said to each other 'You know, we don't have to get sad about this. Let's try to enjoy this. Let's just watch it. It's a happy movie.' But as soon as the little girl, her own daughter who is in the film, comes on the screen at the end, it is very hard to fight back the tears. It is just like, 'Jeez.' It is very emotional and so sad. We miss her.

Q: Can you say something about 'August Rush', which is your new film with Freddie Highmore?

A: Freddie is great in the movie. It comes out this autumn and I play a young cellist, a prodigy, who is touring and doing concerts. She very young and she has a one-night fling with an Irish rocker, played Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who is also a really talented musician. They never see each other again, and she gets pregnant. It's kind of like a fairy tale 'Oliver' with music. Her son goes in search of his parents. It's really beautiful and sweet and Terrence Howard plays a great part in it. It's shot in New York and it uses New York very well. It's like a big, sweeping, beautiful movie.

Q: Are you worried you're becoming typecast as a pregnant young woman?

A: Believe me, I am being typecast as the young, pregnant mother (laughs). I don't know what it is in my face that screams 'mother' to directors. My last four jobs, I think I've been pregnant. I was pregnant in 'Into the West', and then there was another TV film I made in which I was pregnant again. And I was pregnant in the movie I just finished with Sigourney Weaver, called 'The Girl in the Park'.

Q: What was it like starting out so young on the 'New Mickey Mouse Club' and then 'Felicity'? And would you let your own children act?

A: I think I'm probably more passionate about acting now than when I was a kid. When I was young, I didn't know what I was doing. I think the first time I realised I was actually acting was during 'Felicity'. Before that, I was just going along for the ride. I would get offers and people would say 'Do you want to do this?' and I would say 'Sure.' I don't think as a 15-year-old you are that conscious about a lifetime career. I didn't think 'I'm a serious actor.' I never studied acting or anything when I was that age. So I think I'm more serious about it now, or more conscious of it, I'd say. And no I would not let my children act when they are young.

Q: Were you are aware of being talented as a child?

A: I don't think I ever did say 'I think I'm pretty good.' I was a dancer and I went with my dance friends to an audition for the Disney Channel, which happened to be for the 'Mickey Mouse Club'. I got the job and they said 'Do you want to move to Florida and work with all these other kids and ride Space Mountain for free every day?' I said 'Yeah, that sounds great.' And I got to miss school for two months. Yeah I thought, that sounds like fun. So that is how it started, but I don't think I ever seriously thought that I was particularly good or gifted.

Q: What do you like watching yourself?

A: The only shows I really like to watch are science shows like 'Planet Earth'. I love that, or the animal programs about elephants out in the wild. You know who I love? Ricky Gervais. Anything he does is really, really great. I watch episodes of 'The Office' on DVD."

Q: Everyone remembers your wonderful TV show 'Felicity', would you go back to TV?

A: I would definitely do another television show, given the right situation. It's just about timing, and the story and good scripts. I don't think I'd take a TV show right now or in the next few months, because we're about to have a baby and I don't want to work eight months out of the year. But never say never.

Q: Which actresses do you look up to?

A: The people I love watching are actresses like Joan Allen and Kathy Bates - I just think everything she does is so funny, so sweet and at the same time so heartfelt. They are both great role models.

Q: You have birth to your son River in June, how will you balance work and motherhood?

A: Who knows? I don't know. I find it fascinating how people can do both. It seems impossible to me right now, but I watch my girlfriends do it. They seem to manage. I love acting and want to continue so I will see how it goes and do my best to make it all work.

By Robbie McIntyre

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