{"id":3986,"date":"2017-04-25T14:48:46","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T12:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=3986"},"modified":"2017-04-25T14:50:56","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T12:50:56","slug":"qa-with-unforgettable-stars-katherine-heigl-rosario-dawson-and-director-denise-di-novi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2017\/04\/25\/qa-with-unforgettable-stars-katherine-heigl-rosario-dawson-and-director-denise-di-novi\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A With Unforgettable Stars Katherine Heigl & Rosario Dawson And Director Denise Di Novi"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\"\"<\/a>With fists flying and eyes like daggers, Katherine Heigl and Rosario Dawson are locked in a no-holds-barred, winner-take-all throwdown \u2026 and, battered but not broken, the two accomplished actors seem to be enjoying every punch, every choke hold and, yes, every handful of hair.<\/p>\n

This epochal fight caps off an intricately constructed campaign of revenge between the two complex women at the core of director Denise Di Novi\u2019s upcoming thriller Unforgettable, which promises to serve up equal parts shock and awe, emotion and suspense, and outrageous jump-in-your-seat moments.<\/p>\n

Starring as the calculating, challenging \u2013 and, at this point, more than a little unhinged \u2013 Tessa, Katherine Heigl is detouring to the dark side of love after delivering a string of acclaimed performances in popular rom-coms like Knocked Up and 27 Dresses. Starring as Julia, the former\u2019s unsuspecting and open-hearted target, is Rosario Dawson, who prior to celebrated turns in recent hits like the animated The LEGO\u00ae Batman Movie, cut her teeth on harder-edged roles in films like Sin City and Death Proof.<\/p>\n

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And, in sports parlance, Heigl and Dawson are in it to win it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really go at it. It is a knockdown, drag-out fight\u2026winner-take-all,<\/em>\u201d Heigl quips. \u201cSomebody\u2019s going to die!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

And Tessa is doing everything in her power to make sure it\u2019s not her \u2013 having set into motion an intense psychological game of cat-and-mouse designed to engineer Julia\u2019s self-destruction by making her believe she\u2019s losing her mind and question who she is as a person.<\/p>\n

But if Julia is the mouse in the scenario, this is the moment in the film when the mouse turns and bears its teeth. Dawson adds, \u201cJulia comes into this particularly susceptible to someone pushing her buttons. It\u2019s only when she\u2019s backed up against a wall that she realizes she has nothing left to lose and fights back, which is such a fun and amazing journey to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unforgettable marks the directorial debut of veteran producer Denise Di Novi, who is taking the helm amid a heavy-hitting career producing a body of work that runs the gamut from edgy fare like Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands to the tween-anthemic Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films<\/p>\n

Di Novi couldn\u2019t resist taking the helm. \u201cAs a producer, I\u2019ve worked in pretty much every film genre over the years, but I\u2019ve never made a thriller,\u201d she tells us tells us during a quick chat as the crew resets. \u201cSo, when the opportunity came up to direct a compelling story of two women \u2013 with the taut pacing and intricately structured maneuvers of a psychological\/sexual thriller \u2013 I was immediately in.\u201d<\/p>\n

As her vision for Unforgettable took shape, the lifelong Alfred Hitchcock fan \u2013 along with producer Alison Greenspan and screenwriter Christina Hodson \u2013 drew inspiration from the pioneering director\u2019s landmark female-centric thrillers, whose alchemy of craft and artistry still casts an intoxicating spell.<\/p>\n

To conjure her own, Di Novi enlisted cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, the five-time Oscar nominee behind such films as The Natural and The Right Stuff. And just peering into one of the big monitors on the set\u2019s \u201cvideo village\u201d reveals the legendary cinematographer\u2019s precise and lyrical eye in the bold visual contrasts he is drawing out between the icy, composed beauty of Tessa and the earthy, unpracticed loveliness of Julia \u2013 while infusing the imagery with visual hints that nothing is as it seems.<\/p>\n

In Deschanel\u2019s camera, notes Di Novi, \u201cKatherine nails the perfect posture of the classic Hitchcock blonde \u2013 cool but still very sexy and womanly. But, at the same time, she is so loveable, which is why she\u2019s been wonderful in so many romantic comedies. Katherine can make people love Tessa and be terrified of her at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As opposed to Julia, whom the director describes as \u201cspontaneous, funny, loose, sexy and doesn\u2019t care about making a mess. There is a vital heart that drives Rosario to be a good person, to do the right thing, to think the best of everyone\u2014and that\u2019s what Julia is.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Tessa and Julia are on opposing sides of the ring at this moment, each in many ways has been driven to this point by the same maddening, ever-present demand they feel to be perfect. \u00a0\u201cTo me, the relentless drive for perfection is one of the most\u00a0resonant and compelling subtexts of both these characters\u2019 journeys,<\/em>\u201d Di Novi reflects. \u201cWhether it comes from partners, parents, other women or society itself the\u00a0often unspoken demand\u00a0to be perfect is a\u00a0reality\u00a0for women – and men, too, by the way – everywhere\u00a0in the world. That kind of pressure can drive you crazy, and I think a lot of people will find fascinating points of connection with these characters in how they express it, particularly Tessa.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

To understand the inevitability of the tour-de-force confrontation being captured on set today, it\u2019s necessary to go back to the intersection of lives and loves that sets the unstoppable force that is Tessa on a collision course with the immovable object that Julia is forced to become.<\/p>\n

At its crux is a whirlwind, love-at-first-sight affair between the ex-husband Tessa can\u2019t quite let go of \u2013 David, played by Geoff Stults \u2013 and Julia, who, in the throes of their mad romance, gives up her old life in San Francisco to begin a new one in Southern California with David, immediately setting her on a collision course with his tightly wound ex-wife.<\/p>\n

Cue the hand-to-hand combat. \u201cWe have amazing stuntwomen on this film, but, as you can see, it\u2019s almost all Katherine and Rosario,<\/em>\u201d the director raves.<\/p>\n

Though carefully choreographed and monitored by stunt coordinator Steve Ritzi, the intense mano a mano brawl delivers the raw power of the real thing, which Di Novi credits to the emotion and sheer physicality that Heigl and Dawson are bringing to it. \u201cThis is key moment in their character arcs \u2013 these two women are past the point of pretense. It\u2019s intense and violent, and about these emotions that are pouring out of them. So, this scene is definitely a challenge\u2014and more than a little emotional\u2014for them, and for us.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching it play out on a monitor, it\u2019s impossible not to root for the underdog, which the director attributes in large part to Dawson\u2019s \u201cinherent goodness. \u201cRosario brings so much positivity and openness to Julia that you understand why being with her would be a relief to David after being married to Tessa. At the same time, those same qualities drive Julia to try be friends with her, to make it work. She doesn\u2019t want to believe that Tessa is a bad person.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

While Di Novi allows that the latter is ostensibly the film\u2019s Big Bad, \u201cIt\u2019s important to me that you also have some compassion for Tessa, and Katherine is so inherently good and kind, it\u2019s impossible not to like her. I think your heart really does break for Tessa \u2026 at least initially. After all, anyone \u2013 male or female \u2013 who has had a really bad breakup can relate to that sense of rejection and displacement.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,<\/em>\u201d she adds with a wry smile, \u201cTessa takes it to such an extreme level \u2013 and Katherine is courageous enough to really embrace that darkness. Watching her unravel quickly goes from heartbreaking to terrifying to insanely fun.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

In producer Alison Greenspan\u2019s words, \u201cWe love watching the meltdown and talking back to the screen\u2014\u2018Don\u2019t go in there! Come on, she\u2019s nuts!<\/em>\u2019\u201d she laughs. \u201cAnd this movie definitely delivers as a fun thrill ride. But, on a deeper level, it\u2019s a story about how women define themselves as mothers, spouses and partners \u2013 and what the fear of losing all of that can provoke.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

For Heigl herself, exploring the complex and twisted psychological geography of Tessa is both the fun and the challenge of embodying this woman on the edge. \u201cI want there to still be some sympathy for Tessa,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s important to me that she is not so alienating that there isn\u2019t a team of gals on her side\u2014before she goes too far\u2014who get her and her behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m really hoping,<\/em>\u201d she adds with a laugh, \u201cis to see \u2018Team Tessa\u2019 and \u2018Team Julia\u2019 t-shirts out there.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking none the worse for wear in spite of the grueling sequence, Heigl sees a certain logic to Julia\u2019s downward spiral. \u201cIn Tessa\u2019s mind, it\u2019s her world,<\/em>\u201d she argues. \u201cShe\u2019s just trying to maintain the upper hand and hold on to what she knows is hers. It\u2019s as simple and as basic as, \u2018Hey, Julia, there is no place for you here and you are not welcome.<\/em>\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Not helping is the fact that Julia is everything Tessa\u2019s not. \u201cWhere Tessa is controlled, practiced and studied, Julia is effortlessly beautiful and charming,<\/em>\u201d she continues, \u201cShe\u2019s also far more vulnerable than Tessa would ever allow herself to be. And to see that naked vulnerability\u2026 well, Tessa just can\u2019t bear it. What naturally runs through her mind is, \u2018How could David choose her, a woman so completely different from me? Is he repelled by who I am?\u2019<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

But what pushes Tessa over the edge from strained tolerance to furious vengeance is Julia\u2019s budding bond with her young daughter, Lily, played by newcomer Isabella Rice. Says Heigl, \u201cIt\u2019s not just her ex-husband that\u2019s been taken from her\u2014it\u2019s her daughter. And it\u2019s the shops, where she is the best customer \u2013 it\u2019s her whole town!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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Katherine Heigl and Rosario Dawson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Behind the scenes, there are no such power plays between Heigl and Dawson, who would be equally at home portraying lifelong besties instead of the two women at loggerheads. Heigl calls Dawson \u201ca dream! Rosario is just the most effervescent, lovely, outgoing, wonderful woman. It might seem kind of strange because our characters go to a place that is so violent and explosive, but Rosario is just so supportive that she makes it easy to play with that and have fun.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

In between setups, we get a chance to speak with Dawson, whose whole face lights up \u2013 in spite of the carefully applied scuffs and bruises \u2013 when talking about her sparring partner. \u201cI marvel at Katie and what she is able to do with Tessa,\u201d she says. \u201cShe brings so many layers and dimensions to Tessa that no matter how far off the deep end she takes it \u2013 and she takes it quite far \u2013 you really do feel compassion for Tessa.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawson tells us that Julia enters this story \u201cat such an interesting point in her life. She\u2019s in that honeymoon phase when she\u2019s happy and in love. Despite having been damaged by a previous, poisonous relationship, and having no experience being a partner or a parent, she\u2019s willing and excited to begin this new life with David.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, what she doesn\u2019t count on \u2013 what no one in the throes of true love even considers \u2013 is the presence of a formidable opponent with a vested interest in seeing her relationship fail. \u201cJulia\u2019s on Tessa\u2019s home turf, which obviously puts her at a disadvantage in this situation,\u201d<\/em> Dawson says. \u201cShe\u2019s so insecure she\u2019s even hiding the engagement ring!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

But when the gloves come off, as today\u2019s scene spectacularly demonstrates, \u201cJulia is willing to fight tooth and nail, even to the point of self-sacrifice,<\/em>\u201d Dawson attests. \u201cFor her, this moment is really about making a choice between staying in her corner and dying a sad, little death, or standing up to her fear. And what she decides is that she\u2019s not going to let anything \u2013 or anyone \u2013 compromise the people she loves.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Geoff Stults, who plays David, the ultimate quarry of Tessa\u2019s reign of terror, good-naturedly demurs from backing either party in this all-or-nothing face-off. \u201cAs an actor, I\u2019ve had so much fun working with Katherine and Rosario, so there\u2019s no way I could choose,<\/em>\u201d he smiles. \u201cThey\u2019re fantastic, super-strong and super-talented actors, and both are very real in these roles.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Stults has similar high praise for his director, whom he credits with helping him better understand the motivations of his onscreen ex-wife. \u201cDenise is bringing up some things I would never have been aware of,<\/em>\u201d he tell us, \u201clike having some sympathy for Tessa, who\u2019s watching her ex-husband and daughter arm-in-arm with this beautiful woman, Julia, who just came to town.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, David is in way over his head, leading to suspense, shocks and stand-up-and-cheer moments delivered by the two fascinating women at the core of the film. \u201cI wanted to make a film that explores a complicated relationship between two very strong, but very different women \u2013 and there is no better genre to explore that dynamic without pulling any punches than the thriller,<\/em>\u201d says Di Novi, who is aiming to bring many shades of the female experience to the screen. \u201cWe see a lot of wonderful and inspiring stories about women fighting the good fight \u2013 and I love those kinds of movies. But I think there\u2019s a clear appetite for women-driven movies of every genre, from a scary movie to a heist thriller to an action epic.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Unforgettable\u2019s provocative mix of love, obsession and paranoia is in the tradition of white-knuckle classics of the \u201890s \u2013 like Fatal Attraction, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Single White Female \u2013 yet the new film couldn\u2019t be more relevant, or resonant, in today\u2019s world of social media and spyware. \u201cI think we all experience the fear that somebody is tricking and manipulating us without us realizing it,<\/em>\u201d Di Novi reflects.<\/p>\n

And, over the course of making the film, it\u2019s an idea that strikes a chord in the reactions of many to this story. Says Greenspan, \u201cEveryone brings a little bit of their personal lives into their experience of this film, and that\u2019s what makes it so horrifying, scary and thrilling.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat amazes me,<\/em>\u201d Di Novi adds, \u201cis how many people say to me things like, \u2018I\u2019ve gotten so jealous that I thought about doing some pretty extreme things.\u2019 I think that\u2019s what draws us to psychological thrillers \u2013 even if we would never, in our darkest hours, even contemplate the things Tessa does in this film, it\u2019s fun to experience that vicarious thrill of seeing just how far we might go.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Audiences will get their chance when Unforgettable hits cinemas worldwide, from Warner Bros. Pictures.<\/p>\n

Unforgettable opens 26 May 2017, in South African cinemas.<\/p>\n