It's clear that Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich had a blast making A Perfect Getaway. The pair of them, maybe a little loopy from endless interviews, maybe just happy to be back in each others company, enter a roundtable interview already in giggles, and proceed to rag on each other and joke around throughout the entire interview. After all the intensity and violence of A Perfect Getaway, it's quite fun to see the two of them joke around.
I can't tell you much about that intensity and violence, because halfway through A Perfect Getaway comes a twist that gives away everything. Instead, jut read about Zahn and Jovovich-- who play newlyweds Cliff and Cydney in the film--getting drenched by rain machines on the set, enjoying being typecast, and Jovovich refusing to get in on the action. A Perfect Getaway opens nationwide today.
When you first read the script and came to the twist, what was your reaction?
Steve: When I read the script, I was completely thrown by it. When reading scripts, usually 5-10 pages into it you're pretty clued in. The other thing I loved about it was nature, and the idea of the trail, and just 8 people. That's something I thought, 2 hours of 8 people, how do you sustain the suspense, how do you keep this going? And you really do it by simplifying.
Did you guys choose these character to subvert the roles you've played before?
Milla:Yeah, the main reason i went on board-- well, apart from the fact that the script was one of those super-quick reads, and you always know if it takes you 3 days to read a script, it's not the thing to do . A good script, you shoudl be able to read it all at once. For me personally, for most of the film I just get to be a nice, normal girl, which is probably the most screentime I've spent in my life being nice and normal. Even though it all takes a dark turn in the end, I got to sort of be myself.
Steve: The whole idea of, you know, people are used to seeing me in a certain way and screwing with it a little bit, that's why [I took it].>
Steve, I read something a while ago where you said you were tired of being pigeonholed as the funny flake.
Steve: No, I said the opposite. I've always said, I've never felt-- what a great thing to be pigeonholed in this industry, and isn't that a goal?
Milla: It's great, I'm actually working-- they found a place for me. It's wonderful.
Steve: Those are parts that I gravitated towards, because I always found them to be more interesting. That's the guy who, if I was watching the movie, I'd like that guy. You don't have to seek those roles as much, because they automatically happen, because you just get older. You're no longer the young pothead-- you're the dad who's an older pothead.
Milla: I'm 33 I'm a mom-- it's definitely relaxed me a lot. When I was in my early 20s, it was like [tortured voice] 'I'm being pigeonholed, and I'm an artist.' After you have a baby, if she's OK, if she's not sick, she's eating well. Everything else it's like, pigeonhole me, please! You want to pigeonhole me as an action person, go right ahead. If you want to as an actor, you can always do smaller independent film, play more of a character.
What were the challenges of filming outdoors, in the rain and in the jungle?
Milla: Definitely we had that rain. And that was hilarious too, because we had to match it, so they brought the rain machine. But rain machines don't ever do normal rain. In literally two seconds, you were in like a shower. Rain pouring down my nose, and I'm trying to talk.
Steve:Technically, it really was a tough thing. And you're in the jungle and everyone's in shorts and T-shirts, and you're in the third stage of hypothermia. They're like 'You're cold?' But it's so much better than sitting in a stage. And it's so much more fun.
Milla, is the physical stuff second nature to you at this point?
Milla: I didn't really do much of the physical stuff in this movie, that's one of the reasons I took it. I had just had a baby four months before, so I was like, 'David, I'm 165 pounds. I'm not the girl that you have seen in films, at all. I'll send you some pictures of what I look like, and you can decide.' And he said, no, I think it's better, you look more like a normal girl. But I was pretty adamant that I wasn't going to do any training, or kayaking. This isn't Resident Evil-- I can play my part and call it a day.
