Talented: Actress Mia Wasikowska. Picture: AP Source: AP
Megan Lehman, The Sunday Telegraph, reports
Soft-spoken and private, the gorgeously gamine Mia Wasikowska has largely flown under the radar at home while quietly taking over Hollywood.
And under that delicate exterior lies a somewhat mutinous soul.
Wasikowska admits she's drawn to rebellious characters and her latest role, as a preacher's daughter in John Hillcoat's Lawless, is no exception.
"It's not necessarily a conscious decision," she says. "But then, looking back at it, I guess there's a through-line where my characters are often at odds with their time and the expectations that are upon them and I find that really interesting."
From whimsical fairytale heroine to worldly LA teenager, Wasikowska's roles have shown an actress keen to explore the many facets of human nature.
And after a star-making turn anchoring Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland and critical acclaim in films such as Jane Eyre and The Kids Are All Right, the 22-year-old Canberra-born actress is fast gaining on her idol Cate Blanchett as one of the country's most sought-after stars.
Wasikowska admits she's drawn to rebellious characters and her latest role, as a preacher's daughter in John Hillcoat's Lawless, is no exception.
"It's not necessarily a conscious decision," she says. "But then, looking back at it, I guess there's a through-line where my characters are often at odds with their time and the expectations that are upon them and I find that really interesting."
From whimsical fairytale heroine to worldly LA teenager, Wasikowska's roles have shown an actress keen to explore the many facets of human nature.
And after a star-making turn anchoring Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland and critical acclaim in films such as Jane Eyre and The Kids Are All Right, the 22-year-old Canberra-born actress is fast gaining on her idol Cate Blanchett as one of the country's most sought-after stars.
Time magazine named her one of their 100 Most Influential People and she has won praise from Meryl Streep and her Albert Nobbs co-star Glenn Close.
In Lawless, we first meet Wasikowska's bonnet-clad Bertha Minnix petting a timid fawn and being properly pious and dutiful. But soon she's flirting with danger in the form of moonshiner Shia LaBeouf.
"(I'm interested in) the struggle all these characters have between how they're perceived and how they perceive themselves," she says.
The middle child of two visual artists, Wasikowska has a keen interest in photography and prefers an unfussy style when it comes to fashion, although she's currently starring in a Marie Antoinette-inspired campaign as the new face of designer Miu Miu.
She is rarely photographed out and about and her love life remains oddly unscrutinised, so how does she manage to keep such a low profile?
"I don't think I'm that interesting to (the paparazzi) yet. I never get bothered, I can usually sneak back home really easily. I just hang out with my friends and read books and watch movies, play with my nephew who's 1 1/2 now - all very simple things."
Her presence provides a welcome softer note in the blood-soaked Lawless, with its tommy guns and hooch-swilling outlaws. Based on real-life Prohibition bootleggers, the movie follows the fortunes of the Bondurant brothers, whose thriving backwoods operation draws the attention of crooked city cops.
Australian director Hillcoat's second collaboration with screenwriter-composer Nick Cave (after the Aussie western The Proposition) has a testosterone-heavy cast of A-listers including LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman.
Adding another touch of femininity is Jessica Chastain, as Hardy's love interest.
"The female characters in the story were a contrast to the more brutal elements in the movie," Wasikowska says.
She was particularly pleased to have so many Aussies working on the film.
"I continue to bump into Australians on set. Even the one I'm about to start filming (The Double, an upcoming comedy inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novella) - Noah Taylor's on that."
She has also wrapped horror film Stoker, in which she plays Nicole Kidman's daughter, and is to join Cate Blanchett in filming Carol, an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel.
"I'm really excited to work with (Cate). It still doesn't quite feel real."
- Lawless opens Thursday
In Lawless, we first meet Wasikowska's bonnet-clad Bertha Minnix petting a timid fawn and being properly pious and dutiful. But soon she's flirting with danger in the form of moonshiner Shia LaBeouf.
"(I'm interested in) the struggle all these characters have between how they're perceived and how they perceive themselves," she says.
The middle child of two visual artists, Wasikowska has a keen interest in photography and prefers an unfussy style when it comes to fashion, although she's currently starring in a Marie Antoinette-inspired campaign as the new face of designer Miu Miu.
She is rarely photographed out and about and her love life remains oddly unscrutinised, so how does she manage to keep such a low profile?
"I don't think I'm that interesting to (the paparazzi) yet. I never get bothered, I can usually sneak back home really easily. I just hang out with my friends and read books and watch movies, play with my nephew who's 1 1/2 now - all very simple things."
Her presence provides a welcome softer note in the blood-soaked Lawless, with its tommy guns and hooch-swilling outlaws. Based on real-life Prohibition bootleggers, the movie follows the fortunes of the Bondurant brothers, whose thriving backwoods operation draws the attention of crooked city cops.
Australian director Hillcoat's second collaboration with screenwriter-composer Nick Cave (after the Aussie western The Proposition) has a testosterone-heavy cast of A-listers including LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman.
Adding another touch of femininity is Jessica Chastain, as Hardy's love interest.
"The female characters in the story were a contrast to the more brutal elements in the movie," Wasikowska says.
She was particularly pleased to have so many Aussies working on the film.
"I continue to bump into Australians on set. Even the one I'm about to start filming (The Double, an upcoming comedy inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novella) - Noah Taylor's on that."
She has also wrapped horror film Stoker, in which she plays Nicole Kidman's daughter, and is to join Cate Blanchett in filming Carol, an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel.
"I'm really excited to work with (Cate). It still doesn't quite feel real."
- Lawless opens Thursday
No comments:
Post a Comment