Maria Bello on Haiti, Her Best Picture Preferences, and The Yellow Handkerchief

In The Yellow Handkerchief, Maria Bello plays May, a woman who has to be willing to give out second chances in order to make her relationship work with the conflicted Brett (William Hurt). In real life, Bello's more used to taking chances; after rising to fame on ER, she turned down a lucrative contract to pursue a career that's mixed studio fare with daring independent films, and her passionate advocacy has taken her to places like the devastated Haiti, where she just spent a month on behalf of Artists for Peace and Justice.

Last week, Movieline sat down with the actress for a wide-ranging conversation that touched on controversial Sundance film The Killer Inside Me, the role that reawakened Bello's passion as an actress, and the Best Picture candidate that made her cry.

You and William Hurt both worked on A History of Violence, though you didn't actually work together. Still, is that where you met him?

Yeah, we met on A History of Violence and became fast friends. I really admired him as a person and for his work, and we had a real connection. We said we wanted to work together at some point, and then [producer] Arthur Cohn passed this script to me, this beautiful script, and said that William Hurt was doing it, and I said, "I'll do it!" [Laughs] And we had an extraordinary time working together.

May seems a little down on her luck when she meets Brett, William Hurt's character. Has she had much success with men before Brett?

I think as you get a little bit older -- and I've realized this myself -- you get a little bit jaded about love. We've all been hurt, we've all hurt people. It's hard to trust again! It's hard to trust your instincts and let yourself go, to let yourself jump again. I think you can't help it when there's a connection between people, and it's hard to see straight in the beginning, because you see someone and they see you, and along with seeing the good, they're seeing the broken pieces as well. It's like, can they accept the broken pieces? Can you accept the broken pieces? Can you accept them when you see them reflected in the other person's eyes? It's a real challenge to learn all of those things.

May has to give Brett several chances -- there are a lot of fights and reconciliations. Is that a matter of her acclimating herself to his broken pieces?

Maybe. Or maybe it's that she has to get up the courage to trust herself and her own emotions, no matter what he says. She has to trust her own heart to move forward. You know, it's that dance that you do with your romantic partner when they actually become your romantic partner. There's always a retreat and a moving forward and a draw and pulling back. How do you navigate that truthfully while taking care of your own heart.

Had you been to Louisiana before?

No, I'd never been to New Orleans. At that point, it was quite soon after Katrina, and a lot of the neighborhoods were devastated -- the folks we met were all affected by Katrina. Still, there was such a resilience and a life force and energy from the people in New Orleans. It was an inspiring time.

The characters in the film, too, are picking up the pieces. Could you incorporate that New Orleans spirit into May's arc?

Yeah, absolutely. They're these four disparate characters who are wounded in so many ways. They help heal each others' wounds. I think that's what happened in New Orleans, and that's what's happening in Haiti right now. I spent the last month in Haiti, and it's the same thing. There's a resilience and force in these people who are coming back to life.

It's an interesting comparison to make. You came to New Orleans a little while after tragedy happened, and in Haiti, it's all still very fresh. What sort of other similarities do you see?

I see similarities in the spirit of the people who've had everything taken from them, and yet they're rising up.

I know that William Hurt does loads of research when he plays a character. Do you do the same amount?

Nothing.

Nothing?

[Laughs] I know. It's so funny how we work so well together, but I've never been a research person. I believe that my job is just to be present where I am and that one moment will lead to another moment, like in life. I've tried to work like that.

What about rehearsal? You had two weeks of that on this film.

No. I don't like rehearsal.

Wow, so you just want to show up and that's it.

I just want to show up and do it, and be it.

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