Don’t Be Surprised if Rebecca Hall Seems to Suddenly Turn into an American
Rebecca Hall
IN CONVERSATION
Don’t Be Surprised if Rebecca Hall Seems to Suddenly Turn into an American
The London-born star of The Gift talks to Krista Smith about her busy year and the late night of drinking that introduced her to Joel Edgerton.
BY KRISTA SMITH
AUGUST 6, 2015 2:38 PM
Rebecca Hall describes her career as “trying to keep on trucking on,” but what it looks like is a whole lot more impressive than that. At 33, the London-born actress has everything from a best-picture nominee (Frost/Nixon) and a superhero blockbuster (Iron Man 3) to a trippy Johnny Depp sci-fi drama (Transcendence) on her résumé. Her new film is yet another left turn: she stars opposite Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton in this week’s The Gift, a domestic thriller about a seemingly perfect couple whose lives are upended by a visitor from the past. Hall spoke with senior west coast editor Krista Smith about the late-night party with Edgerton that led to the role, and why she may as well just keep an American accent 24/7 these days.
Vanity Fair: In this thriller, you saw everyone’s point of view. There wasn’t necessarily a good guy or a bad guy, which I really like.
Rebecca Hall: Yeah, it all seemed quite clear to me that [Joel Edgerton] wanted to make a domestic drama that was masquerading as a thriller. It appears to be about one thing, but actually it’s lots more.
And your character is initially the one who seems to have a problem, and then it changes.
Yeah, I really like that. It was an interesting thing for me to play because I have a lot to monkey around with. Playing someone who looks like she’s perfect and diligent, but is sort of submissive and has no power and is clearly lost, and sort of playing with the balance of how much of that I show. I loved that she had a past that was damaged. Otherwise, it could have really been in danger of being a sort of victimized, female role. Instead, what I think it is, is a much more valuable story of a woman who doesn’t know her own power, and because of horrible things that happened to her, ends up growing up and probably coming out of it a lot better then she’d thought at the beginning. The event in the movie forces her to realize her own strength.
How did you come to be in it and work with Joel?
We’d met in London at a random drinks thing someone had . . . which ended up in a group of people drinking into the wee hours in my flat. So, we became friends around that time. Then he sent me the script and said, “You’d be great for this. Will you have a look?,” and I was just really excited to read it. You know, part of me just instantly wants to back a first-time film director if I think they’re smart and I’m fond of them—even more if it’s an actor. Not just because I’m an actor and what if I want to do that one day; it’s more because actors have seen a lot of other directors’ work, and directors on the whole never witness another director working. . . . Actors, I think, have a first-hand experience of that in much closer proximity than any other [role on a film]. I don’t believe that all actors should end up being directors. A lot of them really shouldn’t, but [they’re] sort of talented in that arena in the first place.
Jason Bateman really surprised me in this, too.
Yeah, I know. He’s really funny about it. I said, “Oh this is perfect.” He’s just so intrinsically trustworthy and charming and funny. Everyone likes [him]. No one’s going to really second-guess [him]. That’s what makes it sort of fascinating.
You’ve been so busy, it feels like light speed; does it feel that way to you?
I had a gap. I had a big gap, love. This time last year I was on a kind of eight-month hiatus—partially self-inflicted and then not, as the months went by. Then I sort of made up for it this year. I’ve already shot three films this year. So that’s confusing to me because this is the first one of three in a row that I’ve shot back-to-back.
Are you doing American accents in these?
Yeah, I’m always American these days. I should just suck it up and speak American every day. I’ve got the American mother and, you know, now I live in New York. So, what’s the difference?
Superhero movies seem to dominate the conversation a lot of the time, but it feels like there’s this undercurrent of all these other new directors—globally, actually—and actors kind of knowing each other, just like how you knew Joel, working together and creating all this really great material.
God, I hope that’s true. We’re in this sort of strange period of transition. You know, the way that movies used to get made has really shifted in the last five years—dramatically and quickly. Even in the last six months, I feel it’s shifted toward TV because that’s where all the innovation is. But at the same time, we sort of understand how we can make these sorts of markets on the smaller films. There’s a landscape where we’re all just sort of kind of groveling around trying to find out just how to do it and get it done and whether that means doing stuff that’s going to be solely distributed on Netflix or Hulu, or whatever. There are huge opportunities out there. I think that it’s potentially quite exciting. I mean, there’s always going to be a market for another superhero movie.
Are you going to do any Netflix or HBO or anything?
Yeah, I’m about to start a limited series. [Codes of Conduct, co-starring Helena Bonham Carter and Devon Terrell.] Steve McQueen is directing for HBO.
Oh, great! You’re doing great, and that’s not necessarily easy to do, and it’s so arbitrary.
Yeah, I know. There are a lot of many, many different ways to go about it these days, and I feel like my particular brand—trying to keep on trucking on,—is not necessarily the most fashionable right now, but I’m still working.
Krista Smith is Vanity Fair's executive west coast editor and de facto ambassador to Hollywood.
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