Haunted by An American Crime
Portraying a teen abused to death in Smalltown, U.S.A., was horrendously difficult, says Canadian actress Ellen Page about her new movie. But the story had to be told, she told Katherine Monk.
PARK CITY, Utah - Drama is no stranger to the Sundance Film Festival, but when someone passed out in the midst of a screening for Tommy O'Haver's An American Crime, dramatic immediacy took on a whole new meaning.
Whether the fainting spell was the result of low blood sugar, fatigue or the emotional drain of watching O'Haver's film about the death of Sylvia Likens, a 16-year-old girl who was abused to death in the midst of Smalltown, U.S.A., in 1965, will remain a mystery. But the words "medical emergency!" certainly added dimension to the world premiere of the film starring Catherine Keener and rising Nova Scotian star Ellen Page.
According to theatre staff, the man was revived and required no further medical attention, but considering the film's visceral power and the depth of the brutality portrayed in this fact-based story, the big surprise isn't that someone fainted, but that more people didn't.
"When I first got the script, I told Tommy that I didn't really want to do it," said Keener in a post-premiere interview. "It was so horrifying."
Yet, as time passed and as Keener's schedule allowed for a four-week shoot, O'Haver persuaded the veteran actress that she was the right person for the part of convicted murderer Gertrude Baniszewski because of her ability to bring human depth, as well as understatement, to her screen personae.
Page plays the other half of this tense dramatic equation in the role of Sylvia, the church-going kid who finds herself locked in a basement, starved, burned, kicked and repeatedly thrown down the cellar stairs by Baniszewski, her children and several neighbourhood kids.
As Page talked about her interpretation of Sylvia, it was clear she is still haunted by the experience that consumed her mentally and physically.
"I read everything I could get my hands on (about the case). I also researched the psychology on torture victims and survivors of abuse. I really attached my heart to it," said Page, casting her eyes downward as she spoke.
For Page, who was at Sundance two years ago with the creepy thriller Hard Candy, drawing rave reviews for her purity of performance is nothing new. She's been tagged as Canada's "next Sarah Polley" for years -- and just minutes before she sat down for the interview, Polley (who is at the festival as a juror, and the director of Away from Her) spotted Page and gave her a big hug.
Polley, the press and the trades aren't alone in their respect for Page's gift for communicating emotion without pushing.
In fact, Keener said Page's presence in the film was one of the reasons she said yes to such a harrowing proposal.
"I'm a huge fan of Ellen's," said Keener. "I had seen Hard Candy, and when I heard she was interested in the part of Sylvia, I felt she brought a lot of credibility to the project."
Despite the obvious mutual respect between the two women, Keener and Page say it was still a tough shoot because the material was so demanding and heavy. The other challenge was building trust when Keener plays the abuser and Page takes on the role of victim. "We had to remember that we were not these people and this was not our pain," said Keener.
Page said she wasn't always as professional as she would have liked. "Catherine was so good at being with the kids ... but sometimes I was a jerk."
Regardless of the less-than-perfect moments during production, both actresses say the crew and cast brought their best to the set every day, and created the right kind of nurturing and supportive atmosphere to move through the nightmare without collapsing into an emotional puddle.
"This was an important story," said Keener. "This is a topic nobody talks about. There's this sort of taboo about the subject of child abuse, so if we can spark a discussion about it, that's positive."
Page said portraying Sylvia gave her a chance to help reclaim some of what was taken from her over the course of her torture. "I felt responsible. ... It was important for me that Sylvia's story was told."
Page was so consumed by the role that she lost weight and a bit of her mental balance. "I'm a bit obsessive, and I really needed to separate myself. (When it was over), I ran away to Nova Scotia and swam in the lakes ... to heal."
O'Haver's film is already emerging as one of the stronger films at this year's Sundance, and come next year's Oscar run, don't be surprised if the dynamic duo of Page and Keener finds a golden lining to the heavy cloud of An American Crime.
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