Severance (2006)
Ein blutiger Betriebsausflug
Interview with Laura Harris
Laura Harris
OutNow.CH already interviewed quite a few beautiful actresses, but Laura Harris certainly belongs to the top five. The dinky blonde Canadian was extra hot the day we met her during the Locarno festival. The tousled bob hairdo suited her very well. Having just arrived the 24-star was still jetlaged, but she loved Switzerland a lot. Especially the "perfect air" which she called something "she always wanted to breath". Nevertheless she had the urge to smoke during the interview. Which she, who claimed to be a non-smoker, considered strange. And even if we warned her that pictures of her and a fag might turn up online afterwards, she didn't really mind.
» Das Interview in deutscher Sprache.
Laura as Maggie in "Severance"
OutNow.CH (ON): You play Maggie in Severance. Who is she?
Laura Harris (LH): Maggie is from Michigan. She grew up in a Michael Moore sort of town, where everyone grows up shooting. She's very comfortable with guns but needed to get out of there and decided to join a company which sells what she's knows. Which is guns. She's a little frustrated inside but she's a strong girl. And her strength comes into much use in the film.
ON: The director of Severance describes Maggie as an "ironic Ripley" from the Alien-series. Which strong female characters did you think of, when you first read about her?
LH: I obsessionally watched that movie. That is definitely one of the best examples. I watched a ton of Kill Bill too. But Christopher told me to watch When Harry met Sally as well. So I watched Meg Ryan a little bit too, but I don't know how useful that was. It probably balanced the situation a bit.
ON: Why do you think humour and horror is such a great combination?
LH: Laughing disarms you, so you're vulnerable to the shock essentially. That kind of high and low is a bit addicting.
ON: Would you also have considered Severance if there would have been lesser jokes? Since The Faculty you haven't really done horror films any more.
Do you like my foot?
LH: Yes. I love any good movie. And I especially like it when it has more than one thing going on. I don't really care which genre it is. I never used to watch horror movies though. So when I worked with Robert Rodriguez I didn't really know all the films he was paying tribute to in The Faculty. And I was too young to realize, that I should go and watch them all immediately. But since then I have seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers and all these classics. And I loved them. They are incredible films.
ON: Severance also has more than one thing to say. It has the subtext of the gun producing company and a little terrorist angle.
LH: That's a little my not so secret passion. Satire and anything to do with politics. I like it when it is displayed in a way that doesn't hit you in the head. That's also why I made her coming from a Michael Moore area.
Laura in Locarno
ON: Another interesting thing in Severance is that your character smokes but isn't a bad guy. That's unusual for a film these days.
LH: I don't think that's a coincidence, but it was never discussed. But I do know that when we were shooting the movie it was physically very challenging to be in that state of fight or flight all the time. I couldn't actually smoke because it hurt too much. I was smoking fake cigarettes when we shot.
ON: How do you keep up with the hysteria in a movie like this, constantly being out of breath and all that?
LH: I had my iPod and listened to Marylin Manson a lot. When I first started to listen to him, I would choose the easier songs. But then those ones became like ballads. So I had to move to really serious metal. It triggers something in me and I jump around and I dance. I did ten push-ups before every scene. But after the fifth day of shooting ten push-ups doesn't mean anything to your body anymore. So you have to run a lot before a shot.
ON: What's up next for you? You also have your own production company.
LH: Producing is a left over. I don't really do that any more. I did a pilot earlier this year for ABC.
ON: Thank you very much.
LH: Thank you.
