Actor Interview: Toni Collette Makes her Case for “Juror #2”
By Ed Symkus
“I still pinch myself that I got to work with Clint Eastwood. But any anxiety quickly dissipated upon meeting him. He is so cool and calm and funny and easy.”
Although she had been dabbling in small film and TV parts in her native Australia since 1990, it wasn’t until she scored the title role in Muriel’s Wedding in 1994 (released in the U.S. a year later), that Toni Collette was firmly on track to becoming a very much in-demand lead and supporting film and TV actor.
Her most recognizable credits include, chronologically, Velvet Goldmine, The Sixth Sense, About a Boy, Little Miss Sunshine, United States of Tara, Hereditary, and Knives Out. Her newest, a combination lead-supporting role, is as Faith Killebrew, a 50-something (Collette is 52) lawyer in Georgia whose dream of a future in politics hangs on the outcome of the tense and twisting murder case on which she’s the prosecutor. The film is Juror #2. Collette is reunited with Nicholas Hoult, her co-star in 2002’s About a Boy, when she played his mom (yes, he’s all grown up). And she’s directed, for the first time, by Clint Eastwood.
Collette, donning the label of prolific actor in recent years — in the coming months, we could be seeing her in four feature films and one TV miniseries — squeezed some time out of her schedule in Los Angeles last week to take part in a brief back-and-forth email interview. It went like this:
The Arts Fuse: I know you’re from Sydney, and I ask the same question of every Australian I come in contact with. Have you ever been to Kangaroo Island, just south of Adelaide?
Toni Collette: Never have, but I very much want to!
AF: The earliest mention I could find of you as an actor was in a high school production of Godspell when you were 14. Do you recall if you were immediately bitten by the acting bug; did you know it was something you wanted to pursue?
Collette: I did know. After Godspell, I was hooked. It made me feel very alive and connected to myself, and that was something I wanted to continue to
AF: My first time seeing you was in Velvet Goldmine, a film that I continue to watch annually. You made that film a long time ago (1998). Are you a totally different actor now, as far as how you approach the craft, or is it a case of you simply being a more experienced and well-rounded performer?
Collette: I think it’s inevitable that I’m different because we all constantly change. Life is change. I’m less judgmental of myself, more compassionate in general. And yes, I’m more confident and comfortable in what I do now.
AF: You’ve done a lot of work with first-time directors, as well as established directors, from Ari Aster (Hereditary) and M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) to Peter Greenaway (8 1/2 Women) and Guillermo del Toro (Nightmare Alley). Then along comes Clint Eastwood. Was that experience a whole different animal for you — either because of Clint’s particular style or because you were thinking, “Wow! I’m working with Clint Eastwood!”? Were you at all anxious about working with someone of his stature?
Collette: I was very excited and nervous. Very excited. I still pinch myself that I got to work with Clint. But any anxiety quickly dissipated upon meeting him. He is so cool and calm and funny and easy. His way of working is wonderful. So understated and simple. Very few takes. A bullshit-free set. I loved it!
AF: It’s been reported that one day, out of the blue, you got a phone call from Steven Spielberg, and he offered you the role of Tara Gregson on United States of Tara. How did the role of Faith in Juror #2 come to you?
Collette: Same thing. I got a call from my team about the offer. My dad always says it’s wild that I just never know who’s thinking of me. Offers like these, that come out of the blue, from people I very much admire, still blow my mind.
AF: I’m guessing that with any film, the four biggest draws for an actor are the story, the script, the character, and the director. Which of those called out the loudest and made you say yes to doing the film?
Collette: Clint. Clint. Clint. Nick (Hoult). Script. Clint.
AF: Faith is cold, clinical, ambitious, professional. Yet you smoothly add an additional layer to her. We can see that her mind is opening up to different possibilities as the story unfolds. What makes her tick?
Collette:: Yes, she’s a dedicated lawyer … ambitious and focused. She wants career advancement, and thinks she has the case stitched up. But nothing is that simple, and as the truth dawns on her, she has to face some serious choices and decide what she can live with. It’s a great story arc.
AF: Is the Faith we see on the screen very different than she was for you initially on the page?
Collette: No idea. It’s all enmeshed in my mind. But I remember feeling like I wanted to make her feel as alive and human as possible. Imbue her with some tangible qualities so we could see her as a person and not just a prosecutor.
AF: Some of the best scenes are the two-handers with you and Chris Messina as the defense attorney. We see their working relationship and get some hints about their history of knowing each other. How much of that was worked out between you two before filming started?
Collette: A lot of it. Chris and I got along like a house on fire, and we spent a lot of time talking about and broadening our story, improvising to make the relationship feel close and more than what was on the page.
AF: You’ve been working on your craft for quite a while now. Do people still actually direct you, or has it become a process of directors trusting you to use your instincts?
Collette: A bit of both. Clint just left me alone. I think you’re hired because he trusts you can complete the task.
AF: A quick follow-up on that. Your performance in this film is as compelling and effective when you’re moving around and speaking as when you’re sitting in silence, lost in inner thoughts. Actually, there are a lot of scenes of you and of Nick in close-up shots, totally silent, just thinking. What sort of direction did you get for those?
Collette: None, and we didn’t feel neglected. It was a huge compliment. Clint allowed us space to breathe and be. He trusted us. It was very special.
Juror #2 opens on Nov. 1 at AMC Boston Common 19.
Ed Symkus is a Boston native and Emerson College graduate. He went to Woodstock, interviewed Amanda Palmer, Dan Hicks, Colin Farrell, and George Romero, and has visited the Outer Hebrides, the Lofoten Islands, Anglesey, Mykonos, Nantucket, the Azores, Catalina, Kangaroo Island, Capri, and the Isle of Wight with his wife Lisa.