Director Alexander Payne is shown on the set of "The Descendants." (Merie Wallace/Fox Searchlight/MCT)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Shailene Woodley, star of TV’s “The Secret Life of An American Teenager,” got a serious taste of Hawaii filming the new movie “The Descendants.”
“On Oahu, there’s all these wonderful north shore shrimp trucks,” she says. “Look for a truck called
‘Mackys.’ It’s the best, buttery garlic shrimp you could imagine. I’m going back just for that.”
“But first thing you do, when you get there, you have to take this gorgeous hike to Manoa Falls, on Oahu.
“Oh, and I love snorkeling, and on Kauai, there’s this beautiful area to snorkel on the north shore called Lanikai Beach. Also on Kauai, there’s a beautiful area called Queen’s Bath that was formed by volcanic rocks that the ocean has carved out. You’re in the ocean, but you’re surrounded by rocks, so you’re safe.”
She just turned 20 this month, and Woodley is nothing if not bubbling over with youthful energy. Hawaii, or to be more exact, the movie she made there, changed her life. Playing a girl who grew up on the island, part of a family with ties that go back over a century, she tuned a little native.
“You have to watch out for the girls there, because anybody — even a girl — over the age of 12 can kick your (behind),” she says with a laugh. “All that nature, the hiking, boar hunting, surfing and spear fishing. Those girls are tough!”
Woodley is this year’s Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”), the starlet with serious acting chops who all the critics are buzzing about. She plays Alexandra, the rebellious elder daughter of a distracted father (George Clooney) and cuckolded husband whose wife is in a coma and about to die.
“Clooney’s performance is Oscar-worthy, as is that of Woodley,” USA Today raved.
“There was no also-ran for me among the 200 or so gals we looked at for that part — acting chops, emotional power, the strength and the vulnerability,” the film’s director, Alexander Payne, says. “I hope other people see what I saw. You watch her turn from churlish and rebellious and angry into her father’s teammate. Amazing.”
Woodley describes herself as “a happy, optimistic person, but I love doing roles that are darker and deeper. Not sure what THAT’S about. It’s fun to play people who are confused, deeply troubled. More fun than playing the real me, that’s for sure.
“I still don’t know who (her character) Alex is. It’s kind of asking yourself who you are. You know a few traits, but we’re all pretty mysterious creatures and hard to fully analyze. Alex is a 17-year-old going through her ‘angsty’ period in life. She’s vulnerable, angry at her mom who is dying, which just makes it worse.”
The Simi Valley, Calif., native is trying not to let all the extra attention this performance has brought to her go to her head. She’s quick to dismiss any talk of awards or career “heat” or even the mysteries of acting. Woodley may be young, but she’s been acting a dozen years and collecting awards for half that long.
“I don’t pay attention to all that at all. I’m out climbing trees and hiking barefoot and foraging for food. I could care less about the fame thing. But going back to Hawaii? Anybody who has some work that takes me back there, I’m listening.”
source: therepublic
No comments:
Post a Comment