Exclusive: Jared Harris Talks ‘Certain Women’ At NYFF Premiere

by Staff October 6, 2016

by Staff October 6, 2016 0 comments

We spoke with acclaimed actor Jared Harris at the New York Film Festival premiere of “Certain Women.” Harris is a scene stealer in the movie. The film opens October 14.

	So tell me a little bit about what attracted you to the project.
	Jared Harris: Kelly’s script, Laura Dern, and then the opportunity to play a real, sort of, salt of the earth American role. And then I was curious about going to Montana as well. Which is absolutely gorgeous. I recommend it, to everybody … It’s mostly a giant state with very few people in it. But it’s fantastic.
	Your scenes with Laura are so wonderful to watch. Can you speak about playing against her and collaborating.
	JH: Well, I’m a huge fan of hers. And it really was, when Kelly said that she was talking to Laura about being in it. I just crossed my fingers … and she’s everything you want … obviously she’s been nominated many times. And she knows what she’s doing. She plays with you and she’s incredibly varied. And she’s constantly challenging you in the take because she’s never doing the same thing. And she’s incredibly generous, you know she’s lovely.
	Speak about collaborating with Kelly and what you admire about her as a writer and a director.
	JH: She’s a true independent and she makes the films that she wants to make, and she’s got giant balls. You know, she figures out how to get it done. She takes big, big risks to make it happen. And I just admire her tremendously as a film maker … I’m sure she’s had many opportunities to go and do more commercial films, in that sort of inverted sense, common sense. But she’s just telling the stories that she wants to make. And they are always very much female centered and stupidly, that is rare. It shouldn’t be that rare … But she’s doing it, you know.
	And your character provides I think the most comic relief in this film. Can you speak about playing out the serious and the comedy at the same time?
	JH: I always found the guy … at the same that I empathized with the man’s plight … And this is something that Kelly talked about. Was that there is a childish quality to him, that he just refuses to accept the reality of the way the cards are being dealt. And there is nothing anybody can do to change it, and in that sense he is like a three year old who is holding his breath and stamping his foot. And there’s a comic quality to that because it’s a fifty year old man who’s reacting that way. So it was funny. And certainly in the second half of it, where you see him again, there’s a lot more comic possibilities in that part. The first is half is actually, generally upsetting and you know, the guy’s vision- he can’t do his work any longer because of what’s happened to him. Because of boilerplate language in the contract, he’s never going to be reimbursed for what’s happened. He’s basically unemployable for the rest of his life … He’s got to have at least twenty or thirty years left. This is a pretty sad place for him. But the second half of it is where most of the comedy was. But, yes. I mean he’s kind of ridiculous. But at the same time you laugh at him because you can understand … his predicament … But the way he chooses to process it is … infantile, you know.