I think it was my job as an actor to maintain that aliveness. She’s confident, she’s expressive, she’s a contrarian, while at the same time being very vulnerable to Owen. So she dives head first into these encounters without understanding the catastrophic consequences of them. ![]() I think that Jem would’ve always had a reckoning and perhaps developed a different understanding of God. I think Owen fast-tracks that experience for her. ![]() I realized as I thought more about the character, that she has to go on this destructive journey to get to this place of freedom, and she has to go through it to get out of it. How did you approach the delicate subject matter while creating that sense of empowerment for your character? While there is an abuse of power, Jem is also having a personal awakening, and she goes on a positive journey. It’s a very fraught relationship in which Jem feels a sense of agency, but at the same time is being manipulated, which I found really fascinating. I think there are times where he's more aware of it than others, when he manipulates Jem into believing it’s her fault. And Owen also feels seen by Jem and has never felt seen in this way before and begins to think that they are destined to be with each other. Owen sets her free in a big way, and that makes Jem very vulnerable to him. Before developing a relationship with Owen, she was so caught up in this worry that her love for dancing was getting in the way of her relationship with God. Owen teaches Jem a different conception of God, which alters her life in a very drastic way. They’re both outsiders who are drawn to each other because they represent possibility to one another and a freedom of expression that they have never felt before with other people in their community.īrian Lannin, Courtesy of Bleecker Street But Jem and Owen’s relationship is so much more complicated than that, because they’re both misfits. If men get into these relationships with women, it’s because the women led them into temptation. It doesn’t come from a place of malice, but rather the environment that they’ve both been raised in, which is an inherently patriarchal system that requires women to uphold the dignity of men. I think that Jem and Owen’s relationship starts with something quite innocent and it devolves into an abuse of power. What was your take was on their relationship? I really connected with The Starling Girl because I grew up in the church and witnessed relationships like Jem and Owen’s. ![]() It was a very full, complicated character that I could explore, and it was a huge challenge that I was excited to take on. And in the end, it does lead her into a destructive place, so I found that interesting. She has a fiery spirit and she struggles to suppress that. So I felt like it was very unique in that way and exciting for an actor to play, because Jem is not debilitated by the restriction that she feels from her community. I can’t really think of any portrayals that don’t fall into those categories. The common portrayals of that relationship either fall in the aggressive victim of abuse category or the complete erotic portrayal of that, like Lolita, for example. Jem was such a clear deviation from common portrayals of young women in those communities.Īlso, this film’s about an inappropriate relationship between an older man and a younger woman. Apart from that, I was drawn to the film because it surprised me in the way it portrayed Christian fundamentalists or fundamentalist religions. Photo by Elias Tahan What drew you to The Starling Girl?įirstly, I had worked with producer Kara Durrett, and when we were shooting our first film together, she had mentioned to me, and I read it and loved it.
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