Shailene Woodley plays George Clooney’s troubled older daughter in The Descendants, from acclaimed filmmaker Alexander Payne.
At the center of this unique, poignant and often funny movie about families is Matt King (Clooney), who is forced to take care of his two daughters as a single father following a boating accident, which leaves his wife in a coma. In the past this wealthy lawyer and landowner has been detached from both girls. Now he has to learn how to communicate with them while coping with his own grief.
Q: How did you get the role?
A: I went for an audition and I didn’t do very well but I ended up getting another chance to try again. The next time was better. Alexander Payne and I just clicked.
Q: What was it like when you discovered you had landed the part?
A: I was living in New York and I was out doing yoga. My phone was turned off and when I got back home I saw that there was a strange voicemail from a number I didn’t know. It was a call saying: ‘Hi, this Alexander, you got the part, I just want to welcome you to the team.’ I immediately burst into tears, I was crying so hard. My mum already knew that I had the role because my manager had called her and asked her not to tell me so that it would be a surprise when Alexander called me. We cried together and it was a really amazing moment. I was overwhelmed because it was such a great opportunity. Even now I can’t believe it: I worked with Alexander Payne and George Clooney.
Q: What is it like working with Alexander?
A: It’s not scary working with Alexander. It is just like working with another human being who is confident and knows what he is doing. He is not only an acclaimed director but he is also an amazing human being. He will sometimes say to me after a take: ‘Shai you would never do that in person, that is not natural, don’t do that.’ He has been able to catch me out on things that are not real and not me. But he also listens to me and to my opinions. He said: ‘Shai, you would never tuck your hair behind your ear like that’. But I said: ‘Yes I would do that’ and he said ‘okay then do it.’ We have great discussions; he will often say: ‘I don’t understand why you are doing something’ and I will tell him how I interpreted the scene and then he will say: ‘That’s brilliant, I didn’t think about that.’ He is so amazing that anything he says directly affects me personally as well as affecting me as an actress.”
Q: How exciting is it for you working with George Clooney?
A: I have never been a person to get star-struck, but meeting George was really cool and I think he is an incredible actor. I don’t think people have seen him as a vulnerable man like this. It is such an honour to do scenes with him, knowing that he is giving me as much as he gets. I can’t tell you how often you work with an actor who does not give you anything. He gives me so much to work with every time we do a scene and that is such a gift.
Q: What have you been learning from him?
A: He is very natural as this character Matt King and I guess that is the biggest lesson to learn, to be natural. He also knows so much about the technicalities of film. He is extremely knowledgeable about other films and other directors and he teaches me so much. I have a lot to learn from him every day. Also he is down to earth and a really nice person. He is so humble and grateful. I don’t even think of him as ‘George Clooney’ the star.
Q: You play Alexandra, Matt King’s daughter. How do you see her?
A: She is really like every other teenager except that she takes rebellion to the extreme. She is very insecure and feels that she did not spend enough time with her mother when she was well and she has not spent enough time with her Dad either since he was never around when she was growing up. She took rebellion to the level of experimenting with drugs and alcohol. She thinks: ‘Who cares about life? I don’t care and I don’t need my family.’ She went through a whole period of thinking: ‘I hate my family. I am going to disown them.’ She was sent away to boarding school and saw that as an opportunity to escape.
Q: At heart though she is a sympathetic character and very bright isn’t she?
A: She is a very smart girl but she is very manipulative. A lot of people are manipulative in positive ways but she tends to use manipulation in negative ways. You see that throughout the movie. She is also very mature and wise beyond her years. She has created a barrier around herself, which has meant that she has never really examined her life and the consequences of her relationships.
Q: How does she change?
A: She starts out the movie as a teenager, who feels like a victim and she blames her parents, seeing them as the reason that her life is horrible. But during the course of the movie, she starts to realize that she’s responsible for her own happiness and it isn’t up to her parents to make her happy. It’s fun to watch her grow up. She becomes much more vulnerable, while remaining independent. She helps her Dad. He is kind of lost and doesn’t know how to be a parent or a human being or care about anyone other than himself. She helps him to see that there is a world beyond him and that he needs to start raising his daughters and looking after them.
Q: In your view what is the film all about?
A: It is a journey that a father and two daughters have to embark upon together. They end up learning different things about themselves that they never expected to discover. There are also heartaches and traumas. George’s character Matt has a mid-life crisis. My teenage character Alex learns about wisdom and 10 year-old Scottie has a lot of angst and learns to let go of that. My character also learns that in order to give, you have to receive something. Throughout her entire childhood she has shut herself off from receiving anything. People like her don’t accept compliments because of their own insecurities. She is very scared emotionally although she is not the kind of girl who is frightened of anything physical like jumping off a cliff. She is scared of her parents saying positive things to her and telling her she is an amazing human being, because she feels deep inside that she is unworthy. She feels that she is not trying her hardest in life. Alex is really a broken little girl. She learns to have the confidence to be who she wants to be. She is determined to do everything she can to get there. Her Dad learns a lot about fatherhood and so much about his daughters.”
Q: What is it like working with Amara Miller who plays Scottie, your sister?
A: She is so sweet. Scottie is an amazing, independent and hysterically funny 10-year-old. She is very hyper and Amara is great playing her. It is refreshing to see this young lady acting so naturally and she has nailed the role. It is so great to see someone who hasn’t been jaded. Amara has never acted before and has no experience, yet she is blowing everyone away with her natural talent. She doesn’t take any of it seriously, which I think is great. I don’t even think she knows she’s not taking it seriously and I think a lot of actors can learn from that attitude. They often take things far too seriously and study their lines too much. Amara does something different and interesting with every take. I really respect her.”
Q: How did the acting begin for you?
A: I was five and we were living in Palmdale, California. My Mum is a school counsellor and my dad is a school principal in public school and they knew nothing about Hollywood or acting. My Mum heard about a theatre programme, got me into acting classes and organised head shots. To start with, we thought it would just be a hobby for me. Instead of gymnastics classes I would be taking a theatre class. We tried it and I ended up getting an agent, even though I didn’t know what an agent was at the time. But that is how we started, learning as we went along. But my parents gave me three rules growing up that I had to follow: I had to maintain good grades in school, I had to stay grounded and not change who I was and I had to have fun. If I did all those things they said I could continue acting.
Q: Who are your role models?
A: My mother is my biggest role model. I think she is the most amazing woman on the planet. I love Marcia Gay Harden; she is a fantastic actress and I have had the opportunity to work with her. She played my mother in a TV movie Felicity: An American Girl Adventure. We have stayed in touch and she has become a great family friend. We don’t see each other often but every time I go to New York she lets me stay at her house. I really respect her as a mother, as a wife, as a human and as an actress.
Q: And what are your dreams and goals?
A: I want to go to college and get a degree in psychology and interior design. I would like to go to NYU (New York University). I would like to live in Europe for a few years and I want to travel the world. One day I would love to have a family. And of course I want to continue acting.
The Descendants is in cinemas from Friday, January 27, certificate 15.
