 A scene from Erick Zonca’s “Julia.” Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.8. Derek Jarman is the reason she’s working today (you probably figured that too, but it’s always worth mentioning).
“I really don’t believe I would be performing in films if I hadn’t met [Derek],” Swinton said. “When I first met him… I was a writer, who should have gone to art school, who went to university, stopped writing, wanted to find film, couldn’t find film, worked in the theater, was alienated by the theater… I was completely what they would call ‘bleeped’ [she motions to the screen behind her, which had recently played a clip of ‘Julia’ that was essentially 50% bleeped ‘fuck’s]. When I met Derek Jarman, he gave me this place to go to, because I knew I didn’t want to be a proper actor. I knew I didn’t want to work in theater or on television or industrial cinema.”
9. She and Hollywood “are over.”
“Recently I’ve been working as a kind of industrial spy in Hollywood,” she said. “The truth is… It’s over.”
10. Her children did not want to see “The Chronicles of Narnia.”
“I was very proud at the time that [‘Narnia’] came out,” Swinton described. “Because I kept saying to the Disney executives that there were two tickets that were not sold because my children did not want to see it. Mainly because they saw a trailer and said that it was ‘too loud.’ Which it is. All those films are too loud. Especially if you’re eight. They eventually saw it on DVD, and were kind of amused because as far as they were considered the wrong side won… They’re pagans… They’re coming along nicely.”
11. According to her, she doesn’t know one thing about acting.
“There’s this endless disclaimer that I always feel I honestly have to give about not being an actor,” she said in all seriousness. “Because it really does feel most honest. I always feel that real actors are going to stand up and say ‘you’re a fraud! Confess it!’ And I want to be the first to say that I never pretended to be anything else. I always pretended to be a film fan first, and an artist’s model second. I’m in front of a camera, because I’m curious, and that’s about it. I don’t know one thing about acting.”
12. She admires Jim Jarmusch (yes, a given, but her quote here is just too good to leave out).
“I’m really privileged to work in cinema because I’m so, so in love with it,” Swinton said. “It’s got texture to it… It’s always about a conversation. Film is just a gesture. And there’s a film I’m privileged to be a part of that I do recommend you go see. Which is the Jim Jarmusch’s new film, and I just saw it last night for the first time. And that film is a perfect example. Jim Jarmusch has just gone, ‘you know what, I want to make a film and I want to go out of my way to not know what I’m doing.’ And Focus [Features, the distributor of ‘The Limits of Control’], bless them, have gone ‘okay, we’ll give you some money to do that. Just go and try and keep yourself keen.’ And he’s done that! And I personally think it’s a beautiful thing. To even see someone trying to be that inarticulate. It’s amazing.”
13. Her favorite movie performance of all time is the donkey in Bresson’s “Au Hasard Balthazar”
“I’m trying all the time to be that donkey,” she said. “I’m getting there. ‘Julia’ is a step in the right direction.”
“Julia” will be released theaters this Friday, May 8th through Magnolia Pictures. “The Limits of Control” is currently in theaters.
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