By Fred Topel | Image property of Sony Pictures Classics
Whatever Works
After 35 years of filmmaking, Woody Allen still has familiar types in his film. In Whatever Works, Evan Rachel Wood plays a ditzy young girl who becomes attracted to an aging intellectual (Larry David).
Evan Rachel Wood Talks Whatever Works
“I don’t want to sound pompous saying it, but it was really hard playing dumb,” Wood said. “I was worried that she was either going to be really annoying or really daring, so it was a fine line there that I didn’t want to cross. But I think she’s sweet. I had fun, actually. It was kind of nice to not have to come to the set and cry everyday.”
With such a rich history of young leading ladies in Allen’s ouvre, Wood avoided their influence. “I just wanted to make her my own. I’m very honored to be in that group of women now. I never thought that I would be starring in a Woody Allen movie, having grown up with actor parents and my mother going, ‘This is Diane Keaton. Watch, learn, live it, love it. And now, I’m one of the girls, it’s pretty cool.”
Whatever Works
Whatever Works
With such a film education, coming to set was a daunting prospect for Wood. “I almost had a panic attack the first day. I was certain I was going to get fired because I just wasn’t used to it. You ask him, ‘Was that okay?’ and he says, ‘Yeah, that was fine.’ I don’t know what that means, but I guess it’s good. I ended up liking it, and I kind of get what he was going for after watching the movie, I don’t think he wants to distract you or make you think about it too much, he wants it to be as natural as possible. His favorite takes were when we messed up.”
When it came down to it though, the biggest difficulty on the movie involved an edible prop. “The most challenging scene [was] eating the sardines, over and over and over. I went home and threw up. We had to reshoot it and I substituted it for tuna. I did get sick. I remember the first take, I looked down and I saw a spine in the eyeball.”
Whatever Works has a limited release on June 19th.
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