Samantha Morton: The Movieline Interview

What was Charlie Kaufman like on the set of Synecdoche, New York?

The filming was consistently, for me personally, very fun. I don't like lazy directors. I don't like when directors don't have the confidence or understanding to make the film they want to make. So to work with Charlie, who'd obviously written it, it was like going to school, every time. You were constantly learning a different way of working, a different way of looking at my craft. And also I was giving as much as I can. It was very liberating to work with him.

So there was never a moment where he didn't seem to know exactly what he wanted and how he was going to achieve this densely layered, mind-bending universe?

I didn't analyze him. I don't analyze any of my directors, not even in hindsight. There's only one director -- and I won't mention their name, but I've worked with him my entire career -- that I had to analyze and think about the experience. He shouldn't be working in motion pictures, because of the abuse on the set.

But my job, whether it's working with Charlie, or Harmony Korine, or Chris Cunningham, or Anton Corbijn, or Oren, or Spielberg, or Woody Allen -- I could go on and on -- Lynne Ramsay, Carine Adler. I have huge amount of respect for them. I hope they don't analyze me as Sam, as I don't analyze them. A working relationship is like a stream -- it's flowing, it's changing. You need to use different skills to get through the day.

I hate the analyzing thing. People say, "Why do you think your character did that?" I don't know. I'm not an analyst, and they're not in psychotherapy. Unless it's a film where they're in therapy.

So it's instinctive.

Yes and it's ongoing.

I was curious about the burning house scene.

[Laughs]

Maybe one of the stranger scenes in that movie.

I didn't think of it as crazy. It was a beautiful house, and she'd always wanted to live in that house. That was the only way I could play it.

You never questioned what it meant, or why she wanted to live in a burning house?

No way. Am I stupid? I accept it, and embrace it, and that's what you need to move forward.

Was it perilous to actually shoot it?

It was tough, but a laugh. Funny! It was also a very cheeky scene.

How did the premiere of your directorial debut, The Unloved, go at the Toronto International Film Festival?

I don't read reviews, but apparently we did all right. The response was great. We had incredible feedback at the Q&As.

I had read that this was something you wanted to get out of your system, and this wasn't the start of a directing career for you. Do you still feel that way?

That's been slightly condensed. What I said was that I co-wrote a play when I was 16. It was a story that I felt I needed to get out of my system. I started storyboarding the images in my head when I was 16. Over the years, I wrote various drafts of the film and talked to various directors. A lot of people said, "You've got to do it." I didn't feel compelled, but then something changed. As I talked more and more to people about the project, I realized I had the vision for the film. And if you have that, you're halfway there. The rest is history. It was shot on 35mm, and it was released in the U.K. simultaneously in cinemas and on TV. I felt very liberated because it had the highest viewing numbers on Channel 4 for a single drama.

Does it get a U.S. release?

I don't know. You'd have to ask the producer. I know we had some interest in Toronto. It's about finding the right platform for it. It's not just about getting it released. It's done for me a lot of what it needed to do anyway in the U.K. Having it screen in America is just a bonus.

Because it's about the British foster care system.

Right. The day after it aired on TV I got phone calls from the government, and I've been advising them on child protection issues.

And next up you're in John Carter of Mars, a return to the big-budget sci-fi blockbuster. What can you tell us about that?

At this point I don't want to say too much, but I'm ridiculously excited to be working with Andrew Stanton.

So that's all you can say?

Well, I haven't started yet, so there's nothing to say, other than I'm ridiculously excited about doing it.

And how are you feeling? There were news stories a while back about a freak accident involving plaster falling on your head, which caused you to have a stroke?

That was a couple years ago now, and I think I've made four films since then? I'm fine, thank you. But I think that word frightens some people, because they associate that word, "stroke," with older people. They don't understand that it can happen to anybody, any time. People playing tennis can have strokes, because of this vertical artery dissection thing. I had to learn how to walk again, had to learn how to use my hands again. It was a huge thing. So I just feel very grateful. I can remember my lines, I can act still, I've had a baby since. She's nearly two.

It must have been terrifying.

Um, yeah. Quite so.

But you seem perfectly fine now.

More than ever.

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