Yesterday we at THN brought you the first in a series of fantastic interviews for this weeks hottest film release RUSH. We kicked off the week with a bang by talking to film star Olivia Wilde. Next up is Romanian actress Alexandra Maria Lara.
Born of both Romanian and German heritage Alexandra Maria Lara has an extensive body of work within the European film industry. Those not familiar with these films might recognise her instead from the Oscar®-nominated DOWNFALL or Joy Division biopic CONTROL.
In RUSH Lara portrays Marlene Lauda, wife of Niki Lauda. Marlene and Niki met whist attending a party at actor Curd Jürgen’s house. After this initial meeting the two became almost inseparable with Marlene attending almost all of Lauda’s Formula One races. It was not long after they had married that Niki had his accident whilst racing at the Nürburing. This is when Marlene’s strength was revealed as she decided to stand by her husband’s decision to race again, knowing that it could cost him his life.
Marlene’s strength was just one of the many things that was discussed with Alexandra when THN got the opportunity to talk with her.
Hi Alexandra, can you remember the first thing you spoke to Ron about?
Yeah. It was a Skype conversation actually, which was exciting. So I didn’t audition really for the part we just met on Skype. I was sitting in my living room and obviously I was quite nervous, have you already met Ron?
We’re seeing him this afternoon.
This afternoon? He’s a wonderful, lovely, easy-going, relaxed person, so he made me feel good straight away and yeah somehow I don’t know if we spoke all that much about Marlene. He spoke quite a bit about the seventies, about the atmosphere and he said actually that he wanted to give some warmth I think in this relationship between Niki Lauda and Marlene, and show maybe a side of Niki Lauda that you see rather through that relationship.
You say you didn’t have to audition, so how did you get involved in the project, had Ron seen you before in other things?
I think he maybe has seen Downfall and things, but I think to be honest, I think someone specifically recommended me, someone who’s obviously more familiar with German film and cinema, had said that I could be right for Marlene.
And it was as easy as that?
It was. In this case, in this case it was as easy as that. It’s not always like that but I was amazed myself, because I think in that first Skype conversation he said ‘So alright Alexandra, I’ll see you on set,’ and I thought ‘Okay, did he really just say that we are going to see each other on set?’ But then it was like that.
Do you think it was important or relevant that yourself and Daniel had the same shared part nationality, to help with the connection, and for you to connect with the characters as well?
Not necessarily, cause I’ve been acting with actors, French actors, Romanian actors, American actors, and at the end of the day I think it doesn’t have all that much to do with the nationality necessarily but Daniel and I, we got on very well. Although there isn’t much dialogue, there’s this first scene where they meet after the party, which was definitely one of my favourite scenes, and we did that towards the end of the shoot and it was really a lot of fun. But then there are so many scenes where we don’t speak at all but still things needed to be said just through looking at one another and somehow that worked very well from the very beginning.
Did you know, or find out if the scene in the car with the Italians actually happened to Niki and Marlene?
They met after that party at Curd Jürgens house, and I don’t know exactly to be honest if the hitchhiking, if that moment is real or just a beautiful invention but it worked rather well. I thought it was very funny that he’s telling her how to drive a car and she has no idea who is sitting next to her, that’s funny.
How did you find the production and how much shooting did you do?
I was on set quite a bit, I think I must have had something like twenty/twenty five shooting days, which I think, was also important and needed because of all these races that they recreated. I think it works so wonderfully in the film, I love all the racing bits and so for these races I had to be there as well but not all of these days were big acting days necessarily for me, but I’ve been on set quite a bit.
Are you a big Formula One fan, did you grow up watching it?
No (laughs).
I read that you failed your driving test three times…
Two! Two! You see it is a German journalist who wrote this impossible thing. No only two, the third time they actually gave me my driving license fortunately. No I never, I always thought that Formula One, to watch Formula One on TV to myself I thought was always rather boring and never really understood the thrill of it. But tennis I watched a lot of tennis with my father, I understood much better why that’s exciting. But of course sometimes through work, through a movie you get to know a world that you had nothing to do with before and its much more exciting. I’ve just been to a race now, at the Nürburing at the DTM its called race. The atmosphere is really fantastic there are a lot of fans and the cars are very loud.
A lot of people say if you’ve not seen it live it’s the sound that gets you.
That’s true. You are immediately having a feeling, it’s actually quite exciting and now that I know so much more about Formula One than I did before it’s anyway more exciting.
So have you got a Formula One team?
No, I haven’t gone that far yet. (Laughs)
You didn’t get to meet the real Marlene, but did you get to meet Niki?
Yes I did.
How was that?
Yes that was fantastic, honestly that was fantastic because I think he liked me straight away (laughs), and that was so nice . You’ve seen that I’m wearing this hairstyle in every scene and in every photo you see of Marlene she looks exactly she always wearing her hair in that particular style. So he saw me from the distance in one of these rather nice costumes and with the hair made up like that and he shouted immediately, ‘Marlene! Marlene’ it was very nice cause he can be quite a dry character as well. Not everything makes him smile or laugh so I took it as a big compliment that he reacted so well to me straight away. But he is a funny man.
Did you get to ask him about his relationship with her?
Yes I did and that’s really beautiful, he still speaks highly of her. They are still friends, I think close friends. I think they still speak quite a bit on the phone. They obviously have two sons but you can tell that he speaks of her with such respect and love still, that you really have a feeling that they’re a kind of soul mates even though the relationship didn’t last forever.
How much of a relief was it for you to be able to do that, to have some kind of insight from someone who knew her?
It’s always a nice feeling, because to be honest, for example I think that for Daniel Brühl who in my opinion did a brilliant, really brilliant job. One could tell for example how happy Niki was when he came on set and was standing next to Daniel, it was very obvious that he was very happy that this particular actor is playing him. I think that’s the biggest compliment for an actor, no matter what people will say or if he’s gonna win an award for it or not, to make the person happy that you’re portraying is such a wonderful thing. But I think for example for Olivia Wilde and me it was easier. When you switch on German TV, and you watch Formula One and you see Niki Lauda all the time, you hear his very particular accent and this dry humour and everything it is very much exactly how he is, so Daniel really nailed it. I think Olivia Wilde and me were a bit more free, you don’t immediately think ‘ah Marlene Lauda, I know what her voice is like’, or Suzy Miller, it’s a bit more, but I quite like as well to feel free when I’m acting.
Olivia was suggesting almost in a sense that the ideal would be to be completely free as an actor, but the guys were constrained in a sense because they had to emulate something we all know. What are your thoughts on this?
It’s not the first time I’ve played a real life character, when I played Annick Honore in Control for example, she’s a very private person, she told our director Anton Corbijn, ‘I’m happy she’s playing my part ‘, or me – what an absurd thing for some people as well – ‘but I don’t necessarily want to come and talk and everything’. When she saw the film, so I was completely free to go with my instinct and feeling [whilst acting] and when she saw the film she then let Anton Corbijn know that she was very happy and that’s a nice feeling but I agree. At the end of the day it’s not a copy of real life.
I always wonder though if I saw someone playing me that if it was true, if it was accurate it would be uncomfortable for me and I would only like it if there was in some way some dramatisation. So I do wonder about Niki’s response to Daniel if he’s either not seeing some of it, or if he’s just okay to deal with it, or if he doesn’t quite recognise himself.
I think he does recognise himself, I agree with you but I think for example in Niki’s case its different for him. For example if the humour would be missing that would be terrible, if Daniel wouldn’t have managed to [get that across]. I don’t know how to say it in English, he’s a none bullshit guy very straight forward, so I think that Daniel plays that so beautifully in the scenes. I’ve seen it only once but I imagine the audience laughing in these moments and things when he’s so accurate about the car and everything I think Niki likes that about himself. But he is like that so I think he was probably [happy].
I liked Niki more than James and I think the audience will gravitate to one or the other, how did you feel about them as characters?
Yes like you I think for me I thought that the side was very attractive in a way, this dry humour and this precision and perfection but I Chris Hemsworth I think did a wonderful job. For Chris I think it was even more difficult to a certain extent for Chris because James Hunt obviously died when he was still such a young man, and he didn’t have someone to talk to. I think Chris does it beautifully, and I like very much how the whole story between them goes, and also how Chris plays the change after the accident, how he’s affected by what happened, and how then their relationship then changes. I think that they both did an incredible job. But I think like you I would probably find Niki Lauda’s character a tiny bit more entertaining.
You character was a big part of making Niki seem appealing, she was able to draw that out of him. How did you feel about the character importance?
Thank you. Well you know I think the women are very much in the background obviously but that can be relevant as well. Because if you don’t have these female characters, if you only have the two men then something would be missing I think. At the same time you’re absolutely right there wasn’t so much room or space you know, theres not a big dialogue scene or the big monologue where Marlene tells Niki what she really thinks of him, which I would have loved to do in a Ron Howard film. But you have to work with the few bits that are given to you, and for me some of the more exciting moments acting wise were these moments in the hospital. Really at the end of the day I have to say not much acting was required [in these scenes] because when I [first saw him], I didn’t want to see Daniel with this most extreme makeup. In the hospital when they take the bandages off and Marlene comes in and sees him for the first time it really took my breath away. I didn’t have to think of anything sad or find a way to [act upset], I just looked at him and it really got to me.
What did you draw from for that, what you have to get across is that Marlene’s love for Niki is kinda more than skin deep. Did you imagine yourself in that situation?
Why yeah you do. I’m a very different character, I admired that very much she obviously knew that the man she fell in love with, she could not go to that man and say you have to stop now cause other wise I can’t be with you any longer. It’s been heartbreaking, and traumatic what happened and I can’t, she obviously was that silent supporter somehow very aware of the fact that he was someone who you better, don’t stop and then of course I love that he breaks up the race for himself. You know and you have this one moment of Marlene being in his thoughts or something and then he stops himself, I think that’s exactly the character of Niki Lauda. I don’t think he would’ve have fallen in love with a women who would have told him too much what way to go, I would be very different of course.
So do you find yourself quite different from Marlene?
Well with something’s, with something’s I can relate to, something’s I think are very elegant about her. I love the difference between Suzy Miller and James Hunt and then Niki Lauda [and Marlene]. I love these two wedding moments, when they have their big wedding and Niki Lauda and Marlene Lauda are on their own joking with one another. When she tells him what a poet he is, that’s my kind of humour, and I think that there’s something very beautiful and elegant in that modest moment which I really, really like. But then of course there are other things that’s I would probably have the feeling that I would have to speak my mind a little bit more than Marlene.
You mentioned being a fan of Niki’s wit, what’s the funniest thing he said to you?
To me? Well ‘Marlene! Marlene!’
Can you do the accent?
No I can’t. (Laughs) Daniel is so funny he makes me laugh. Daniel always called me schatzi that’s the only thing I can say ‘schatzi’ is darling in the Niki Lauda way of saying it of course. What was the funniest thing he said to me? Did he say something funny to me? I can’t remember. Maybe he will say something funny to me tomorrow at the premiere, and then I let you know. (Laughs)
Would you like the opportunity to meet Marlene now and talk about her relationship with Niki?
Really I don’t know. First they told me that she was going tomorrow and I started getting really nervous cause of course I would want her to like it but who knows. But then I heard she’s not going to be there tomorrow so I’m a bit, I don’t know exactly. Of course I would love to meet her; I heard she’s quite a character.
She will see it at some point.
She will see it or I don’t know if she’s seen it already, I will speak to Niki tomorrow and see if he has an answer for me.
What do you think this films really about?
I think I really enjoyed when I saw it. I saw it with Sam (Riley, her actor partner) and my parents in Berlin and all of us are very different characters. Obviously I had a wonderful time watching this film so I don’t know exactly, I think this is a wonderful mix of everything, big entertainment. As I told you before, I had no big interest in Formula One and still I find it, the sport is so emotional and the way, the way it’s built you really have that feeling of being caught in the middle of a race or something I find. I really like to see the friendship between two men, to me its more a friendship then anything else. Especially how it develops towards the end of the film. I thought it was really touching, I mean I was a bit in tears at the end when I first saw it. I think that s lovely to have the focus on two men and to see how their [relationship changes]. This competition is crazy because this is a typical sport thing I think. I think you need this, you couldn’t be a very diplomatic person and be a Formula One racing driver. I don’t know I liked it, and its funny as well, and its touching, this horrible accident that happened to Niki Lauda I thought at the moment the film really goes to another level is from that moment on. What do you think the films about?
I think the films about the two attitudes these guys have got and their different responses to danger and to fear and these two different philosophy’s colliding and learning a little from each other.
But somehow they are similar as well, not so different.
Moving on from ‘Rush’ slightly are you still in production of ‘Suite Française’?
They’re wrapped. I had anyway only a very small appearance in it.
What can you tell us about your role?
I play, what can I saw about my role…not much actually. Maybe I can say more about Sam’s role because he’s in it. He’s playing a wonderful part. My part is more… yes I play a Jewish mother… and I think it stands a little bit for, it gives these people in France a little pre-taste of what will happen.
What about Sam’s role can you say?
In Sweet Française? Only that he’s fantastic in it. (Laughs) But then I would say that.
What’s next for you?
Well now next a little break I think.
That’s not like you; you’re always making movies.
And I love making movies! Maybe next year I can do one again. But first of all it’s a little break right now.
Well we’ll miss you
Thank you. That’s lovely.
RUSH is released in the UK Friday 13th September and a week later in the US. Our review of the fantastics RUSH can be found here. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow where we’ll be talking with Mr Niki Lauda himself, Daniel Brühl. Trust me this is one interview you do not want to miss.
Source: THN
