We Got This Covered: Did you know anyone in your own life who inspired your role?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I didn’t personally know anyone who struggled with alcoholism before I did this, and now I know a lot of people who are. Our co-writer (Susan Burke) and our producer are in recovery. I met a lot of people in AA, so now it’s a much bigger part of my life. It was something that I was never around or close to before, so I couldn’t really pull anything from that, personally.
It was more pulling from relationships that I’ve been around, like co-dependency and toxic relationships. That was what I could really pull from.
We Got This Covered: What did you take from your role as Kate?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: The line where Octavia said “you really have to live your life honestly,” is what I took from the role. I really had to look at myself, and ask myself, what am I doing that’s not honest or truthful to who I am?
I discovered there were relationships in my life that were negative, that I was in just to make that person happy, even though it was making myself unhappy. Things like that I needed to work on, and figure out why I did the things that I did.
We Got This Covered: How did the look of your character influence your performance, like with her clothing? She’s disheveled at times.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: It was certainly very liberating. I loved it, I’ve never been more comfortable on a set before. There were no restrictions, just free-flowing clothing. There wasn’t any make-up, so I could look as rough as possible. It’s the total opposite of things I’ve done before.
So it was so nice not to have to think about what I looked like every second. It was the furthest thing from my mind. Coming up with the wardrobe was really fun. It was my favorite thing, especially the shoes. They were the key to everything.
We Got This Covered: There were certain scenes that were relatable to everyone, even if they aren’t going through AA. When you spoke to the director, James, what were some of the things that you spoke about to make the movie different from other films, but also relatable?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: One of the really great things about James and Susan is that they love their characters so much. There’s no judgment on anyone in this film. It was just people who make mistakes and are human and fall down and try to get back up again. We admire them for that.
So I think we all had a real life for all the characters, and a real need to show that love. So I think that’s part of the reason why they’re relatable; we wanted to humanize everyone as much as possible. We didn’t want to mock or make fun of everyone. It’s funny, but not in a mocking way. We’re all self-deprecating, and can go through life and laugh at the end of the day.
James is also so good at getting to really know everyone. That way he could talk to us, and talk about the relationships ad what’s going on in the scenes and really personalize everything. Then we could all think about what’s going on in our own lives, and bring that to our roles.
We Got This Covered: Did you have any kind of rehearsal before you went into production?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: Not really. I was the only actor who was cast with any lead up time. The rest of the actors were cast right before we started. I had rehearsed with James on my own, but not with any of the other actors. We just showed up on set, and went into it.
We Got This Covered: Did you separate yourself from Aaron before you had to film something dramatic?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: Not really, we were just all kind of together at all times. We shot it in 19 days, so the pace was really intense. There wasn’t a lot of time to think about how to do things a certain way. We were just working, and we were these characters for 19 days.
But it felt so authentic, it was really great. It felt like we were really living in that house, and I was really working at that school. For those 19 days, that was my life. So I loved that about it. It wasn’t about choosing to be a method actor. It was the natural effect of the surroundings, which was really great.
We Got This Covered: Was there time to do any improv, or did you stick to the script?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: We did improv a lot, but the film is almost entirely as it was scripted. Although, James would leave the camera rolling. We would do the scene as scripted, but he would never say cut. So we would have to figure out what we were doing and we would have to keep the scene going. He would do that with every scene.
Even though most of it didn’t end up in the film, it helped form the characters. The relationships became much more real, because we were always in character. The camera was almost always rolling.
We would do most scenes in one take. The cameras would always be moving; it wasn’t like, my coverage and then the other actors’ coverage. It was much more free formed. So it felt much more real that way. The line of when we were the characters and when we weren’t was blurred.
We Got This Covered: Was it difficult to act that way?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: For me, it was easier, I loved it. It was invigorating to be able to do that. With this, it demands you’re there and present at all times. It was great.
It’s much harder when you’re doing a film for five months, and you’re on set for long hours. Half the day, you’re just sitting in your trailer, waiting for your turn. By the time you show up on set, you’re like, where am I?
We Got This Covered: Can you talk about working with Aaron Paul? Were you a fan of his from Breaking Bad?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: Definitely. He’s been around for awhile, and I even remember seeing him in auditions when I was a teenager. I was like, there’s that really cool guy. (laughs) So I’ve always been a fan of his.
Breaking Bad is incredible. I knew he was an incredible actor. But it was amazing to find out how lovely and sweet and generous he is as well. He’s one of the nicest people in the world.
We Got This Covered: Your character works with kids, and is wondering about the impression she makes on them. At the same time, you as an actor had that same responsibility. Did that ever factor into how you played your scenes with them?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: The kids were so great. A couple of them, the ones who had lines, had actually read the script, and they were very aware of what’s going on. I don’t know if it’s weird that I didn’t feel that responsibility. It wasn’t like, I don’t w ant them to hear these words. They were beyond that, and so cool.
But in the scene where I told them I had a miscarriage, I wanted to push that really far. (laughs) I wanted them to be her face, screaming. My character’s emotions were so delicate that she could snap at anything. But then I stepped back, because we didn’t want her look like a horrible person.
So we found the right balance on that. It was a big part of the character for me. Her lying to the kids was her rock bottom, and she became the person she didn’t want to be. That was a huge part of it.
We Got This Covered: What’s next for you-do you have any upcoming projects?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I have a few small projects and roles in little movies, and things I did to have fun after this. (laughs) But I don’t really know now. I’m reading scripts, so I don’t know what’s going to be next. I hope I find something that excites me.
That concludes our interview, but we’d like to thank Mary Elizabeth Winstead for taking the time to speak to us. Be sure to check out Smashed when it’s released in select theaters this Friday, October 12.
