It takes a good actor to play the part. It takes an even better actor to simultaneously play 2 parts, all the while keeping the audience guessing about where the lines of reality and fiction blur and blend.
In Anton Corbijn’s brand new thriller A Talent For Murder, actor Alden Ehrenreich is tasked with just that in his role as Edward Ridgeway, who is sent to Switzerland via his work, to co nvince a mysterious, reclusive author to write another novel in her acclaimed series. While the film’s story is fictional, the author (played by a terrifying and transformed Dame Helen Mirren) is based on the real life author Patricia Highsmith. As we start to see her new novel take shape – it’s Ehrenreich who is in the leading role.
In an interview with The Knockturnal, Ehrenreich discussed the excitement of playing a dual character role.
“To me, the story really follows the way in which Edward has to get in touch with his inner dark side, and the way that Highsmith pushes him to get in touch with these parts of himself that he’s sort of scared of, because they’re so intense,” said Ehrenreich. “So getting to play somebody who’s very uncomfortable with anger or darkness, and then playing somebody who’s completely comfortable with it, was really interesting.”
So how does one get into touch with two characters at once?
“Whenever you’re playing a character, so much of what you’re doing is trying to understand the way in which they see the world, and their values, and where they come from, and all of those things,” said Ehrenreich. “And so to play two people at once, where the answers to all of those questions were completely different… It’s really as much about what that character sees when they look out at the world as anything else.”
In speaking with The Knockturnal, Corbijn described working with Ehrenreich in the role.
“Alden is pretty clued in, you know, he’s cued in. He’s just a formidable actor, so we didn’t have to do much. I was just really happy that in the beginning we could make him look a bit like a nerd, so you don’t think he looks dangerous. And then it sort of becomes something else.”
Alden Ehrenreich in ‘A Talent For Murder’
Opposite Ehrenreich is legendary actress Dame Helen Mirren, who doesn’t hold back in her fictionalized portrait of the terrifying Highsmith.
“I was very taken with what a sport she was,” said Ehrenreich on his co-star. “Just how game and down and ready to do whatever the director wanted to do. With her stature, she doesn’t necessarily need to be that way, but it was really lovely how game and kind of in it she was.”
Ehrenreich also commented on what he took away from working with such a legendary actress.
“She puts a lot of attention and thought into props, costume, makeup, in a way that’s incredibly effective and really helpful. I just don’t think like that as much,” he said. “So it was inspiring to see the effect that those costumes and external decisions had. They made such a world of difference to the way she was playing the role and to the effect of the part in this film. It was cool how exacting she was about that.”
While Mirren played the real life author – her portrayal of her was not meant to be a parody.
”One thing I wanted to avoid was that it became a caricature of the person,” said Corbijn. “So we were aware of that. And we heard from some people who saw the film now in Zurich, who knew her, that this was so spot on, it was so close to the real person. That’s Helen. I mean, she read the diaries and all that stuff, so I think she got very close.”
