Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category
| January 29, 2013 |
Vanity Fair: “Stoker”’s Mia Wasikowska Is the Creepiest Super-Powered Teen Girl Since Carrie |
In the visually stunning, stunningly perverse “Stoker”, Mia Wasikowska stars as a special teenage girl who finds herself very much alone after her father’s sudden death. Trapped in a home with her needy mother (Nicole Kidman), a mysterious Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) whom she never knew existed, and an eerily enhanced sense of sound, Wasikowska’s India Stoker is forced to acclimate to a twisted new family dynamic. The film, which is the English-language debut of South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook, made its world premiere at Sundance Sunday night. And while some critics took issue with minor holes in the plot and a supporting role for Nicole Kidman that could have been made more substantial, its arresting cinematography (by Chan-wook collaborator Chung-hon Chung) compensates for any shortcomings. Full of oblique angles, a pastel palette to offset the morbid story, and creepy cutaways (one extreme close-up shows India sharpening the blood-soaked pencil she just used as a weapon), the film is always lovely to watch, even during its most disturbing sequences.
Equally lovely and disturbing is Wasikowska’s performance as an 18-year-old who finds herself inexplicably attracted to her strange uncle, despite the fact that she does not like to be touched. (Their chemistry is teased in one erotically charged piano duet that leaves her panting.) With her particular cocktail of eccentricities, horror appeal, and Sissy Spacek complexion, Wasikowska recalls another seemingly shy high-school character profiled on film: Carrie, the Stephen King heroine who wreaks havoc on her hometown. They aren’t carbon copies—India does not have telekinetic powers or a Christian-fundamentalist upbringing. But like Carrie, India has an unstable mother, is relentlessly bullied at school, and crosses that fine line between sheltered innocence and a frighteningly violent nature. She gets revenge on a few classmates, is sexually confused, lacks a father, and is a loner. India also appears in a dramatic shower scene that depicts a pivotal moment in her physical maturation. It does not involve blood or fellow classmates, but it occurs after a gruesome event and is Wasikowska’s boldest scene.
Read the rest of this entry »
|
Posted by Anula • Leave a Comment / No Comments »
Archived in: "Stoker", Articles |
| January 28, 2013 |
“Stoker” 2013 Sundance Film Festival Review |
India Song: Park-wook’s English Language is Stylized Creepy and Kooky
Park Chan-wook StokerSouth Korean master Park Chan-wook returns with his English language debut, Stoker, a heavily stylized mystery thriller that’s a grotesquely decorated façade with a heart as cold as ice. Based on a screenplay by actor Wentworth Miller (and contributing writer Erin Cressida Wilson), and featuring a dazzlingly assembled cast, there’s a conglomeration of odd elements at hand here, creating a final product that feels as banal as it is strange, and as foreign as it is mainstream. Presenting itself as a densely constructed narrative, the film instead reveals itself to be a simple tale made more complicated by the way it’s edited together. Operating mostly on its significant use of slow burn narrative and creepy details, it reaches a fast boil in its final frames, which may be too little and too late for most audiences. But one can’t deny the broody elements of the film that come back to tease and haunt.
On her eighteenth birthday, India Stoker’s (Mia Wasikowska) father Richard (Dermot Mulroney) dies in a terrible car accident, and she’s left alone with her distant mother, Evie (Nicole Kidman). After his funeral, Richard’s mysterious brother Charlie (Matthew Goode) appears, who only the housekeeper Mrs. McGarrick (Phyllis Somerville) uneasily seems to recognize. He ingratiates himself upon Evie and India, and seems to have a particular fascination with everything India does. A pale and precocious child that has a phobia of being touched, India seems alarmed and intrigued at the flirtatious interests of her uncle, and they both share a preternatural audio ability. On the other hand, Evie seems extremely warm to the advances of the handsome Charlie and barely notices when Mrs. McGarrick suddenly disappears, and doesn’t seem suspicious when an unexpected visit from Aunt Gin (Jacki Weaver) also ends mysteriously. While India gets involved in a precarious relationship with Whip Taylor (Alden Ehrenreich), a boy at school, the mystery surrounding Charlie’s dark past slowly start to surface.
Read the rest of this entry »
|
Posted by Anula • Leave a Comment / No Comments »
Archived in: "Stoker", Articles |
| August 22, 2012 |
Mia’s British Vogue September Issue Elegance |
|
With her new movie “Lawless” set to hit theaters on August 29th, Mia Wasikowska added to her press efforts by partaking in a feature for the September 2012 issue of British Vogue.
The 22-year-old Australian actress donned designer garb from top names including Salvatore Ferragamo, Paul Smith, Marc Jacobs, McQ Alexander McQueen for the elegant Bruce Weber shot magazine spread.
On missing an active house when staying in hotels for filming: “Back in Canberra our house is very chaotic. My younger brother is there while he’s studying, and my dad and my sister, her boyfriend and her baby, so there’s always someone somewhere. I really miss that hive of activity when I’m living in a hotel room. And I have the outdoors here, which I love. The garden back home is like a fantastical reality.”
On her ‘surreal’ life: “I never get noticed in any significant way. I never feel like a movie star. I feel like I have a constant series of surreal moments, where I’m thinking, ‘Oh wow. This is so strange for me that this is my life.’ Which is great.”
On the power of clothing: “It’s not that I don’t care about fashion. I just have a more casual style. I care about it in the sense that good fashion is like any other creative art form. When it’s good, it’s super-inspiring. I’m pretty low-key but when it comes to things like Rodarte and Comme and Miu Miu, I really appreciate and respect it.”
On her own taste of fashion: “I prefer an older style. As in vintage, not the style of the elderly. I don’t mean support tights!”

RELATED LINK
Magazine Scans > Magazine Scans 2012 > September – Vogue UK
|
Posted by Anula • Leave a Comment / No Comments »
Archived in: Articles, Interviews, Magazines |
| March 25, 2011 |
Mia Wasikowska Covers ‘BlackBook’ April 2011 |
|
Mia Wasikowska rocks mod inspired makeup on the cover of BlackBook magazine’s April 2011 issue. I love this look, she looks so girly!

She did what?” asks Mia Wasikowska, the inflection of her relaxed Australian accent teetering on falsetto, when I tell her that Lindsay Lohan could serve up to three years in jail for allegedly stealing a $2,500 necklace. Wasikowska shakes her head, although her dismay doesn’t seem especially condemnatory. On this February morning, the 21-year-old actor looks incredulous rather than critical, genuinely shocked that someone in Lohan’s position would abuse her privilege in such a flagrant and distasteful way. This is because Wasikowska is a woman for whom red carpets and loaner jewels are the gaudy aftershocks of revelatory, soul-baring performances. Tellingly, she just laughs when asked, as she often is by journalists jaded by the pleasure-seeking principals of young Hollywood, how she avoids the trappings of fame.
Continue Reading »
RELATED LINKS
Magazine Scans > Magazine Scans 2011 > April – BlackBook
Photoshoots > 023
|
Posted by Anula • Leave a Comment / No Comments »
Archived in: Articles, Interviews, Magazines, Photoshoots |
| March 9, 2011 |
“The Wall Street Journal” & “Teen Hollywood” Interviews |
In the latest screen version of Charlotte Brontë’s 164-year-old novel “Jane Eyre,” 21-year-old Mia Wasikowska plays the title role. The filmmakers had sought a lead actress close in age to the young heroine, part of an effort to freshen a work that’s been fodder for countless film, TV and stage adaptations. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga (“Sin Nombre”) emphasized the story’s spooky elements, in some scenes flirting with the horror genre, and screenwriter Moira Buffini reordered the novel’s narrative structure, making use of flashbacks to ratchet up the drama.
Co-starring with Michael Fassbender as Edward Rochester, Ms. Wasikowska creates the governess who transcends a lowly station—”poor, obscure, plain and little”—and continues a rapid cinematic rise. After landing in a recurring role in HBO’s “In Treatment,” last year she appeared in the title role of Tim Burton’s box-office smash “Alice in Wonderland,” and in the Oscar-nominated “The Kids Are All Right” as a pensive teen who seeks out her sperm-donor father. In her native Australia (where she lives with her parents in Canberra when she’s not working), Ms. Wasikowska spent years studying ballet before abandoning dance for the less rigid discipline of acting. Future projects, she says, include films by Gus Van Sant and Park Chan-wook. For the Korean director’s “Stoker,” Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman are in talks to play her parents.
The Wall Street Journal: The first scene you filmed was Jane fleeing Rochester’s Thornfield estate, where you’re stumbling and crying and soaking wet. How did you ramp up to that intensity?
Ms. Wasikowska: Ah yes, stumbling through the moors. I think that was day two. That’s the thing about films—you can never choose when you do anything. You have to be ready at any moment to turn on a certain emotion. It would suck to do those scenes against a [special effects] green screen. Out there, it was windy and cold and I could at least imagine what it would be like.
Were there passages of the book that especially helped you unlock the character?
By the time I’d finished rereading it I’d underlined pretty much the whole book. From start to finish it’s Jane’s inner monologue, but the big key to understanding Jane is Rochester. Almost everything he says unlocks who she actually is.
Continue Reading »
Jane Eyre isn’t some stuffy old book you are assigned to read at school. It’s the story of a teenager, a rebellious young woman back in the day when girls were supposed to sit in the corner, look pretty and shut up!
Young Jane, a badly-treated orphan, isn’t about to conform to all that. She speaks out, does what she thinks is right and, ultimately, wins personal freedom and the guy of her dreams. What’s not to like? The tale also has a spooky mystery in addition to the hot love story.
Petite blonde Aussie actress Mia Wasikowska who played Alice in the recent Alice in Wonderland film, was so hooked on the story of Jane after reading the book that she went looking for a film version so she could star as the character.
We’re chatting with Mia about what makes Jane tick, how Jane is cool as a role model for young girls today, how she almost froze to death making the film, how she felt about the love story in the movie and how much she loves to take photos with her old-fashioned film camera.
Picture Mia in a classy silk beige and black dress topped with an oversized fuzzy sweater and wearing black tights. No tall shoes for this girl; comfy flats.
TeenHollywood: How do you think the film and Jane relate to teens and kids today? I guess the feelings are the same throughout the ages.
Mia: Yes. I think it’s a very modern story and also a very universal story. When you take away the costumes and the setting, at the core of it is a story of a young girl who is trying to find love and a family and connection in a very dislocated world. I feel like that has transcended. It continues to connect with people. It’s a very universal theme and something almost everybody experiences to a different degree in their life.
Continue Reading »
|
Posted by Anula • 1 Comment »
Archived in: Articles, Interviews |
| January 20, 2011 |
Mia Wasikowska circles ‘Wettest,’ ‘Stoker’ |
Mia Wasikowska’s 2011 could get curiously busy.
The “Alice in Wonderland” thesp is circling both John Hillcoat’s “The Wettest County in the World” and Fox Searchlight’s “Stoker.” She may do both – but as of now, a scheduling conflict stands in the way. Negotiations are on hold while her reps and the studios try to work out a sked. Both projects have received a fair share of buzz in recent months.
Prohibition pic “The Wettest County in the World,” based on Matt Bondurant’s tome and starring Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy, is a long-gestating passion project for helmer Hillcoat. After struggling to find financing last year, pic got an early 2011 start date after Megan Ellison’s Annapurna shingle jumped aboard. Nick Cave penned the adaptation, and Ellison, Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick are producing via Fisher and Wick’s Red Wagon Entertainment banner.
“Stoker” was on the 2010 “Black List” of best unproduced screenplays. Carey Mulligan and Jodie Foster star and Ridley and Tony Scott produce via their Scott Free Prods. Pic, penned by Ted Foulke, revolves around a teen who, while mourning the death of her father, suddenly must deal with an uncle who mysteriously appears.
Wasikowska had a busy 2010 as Alice in “Alice in Wonderland,” which went on to make more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, and as the teenage daughter in “The Kids are All Right.” She can be seen next in Focus’ “Jane Eyre,” which bows in March.
Source
|
Posted by Anula • Leave a Comment / No Comments »
Archived in: Articles, Projects |
| January 18, 2011 |
‘A View from the Bridge’ Adds Vera Farmiga and Mia Wasikowska |
After winning a Tony Award for his performance as Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s play A View from the Bridge, Anthony LaPaglia is taking the not uncustomary route of reprising the role for a film adaptation. And now Variety (via FirstShowing) tells us that joining him for the film are actresses Vera Farmiga and Mia Wasikowska. The former you probably know from work like The Departed and Up in the Air, while the latter starred in last year’s Alice in Wonderland, along with (only thing I’ve seen her in) the resoundingly OK The Kids Are All Right.
As previously mentioned, it’s based on the Arthur Miller play of the same name, centered around Eddie Carbone and his wife Beatrice (Farmiga), who have raised their niece Catherine (Wasikowska) since she was a child. But the arrival of Beatrice’s European cousins enchants the niece, filling Eddie with both jealousy and obsession, which leads to tragedy.
Also jumping on board are Sam Neill and Sebastian Stan, who has the fairly large role of Bucky Barnes, Captain America’s sidekick in the upcoming film adaptation. The story sounds like it could work as a small dramatic piece, and the cast certainly doesn’t hurt its chances. Production is slated to being in June in New York and Melbourne, so I wouldn’t expect to wait long for a release.
Source
|
Posted by Anula • 1 Comment »
Archived in: Articles, Projects |
|