Maria Bello World Trade Centre
She may be blond and beautiful but Maria Bello has never been content to play ‘the girlfriend’ or ‘the wife’. She’s consistently sought out smart edgier roles in films such as Coyote Ugly, Auto Focus and Payback. But it was her mesmerising performance as a world-weary cocktail waitress in the gritty Vegas romance The Cooler in 2003 that brought her to the industry’s attention. She received a swag of award nominations but far more important to Bello was the fact that director David Cronenberg saw that film and instantly wanted her for A History of Violence. She earned her second Golden Globe nomination and since then Bello has been on a career high. 2005 also saw her put in an impressive turn as an ambitious alcohol lobbyist in the critically acclaimed Thank You For Smoking and her latest film World Trade Centre is another stand out performance. Gaynor Flynn caught up with the actress recently at the Venice International Film Festival, where the 39-year-old chatted about her
latest film, single life and why she needs to be more than just an actress.
Gaynor Flynn: I understand you have first hand experience of September 11th?
Maria Bello: I was in New York that day, down at St
Vincent Hospital. My parents and I had been at a
hotel on the Upper West Side when it all happened and
they asked for any nurses and doctors in the city to
come to the hospital. My mother’s a nurse and I went
with her, we waited the whole day for people who never
came. We later realised that was because there were
so few survivors. I walked back uptown and there were
no taxis, no subways, no buses. I went up 6th Avenue
in this sea of people covered by grey dust and it was
completely silent but sometimes someone would reach
out a hand, pat someone’s back or ask if you were OK.
I never felt so peaceful in a crowd of people or so
much unity.
Gaynor Flynn: Were you at all worried about taking on this project given it was directed by Oliver Stone, who’s no stranger to controversy?
Maria Bello: Well if you know anything about me I’m
not much for political correctness. Not interested in
it at all, so I don’t even question stuff like that. I
just think am I moved by this story? Is it
challenging? Is it a good filmmaker? Does it have
great actors attached? And all of those things were A
plus, A plus, A plus where I just went I need to tell
this story.
Gaynor Flynn: Has this movie changed you?
Maria Bello: Definitely. When History of Violence
finished I was in bed for about three months because I
was so anxious after it. I tend to hang on to
characters long after its healthy (laughs). After
this one I felt softer, peaceful. Something had
changed I noticed I was just different with my son,
with my family and friends. All the stuff that
usually sends me crazy wasn’t important anymore.
Gaynor Flynn: What was Oliver Stone like to work with?
Maria Bello: Every movie he’s ever made has such a
strong point of view, and I didn’t know what to expect
but I found him to be very open and generous and
collaborative. He is so much more connected to
something bigger than most of us.
Gaynor Flynn: You’ve primarily chosen independent files so far in your career, is that a conscious decision?
Maria Bello: I don’t choose a movie because they’re
independent or a studio film. I never think like that.
It’s always about the script and it’s unfortunate
that a lot of bigger Hollywood films are really male
centric and so the women characters are the wife, the
girlfriend and that’s not interesting for me to play
unless it’s a whole fleshed out woman. And then there
are the lead roles in Hollywood for women but there
are so few of them that they want Charlize to do it or
Julia Roberts or someone really bankable they can make
money on. So I tend to be more attracted to
independent roles where I can play really fleshed out
great women but it’s changing now. Hopefully I’ll get
to do both.
Gaynor Flynn: Do you have a career plan?
Maria Bello: Well I’m starting to produce now and I
like the idea of creating roles for women, for
different women not for myself necessarily, they’re
just great women roles that I love. And I’ve been in
the process of writing a novel which I’ll finish by
the end of the year which I’m really excited about and
maybe I’ll do something else, I don’t know its kind of
up in the air and I have a five year old boy so we’re
just rock and rolling and seeing where life takes us.
Gaynor Flynn: Are these other outlets because acting doesn’t satisfy you?
Maria Bello: It’s true, when you act you use 5% of
yourself in a way and there’s so much more in me that
I’d like to use creatively.
Gaynor Flynn: Is it true that you work in a book shop sometimes in LA?
Maria Bello: (laughs) I’d like to own a bookstore one
day, that’s another ambition because I’m obsessed with
books but right now I already feel like I own one in
that my dearest friends in Los Angeles have a book
store called Equator Books. It’s a used bookstore with
the most beautiful first editions and I’m just in love
with it so I work there some times, not really work
there but if people come in and ask for a book I help
them out.
Gaynor Flynn: When did the obsession begin?
Maria Bello: I started reading when I was four and
I’ve just been a novel whore ever since. I don’t
watch TV, I don’t go to the movies, I read, that’s my
passion
Gaynor Flynn: Do you think TV is a bad influence on our lives?
Maria Bello: Yes and no. I’ve been on a mountain top
in Bhutan in the middle of nowhere where I was the
first American they’d ever met and everybody had a
television and the same in Central America where I’ve
worked everybody has a television but I think its good
in one way in that it’s creating a world culture. I
think it’s bad in another way that people are sitting
behind their TV’s and not moving around anymore, so
I’m not sure.
Gaynor Flynn: What were you doing on a mountain top in Bhutan?
Maria Bello: Well I work with Save the Children and
they work in refugee camps and poor communities in 48
countries doing health and education programs for
women and children and I got turned on to them because
they’re the only charity where most of the money goes
right to the communities. And they train people in
the communities to work for the communities so Save
the Children isn’t flying people in to save the
people, they’re training people how to save themselves
so I love that concept. So I started travelling with
them about nine years ago and now its become a thing
that I do.
Gaynor Flynn: Did you always want to be an actor?
Maria Bello: No I was actually on my way to law school
and someone said I could take an acting class as an
elective and I had no idea I could do that. I’d come
from a construction family from Philadelphia I thought
you had to be born in Hollywood to be an actor, and I
took this class and I fell in love with it. I just
knew it was my destiny and I had this mentor at school
called Father Ray Jackson and I was so afraid to tell
him that I didn’t want to do human rights law anymore
and I finally told him one day over lunch and he
smiled and he said ‘you serve best by doing the thing
that you love most’ and it changed my life.
Gaynor Flynn: How do you handle the celebrity side of the business?
Maria Bello: I sort of don’t have the celebrity life.
When somebody notices me on the street with my son and
they say ‘oh aren’t you Maria Bello’ my son goes ‘no
that’s my mom’ and I go yeah he’s right. But I think
there’s a way to stay out of all that Hollywood stuff,
and I’ve learned how to do that and I’m so grateful
for that.
Gaynor Flynn: A lot of actresses talk about how its difficult to age in Hollywood. Is that something you worry about?
Maria Bello: No. Your career is the choices that you
make and I feel like I’ve never made choices to play
the pretty girl so my career has just gotten better
and better and I’ve gotten better and better roles. I
just think that’s how my career will continue to go
and I’m also really artistic in other areas and can do
many things if I choose. Not that I’ll ever stop
acting. I need to do it for my own sanity.
Gaynor Flynn: Do you still have to fight to get the roles that you want?
Maria Bello: I don’t fight anymore. I’m just sort of
surrendering to the flow of things. Once I learned
how to surrender things are coming so much more easily
to me. It’s funny. I use to be a fighter. But I don’t
do that now and I don’t look for validation outside of
myself. It’s about finding the validation inside.
Gaynor Flynn: Do you read reviews then?
Maria Bello: No I don’t do it because if someone said
I was a piece of shit I’d believe them and if someone
said I’m great I would believe them too (laughs). I
know my own insecurities.
Gaynor Flynn: You said you use to be a fighter. When did that change?
Maria Bello: When I had my son. It really changes
things. I mean I’ve never felt so much love in one
minute as when I gave birth to my son and I’m just
softer, I’m more balanced, more in touch with my
feelings and more possessed of myself than I’ve ever
been since I had my child. I couldn’t imagine that I
could have been successful before I had Jack. I didn’t
know who I was.
Gaynor Flynn: Has it changed how you handle the business as well?
Maria Bello: Yeah, because it feeds on your
insecurities and it can take you over and you make
choices that you don’t want to necessarily make
because of that.
Gaynor Flynn: You made some interesting comments on marriage not too long ago. What were they?
Maria Bello: Well actually it was very tongue in cheek
the way I said it but it came off very seriously.
What I was saying is that in my own experiences I
couldn’t understand how the definition of desire is to
want something that you don’t have and how can you
work on a marriage desiring something that you already
have? I can’t quite understand the concept of
marriage. I can understand the idea of a partner, and
somebody you want to go through life with but the idea
of only having sex with one person for the rest of
your life,.. I think when people only lived till 40
that was one thing but now we’re living till 100 I
don’t know about that.
Gaynor Flynn: What was the reaction to your boyfriend when you said that?
Maria Bello: Oh I’m not with anyone. I’m single. But I
never wanted to get married. I’m sort of like a guy in
that way I guess (laughs)
Gaynor Flynn: What we expect guys to be?
Maria Bello: Exactly. But aren’t so many women like
that as well?
Gaynor Flynn: Are you dating then?
Maria Bello: I am kind of. (laughs) I don’t know how
to do it. And people try to set me up but I’m not
into it because I feel if you meet someone you meet
someone. I have so many friends I need to see why
would I sit there with a guy I don’t even know? To
figure out if I want to sleep with him potentially? I
don’t want to have to put myself through that.
Gaynor Flynn: What’s next for you?
Maria Bello: I’m doing a romantic comedy finally
called The Jane Austen Book Club which I can’t wait to
start. It’s got Ellen Burstyn whose one of my
favourite actresses of all time.
Gaynor Flynn: Why do you say finally?
Maria Bello: Because I’ve been dying to do one for
years and people don’t see me as that, people see me
as this dramatic actress but the truth is that I live
a romantic comedy in my head everyday, and in my life.
