Sister Act: Q&A With Jennifer Jason Leigh

By Patricia Chui

Related Links 'Margot at the Wedding' trailer 'Margot' showtimes & tickets Jennifer Jason Leigh filmography Jennifer Jason Leigh biography 'Margot' interview with Noah Baumbach

Jennifer Jason Leigh, who first came to our attention as the eager-for-sex Stacy in 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High,' has since made a career of excelling in difficult, often unglamorous roles -- a prostitute in 'Last Exit to Brooklyn,' a psychotic roommate in 'Single White Female,' a drug-addicted, untalented singer in 'Georgia' -- yet astonishingly, has never been nominated for an Oscar (though she did get a Golden Globe nomination for channeling Dorothy Parker in 'Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle'). In her new movie 'Margot at the Wedding,' she plays the intriguing Pauline, a hippie teacher about to marry unemployed artist Malcolm (Jack Black) -- unless her formerly estranged sister Margot (Nicole Kidman) has anything to say about it. Moviefone chatted with Leigh about singing with Jack Black, catching up with the 'Fast Times' cast and collaborating with 'Margot' director Noah Baumbach, who just so happens to be her husband of two years.

Moviefone: I know that Noah was writing this role before he had you in mind as Pauline.
Jennifer Jason Leigh: Yes -- he doesn't write with actors in mind.

MF: Did you have any input while he was writing it? And once it was decided you were going to be in the movie, did that change your perception of the character?
JJL: I help Noah however I can, so he was showing me drafts and versions of the script, and we would talk about it all the time, and I would give him my thoughts and notes and ideas. And then at a certain point he told me he wanted me to play Pauline. But still, as he's working on the script, I'm not thinking, "Oh! But now that I'm playing Pauline, what about ...?" I don't do that. I think I'm pretty good about compartmentalizing stuff like that.

MF: Did Pauline come out the way you had her in your head [during the writing process], or did the character evolve?
JJL: Well, yeah, because in a way I didn't have to think of how I would be playing her, because I was always reading the scripts over and over, and talking about the characters, and talking about where the story was going and all of that stuff. I had a very clear idea of her. And so it wasn't like having to reinvent myself, or how do I get inside. It was like I already knew. It was like someone I'd seen every day for a year. It was very comfortable, and kind of effortless in that way.

MF: It seemed like Margot and Pauline were once very close, and now they're not so much. What do you think happened in between childhood and adulthood to change their relationship?
JJL: I think probably the big falling out was over the story [Margot wrote] that we find out about in the film, that Pauline feels destroyed her first marriage. In a bond that is close, there are so many things that happen. There are so many petty jealousies, and so many intimacies, and shared experiences, and a kind of symbiotic tie where no one knows you as well as that person -- and then there's the yearning to get away from that person. But there's always the version of getting back to a purer time, when things were less complicated and easier -- whether that time is idealized, or did it actually exist. And we see glimpses of [that relationship].

MF: Toward the end, Pauline tells Margot, "You can't use this," as it was Margot's writing about her that broke them up. Is it inevitable that people are going to use their personal experiences in art?
JJL: I think people always draw on their personal experiences. It's all you have. Even your imagination is based on your personal experience. It's just, how much do you distort it? How much is hidden, and how much is obvious?

MF: What was it like working with Jack Black? I felt like there were a couple times in the movie where you were cracking up.
JJL: He makes me laugh, and he makes Pauline laugh, which is why I think it's really nice for Pauline that she has him. He's a great person, Jack. He's incredibly warm and open and loving and funny, and really good-natured. He's just easy-peasy and so nice, and so brilliant as well. He's such a good actor.

MF: Given that this was a more serious movie, did he tone down the hijinks?
JJL: I don't know about his "hijinks" sort of thing, but he's great to work with. He and I would kid around and stuff. We had these huge pick-up sticks we'd play a lot, or we sang a lot. He has a great voice. I don't have a very good voice, but I like to sing, so we would sit around and sing a lot between takes.

MF: You've played such a wide variety of characters in your career. Is there any direction you haven't gone that you'd like to go?
JJL: I'm always looking for something unusual or new to do. It'd be fun to do a comedy -- an out-and-out comedy would be fun.

MF: Going back to your 'Fast Times' roots?
JJL: You know, my part wasn't so funny! But yeah.

MF: We actually just did a 25th-anniversary Where Are They Now: 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High,' and it did better than any feature that we've ever done.
JJL: Oh right, right, right!

MF: Did you guys do anything for the anniversary? And do you still keep in touch with anyone from the cast?
JJL: I only know about the anniversary because someone told me about that [feature]. But I didn't even know it was the 25th anniversary. I see Phoebe [Cates] all the time, though. And I saw Sean [Penn] the other day.

Read our 'Margot at the Wedding' interview with Noah Baumbach