In Neil LaBute’s new film Dirty Weekend, which opens in limited release this weekend, Alice Eve plays Natalie, a bored businesswomen who follows her co-worker, Matthew Broderick, around Albuquerque during a hellishly long layover. Through their trekking, Natalie learns some deep secrets about her compatriot, and reveals some secrets of her own.
This is the second time that Eve has worked with LaBute, and she certainly has one or two things to say about the notorious director’s view of sexuality, her feminine role in this film, and Dirty Weekend‘s casual, theatrical feeling. She also reveals details about a misguided hot-air balloon mishap involving her co-star.
Crave: This is your second film with Neil LaBute after Some Velvet Morning. How would you characterize him as a director?
Alice Eve: Just wonderful. I love working with Neil. This thing about being an actress is you want a safe space, and he’s quite a powerful guy, and he’s able to create a safe space where you feel protected, and you don’t feel judged. So you’re able to explore more facets of the character you’re playing. I enjoy the process creatively with him enormously.
How do you explore?
I think Neil lets you do it by questioning. We have a rehearsal process, and he questions a lot. And if we’re kind of editing, he’s very open to editing, to manipulating the text. You know, making changes. Obviously not too many – within reason – but a thing here or there, he’ll accept. After that, I think it’s almost an unwritten agreement that you know where you are and he knows where he is, and he lets you be free. But within the parameters of the things you’ve explained. And so, you see, you’re off-leash. Like you’re a pet and you can run around a field, and you can hit the right spot.
Both Dirty Weekend and Some Velvet Morning are very stagey and theatrical. What is the process like when making these movies? Are they more theatrical than the usual cinematic outing?
I think they definitely feel like a film shoot to me. I think Neil’s view of the world is theatrical, and that’s what you’re picking up on; his interpretation. ‘Cause he’s the guy with the camera. But the process – the rehearsal process – is probably a bit more theatrical. Because you’re able to discuss and investigate and really get into the stuff you don’t usually get to do in film. But once you film, you film. Once there’s a camera there, it’s a movie.
So no extended periods of theatrical rehearsal?
We kind of pre-rehearse. We rehearse a little on the day, and we block it on the day for sure. But it’s not like we get all the crew up, and then go “You guys relax. We’re gonna sit and have coffee for two hours and discuss the scene.” When we get there, we try and do it.
There’s a lot going on in Dirty Weekend. And your character is, in many ways, the instigator of the action. Is that fair to say?
Oh yeah. That’s fair.
Falcon Films/K5 International
And she is the one trying to open up the heart of the film. There’s a power dynamic. Are there deep discussions about “that the film is really about” on set? What is the film “about?”
I think that we’re dealing with a couple of people who think they’re very common on the surface. But they’re both repressing aspects of themselves and their deep desires, and they’re very secretive about themselves and their deep desires. And maybe are at a point in their lives when… they’re not really ready to share, but they need to share. These things need to come out, or they’re going to start negatively effecting their lives. And I think they help each other along on this journey. To kind of being whoever they are. Whether that is considered kind of strange, or considered kind of against society’s normal things. Like my character feels like she’s not inside society, but I think it’s a process of allowing your true nature to come out. Which is a beautiful story in my opinion.
I liked the chemistry between you and Matthew Broderick’s character, as you seemed so free, and he seemed so tight-lipped.
[Laughs.] I’m laughing at the image of Matthew, who is one of those guys who is “funny bones.” The film – which was made in 15 days – and we were in Albuquerque, and there wasn’t a lot to do, so we would rehearse, and we’d learn our lines in the restaurant, and then shoot. And then what we did, we maintained a similar energy that our characters had with each other. We didn’t stay in character. I was Alice and he was Matt. But we would have this energy that we had in the film. That we kept alive between us when we were outside.
So the chemistry you see was real. He was that kind of energy, and I was a little more “Come on, let’s do this!” I made him, for example, go hot-air ballooning. And I nearly got him killed. Which is terrible. But I insisted that he come up in the sky one morning at 5am And we tried this thing for a bonding exercise, and then we had this terrible crash landing. I think that sort of thing was mirrored in our real relationship.
You can’t just drop that on me. Now I need details on the hot-air ballooning mishap.
Every year in Albuquerque, there’s a hot-air balloon festival. And we happened to be there at the time of it. And it’s one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen. In the morning, as the sun is coming up, there’s thousands – thousands I would say! – of balloons being blown up. All different shapes, like Dumbo, and your classic, pink elephants. Really amazing things all across the landscape. And we went up in one, because I figured it would be a good thing to do while we were in Albuquerque. And so we went up in the sky, and the guy had some champagne up there, and he was very excited. And Matthew.
And then I guess he wanted to do some fancy landing, and we ended up being thrown out of the basket.
And everyone was okay?
[Laughs.] Everyone was safe! But maybe I should not have… It was not great for insurance. I just thought it would be a bonding thing for Matthew and I.
Nothing can bring two actors closer together than a near-death experience.
[Laughs.] Yeah. That’s probably true.
No late night trips to gay bars like in the movie?
I don’t think we made any trips to the bar. That was our bonding thing. We did the hot-air balloon very, very early. We were in the hotel bar/restaurant a lot because we were working there. Was there even a gay bar? I don’t think there are even many bars in Albuquerque.
Falcon Films/K5 International
Neil LaBute’s movies are often about sexuality and gender dynamics. Do you have academic-ish discussions on sexuality and gender with the director?
What I like about Neil is that, in his world, nothing is strange. Everything just is. If you’re into sub/dom, you’re into sub/dom. And you can still function in society. And I agree with that. Whatever you’re into, whatever turns you on, that’s what you’re into. That’s fine. And I like that kind of attitude, and I think that… there [was] no real discussion on that really. Other than the implications of what it would be like if you were into that. How you may feel.
And I think that what we discover with Natalie is that maybe she’s expressing herself. And I think Neil is not just using sex to exploit visual images. I don’t think there’s any act in the movie; I don’t engage in anything. He uses it as a tool by which to understand and deepen the connection with the human being inside. The person inside. For sex is a huge part of what defines us, and who we are, our desires. Our deep desires define us, really. So I think that’s what he uses it for, and I think Nat wasn’t necessarily just in a sub/dom relationship, but she was repressing certain things in her nature, and that maybe she needed to act those things out with her girlfriend.
About the gender politics. Your character, Nat, seems to be the first Neil LaBute female lead that is the stronger character than the male; she’s the instigator. Often the women are often dominated by the men. Nat, however, is certainly the more emotionally on this time.
I agree with that. I think that Nat is the driver, as it were, of the piece. I wonder… The Shape of Things, did you see that? I feel like Rachel Weisz’s character has some power.
She has agency, but she’s also a villainess.
Right. That’s interesting. That’s actually a very good observation. Because Natalie is not a villainess. She actually wants the best. I suppose that as our life perspectives change, in maturity, he’s seen a different side to the story, and wants to explore it in his work. I can’t give you his interpretation of that, but I think of our relationship, we have a very functional relationship. I find communicating with him very easy. Maybe that kind of communication… he had written this script after we had already worked together, so I think he had me in mind . So maybe there was something that came of that.
Would you work with him again?
In a heartbeat.
What was the first record you bought with your own money?
Karma Chameleon. I know all the words to it. My father made my husband recite them at our wedding.
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
