IR Interview: Charlotte Kirk For "Duchess" [Saban] - Part II
Actress/Producer/Writer Charlotte Kirk talks to The Inside Reel about preparation, training and mindset with her new movie, the action thriller “Duchess” from Saban Films.
Transcript
00:00♪♪
00:10♪♪
00:14Nicely done, Duchess.
00:16Duchess?
00:19She handled that with grace.
00:20♪♪
00:23Real power
00:25can never be given.
00:27It has to be taken.
00:28♪♪
00:31You've got some balls on you, Princess.
00:33It's Duchess.
00:34♪♪
00:37♪♪
00:39Because you see the empathy.
00:41That's the interesting thing about it.
00:43You empathize with her because you see
00:45that she's reacting as normally people would.
00:48But her head needs to be somewhere
00:49specifically when you're playing her
00:51because she has to be able to go back and forth.
00:53Can you talk about what you needed to get into
00:56as far as the psychology of her?
00:59Because it's a physical thing.
01:00It's a mental thing.
01:02It's an emotional thing, too.
01:04Yeah, I mean, it was tough mentally and physically.
01:09I mean, for example, physically,
01:10I had to learn to box.
01:11I've never boxed before in my life.
01:12So that was quite challenging and a lot of fun.
01:15Yeah, your hook is pretty damn good, though.
01:17I mean, Charlotte.
01:19You know what?
01:20It was a lot of fun.
01:21I mean, one of the toughest days on set
01:22was when Rob McNaughton comes to visit Scarlet
01:25in the boxing ring and then I have to remember
01:27to right hook, left hook,
01:29and remember all these chunks of dialogue
01:31at the same time.
01:32That was very tough.
01:33It was like trying to rub my head
01:34and pat my belly at the same time.
01:35It was like, really?
01:36That was a difficult one.
01:38But, you know, overall, it was challenging emotionally.
01:45I have done a lot.
01:48I've done, I would say, emotionally.
01:50The reckoning was very challenging for me
01:52because everything was like that.
01:54But Dutchess was challenging in itself
01:57because I had to go from, as you said,
01:59humour, dark humour, to crying over my love's dead body,
02:03to revenge.
02:05It's a whole, her arc is pretty phenomenal,
02:07going from all...
02:08But there's a difference between fear and rage.
02:11You know, that's the thing, looking at that.
02:13Sorry, I didn't really mean to interrupt you.
02:15No, absolutely.
02:16And not overdoing it.
02:18But a big inspiration for this film was Scarface.
02:22And, you know, one of my favourite films.
02:24And Tony Montana.
02:26And the big thing for me and Neil was,
02:28I said, Neil, I want to play this character all out.
02:31I don't want to, you know, that there's no...
02:34A lot of these movies you see today are very vanilla.
02:37They're out there, but they're not outrageous and as crazy.
02:42They're not visceral.
02:43They're not visceral.
02:44Yes, exactly.
02:45And I think we're making a gangster movie here.
02:46This is the perfect opportunity to go all out.
02:49So it was also that balance of, you know,
02:52I don't want to play her over the top or overdo it.
02:55So there was that fine line in the performance,
02:57making sure that I'm not overplaying her.
03:00But that's where I leave, you know,
03:02I trust the director and trust Neil and say,
03:04look, reel me in if I have to,
03:06but I'm going to go all out on this one.
03:08I have to.
03:10What, what?
03:18I'm sorry. They're my best friends.
03:27Move!
03:33Move, move!
03:34Move, move!
03:35Move, Rob!
03:37On me!
03:39Move, babe!
03:41Stay behind me, stay behind me!
03:42Danny!
03:43Move, babe, move!
03:45Rebecca!
03:56Move, move!
03:57Shit!
03:58What did you say?
04:10Well, here's the thing.
04:11It's like, you know, where do you guys find it?
04:13Because it's sometimes an interesting line to walk
04:15to see where the audience will go with you.
04:17I mean, at that one point, it doesn't give too much away,
04:19but towards the end, it gets really,
04:21that's what reminds me of Scarface.
04:23It's in this one sequence in a room, you're in a chair.
04:25It's pretty brutal, you know, but she's laughing through it.
04:29The blood in her teeth, all this kind of stuff.
04:31And that's what Tony Montana did that.
04:34He's like, come on, come at me.
04:36She's gone.
04:37She's gone at that point.
04:38And I think that was a big part of it.
04:40Like, she kind of had everything she wanted,
04:42but then she had lost everything at the same time.
04:44And then Scarface, at the end, he's gone.
04:46Gone.
04:47There's no way you're going to get him back.
04:49And that was like her towards the end.
04:51She'd lost everything that mattered to her.
04:53So it was just a, it was really,
04:55the ending is really bittersweet.
04:57She's got her journeys, her rise to power,
05:00but it's kind of tragic as well.
05:03I don't want to give away too much away.
05:05No, I don't want to give away anything.
05:07But it's, it's funny.
05:08It's just looking at that ambition,
05:10but it's an ode to so many things.
05:12I mean, with the tiger, all this,
05:14you guys place in all these great little details that are
05:17obviously loves of, of yours from films, you know,
05:20cause you, you know,
05:21cause you can look at the tiger and think Scarface,
05:23but you can also think the hangover, you know,
05:25you can think all these different things.
05:27Can you talk about,
05:29engaging all those homages and trying to, you know,
05:32pepper in your guys' love of films, obviously.
05:35Yeah. I mean,
05:36Neil wanted to make it 60s, 70s vibe.
05:38And I think he absolutely did that with the colors and the
05:41way he shot it.
05:42Simon, our DP was absolutely incredible.
05:44Yeah.
05:45And we had to get a tiger in there, of course,
05:47for the whole nod, nod with Scarface.
05:49It was, it was either a lion or a tiger.
05:51And actually we originally,
05:52we were going to do the tiger,
05:54But between us,
05:55we had to reshoot it because it was pretty bad.
05:57It was really, really cute and cuddly.
05:59And we were like,
06:00we looked at it and we were like,
06:01that's just not believable.
06:02No.
06:03So we had to reshoot,
06:04we had to do some pickup shots and reshoot the tiger,
06:06which looks awesome.
06:07Oh no.
06:08Your, your kick in that one sequence,
06:09just, you know,
06:10it's like coming up,
06:11it's like a 300,
06:12you know,
06:13cause that's.
06:14So,
06:15you know,
06:17all of a sudden it's the tiger,
06:18tiger, tiger,
06:19tiger, tiger.
06:20Tiger, tiger, tiger.
06:21Tiger, tiger, tiger.
06:23Tiger.
06:30Tiger.
06:31Tiger, tiger, tiger.
06:32Oh,
06:36it's,
06:38I forget.
06:39Tiger.
06:40Tiger.
06:41Tiger.
06:42Tiger.
06:43God!
06:44♪♪
06:49Aah!
06:50Aah!
06:51♪♪
06:55Aah!
06:56♪♪
06:59Aah!
07:00Aah!
07:01Aah!
07:02♪♪
07:09Aah!
07:10Aah!
07:11Aah!
07:12Aah!
07:13Aah!
07:14Aah!
07:15Aah!
07:16And then I'm just thinking of other things to Scarface.
07:19I think, like, towards the end, it's just the third act
07:22where she's absolutely just gone.
07:24That's the whole essence of I don't care, no-one can stop me.
07:30You know, as Baraka says, like, what happened to her?
07:35He says she came back and she changed from the desert.
07:40I think that was it.
07:41Like, when you see her in the third act,
07:43she's just a completely different person now.
07:46But again, I think it's relatable,
07:48and I think a lot of people would be and would react like that.
07:51Maybe not to the extreme she did, but that's why, again,
07:54we wanted to make her as grounded and as real and relatable as possible,
07:58because Tony Montana, he's an antihero, but you can't help but love him.
08:01He's crazy, and he's horrible and despicable,
08:04but overall, you can't help but watch him and his charisma
08:08and what he says and how he says it and the situations he puts himself in.
08:13So that was kind of what we...
08:15It was like, let's make a female Scarface.
08:17That's exactly what we wanted to do.
08:19That was my goal.
08:20Hey!
08:27Do you like to play rough?
08:29You little...
08:31Get out of my house!
08:32Sorry.
08:33Can't do that.
08:34Maria, get behind me.
08:38What?
08:39You think I came here for her?
09:00Fuck!
09:13That's a big, big...
09:17No, that's ambitious, but this is cinema.
09:19You play it like cinema,
09:21because cinema allows you to take those journeys.
09:25My last question, thank you, Charlotte, is...
09:27But now, into the third film, can you talk about looking at,
09:30having built these different characters,
09:33the learning curve going in and making this film?
09:36And into your next film,
09:38what has the experience taught you
09:41in terms of both the logistics, the efficiency,
09:44but also what you want to accomplish overall?
09:47I think every film is completely different.
09:50So Duchess was my third film that I produced and co-wrote.
09:53Every film is so, so different.
09:55It's always a different animal, each project.
09:59But I'm always learning something per project,
10:02usually from actors, creatively.
10:04When we're on set, we're playing, we're figuring out the scene.
10:09It's usually something that someone doesn't say,
10:12and I'm like, that's so cool.
10:14I'm going to work in playing off actors.
10:17And then after this film,
10:18I shot Fight or Flight with Dolph Lundgren and Michael J. White,
10:21and it was like, that was so incredible,
10:24because coming from this, which is kind of action-packed,
10:27but then going into a full start-to-finish action film,
10:30it was like, I'd learned, like, okay, if I can do this,
10:33if I can play Duchess, I think I can play any role.
10:36And with Dolph, it's interesting,
10:38because he thinks so much, having talked to him.
10:41He thinks so much,
10:42and yet everybody always sees him for his brawn,
10:44and yet there's so much balance.
10:46And it's true.
10:48No, absolutely.
10:49Like, I could do this.
10:51So when I was on that set, and I met Dolph and Michael,
10:54and I was like, yeah, I've just played Duchess.
10:56I can do this.
10:57I know they're, like, the two biggest action stars,
10:59but I've got this.
11:00Duchess gave me that confidence.
11:01Hence why one of my production companies
11:03is called Scarlet Productions.
11:05Love it. Wonderful.
11:06Well, thank you, Charlotte.
11:07I mean, it's a lot of work to make these kind of films,
11:10and a lot of, you know, investment on your part,
11:13just time, emotion, everything, you know, and physical.
11:16My God, yeah.
11:17Congratulations on that, because it's not easy, I know.
11:19So thank you very much.
11:21Thank you for your time.
11:22No, thank you, Tim.
11:23Thank you very much.
11:26I'm going to kill all the men that betrayed me.
11:29They will eat you alive.
11:33Do your worst.
11:36It's not enough to be as good as a man.
11:40You have to be twice as ruthless.
11:44And ten times a bitch.
11:46Oi.
11:49Yeah!
11:50Yeah!
11:51Yeah!
11:52Yeah!
11:53Yeah!
11:54Yeah!
11:55Yeah!
11:56Yeah!
11:57Yeah!