Terry Gilliam often likes to shoot his actors using a fisheye lens, but with new find Lily Cole, that embellishment is hardly needed. Cole's wide-set features and exotic beauty landed her high-profile modeling work on the pages of Vogue and the runways of Chanel and Versace, but Cole says her biggest career challenge was playing the ingenue Valentina opposite Heath Ledger and Christopher Plummer in Gilliam's upcoming fantasy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Earlier this month, I spoke to the 21-year-old about her transition from model to actress, the tragedy of Ledger's death while filming, and the challenge of suddenly acting opposite the new actors (Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp, and Jude Law) called in to finish out Ledger's role.
Acting obviously has a lot in common with modeling, but how similar do you find directors and photographers to be?
I think there are a lot of parallels. Like you said, there are some similarities between modeling and acting -- actually, models often just end up being models because they're picked randomly, you know? Whereas photographer and directors have both chosen those paths. I know a lot of photographers who've played with making short films because there's often a storytelling element to taking photographs. That seems only to be expanded by a director's work.
Have you ever been challenged by a photographer the way you were by Terry Gilliam?
No, and that's not to belittle any of the photographers I've worked with. I've worked with some really brilliant photographers, but I find that it's usually their vision that's put on me, and there's a small amount I can do with that to role-play and achieve what they're going after. It's more their creative vision and I'm just a part of it -- which is true to a certain extent with Terry's work, but Terry is obviously much more demanding of me to contribute and create a character, as he would be with all his actors.
Obviously it's nice to be asked to contribute more, but is it daunting at the same time?
For sure. I've always gone after fears and tried to stifle them by doing them. It is daunting, but it's more rewarding.
What was challenging about it?
From the outset, being amongst really talented and experienced actors and being expected to do something and create someone. Whatever it was that was expected of me, doing it opposite those actors was daunting.
They're all so different in technique! Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger, Verne Troyer, a newcomer like Andrew Garfield...what did you learn from seeing all those different approached to acting thrown together?
The thing with actors is that I don't know any of their techniques! If they have them, they're probably secretly locked away. [Laughs] Actually, even though they all have very different skills, there is a similar element of being present, of being real. They know their character and then they play with it, and that's something that I aspire with practice to also do. It started off that I was very intimidated and I wasn't quite sure who Valentina was. The whole enterprise seemed very nerve-wracking to me, but with time, I had to be her. These characters all emerged and my character emerged, and suddenly it became a lot more playful.
How did you know you were succeeding? Could you tell whether you were impressing Terry?
I never knew if I was succeeding or not. Sometimes he would let me know, but not often. I only really think I might have succeeded now afterwards, when he'll respond positively to what I did. During the process, I was constantly walking on a high rope.
Why were you so nervous?
Once we started filming, I actually got more comfortable with it. The concept of going into the movie was what I was intimidated by -- sitting in a read-through with Christopher and Heath and Terry and Verne and Andrew. They sat there with more experience and gravitas and ideas, and suddenly I realized how new I was and what a big role I had. I didn't know what Terry expected of me, but I had to try and live up to something, you know? It was more the proposal that intimidated me than the actuality.
Were you intimidated by Terry's reputation as this mythic, larger-than-life figure?
Well, he really is the myth and larger-than-life figure! I didn't know that much about him going in -- I'd seen two of his films, Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He is what he seems, I think. His film are such an honest vomiting of what he is, and there's no compromise or people-pleasing going on. There's his crazy imagination and thoughtful mind being spread like butter on toast in a film.
You worked on the film both before and after Heath's death. Can you tell me how the mood on the set changed?
It was an immense, unescapable sadness that hung like a cloud over the whole second half of filming. It was also beautifully unifying: everyone was very affected by what happened and had come back together a month later committed to trying to finish the film, but very aware of this really wonderful human being we'd lost. It was somber, but it was also like a family reunited. Once the ball started rolling and [Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell] committed, it was going. The machine was churning and the wheels was turning.
How did you recalibrate the performance you'd planned to give opposite Heath as Tony when suddenly you've got Colin Farrell in front of you in that role?
It was certainly very weird, and made me really upset the first day because I hadn't really thought about that dynamic at all. I just kind of did it and it was only afterward, after I'd pushed aside the reality of the situation to reenact my relationship with Tony, that there was the undeniable reality that the only reason I was doing that is because a friend of mine has died. It was such a difficult reasoning to come to grips with. Colin was so lovely, and he was in a strange situation himself, coming in to do that.
In modeling, the clothes really help inform your method, and Valentina's look is really quite interesting. Did those types of things help you get in character?
I think it did, but it's hard to know because I didn't play the film in contrast wearing tracksuit bottoms. [Laughs] There's gypsy clothes, dirt on your face, scruffy hair...it gives you a certain feeling, it's playful and dirty.
You're obviously going to be acting in the future, but how much does modeling still figure into things?
Not so much. I've stopped the last few years, although I'll do the little thing here and there where it's appropriate. Most of my time is dedicated to finishing my degree, which I'm halfway through in England.
How do you juggle looking for film work when you're trying to finish your degree?
I don't know! [Laughs] I did my A-levels in England when I was modeling a lot, and it was a juggling act. I'm in term times in Cambridge for six months of the year, so that gives me six months to play with. I'm interested in learning and I find it valuable. I found going to school when I was modeling very grounding. It's really kept my perspective on bigger things in my life.
Photo Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images