Kate Beckinsale's beauty is very ideal for America's first ladies-inspired theme photoshoot in the latest January 2009 Inauguration issue of Capitol File magazine.
Aside from her classic classy images (with the Jackie O. trademark), Kate talks about her upcoming movie "Nothing But the Truth" were she plays plays Rachel Armstrong, a Washington, DC-based reporter who reveals the identity of a CIA agent and then goes to jail for refusing to name her source. Another breakout role for Beckinsale.
Some highlights of her interview....
What most attracted you to the script of Nothing But the Truth?
"It’s a really well-written, intelligent movie that’s about something. My character starts out in very normal circumstances. She’s an ordinary person who’s trying to catch her break as a journalist, raise her young son, and keep her marriage afloat—all those things everybody’s doing. And then she finds herself in a very extraordinary position of having to be heroic, which I think is interesting because I don’t think anybody sets out to be heroic. There’s a lot that you sacrifice, and it’s very interesting to see this woman have to keep going through experience after experience that’s changing who she is, what she stands up for, and how she manages to keep hold of that all the way through."
A large part of the film’s plot centers on a very daunting ethical question. Did you find yourself wondering, What would I do in that situation?
"I think that if you’re not the person involved, then it’s much easier to come at it from a hypothetical, intellectual place. I didn’t find anything particularly interesting in playing someone who is heroically standing up for a principle. As an actor, [you try to] find the personal, the emotional reasons. It’s almost as if you’re trying to play someone who’s saintly. There’s nothing more boring to watch than somebody going around making the right decisions all the time. As a woman and a mother, I had a very hard time with how long my character is in jail without seeing her son. I know that in terms of heroics, I probably would be less capable because I would be thinking of the effect on my child and I’d probably have to come home."
What was it like to film in a prison?
"If I hadn’t decided against a life of crime before, I definitely have now. They were quite frightening about “Don’t touch anything and always wash your hands.” The level of general filth, I didn’t really think hard about it, but the prison warden was really worried about us touching things and getting hepatitis or something. But it was quite interesting because the weird celebrity culture that we’re in, it doesn’t matter whether people are incredibly oppressed in prison, they still want me to autograph their Bible. You feel ridiculous dressed up in a very similar prison costume, and you know they’re all looking at you thinking, “She’s going home to her hotel, and we’re staying here.”
Have you ever thought about becoming an American citizen?
"I haven’t yet; I may at some point. A British friend of mine—a much older man who’s about the most British person I’ve ever met and has been here God knows how long—has just become an American citizen. He may not be American, but his children live here and he wanted to be part of voting on who’s going to be in power for them, which makes sense to me. I have to say I’ve never planned on living in America. I seem to have got myself here, to my amazement, married to an American—none of these things was I remotely anticipating. Maybe if I find myself still here in 10 or 15 years it would probably be silly not to be able to vote."
For the full article, visit Capitol File.
Aside from her classic classy images (with the Jackie O. trademark), Kate talks about her upcoming movie "Nothing But the Truth" were she plays plays Rachel Armstrong, a Washington, DC-based reporter who reveals the identity of a CIA agent and then goes to jail for refusing to name her source. Another breakout role for Beckinsale.
Some highlights of her interview....
What most attracted you to the script of Nothing But the Truth?
"It’s a really well-written, intelligent movie that’s about something. My character starts out in very normal circumstances. She’s an ordinary person who’s trying to catch her break as a journalist, raise her young son, and keep her marriage afloat—all those things everybody’s doing. And then she finds herself in a very extraordinary position of having to be heroic, which I think is interesting because I don’t think anybody sets out to be heroic. There’s a lot that you sacrifice, and it’s very interesting to see this woman have to keep going through experience after experience that’s changing who she is, what she stands up for, and how she manages to keep hold of that all the way through."
A large part of the film’s plot centers on a very daunting ethical question. Did you find yourself wondering, What would I do in that situation?
"I think that if you’re not the person involved, then it’s much easier to come at it from a hypothetical, intellectual place. I didn’t find anything particularly interesting in playing someone who is heroically standing up for a principle. As an actor, [you try to] find the personal, the emotional reasons. It’s almost as if you’re trying to play someone who’s saintly. There’s nothing more boring to watch than somebody going around making the right decisions all the time. As a woman and a mother, I had a very hard time with how long my character is in jail without seeing her son. I know that in terms of heroics, I probably would be less capable because I would be thinking of the effect on my child and I’d probably have to come home."
What was it like to film in a prison?
"If I hadn’t decided against a life of crime before, I definitely have now. They were quite frightening about “Don’t touch anything and always wash your hands.” The level of general filth, I didn’t really think hard about it, but the prison warden was really worried about us touching things and getting hepatitis or something. But it was quite interesting because the weird celebrity culture that we’re in, it doesn’t matter whether people are incredibly oppressed in prison, they still want me to autograph their Bible. You feel ridiculous dressed up in a very similar prison costume, and you know they’re all looking at you thinking, “She’s going home to her hotel, and we’re staying here.”
Have you ever thought about becoming an American citizen?
"I haven’t yet; I may at some point. A British friend of mine—a much older man who’s about the most British person I’ve ever met and has been here God knows how long—has just become an American citizen. He may not be American, but his children live here and he wanted to be part of voting on who’s going to be in power for them, which makes sense to me. I have to say I’ve never planned on living in America. I seem to have got myself here, to my amazement, married to an American—none of these things was I remotely anticipating. Maybe if I find myself still here in 10 or 15 years it would probably be silly not to be able to vote."
For the full article, visit Capitol File.
