CAMRYN MANHIEM

On the Road from Wellville to Success

by David Levine

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David Levine: I want to talk about your last film The Road to Wellville, directed by Alan Parker and starring Anthony Hopkins. I'm wondering if you noticed a difference between the way American actors work and English actors work; in their technique, their style, the way they treat the director, the way they treat other actors, that kind of stuff?

Camryn Maniheim: No, I don't think I did notice any difference. Not at all. Anthony had an interesting style of acting, and of course all the young people wanted to know how he did it and he was willing to share his tricks with us. He says that he doesn't do any research, if it's not in the script then nobody needs to know about it, and all he does is read each scene 150 times. That's how he prepares.

DL: That's interesting, because that is very different from, say, Robert DeNiro who researches everything, down to the cuff of the pants, the stripe, the period...They're both very effective, but.

CM: But I don't think that's a British/American thing, I just think it's a style of acting.

DL: Do you think English actors are any more temperamental than American actors?

CM: Oh, not at all. For example, Colm Meaney is one of the kindest, most level-headed, genuine human beings alive.

DL: Look, I'm trying to get some dirt here. You have these young American stars and then this guy who's seen everything.

CM: There could have been a potential for some young American pomposity, but since Anthony Hopkins was so gracious and kind and genuine. All the young actors had to fall suit. He set the pace for the show. Plus Alan Parker is the consummate director. He knows exactly what he wants every second of the day.

DL: But he's not a mean guy, right? I get the impression from talking to you before that he's a fairly giving director.

CM: You trust him so much because his vision is so complete. I've worked on other movies since Wellville, and sometimes you think they're not really paying attention to you, because their mind is on so many other things. I never felt that way with Alan Parker. Any time that I felt nervous or I felt a shot hadn't gone well, everyone would always tell me, "Alan Parker will take care of you. Alan Parker will never let you look bad."

DL: Were you worried at all when you did the nude scenes?... Obviously you needed to trust him a lot.

CM: He was really sweet about it. He has this heavy British accent, (I don't know exactly where it's from). He said, "You're great, you look like a Botticelli painting. He played it really low key, and it was a closed set, which is a joke, because instead of 50 crew members present, there's only 30.

When I auditioned, he asked me how I felt about being nude and I said, "I feel fine, how do you feel about it?" and he laughed. But I'm trained to just say, "Yes I can! I can juggle while riding a unicycle and doing sign language, I can do it all." So I was just saying yes-yes-yes in the audition, never believing I would be cast in a part that big, and secondly not realizing exactly what that meant, which is: You take off all your clothes and there's lots of lights to point out every imperfection, and you have a camera staring straight at your biggest fat fold. That's what it means to be naked in front of a camera.

DL: I have one last acting question. I know you're the sort of person who takes a lot of risks, and it seems like you pretty much stop at nothing to get what you want. What is the craziest or stupidest thing you've ever done to get a part?

CM: I wrote a letter to Kathy Bates, but that wasn't to get a part. For years, I was trying to get an agent and every time I'd walk in, they'd say, "God, you remind me of a young Kathy Bates." I didn't know who she was, this was pre-Misery, pre-Frankie and Johnny, pre all of that. After about the seventh time of someone telling me I reminded them of a young Kathy Bates, I decided to find out who this woman was. I bought a ticket to see her in the Road to Mecca and she truly changed my life. It was one of the most profound experiences I've ever had in the theatre. I was sitting front row mezzanine and its got these rails...and I felt like I was on a roller coaster, I was holding on so tight, I had to pry my hands off of it at the end of the play, it was amazing.