Amy Ryan Interview, Gone Baby Gone

Posted by: Sheila Roberts

MoviesOnline sat down recently with Amy Ryan at the Los Angeles press day for her new movie, "Gone Baby Gone,” written and directed by Ben Affleck based on his adaptation of the novel by Dennis Lehane. When a young girl disappears from her home, a pair of investigators (Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan) search desperately for the child in the streets of Boston. Ryan plays the missing girl’s working class mother, Helene. "Gone Baby Gone” also stars Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris.

For Ben Affleck, the casting of Tony Award-nominee and rising screen actress Amy Ryan as Helene was a lynchpin of the entire film. "In some ways, Helene is really the most pivotal part of the movie, and I got super lucky with Amy,” he says. "Her character is very polarizing and some people will feel one thing about her and others another thing. But one thing she’s clearly not is a prototypical victim who looks and sounds great on TV. She’s a real person who has her own considerable faults. And Amy plays her so brilliantly, she made her more real than I ever imagined.” Adds executive producer David Crockett: "Amy is one of the real surprises of the film. Her transformation into this character was pretty astonishing.”

Ryan was able to root her performance in an artful empathy for Helene’s struggle as a poor, single parent, which allowed her to cut to the divided heart of the character. "Helene is one of those women who are all too familiar in this country, a woman who grew up with both economic and educational challenges,” she observes. "She’s a single mom who’s just trying to get by the best she can and raise her child. She’s one of those people who, on the surface, it might be very easy to judge and simply say that she’s a terrible mother. But I also wanted to make sure people ask the bigger questions about Helene: why is she in this situation, why can’t she get ahead, and why is she stuck in this cycle?”

Even with this richer exploration of Helene’s situation, Ryan still found Helene a challenge. "She’s a tough character, a funny character,” she comments, "but I think one of the really compelling things about the movie is that it shows people for who they are without really judging them. They might have broken wallets or even broken souls, but there’s a humanity to all these characters.”

Amy Ryan received two Tony nominations for her performances in "Uncle Vanya” and "A Streetcar Named Desire,” for which she also received an Outer Critic’s Circle Award. Her other Broadway credits include "The Woman,” "Three Sisters,” and "The Sisters Rosensweig.” Off-Broadway she has appeared in "On the Mountain,” "Saved,” "Crimes of the Heart,” "Imagining Brad,” "As Bees in Honey Drown” and "The Rimers of Eldrich.” Other productions include "The Distance From Here” (London), "Rabbit Hole” (Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles), and "A Streetcar Named Desire” (Kennedy Center).

Ryan’s film work includes "Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” "Dan in Real Life,” "Capote,” "Neal Cassady,” "War of the Worlds,” "Keane,” "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World,” "You Can Count on Me” and the upcoming "Bob Funk” and "The Missing Person.” She is familiar to television audiences from her work on HBO’s "The Wire” and "100 Centre Street” on A&E.

Amy Ryan delivers an impressive performance in "Gone Baby Gone.” Here’s what she had to tell us about her new film:

Q: DID YOU FIND THIS CHARACTER DISTURBING TO PLAY?

A: Not disturbing to play. Thrilling to play. Disturbing to watch. Disturbing to read about in book form or script form, but as an actor, thrilling to play because it's so complicated. It's not just a bad guy. It's a good guy who makes really, really bad choices, you know.

Q: WHAT DIRECTION DID BEN GIVE YOU WITH YOUR CHARACTER? DID YOU HANG OUT IN BOSTON NEIGHBORHOODS?

A: Yeah, I did that. One of the first nights I went to a — someone took me to a bar in Dorchester and we were talking to a bartender and he said: "What are you doing here?” I said: "I'm just kind of getting a feel for the neighborhood.” And he said: "Well, there've been seven shootings in the last seven days.” I was like: "Go back to the Ritz Carlton and watch some old movie.” (laughs) But no, we were so fortunate to film in Boston where in between takes, I'll sit with the Teamsters and pick up that sound as much as possible. And of course I had the luxury of Ben and Casey who know it so well, and Ben was in my ear as much as possible, and then just the local non-actors who are now actors, I suppose, that Ben cast, are a constant reminder nearby, never to condescend to this, never make fun of these people. It really kept me in line to never make a caricature out of them. So that was the greatest thing. I don't think we would have done as well filming in Vancouver or Toronto. Boston is such a character in this film.

Q: WERE YOU PRACTICING THE ACCENT WHEN YOU WENT HOME AT NIGHT?

A: Yes. I got to tape — actually the girl who plays my best friend in the movie, Jill Craig (??) I had record or just tell stories about her own life which were quite entertaining. So yeah, I had her and she never left my side on the set as well.

Q: DID YOU FREAK OUT YOUR FRIENDS BY CALLING THEM IN CHARACTER?

A: I did a little, but yeah my language got really foul off camera. I’d call home. I would do it with friends, you know, to my actor friends who understood that it's easier to stay in it but I certainly wouldn't do it all the time.

Q: WHICH SCENES DID YOU AUDITION FOR THIS FILM?

A: The last scene and the interrogation scene with Ed.

Q: WHEN YOU AUDITIONED, DID YOU DO IT IN A BOSTON ACCENT?

A: I did, yes, and Ben was very enthusiastic. He said, "Where are you from?” Oh my God. I said, "I'm from Queens.” And he said, "Yeah, but where else?” I've been raised in Queens, New York, but I spent summers at my aunt and uncle’s in Vermont . . . but there were people who would summer in Vermont from Boston, so I grew up with some of those sounds. And you know a little bit of the attitude is similar in Queens — that defensive, blue collar kind of... So totally it was similar. Technically you just had to drop a couple of Rs and put them in other places

Q: WAS THERE A PERFORMANCE BEN MIGHT HAVE SEEN THAT LED HIM TO CAST YOU IN "GONE BABY GONE”?

A: No, not at all. I just changed agents at the time and this was the first audition the agent sent me on. I was in New York, and I met Ben just for this so I just read for him in Los Angeles last year.

Q: BEING AN ACTOR, DID HE READ WITH YOU?

A: No. The casting director read. That would have been too intense. That would be strange. He would want to watch what he was doing, the choices he was making. I heard his wife Jennifer had dinner with friends and said "Ben's really excited. He's found this unknown actress for his movie." But it was with Ron Rifkin and Victor Garber and they're like, "I know Amy!” Of course, it's the theater world, you know, and so it was fun.

Q: HOW WAS IT WORKING WITH BEN AS A FIRST-TIME DIRECTOR?

A: He was very playful, very open with me. There's nothing mediocre about Ben Affleck in his work or him as a person since I've known him this short while. He was constantly pushing the envelope, and with the luxury of having the director also be the writer, he was constantly giving me new lines to speak from take to take. He was thrilling. I found it really inspiring.

Q: HOW MANY TAKES WOULD YOU DO ON AVERAGE?

A: Oh, maybe we did four or five, you know.

Q: DID YOU MEET ANYONE THAT YOU BASED YOUR CHARACTER ON?

A: No, I didn't, but the luxury of — first of all, everything was on the page. It was in the screenplay but also in Dennis Lehane's book. It was a great resource. His story's so wonderful, but it has almost great Cliff's Notes. He really gets behind the thoughts — the thoughts behind the lines — which is actor's homework, so it's kind of like having a cheat sheet. So his book was a great resource as well, and Ben shared with me loads of photographs that he had taken in the neighborhood before, and that was a great help just visually seeing the area that we were shooting in.

Q: WHAT WAS THE HARDEST ASPECT OF YOUR CHARACTER TO CAPTURE?

A: Technically, the hardest was the first day because it's the first day of school and it was nerve-wracking and we were fighting against a setting sun. Casey takes me back to my house after the drive, and I plead with him to find her. That was tricky and the last scene was very tricky because there was just so much to do. In a way, I couldn't use the luxuries of theater where I would have needed four weeks of rehearsals with props and walking around. I think it was the scenes in the house — they came together, the ones in the kitchen — the more seeing it as Ben got excited and seeing Ed Harris get excited, I thought, "Okay, we must be — we're in some groove here, something is happening.”

Q: IT WAS INTERESTING BECAUSE YOU DID IT WITH ED HARRIS AND AMY MADIGAN TOGETHER.

A: It was really sweet to see them together. Right before a take Amy would come over [inaudible]. Also, some of the crude crass things I had to say to Amy. She wasn't going to hit me, but they're gorgeous together, they’re so playful. They raised the bar, you know. The first day I met Ed he just looked me up and down and goes, "That's some part you've got there.” I could feel him drawing the line in the sand like "Keep up! Keep up with me.” But it wasn't belligerent. It was kind of an exciting challenge. Because of course I'm aware of who he is, his talent. It’s like you don't want to be the one dragging the ship down.

Q: DID THE GIRL WHO PLAYED AMANDA UNDERSTAND WHAT THE STORY WAS ABOUT?

A: No. No. Not at all. She had dolls to play with and Casey was charming her. I think she was bored (laughs). She wanted to go by crafts services as quick as possible and get some candy.

Q: HOW OLD WAS SHE?

A: She was four.

Q: DO YOU HAVE CHILDREN OF YOUR OWN?

A: I don't. I have 4 nieces, though.

Q: WHAT DID YOU DO TO BOND WITH HER OFF SET BECAUSE ONSET YOU KIND OF BRUSHED HER OFF AND IGNORED HER?

A: A lot of the stuff, maybe when the cameras were around, she didn't see what I was doing luckily, and she was shielded from any foul language. So really the only moment I had with her was when I ran out on the street. So that was easy enough. She just snuggled in. But all the stuff in the house and the last scene, she wasn't there for my coverage, so that was probably better for her.

Q: WHAT WAS THE INTERACTION LIKE BETWEEN BEN AND HIS BROTHER? DID HE DIRECT CASEY DIFFERENTLY THAN EVERYBODY ELSE?

A: I couldn't say for certain except that they have more of a shorthand language, a look and a glance that says more. Ben's also full of decorum so he’d come in and whisper directions so I never really was privy to what he said to Casey, but there's great love between them. At least maybe that's the show they put on for us (laughs), but they seem to enjoy each other.

Q: HOW ARE BEN AND CASEY DIFFERENT?

A: Oh gosh. I think Casey's impish and playful. I think Ben is a natural leader. I don't know if that's different or just describing things the way they are. Ben's a little taller and broader (laughs).

Q: HOW MUCH INPUT DID YOU HAVE INTO YOUR WARDROBE FOR "GONE BABY GONE”?

A: Well, it was certainly — the costumes were Alix's design, but she kept laughing. She's like REALLLY? I was like, "Go tighter, go uglier.” Because that's truth and to me, truth is beauty. I'd never want my own ego to leak into that, you know. It would be nice, I suppose to wear a pretty dress but it just wouldn't have been truthful. Ben picked the nail polish (laughs). That’s the truth. It was Ben’s Bubble Gum Pink nail polish choice.

Q: IT’S A TELLING SCENE LATE AT THE END WHEN SHE SO PROUDLY DISPLAYS HERSELF FOR CASEY’S CHARACTER’S APPROVAL.

A: Oh, she looked really good! She got a little money and she picked out some nice clothes for herself.

Q: DO YOU AGREE WITH THE WAY THE STORY ENDS?

A: Yeah. Well, I certainly wouldn't want to make that decision. It's her mother, her mother.

Q: WERE YOU SURPRISED THEY DELAYED THE FILM'S RELEASE IN ENGLAND BECAUSE OF THE MADELINE MCCANN SITUATION?

A: Well, that's real life and this is a work of fiction. It's the sensitive thing to do. That's what I think.

Q: THIS IS THE TYPE OF ROLE THAT’S LOOKED AT FOR ACADEMY AWARD CONSIDERATION. WHAT WOULD YOU THINK IF THAT HAPPENED?

A: I think it would be fantastic. Yeah, that would be great. It would mean more people would see the movie — just the simple thing there — but yeah, I've been in smaller settings like that before with the Tony Awards. It is an honor. It's also terrifying, but it's an honor. It would be an honor.

Q: HOW DOES YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THEATER INFORM YOUR ACTING IN A FILM LIKE THIS WHERE YOU’RE PLAYING SUCH A COMPLEX CHARACTER?

A: Well, theater is story told with language, and film obviously pictures. This character, Helene, has quite colorful language. You go okay, why this language? Well, that's her weapon, that's her defense. So theater training is probably some of the best training an actor can get — learning as you go, because you realize it's high stakes all the time, and you have to trust your instincts. And with a character like this, there was no real time to warm up into it. You had to jump off from the beginning, and I had the luxury of Ben saying, ‘It's okay.’ And he kept pushing the goal post wider and wider, saying, ‘It's okay. This is true. You can go this big.’

Q: It was a great performance.

A: Thank you very much.

Q: YOU WERE NOMINATED FOR A TONY IN "A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.” WHO DID YOU PLAY ON BROADWAY, BLANCHE OR STELLA?

A: Stella.

Q: "SAVED” IS ONE OF YOUR OFF BROADWAY CREDITS. IS THAT EDWARD BOND'S PLAY?

A: Yes it is. I know (laughs).

Q: THAT IS FAR MORE SHOCKING THAN THIS.

A: Yeah.

Q: THE STONING OF THE BABY IN THE PRAM.

A: That's right — yeah.

Q: DID THAT DISTURB YOU?

A: Yes, very much. Very much. But Edward Bond — and I think the same that this story does — I don't think anyone can easily say, like the mother in ‘Saved’ and the mother in ‘Gone Baby Gone,’ that these are flat-out evil people. And my hope is that you look further and ask why. Why is this woman in this situation? Where is the health care? Where is the education? To help clean up the society, the environment in which this woman grew up in and obviously her daughter is now growing up in -- the young daughter you have so much compassion and sympathy for -- well, what happens if she grows into her mother? Do we then demonize her? Or do we help our neighborhoods? Do we help our society?

Q: HOW IMPORTANT IS THEATER THESE DAYS IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS ESPECIALLY NOW THAT YOU’RE DOING MORE FILM?

A: Well, theater will always be in my bones, and I feel it's always where I’m going to root out bad habits I might pick up along the way. So I will always go back to theater, but right now, I'll leave it be for a while.

Q: YOU HAVE THREE MOVIES COMING OUT THIS FALL: "DAN IN REAL LIFE,” THIS ONE, AND "BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD,” HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?

A: It 's a funny thing because Dan In Real Life is for me a luxurious paid vacation. And Peter Hedges is an old friend from New York. I did a play of his with Phil Hoffman years ago, but Peter's invite — come and have a great time. I wouldn't be so bold as to say 'favor' because I enjoyed it, but it was an invite to hang with New York's best theater actors and sit at the feet of Dianne Wiest for 8 weeks and watch the magic of Steve Carell. So yeah, I think Peter's intent was more an improvisational setting, but once we got there — the story actually, you don't need sub plots. You don't need to make another "Family Stone,” so I knew going in very much that our job was going to be a Greek Chorus, you know, provide the chaos for them. So (laughs) it was my job to wear makeup and nice clothes for once in a film.

Q: COULD YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER IN SOME OF THESE UPCOMING FILMS?

A: In Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead,” I'm Ethan Hawke's disgruntled ex-wife. So we get to go toe to toe and fight over child care. Again, all these women looking for child care. And I've worked with Sidney before in his television series so it was great to be back with him.

Q: HOW IS HE AT 82?

A: He has more energy than anyone I know. He's an extraordinary man. He's full of life. He's 83 actually.

Q: DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE UPCOMING?

A: I just completed two independents. One here in Los Angeles called "Bob Funk” that was written and directed by Craig Carlisle starring Michael Leydon Campbell and then another independent called "The Missing Person” that stars Michael Shannon and myself. And I'm going to be in Clint Eastwood's next movie (tentatively titled "The Changling”).

Q: THE ONE WITH ANGELINA JOLIE?

A: Yes.

Q: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER IN THAT FILM?

A: I don't think I'm allowed to just yet, but I know it's 1929 Los Angeles.

Q: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE CAST IN A CLINT MOVIE?

A: Oh man, he's such a badass. It's great. It’s great. I didn’t meet him for the audition. Actors go on tape for the casting directors, but I feel after working with Sidney Lumet, the ones who get it in two takes, one take maybe — Sidney is usually one take as well. So I feel prepared in that sense, but other friends who have worked with Clint Eastwood said he's the nicest man, so I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, it's awe-inspiring.

Q: IS NEW YORK STILL YOUR HOME?

A: Yes. That also is a great education as an actor. There's a new character to study each block you go down. [laughs]

Q: DID YOU BECOME A RED SOX FAN?

A: No, I'm a Mets fan, so I'll root for the Red Sox over the Yankees. My parents were Brooklyn Dodgers fans so we couldn't root for the Yankees.

Q: YOU'RE AROUND ALL THESE TEAMSTERS AND YOU'RE FILMING IN BOSTON, IT’S HARD NOT TO —

A: Oh when I was there for their sake, sure. I don't want to get beat up, but no, I've never been to Fenway.

"Gone Baby Gone” opens in limited release on October 19^th.