Published in Premiere, May 1997.
Like Janet Jackson and Alexander Haig, Judy Davis likes to be in control. She feels she lacked creative input in two of her best-known performances, her role as the writer in My Brilliant Career and her Oscar-nominated turn as Adela Quested in A Passage to India, and they were not happy experiences. But the 41-year-old Australian has largely mapped her own course since, choosing films by fellow mavericks David Cronenberg (Naked Lunch), Joel and Ethan Coen (Barton Fink), and Woody Allen (Alice, Husbands and Wives, for which she earned another Oscar nod; and the upcoming Deconstructing Harry). Her latest roles--as a Marxist who has an affair with Stalin in Children of the Revolution, a sleazy chief of staff in Absolute Power, and a shrewish wife in Blood & Wine--are as uncompromising and unsentimental as ever, making it unlikely that we will ever hear her exclaim, “You like me! You really like me!”
Is the character you play in Children of the Revolution anything like you?
I’ve never really been political. I always found Marxists a bit frightening because they seemed so clever. Of course, that’s what they want you to think, don’t they? Also, I went to convent school, and the nuns would tell us that the Communists were going to come down from southeast Asia, and ask us if we were ready to die for our faith.
Like you, your character doesn’t seem to care if she’s popular.
I do care if I’m popular. I’m just not good at playing the game. I wish I was better at it. I like playing characters that are flawed, that people don’t immediately like.
Have you played anyone you didn’t like?
Yes, and it was terrible. In My Brilliant Career. But I was young and I thought, It’s only eight weeks. But eight weeks can seem like eight years. I hated it.
Did anyone else know you hated it?
Everyone did. I did not look very happy. I wasn’t in control of anything. What I thought was interesting about her, if anything, were the fantasies she had about her life. But the movie just accepted those fantasies as facts. There was only one other time I felt like I had no control.
When was that?
Well, with David Lean [on A Passage to India]. I was frightened of him.
What did he do that was frightening?
One thing happened before we started shooting. They had a costume designer who was using clothing from the period. She brought trunks and trunks of costumes to India, where David Lean was waiting. I would try something on and his mouth would just drop, and he would wave his arm as if we were wiping a screen until he had rejected every single costume. What struck me was the contemptuousness he seemed to have for the effort that went into it. He was quite old by this time, and I think he was worried about whether he could pull off a big production. I had sympathy for that.
Did he show any inkling of his talent when you worked with him?
[Long pause] Well, he was good with the elephants. He filmed the elephants quite well. Almost erotically.
Does Woody Allen allow more participation in the creative process?
He makes you feel like you’re participating, whether it’s true or not. He’s a very charming man. I’m fascinated by writer-directors. It’s nice to be able to go up to the writer and say, “What did you mean here?”
Is David Cronenberg as dark as his films?
Not at all. He’s very personable, but keeps you at arm’s length. He didn’t discuss anything with me about the role. The first day, I had to shoot a scene where I inject bug powder into my breast. He just said, “Okay, you sit over there. Here’s the needle.” And I was, like, “Do you want to talk about this? No? Okay.” His crew was very enamored of him. It was like they were all weaved into his web. They were almost lovesick.
You went to school with Mel Gibson.
I went to drama school with him. He was very self-conscious, which I guess you would be if you were so gorgeous.
Didn’t you two play Romeo and Juliet?
He sent up the balcony scene. He made his Adam’s apple very big and gulped loudly, which got a big laugh.
The balcony scene doesn’t usually get laughs.
No, but this one did, and it needed it. It was quite funny.
You’ve made several Hollywood pictures lately, like Absolute Power.
I did Absolute Power because of Clint Eastwood. Once I was at the beach and I had just had a baby and I was feeling like shit. There was a Clint Eastwood movie on television. There’s a woman in a bath and he walks in, picks her up, carries her into another room, and throws her on the bed, and I thought, That’s the man for me.
You haven’t slept with any world leaders, like your character in Children of the Revolution, have you?
I can’t say I have, unfortunately.
Which world leader would you sleep with if you could?
Well, I’ve always been a big admirer of Gorbachev’s. I think he really saved the world, and it’s sad that the Russian people rejected him.
Have you thought about directing?
I’ve thought about it. It would be great to be in control of everything.
