Greetings
valued Dan's Movie Report readers. After viewing the new theatrical
film Alpha, I knew it was time to once again catch up with Natassia
Malthe fora new interview. Natassia shares her thoughts on the
film and working with director Albert Hughes. Always intelligent and
outspoken, Natassia delivers her FOURTH thought provoking interview for Dan's Movie Report.
Chat
about the audition process for your character Rho, initially you told
me I thought your were a last minute replacement, how did you end up
getting the part of Rho?
I
went to the audition at my favorite casting directors offices on the
Lionsgate lot. Literally, the only place I feel at home auditioning
at. My favorite casting directors. So I auditioned and no one was
there except for me . That was odd I thought . So I did the audition
and there were scenes I had to do from several different scripts .
All very emotional scenes . I came back the following week I think if
I recall correctly I had three callbacks . And they said the director
just wants to see if you could do this and that ... so I did what was
asked and a few weeks later I found out I got the part and that
someone had been taken off the movie and that I was a replacement .
Filming
in Alberta, and using much of the outdoors as a back drop, do you
alter your acting to project more, or is it based on directing
styles?
I
altered my style of acting for the role and the movie feel. Usually I
get action parts and finally I get to move away from that genre and
so something I enjoy doing more . I thought the director had a very
unique style of directing and I thought wow, what a very unique kind
of person this director was. I loved Menace II Society and Book of
Eli, so i was very excited to be working with him . Being in Alberta
filming was not all that exciting to be honest. It was in the middle
of nowhere.
How
long was your filming portion of the movie, and how long was spent on
pre-production?
Since
I was a replacement I spent very little time prepping and learning
that language I did on the go . The girl before me spent a few
months, maybe like four months prepping. I felt a little weird with
the other cast because I was the replacement of their friend they had
made so I got very paranoid and thought no one liked me because
ewww..., there is the replacement, she took our friend, LOL even
though that was obviously not what was going on. But Johannes was so
awesome he made me feel at ease and laughed at how paranoid about
being there I was. And he speaks Norwegian so we spoke Norwegian
together and gossiped about all the other cast... just kidding no we
did not. However speaking Norwegian with him was so fun and we also
had a Swede there and he spoke Swedish with us .
Speaking
of directing, chat about working with Albert Hughes him and his
brother have made some really compelling films like Book Of Eli. Even
though you are an experienced actress, did you learn new technique
and ideas from him during the filming of Alpha?
Not
really, I felt the acting was straight forward and just do what I do
. He lets actors do their thing without to much interference and
knows when the actor is in that flow or not, he has good instincts.
Albert allows actors to emotionally get to the place they need to get
without hurrying them or saying much just: Hey this is the emotion
and here is how I want it to be cut and so this will turn into this
.. and so on.
Chat
about the dialogue in Alpha, of course it is not in English, as back
then, how did you get the dialogue for the film? Was the script
written out in English then translated to that language and then ADR
for the dialogue? What was the process of you learning the words in
the script?
The
script was in English, I learned the dialogue through recordings I
would write the language down into words and say them over and over
again. Write them a few times, it wasn’t very difficult .
Playing
a motherly character in Alpha, is in my opinion a very honest role
for you, what of yourself do you see in your character Rho?
Well
obviously I had things to draw from since I am a mother and I knew
the mother figure was going to be important in this movie because it
was about a boy's life and his manhood. I had to leave my son with my
mother to do this movie, and that was very hard because he was
supposed to come the day after I got to location but then my mother
said he had gotten sick, and she felt uncomfortable and afraid flying
with him. I think my mom just didn’t want to come uh ummm... So I
used the feeling I had being away from my son in this movie.
I
know we spoke privately about an earlier edit of the film, that you
did see, perhaps share some thoughts on what you liked about what you
have seen.
I
have actually not seen Alpha yet because I am in Asia and the film
has not entered theaters here yet, so that is very hard to say and I
never saw the old cut . But originally the dog died and during
screenings I had heard everyone came out of the movie sobbing
hysterically. Those screenings got super high ratings .
Chat
about working with the other actors in Alpha, any new friends made
off set?
I
made friends with Mercedes we still talk and Albert and I still talk
on occasion . If I ever visit Iceland I will definitely hit JO JO up
. Kodi I got to know on set and all I can say is that kid is an
indigo or some kind of crystal child. He is special .
Chat
about your interaction with the animals on set, including the wolf
dogs.
I
watched this dog work on set and as soon as the dog was not needed on
set he was kept in a private area to relax and rest. I didn’t
bother the animals because the trainer was there and they were
extremely focused . Making the dog do so many things takes so much
skill and focus . I was so impressed . The last thing the trainer
needed were people distracting the Chuck .
I
know some comments were made in the papers with regards to the Bison
who as it turns out were scheduled for slaughter to be used as meat.
I know it is a sensitive issue, but am curious as to your thoughts on
it.
I
know they would never do anything unethical to any of the animals on
set, and that media will use anything to have anything to talk about.
Now
the final edit of the film is PG 13, and I know you have yet to see
it, but it seems you and I are perhaps in agreement that there is a
more visceral R rated flick in Alpha, curious as to your thoughts. I
am torn as I loved the film, for how it unfolded, yet see your point,
hopefully a director's cut.
A
directors cut would be so awesome!! I hope that version comes out at
some point. I think I will love both versions.
Finally
do you have any new projects in the works, I know you mentioned to me
and the major news outlets about a book you are writing, how far
along is it?
It
is a book for enlightening young women coming into the real world of
entertainment, modeling, or any career really. A tool book to help
them handle certain life situations. Things I wish I knew about, and
how to handle them before I moved to Hollywood. I am about to shoot a new TV series. i cannot discuss specifics at this time.
Thanks
again Natassia, another amazing interview. I encourage all of my
readers to check out Natassia's three prior interviews on Dan's Movie
Report.
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