Saffron Burrows is not a beleagured, once-famous actress. She just plays one in the movies -- in Shrink, specifically, opening Friday and featuring Kevin Spacey as Henry Carter, a pot-loving therapist to the stars who battles listlessness, grief and professional dereliction while dealing with a fraught cross-section of Hollywood talent. There's horndog action star Jack (Robin Williams), OCD-addled agent Patrick (Dallas Roberts), motherless teen and pro bono case Jemma (Keke Palmer), screenwriter godbrother Jeremy (Mark Webber), and, of course, Kate Abramson (Burrows), the gorgeous movie star better known for her failing marriage than her most recent hit.
In the spirit of Short Cuts, Magnolia, Crash and other ensemble yarns of Angelenos in crisis, director Jonas Pate ties them all together, with Carter's own quest for catharsis leading the way. The lovely Burrows talked to Movieline this week about the emotional costs of fame, the advantages of being English in Hollywood, and the one Shrink-related question she won't answer (sort of).
When I was watching Shrink, I felt like these were a lot of complex characters who could possibly have had their own films. When you read it, what did you think of how the script told those stories -- especially your own?
You're right. You could. We actually slimmed it down. I think at one point my character had sort of a mentor figure in her life who was slightly older and would guide her and stuff. I said, "It's got to be Patricia Clarkson!" And they shed a few stories from the structure just because it was a necessity. So I think it's quite ambitious, but I think Jonas pulls it off with his own kind of dexterity. He really had a stealth in the way he directed us; his ego never exploded on to the set. He was very quiet and low-key and let people show up and do what they're doing. And then you see this man piece his vision together in a way that's really pleasing.
You've spent a lot of your career moving between European projects and/or smaller indie titles. How much of the fragile Hollywood culture depicted here did you relate to?
Well, I suppose we were all trying to avoid getting stuck. This really could be set anywhere in the world in a big city, because it's really just about a group of people who are in some way beginning the story a little stuck. Or in Jemma's case, a state of loss and grief. And then it's about them trying to become unstuck, really. In that way I suppose I've always been wary of staying in one place for too long. You can find yourself in a cul-de-sac. So whether that's staying in one medium or just one city for a long period of time, I think perhaps the moving around -- the itinerant lifestyle -- is good for allowing fresh air to blow through your life. In that way, I suppose, Kate scares me; you wouldn't want to back yourself into a corner, I suppose, where you've been so famous that it's hard for you to exist outside that fame.
What are the psychological implications of that lifestyle? Coming from Europe and settling into Hollywood -- what do you think would come up in your therapy sessions?
I think there aren't that many adjustments. [Hollywood] treats you with immense respect; they think you've probably got a Ph.D. in something because you're English. Seriously, Americans are incredibly friendly people, very welcoming people. And now, with Obama in power, it's a pretty great place to be. So it's not like we're in a war zone. It's just about how long you want to stay there. It's such a gentle climate!
If you can survive.
Yeah.
What that ever an issue emotionally or professionally? Did you ever think, "How am I going to do this?"
I'm not really one of those people who thinks, "If I didn't do this, then I wouldn't know who I was." For some people, that's what they're born to do. That's their métier. They'd like to end their days on a stage; they'd like to die in a theater. That's not me. I adore the arts and creating things, but I was talking to a friend about it last night: The form in which you create is really less relevant than the fact that you're expressing something. In that way, it's not my everything. If it were it would be a little alarming; any industry that's got that many high rewards is full of descent as well.
How much of the actress you play is someone to whom you relate individually, and how much is just actors or other people you know?
I don't think a story is interesting unless someone is in a state of emergency -- for want of a better word -- at some point in the story. So I relate to her emotionally. She's in a place where she doesn't know if she can extricate herself from this family structure that's not working. I think everyone relates to that. Her profession is neither here nor there. The side that was harder for me to tap into was the one with characters like Keke Palmer's, where there's a great deal of profundity about the situation. There's not a huge amount of money. She's lost her mother. I'm always worried about the bourgeois decadence: "I've got a lovely house, but woe is me." You need to bring something truthful to that person. No one is what what they seem. So Jonas is saying, "Steady on!" All of these people have a value. They all are exploring something. And what makes that interesting is whether that's done with humanity and pathos or not. Of course, added to that, the humor helps.
Is it too personal to ask if you go to therapy?
That's probably too personal to ask.
Is it too personal to ask if you would have gone to therapy to research the role?
Well, completely by accident, I was researching the role I did on [My Own Worst Enemy] with Christian Slater. It was something like nine episodes where I'm playing his therapist. So completely by chance I was researching playing a shrink while doing Shrink, both at the same time. I found a wonderful guy in L.A. who helped me with everything -- my office, just the detail of my life as a shrink. It was pretty funny being with Kevin in those scenes whilst simultaneously being in this other thing.
Carter seems to regard himself as a fraud for much of the film. How do you regard psychoanalysis as a science?
Well, the guy I went to -- who was really lovely -- was a Freudian. And then I talked to a bunch of Jungians. I think I'm more in the Jungian school of thought; Jung's pretty interesting. But I think Carter would regard himself as a fraud if he was an actor or a carpenter. I think he thinks he just been fraudulent all his life. The fact that he's been helping people just adds to his feeling of fraudulence. I think that's more about him than what he does.
But are you skeptical of the faith people put in their therapists?
I think people are lonely. Traditionally, 100 years ago, you might have had the village elder you'd go to talk to, or you'd have your grandmother or aunt or uncle living on the same street as you. Some wise person who wasn't a parent, who you could go and share your troubles with. And now we don't really live that way in the West. Things are deconstructed, and people seek the help of a stranger. I'm not saying that person is just as informed as your grandmother -- but they may be. They may be replacing those figures.
You mentioned earlier how Shrink frankly addresses the matter of actresses and aging. How accurately did Kate's agent's comments depict the way those discussions take place in Hollywood?
I think the thing she's told is just the tip of the iceberg for women. Definitely. I never saw the documentary Looking for Debra Winger -- Rosanna Arquette made it, didn't she? -- but apparently it was pretty interesting viewing. The quotes that women recounted had been said to them by their agents were pretty interesting. It's probably gotten a little better than it was 10 years ago, with Susan Sarandon and all these wonderful women playing their real age and being gorgeous leading women. So it's probably changed a tad, hasn't it? But you definitely have Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and these wonderful men coming into their own in life, and women aren't always afforded that luxury. There are always exceptions. I like it when you see someone like Julie Christie in that Sarah Polley film [Away From Her]. And I have friends like Salma Hayek who say, "I'm not going to be this thing. I'm going to make my own films. I'm going to create things. I'm not going to wait for the interesting roles to come -- I'm going to create some myself." I think that's a wonderful choice to make.
Is that something you intend to do -- produce and star?
Absolutely. Salma inspired me a few years ago to make my own stories. I've started to produce a little bit; the early stages of one or two projects. But yeah, absolutely. It's very slow. It's inch-by-inch. You sense something you like, and you think, "Oh, I'm going to do that." And then you're in costume fittings for something else. It's such a different discipline in your mind, to imagine things that far in advance. It'll be kind of nice to do one alongside the other.