Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Michelle Monaghan burst onto the scene as an actor--after a fairly successful career as a fashion model--in the film KISS KISS BANG BANG, and wow, what a debut. I don't think any of us will look at a Santa suit quite the same way. Still, to hold your own in your first starring role opposite Val Kilmer and a returning-to-form Robert Downey Jr., that's an impressive achievement. In the same year, she continued to steal the spotlight away from bigger names, opposite Charlize Theron in the sexual harassment drama NORTH COUNTRY. I've never been as interested in Monaghan playing second fiddle to anyone or simply "the girlfriend" in films like MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, THE HEARTBREAK KID, MAID OF HONOR, or even the action-oriented EAGLE EYE. I'm drawn more to her blue-collar portrayal of tough, confident women in films like NORTH COUNTRY, GONE BABY GONE, or her latest work, TRUCKER, which finally opens in selected cities this weekend after a couple years sitting on the shelf.
Her performance in writer-director James Mottern's TRUCKER is nothing short of brilliant, as she portrays Diane Ford, a woman big-rig driver who is more comfortable having anonymous road sex than having a meaningful relationship. When the child she abandoned several years earlier is thrust back into her life after her ex- develops cancer, we realize that both Mottern and Monaghan care more about us getting inside Diane's head and heart than they do about us finding her likable. That's a tough thing to sell, but Monaghan knows this woman inside and out. Being tied down for any reason is the thing Diane has feared and avoided her entire adult life, and Monaghan infuses every fiber of Diane's being with this notion. It's a real treat watching her exist in this woman's skin, and do what you can to see TRUCKER wherever you are. Please enjoy one of the absolute sweetest people I've ever had he please to interview, Michelle Monaghan…
Capone: How are you?
Michelle Monaghan: Good, buddy. how are you?
Capone: Great. First of all, I’m really happy that somebody sent me a copy of TRUCKER finally after all of these years, because it is really something special.
MM: Those are my sentiments exactly. When it landed in my lap, I was pretty stoked myself.
Capone: I didn’t realize that you went to journalism school at Colombia College for a couple of years.
MM: I did!
Capone: I work with some of the film students there from time to time getting them into screenings, so I just thought that was interesting. I actually went to j-school at Northwestern.
MM: Oh you did? I wanted to go to Northwestern, I just couldn’t afford Northwestern, so I settled for Colombia and then when I left school… I loved Colombia and studying there and everything, but when I left and started to act, I was like “God, I was at the best film school!” I was like, “Did I miss my boat there?” I had my degrees mixed up perhaps.
Capone: With this film, TRUCKER, it’s got to be a little surreal for you to be talking about it now. How many years are we talking, like two or three years since you made this thing?
MM: We were talking the summer of 2007, I made the movie.
Capone: And when it was presented to me, someone said, “They think Michelle might get an Oscar nomination.” That’s got to be a little surreal to even have people thinking of it in those terms, something that you made a couple of years ago.
MM: Yeah, just anybody talking like that is pretty surreal. I think people that are even saying that, haven’t actually seen that, so I’m going to reserve any opinion on that whatsoever. We want people to go to the theater and see this movie and we have been schlepping this movie for two years, so to now finally have it finally coming out is a really big accomplishment.
Capone: Yeah and it’s funny, because you keep coming back to these roles where you are playing these sort of working-class women. Is that a deliberate thing? I think those are probably my favorite roles of yours, like in NORTH COUNTRY and GONE BABY GONE. Is that something you are kind of looking for, like something that shows these women that we don’t get to see a lot on screen?
MM: I think that these are real women and I think I connect to those women. I grew up in a middle-class family and I was surrounded by working-class folks that have worked hard all of their lives and have things in their lives that people struggle with. And I think those are interesting stories, and we don’t get to see those stories on film very much. I don’t know if I seek them out, I just think that if I see it, it’s something that I can identify with maybe, and that’s why I’m maybe compelled to tell those stories.
Capone: Was there something specific in James' script that did speak to you, and something about Diane that spoke to you?
MM: Yes, I mean first of all, like I said, I think she’s a real woman, first of all. She’s very, very honest and she never lies. She never plays the victim. And when I read the role and I finished it, I put it down in my lap and she really just initially struck me as somebody that I had to play, because she wasn’t really likable by most people’s standards probably, and I thought that would be a real challenge in getting the opportunity to try to play her, not necessarily to have her be liked at the end of the movie, but to have her be understood, which was really important to me. I really was intrigued by the idea that this woman wasn’t maternal.
There’s so much pressure put on women in society to be maternal and if they are not, then something’s wrong with them. I just really wanted to explore that side of her, that it was okay. And James is an amazing writer, and he has written this line that was taken out of the movie, but when I read it, it was the line in the movie that sold the movie to me. It was a line where she says, “There are about a billion women on this planet, you'd guess one or two might not be cut out for motherhood.” And I was like, “Wow, that’s the gal I want to play!” Instead of playing your stereotypical mom, who is like this perfect mom who has three kids running around and still gets supper on the table. That’s not reality for a lot of people.
Capone: You must be reading my notes, because my next question was going to be “Is it more important to you for us to like her or to understand her?” You've already answered that question. There are going to be people, women in particular I think, who are going to be really appalled by her behavior initially with her child.
MM: I think so. That’s the thing. It’s like it’s frowned upon when a man leaves home and abandons his family, but we don’t sit there and talk about it. I just really think that James did such a great job at sort of turning the tables, and it’s a woman in a man’s world and it’s a woman kind of faced with the struggles that men typically encounter. I think it’s just a really fresh perspective.
Capone: You're right, when a man leaves, it’s frowned upon. But when a woman does what Diane does, it’s an unspeakable sin again all things holy. It’s like she has committed the worst crime on the earth. It’s a strange double standard.
MM: It is, that's exactly right. It’s really true, so I just thought that there was really something there and exploring that.
Capone: You mentioned the pressures in society, in just movies in general I think there is a pressure for women to come off as maternal, even if they don’t have a kid in the movie, they still have to be pleasant and nurturing. You are going completely against certainly even some of the roles that you have played before.
MM: Yeah, absolutely.
Capone: Seeing Joey Lauren Adams in the film reminded me that there are some similar elements between TRUCKER and the film she directed, COME EARLY MORNING, which I think was made a year earlier than this with Ashley Judd.
MM: Yeah, I didn’t see that movie, but I hear it’s an amazing movie. James, I know, was really so fond of that movie and he contacted Joey as a result of that.
Capone: It’s a tremendous film and it’s the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw this. Did James also initially talk to you about the look of the film? There’s a real sort of gritty, '70s quality to it. Did he talk to you about that at all?
MM: Yeah, that’s exactly what he wanted to portray, a really '70s film. You should talk to him. Are you scheduled to talk to him?
Capone: I’m not, no.
MM: He’s a total cinephile and would be able to give you all of the references and everything that you would want, but yeah he was definitely going for a '70s vibe.
Capone: The one that initially popped into my head was ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE.
MM: Yeah, exactly! That’s exactly right. He came to me and was like ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE. All of these sort of movies. Yeah, you are exactly right!
Capone: I get the sense that there’s a lot about Diane that we don’t know, and probably don’t need to know, did you come up with any details about her life that you carried with you when you were making the film?
MM: I did in a way. I asked James what her backstory was and whether she a prostitute at one point in her life. And he wouldn’t answer any of those questions for me. He sort of looked at me and was like “What do you think?” I liked that challenge and there were certain parts of her… I didn’t really think that she had much of a family, obviously. She didn’t really have a lot of connections growing up and obviously she has a hard time with relationships, but there wasn’t really anything too specific that I took with her. There might have been a lot actually.
Capone: Just even having the prostitution element be a possibility, that’s a huge burden that she might carry with her.
MM: Yeah, it was huge. I definitely think she was down on her luck and she met a guy that swept her off of her feet and she was young and ultimately had a baby and realized at a very young age that she wasn’t…I think Diane thought that her baby would probably be better off without her, somebody that was that unhappy and that didn’t want to be there. I couldn’t really fault her for that.
Capone: Having Nathan Fillion in the film made me think of WAITRESS, which is another film about a woman who really hates her kid, her unborn kid.
MM: [Laughs] Exactly!
Capone: Were you aware that Nathan had this huge following from FIREFLY?
MM: Yes, I saw him in SERENITY. He was so fantastic in that, and I know James saw him in this movie called SLITHER, I think.
Capone: That’s a great one! That’s James Gunn’s movie.
MM: And James was like “If you have seen this film SLITHER, this guy Nathan Fillion…” I was like “I haven’t seen that movie, but I know Nathan Fillion, and he was fantastic in WAITRESS.” He is such a leading man to me, and he’s a phenomenal actor and I loved every second working with him and I would love to work with him again.
Capone: Even though this is a smaller film, it is your first lead role really. Is that still kind of nerve-racking, even though a smaller number of people might see it, but it’s still you?
MM: It is me, but it didn’t feel that way when we were making it, because it was so small. If that make any sense. I never sort of felt like “Oh my gosh, I’m carrying this film.” I never saw it in terms of that, because it just felt like a really simple story and we shot it in 19 days for like $1.5 million, so it only is now, after the fact, that I'm like “Oh wow, it really is me there.” I never felt any of that pressure, I guess.
Capone: I’ve heard some actors say that they relieve the pressure in their minds on smaller films by just thinking, “Well, no one’s going to see this anyways, so I can do whatever I want.”
MM: It really felt like we were making a short film or something, you know what I mean? It really did, because the scale of it, compared to anything else that I had ever done before was so small.
Capone: In the end, the film definitely leaves us with a sense of hope without being unrealistic. It’s very clear that Diane and her son have a lot of growing up to do. There’s going to be a shaky road for them, I think, for a while at least, but it is a very hopeful ending.
MM: That’s what I loved about it, because it didn’t try to shove anything down your thought. It was unsentimental and it just left you with a feeling that Diane might live the next five years of her life just a little bit differently, but still staying true to herself, but that her eyes had been opened a little bit. And that is what was so great about the ending, so often you have to just tie it up into a neat little package or whatever . It just wouldn’t have made any sense.
Capone: There’s no danger of that here, yeah.
MM: Great.
Capone: The cool thing also was there were a lot of scenes in the movie where you are just handling the rig. Watching you sort of maneuver around the rig made it feel very authentic.
MM: I went to truck driving school. I got my CDL [Commercial Driver License] permit, so that’s good. I learned how to drop and hook and all of that.
Capone: There’s nothing dainty about the way that you were moving things around there. One thing that’s funny is that Jimmy Bennett [who plays Diane's son] has been on a roll since he’s made this movie. The kid is everywhere.
MM: Yes.
Capone: He plays the young James Kirk in STAR TREK. He's in SHORTS and OPRHAN.. That's four films just this year, including TRUCKER.
MM: He’s actually got a bigger resume than I do. And he’s like 12.
Capone: I’ve seen him in like three movies this year, well four including this one. Looking back at KISS KISS BANG BANG, was that kind of cool to be there at ground zero of Robert Downey and Shane Black's return to the world of big movies again?
MM: Are you kidding me? Listen, it was cool for me to just be there! Certainly it was a three hander, but it was certainly my first kind of lead role, and nothing will ever compare to that experience for me on a personal level, on a professional level. It was amazing to work with Robert and Val and Shane [Black], and they were incredible to me and it was just a great, great learning experience.
Capone: When you made that transition from modeling to acting, were there steps that you took to make sure that you would be the best actor you could be and that you would be taken seriously so people might look beyond the world that you had come out of?
MM: You know what? People always say there’s a big stigma attached to former models that have turned into actors, but I never honestly ran into that. I think because I wasn’t a big sort of model, I basically did a lot of catalog modeling, occasionally I would do a magazine shoot, so nobody really knew who I was within the modeling industry, do you know what I mean? People were just like “Where did you come from?” I didn’t really feel like I had to cover up my past and somehow make it less than what it was. If anything, I think it helped me in the sense of making that transition into acting and having to go on all of these auditions and be rejected. That was like a daily occurrence for me as a model, you know what I mean? If anything it was not a hindrance, but a benefit.
Capone: Having KISS KISS BANG BANG and NORTH COUNTRY just kind of came out of that one-two punch for you in the same year, and those two roles really did show us your range. When I think of NORTH COUNTRY, I think of your character’s arc, because it almost seemed like she had further to fall than Charlize Theron's character, because she was so happy and fun.
MM: Thank you very much!
Capone: Seeing Jeremy Renner in THE HURT LOCKER recently reminded me that when I saw him play this relentless bastard in NORTH COUNTRY, I thought I'd never be able to see him any other way.
MM: He is amazing. That movie was a great movie for all of us to do. The whole cast, still to this day, we are like the best of friends. We still have NORTH COUNTRY outings with like Niki [Caro, the director] and Charlize, Jeremy, and myself and Jillian [Armenante] and everybody, so that was a great film for all of us. Thank you.
Capone: So now you are making another film with Robert Downey Jr., DUE DATE. Your director is Todd Phillips, who is riding high right now thanks to THE HANGOVER. Tell me a little bit about that.
MM: I’m really excited obviously to be working with Robert again and I play his nine months pregnant wife who is about to pop any minute, and Robert’s character gets inadvertently hooked up on a road trip with Zach Galifianakis [Struggles to pronounce the name].
Capone: I know who you mean.
MM: Okay, good! Don’t tell him I totally brutalized his name. [laughs] They are sort of on the road to get back to me before the baby comes.
Capone: So it’s another deadline story.
MM: Yeah, it’s like another deadline story, exactly. And it’s really, really funny.
Capone: When do you start shooting that?
MM: They just started production this week I believe, and I think I start next month.
Capone: Okay. And I hear Jamie Foxx just joined the cast.
MM: I heard a rumor.
Capone: I think that rumor is fact now. I'm pretty sure he's in it.
MM: Somebody told me he was, but I didn’t know if it had come out.
Capone: I didn’t know if he was one of the people making the trip or if he’s just someone they run into.
MM: He’s somebody they run into.
Capone: So it’s another Odyssey? On their drive are they just running into different people? Is that the idea?
MM: That’s exactly right.
Capone: Do you have anything else coming up?
MM: I’m developing a movie at the moment, which is kind of a thriller and hopefully I’ll be shooting that next year. We are changing the title on it, so I’m not going to give you the title, but I’m working on that and I’m really excited. That’s it for the moment. There are a couple of other things that I’m looking at that maybe will put me back to work maybe after DUE DATE, but we'll see.
Capone: Okay, so nothing else in the immediate front that will require you to not wear as much make up?
MM: Exactly exactly
Capone: That’s got to be freeing, to play these women and not have to worry as much about putting yourself together every morning.
MM: It’s awesome. Anything that allows me to sleep a little bit later is a good thing.
Capone: Right. Michelle, thank you so much for talking to us.
MM: Thank you so much. And thank you so much for featuring this movie. I really, really appreciate it.
Capone: Yeah and you said the film is opening in Chicago on October 9, right? So I have got this interview put up right away, don't I?
MM: Don’t be late dude! [laughs]
Capone: I won't be, because seriously, it’s like word of mouth is going to make or break this movie.
MM: It is. That’s the truth! Thank you. All right, bye!
And a special thanks to the fast-fingered Muldoon, who I've been leaning on more and more in recent months, for the quick turnaround on this transcription.
-- Capone
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