Inside Natalie Wood

PB: Of the 15 people or so we interviewed, about 10 of them cried on camera talking about her. The emotional connection is still very strong.

JW: And how sad some of these people were when she died--her untimely demise.

PB: And, how she died. My feeling is that we sort of did the legend of Natalie Wood. We tried to get as close as we could to the original story, and I think some of the specifics are very real and honest. But I don't think we can absolutely say this is the life of Natalie Wood. It's a suggestion of the life of Natalie Wood. I think you did a great job covering the ages from about 16 to 42. There were days when you were playing one age in the morning, a different age in the afternoon and yet another age in the evening. How did you prepare yourself for that?

JW: There were different people involved in Natalie's life at different times, so it was just a matter of opening up to that and being guided. I felt completely different at each particular age. When I was 16 I just seemed to giggle a lot, and when I was 42 it was too traumatic to even look in the mirror. And we did have a couple of conversations like, "Peter, what age am I at?" "You're 29 now." "Peter, what age am I at?" "15." "Where am I know, Peter?" "38!"

PB: You know, I was most kind of quietly impressed with how that all cut together because you had to keep it in your mind scene to scene, age to age. I just hoped it would work!

JW: I had great fun filming the scene with Matthew Settle, who plays Warren Beatty. And we had this one line when she was nominated for Splendor in the Grass...

PB: "It's my luck the first time in Oscar history the best actress award goes to a performance in Italian!"

JW: Yeah! Who was it? It was Sophia Loren, wasn't it?

PB: It was. For Two Women. Everybody said Natalie really wanted an Oscar. I don't know who doesn't want an Oscar. But she seeemd to really be disappointed that she didn't get one. The way we do the movie she seems to have resigned herself to not having it--and to be very happy to have her children. At one point, she referred to them as her Academy Awards.

JW: What I loved about that scene is it was played for comedy.

PB: When in doubt, play it for comedy. Well, I think we've covered it. How much longer are you in town, Justine? JW: Oh, about a week.

PB: Well, we'll talk then, surely.

JW: We will.

PB: I have your number.

JW: Yes, cool.

PB: All right, darling.

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