If what you seek is some respite from the parade of vibrating-panties and ex-girlfriend fantasms that passes for romantic comedy fodder these days, we'd guide you to writer/director Max Mayer's Adam, opening in limited release later this month. A micro-indie romance that was one of the first selections to be snapped up by Fox Searchlight at this year's Sundance, Adam tells the story of young, brilliant New Yorker (British actor Hugh Dancy) who suffers from the socially debilitating Asperger's Syndrome, and Beth, the new tenant who finds herself falling for him against her own better judgement. As played by Rose Byrne -- who's already made a name for herself Stateside playing terrorized protégée to Glenn Close's velociraptor attorney on FX's Damages -- the talented Aussie actress shows a deft gift for blending light comedy and pathos, in a performance that's earning her comparisons to a young Diane Keaton.
Movieline had the opportunity to talk to Byrne about her heroes (Keaton is one, it turns out), her upcoming turn as Russell Brand's significant rock-star-other in Get Him to the Greek, and what her TV nemesis is really like when the director yells, "Cut!"
How's your day been going?
Not bad. I'm a little bit jet-lagged. I got in from Australia yesterday, and I didn't sleep last night. I was tossing and turning, so I'm a bit tired. So I'm not firing on all cylinders.
I'll take it easy on you, then. Is Australia home base?
I'm a bit of a gypsy, but mostly between New York and Sydney, I'd say.
I've seen Adam twice now. Once with a small group of journalists at Sundance, and again last night with a big crowd here in L.A. It was really remarkable to see how the general public reacts to it -- the audience was so, so into it.
Oh, I'm so pleased!
And yet on paper, it seems like there could have been so many potential pitfalls -- as if it could have turned into a maudlin, Disease-of-the-Week story.
Sure. Sanctimonious.
Did you have any of those hesitations entering into it?
I really didn't. I guess the script spoke to me. I was very instinctively drawn to it -- when you read things you either get a feeling in your gut or you don't and I definitely had it with this one. I didn't worry about it falling into that trap at first, but perhaps subsequently I started to question if it was really going to come off. But that's with any film, you know? You never know if it's going to lift off and have a life of its own. I really felt when I saw Adam at Sundance in particular, that I saw so much more in there than I realized we were doing on the days. Because it was such a blur. We shot it for 20 days on a wing and a prayer, kind of thing. It was pretty rough.
Was it done in very few takes?
Yeah. [Laughs] Few takes, lots of locations, lots of changes, it was really a labor of love.
Because the film is filled with small details -- just in a single glance, or smile, the moments between the moments. You'd think that's the kind of thing that comes from doing 20 takes and you get that "one." But it wasn't the case.
It really wasn't. I mean, we did do multiple takes. Max wouldn't stop until he really got what we wanted, and so there were those days when we'd run over, those sorts of hiccups. But by no means was it a luxurious shoot. I'm glad there are those nuances, you know -- I feel like we were very lucky. I think we were well cast, and we were able to discover things. The potential for the script really popped out of us while we were there and doing it.
Had you ever met or worked with Hugh Dancy before this?
No. I had never met him. So I was really excited. I could really picture him doing the role.
The chemistry is there on the screen. What was your relationship like in the vacuum of a small film set like this one?
Really, it's been subsequent to the film that I've really gotten to know Hugh. [Laughs] Because on set he was fairly -- whether subconscious or not -- he was isolated a bit. [Hugh] would sort of read a book between takes, and he wasn't so communicative. And I totally understand that. It's a very personal thing how people work, and it's since then that I've realized, like, oh my God! He's a totally different person! [Laughs]
He's shockingly different, actually. So confident and quick-witted.
It really is shocking. I mean, it's a remarkable performance. I have a family friend who has Asperger's, so I knew a little bit about it before we started, and it's very accurate, really accurate how he portrayed it.
One of the things I loved about your character Beth, and your portrayal of her, is that she was just so familiar to me. I know many women like Beth -- they're not obsessed with their looks, or trivialities. They're just smart and accomplished women, who can't seem to make a relationship work. And yet you hardly ever see that woman in mainstream movies.
I know, and it was such a gift, the role, because she was very unconventional in the sense of being a film role for a woman. She really was. She was smart and erudite, yet she had a litany of bad relationships behind her, and she was curious and empathetic and had tolerance and patience. She also had spontaneity, and I think her eccentricity really shows up on the screen. It really liberated me.
It must have been, coming off Damages.
[Laughs.] A total opposite! My Damages character is kind of under siege the whole time. It's a particularly serious drama, which I love, but this was very liberating in that sense. It was the antithesis to that, so I loved it.
Yet Adam isn't without its serious moments. But what Max, and you and Hugh, do so well is to deftly weave comedy into those moments of sadness, just as it happens in real life.
Those things are so powerful -- when you're laughing at the same time as you're crying, or angry. It's a wonderful balance which he does so well, without ever making it patronizing towards Adam. I know exactly what you mean, and it's a testament to Max's writing.
I definitely felt a bond there between you and Amy Irving, who plays your mother.
Again, she came in for just a few days, here and there, and just brought her game. Obviously she's an incredible actress, and we're so lucky that she made her a fully realized character. Because often those are the roles that fall short -- that make a film not quite lift off the ground. But she, and Peter [Gallagher, who plays her father], and Frankie Faison just did such a wonderful job.
How does working with Amy compare to working with Glenn Close?
Well, it's such a different dynamic because she's playing my mother, whereas there's a natural tenderness between the characters. It's so different on Damages, where she's my, you know, tyrannical boss who's trying to kill me. [Laughs] I really can't compare them.
What is your dynamic like with Glenn when the cameras are turned off, because you very convincingly seem to hate her when they're on?
I know, there's such adversity on the show. People often ask me if she takes on a mentor role, but she's not particularly like that, really. She's more of a friend. She's kind of kooky, and she's not shy. She's much more of a friend -- she doesn't step into that role of wanting to teach you, or anything. She's more about just wanting to hang out, and be there on the same level as everybody else, I reckon.
Your next movie is another comedy -- Get Him To The Greek. Can you talk about your character in that?
I'm playing a British pop star, kind of like a Lily Allen, Victoria Beckham-esque pop star. And she's Russell Brand's girlfriend. It's a very small role. I literally have four or five scenes in the film. It's really fun. It's been a few weeks here in L.A., and then I finish up in London. It's quite a departure from anything I've ever done. Quite over the top and very fun. I just hope I make the final edit with all those comedians around, because they're pretty funny -- Jonah Hill and all those guys.
Are they having you improvise?
Yes, lots of improvising. It's interesting, really interesting to see in the few days I had on it how they all work. I hope I make the cut.
It must be quite the challenge having to play Russell Brand's sexual match.
We talked about that too, when I got the role. What makes her have the upper hand. What does she have that he doesn't have? Russell's character is Aldous Snow, the same one he plays in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I think there's an element of destructiveness to his character, and she's much more in control.
Does his public persona match his set persona?
He's actually very professional on set. Very funny, very erudite, very quick -- not at all difficult, or even flamboyant, which is his public persona, I suppose. No, it's been good. And I think because we've had intimate stuff together, it's kind of serious in a few scenes, it's been great.
Intimate, like in bed intimate?
Not so much stuff like that, but more relationship arguments.
I'm seeing a sort of pattern happening here, as far as the direction your career is taking. Let's look ahead five years...
[Laughs] I'll become a plumber!
Not unless it's going to be an Academy Award-winning plumber.
[Laughs]
But I do think this movie could do a lot for you as far as your profile and showing off your range.
Oh, thank you. I hope so. I've been doing such serious roles, and you've got to educate people that you're capable of many more things. This is a really great thing for that. And it's a good film as well, it's a really sweet movie.
So where do you see yourself five years from now?
Oh goodness. I'd love to do more comedy, whether it's smaller roles in bigger things or bigger roles in smaller things. But the funny stuff is something I'd like to get better at and more confident at. But I'm so grateful for Damages. It's been a huge platform for me, and we have a very harmonious set. So I wouldn't rule out more TV. But if anything I'd like to keep doing comedic stuff.
Is there an actress you pattern yourself after?
I admire so many actresses. Someone like Diane Keaton, who's always hilarious but still does great dramatic stuff. And all those Australian girls. I think coming from so far away, I've always admired the girls who came before and paved the way, when they thought you were from Austria. Like Nicole [Kidman], and Naomi [Watts], and Toni Collette and Judy Davis.
Do those "girls" from Down Under hang out?
They're a different generation from me, so the girls I know you probably wouldn't know -- they're actors that aren't established here. So no, I don't really know them.
So there's been no passing of the torch between Nicole and yourself?
Not really. No. I don't -- No. [Laughs] Not yet.