British actress Imogen Poots has had a busy 2014 that includes appearances such films as FILTH, NEED FOR SPEED, A LONG WAY DOWN and THAT AWKWARD MOMENT. Whenever writer-director Terrence Malick decides to finish and release KNIGHT OF CUPS, Poots will be seen in that as well, assuming she hasn’t been cut out. She’s also got the latest directing effort from Peter Bogdanovich, SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY (formerly SQUIRRELS TO NUTS), due sometime next year. But perhaps her best work in recent months can be seen as talent scout Linda Keith in JIMI: ALL IS BY MY SIDE, a look at a year in the early career of Jimi Hendrix (wonderfully played by Andre Benjamin).
While Keith certainly didn’t discover Hendrix, she did instill him with enough confidence and direction to kick start his music career in the UK, making him famous and talking about enough to spark renewed curiosity about him back in the states. In turn, he treated her like garbage and wrecked their working and personal relationship. I’ve interviewed Poots several times in the last year and a half, but talking to her at the SXSW Film Festival in March was our first in-person 1-on-1 talk, and I’ve consistently found her charming, forthright and excited about each new films that she was being asked to be a part of. She strikes you as someone that will never be jaded about being an actor, and that’s refreshing. And with that, please enjoy my chat with Imogen Poots…
Capone: When I interviewed you for THAT AWKWARD MOMENT, we talked a little bit about NEED FOR SPEED, and you hinted that perhaps those kind of films might not be for you down the line. You were very honest and diplomatic about it…
Imogen Poots: [laughs] No, it’s funny…it’s an interesting time, especially now more than ever, with the huge, gaping distance between the smaller films and the bigger films. It’s time to figure out what’s your bag, you know? Some actors really love both, and some actors can go and have a great time doing one or the other. The sensation of doing a film like this, about Hendrix, even without all of the music they all want maybe to hear in this film, the thrill you get from doing a film like this—I think this film’s terrific, I love it, and I’ll support it to the heavens. You just know when something makes you crazy.
Capone: Yeah, Aaron Paul and Scott [Waugh, director] were just in Chicago last week, and I talked to them there. I will say, having you in NEED FOR SPEED is better than having you not in it. It’s a better movie because of what your character is doing.
IP: It’s the hair. It’s the hair.
Capone: The hair’s good. But it lets the testosterone air out of the balloon a little bit.
IP: Well that’s good. I remember when we actually started rehearsal for that. If you don’t do what you want to do with the character, then I think you stand a chance of probably being quite miserable, because anything you do on camera, anything you do on set could absolutely make the movie. So you want to have fun with a role like that, and then the director seems to play along with that, and it’s all good.
Capone: I didn’t mean to get sidetracked on this, but that conversation stuck with me.
IP: I clearly talk too much sometimes [laughs].
Capone: With this film, I didn’t understand the title until I saw the film and I realized then that it’s not about him. It’s about these women that were there early in his career. But Linda Keith, I had heard her name. I know who she is to a degree. They could have made a whole movie about her and her life, and they still could. Did you get a chance to meet her at some point?
IP: I didn’t, and John [Ridley, writer-director] spoke to her a lot prior to filming on the phone.
Capone: So she was on board?
IP: She was on board in the sense of giving him creative freedom. What I thought was cool is she said, “You know what? I really don’t need or have the desire to speak with whoever is going to play me in the movie, but I feel completely thrilled for you to go make the film you want to make.” And I think John probably needed her blessing to then go and make this film, because you’re right—it is primarily actually about the women. But I thought it was cool because also, that would be a whole other pressure I suspect in terms of playing a role if you’ve got that presence. And maybe meeting her would have informed choices in a different way, because you’re looking at physical things.
Capone: It’s interesting, at least the way the film portrays her, but I think it’s there in her life story and what’s documented, is that she could have been a talent scout. She could have been a music producer. She picked this life of this professional muse to these very talented musicians, but she had a real gift for singling out the best.
IP: Well, you’re right. It was also a gift for being taken really seriously, because I remember thinking, what does it take to be in that crowd of chaos, in a sense, and all those egos and all these bands when they’re at a place where—I mean, the Stones obviously had already made it—but Hendrix was still a question mark at that point. To really hold your ground as a woman, too. But especially her background, where she came from. She came from this conservative family, and that’s obviously referenced in the film. I think she’s hard as hell, you know? That’s really cool.
Capone: She really wanted these guys to be better and to take it seriously and not get caught up in the stuff that they all got caught up in.
IP: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. I think she really supported and pushed them, and then simultaneously was quite happy to step back and say, “Do your thing.” Apparently I think there was a bit more emotion involved. But yeah, I think it’s an amazing quality for a human being to have that.
Capone: In reading over some details about her, I didn’t realize that that moment where her father came and drags her away, that really happened.
IP: Well John’s so meticulous in an incredible way, and I’m talking about the props we would have on set, like record covers and all these things that were specific to what was found in the Red House. So it would be very strange if he had thrown something in that was completely not true.
Capone: When you were researching her,was there something about her that you identified with, or latched on to and said, “I can build on that and work with that.”
IP: Yeah. It’s interesting, because as soon as I read it, not only is it a great story, that just so happens to be based on the early life of a legend, but it’s a terrific story about her. John is obviously an incredible writer, and I think--
Capone: I’ve heard as much [this interview happened shortly after Ridley won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE].
IP: [Laughs] Yeah. [Putting on a very Southern California accent] “He like won something last week, I don’t know.” But I think what I loved so much about her is when she speaks about all these men writing songs for her, and she listens to them and she’s by herself. I think that idea is so, so brilliant, because maybe with this job you can have the most extraordinary moments and meet extraordinary people, and then suddenly you’re in a hotel room somewhere, and you’re going over it in your mind. It’s two very, very different sides of the coin, in that sense. I’m certainly drawn to her for that. And what an interesting character. What a complex role, in a lot of ways.
Capone: Watching Andre play this part—it’s one of those rare moments when someone is playing a real person and you forget what the real person looks like when you’re watching.
IP: Yeah, because they’ve embodied them.
Capone: He’s so good.
IP: Isn’t he? He really is.
Capone: Did you find yourself getting lost in what he was doing and distracted by how accurate it was?
IP: Absolutely. Oh, totally. We actually had a good amount of time before the film, and Andre and I hung out constantly. We would meet every day for lunch and dinner, and we’d just hang out, and we’d occasionally go over a scene. What I loved the most about working with him was he was just so malleable, flexible, and he’s a very curious guy. He’s always like, “What’s next? This is now. What’s the new, fresh thing?” And I knew what he meant and I thought that was probably quite a Hendrix mentality. And Andre’s also got an extreme innocence to him, so when that came out in the character, your maternal instinct kicks in as well. And you can almost forget that this guy’s a father, that Andre’s a father, and he has this whole insane music career, but he’s this down-to-earth being.
Capone: He’s committed to acting. I like that whatever he’s doing, that’s what he’s doing. It’s not half assed.
IP: Oh, totally. Yeah. And when he designed his house, he was telling us, “I want to design it all like Ralph Lauren.” And I was like, “That sounds like a mid-life crisis of a Yummy Mummy, but whatever you want, Andre.”
Capone: One of the many funny things about that fight scene that you have...
IP: With Hayley [Atwell]?
Capone: Yeah. Physical violence is so beneath Linda, and yet so a part of this other woman’s DNA. She will scrap at the drop of a hat.
IP: It’s a real test, isn’t it? I love that because it’s the discomfort of feeling anger, because she’s ashamed for feeling that way, and I think she let her guard down.
Capone: She does seem a little ashamed of herself when it’s all over.
IP: Yeah, absolutely. It’s embarrassing.
Capone: What did you do to immerse yourself in the period?
IP: Well number one, I cut off all my hair and dyed it black. It’s been a two-year uphill battle to be like, “Oh my hair is growing back.” But yeah, that was a bad decision, and a decision made because of a glass of wine.
Capone: You wish you’d gone with a wig?
IP: Kind of. At the time I was like, “No, I’m going to do this.” And I’d wake up every morning, and I was like, “Oh, I look like a mushroom.” But the haircut… [shakes her head]. We had really cool costume designer, and I loved the clothes I wore, I loved the era, obviously. Listening to a ton of music. I wasn’t a crazy, crazy Hendrix fan. I’d say, maybe it’s a strange thing for some people to pick, but I would say more Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, in the sense that I’m probably led by the lyrics rather than the riff. Listening to a ton of Stones, Hendrix, and understanding these figures. That’s what was so cool is the casting of the movie—if John wanted [Hendrix manager] Chas Chandler, he found an actor who looked identical to Chas Chandler. Everything was very specific in that sense.
Capone: The film teaches us, even though it’s not just about Hendrix, that he succeeded almost despite himself.
IP: Charisma.
Capone: Although later he buckled down and had a much better work ethic, at that point, he did not. I think Linda had a lot to do with that.
IP: I think it’s an interesting argument. You look at any artist, and it’s a question of do they have the hunger? And I think Linda, because she was such a force in his life, she had that hunger and probably pushed him to a place where he could see what was possible. Because I also think what’s interesting about the film is it’s very easy, especially in hindsight, to look at Hendrix as a legend, and look at that in the past. And actually we’re understanding him in the present, and we don’t know the man he’s going to become. So I think it’s really an understanding of, is success something that he actually wants?
Because you look at something like I think it’s a documentary called THE MAN THEY MADE GOD, and you’ve got Little Richard who’s interviewed, and he’s saying “Oh, I always knew he was going to be great.” And people who are backtracking on their original opinions, and the egos around that time. It could have gone either way really.
Capone: It seems like so far this year, you’ve spent a great deal of time...
IP: Talking to you? [Laughs]
Capone: Well, that too. I was going to say, promoting things that you’ve done in the last year or two. Are you sort of eager to finally start talking about something new?
IP: Yes. Oh my gosh, I can’t even tell you. Being in Austin is so cool, and talking about this film is actually really cool, and I couldn’t wait to come. But certainly, you’re asked questions and some of the questions are really, really fantastic, and you can have a conversation, and some questions are…questionable.
Capone: Questionable in what way? Too personal?
IP: No, no. Not even that. You can just bat those ones away.
Capone: Ill-informed?
IP: It’s interesting that if there’s an opportunity to have a conversation, someone would rather err on the side of talking about a specific person or just questions that are amazing. Maybe they’re lazy, maybe they’re easy, I don’t know. Maybe the project itself doesn’t cater to original questions. I can’t wait to work on the next project, but it’s also an odd thing, isn’t it? You do something and then promote it, and thensix months later something else comes up. It’s just like a consecutive bunch of babies.
Capone: I think the Nick Hornby one is coming out soon?
IP: That’s right. A LONG WAY DOWN [which was released on DVD last month]. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Capone: Which we talked a little bit about before. I think between the last time I talked to you, the trailer had just come out.
IP: That’s so terrific you feel that way, because I think anyone who’s read the book that I’ve come across is like, “I love the book.” But I’m excited for people to see that because it’s interesting, the subject matter, but it’s a Nick Hornby novel.
Capone: I could have spent this whole interview just trying to pry Malick stories out of you.
IP: Alas. I’m so excited to see that. We did a bit in Los Angeles, but he did one here [in Austin] too. We seem to know that from photographs that have been shot around Austin.
Capone: I saw a scene from that being shot. I saw two white vans pull into a parking lot, and I think it was Ryan Gosling got out with a camera crew, and Malick was there, and they shot one real quick thing, it took like 10 minutes, and then they got back in the vans and drove away. So now I’ve seen him direct now. Check that off the list.
IP: Guerilla style. Malick on wheels. That’s hilarious. They visited you with their set.
