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A new arrestingly stylish short film from NOWNESS, this one starring actress Bryce Dallas Howard in photographer-turned-director Alex Prager’s “Despair.”
The look is 1960s Los Angeles, and the story all noir in this film that “takes its cues from the opening of Charles Laughton’s ‘Night of the Hunter (1955),’ and the Hans Christian Andersen-inspired 1948 ballet ‘The Red Shoes.’”
Howard’s lost woman makes a mysterious phone call, stumbles upon a symbolic red door, and experiences existential ennui—until she meets her dramatic end.
After starting her career playing the nice girl, Bryce Dallas Howard is showing a mean side. She will join the cast of the DreamWorks screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestselling novel The Help, playing the antagonistic role of Hilly Holbrook, the beehive hairdo-wearing busybody who is cruel to the black maids and generally rubs everyone the wrong way. Emma Stone and Fences star Viola Davis have already been set for leads in a film that is being directed by Tate Taylor, who wrote the screenplay. Stone plays a young journalist who comes home to write a tell-all of what it is like to be an African-American maid in pre-Civil Rights Mississippi. Shooting begins in July.
This follows a villainous turn for Howard in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, playing Victoria, the crimson-tressed vampire who stalks Bella (Kristin Stewart). That film opens June 30. Howard also starred with Matt Damon in the Clint Eastwood-directed Hereafter.
SNMag: So you have a film coming out this month, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond?
Bryce Dallas Howard: Yes, it comes out in select cities on December 30.
SNMag: Could you tell us more about the project and how you came to get involved with it?
BDH: It was such an amazing thing. I had enormous excitement when Jodie (Markell, the film's director) invited me to do the film. It was brave on her part because typically women who are pregnant don’t get movies. (laughs) But, Jodie, she’s a mother and she was incredibly inspiring and said, “You know I really think that you can do it and I will be really supportive of you and let’s play together.” That got me involved. Jodie reached out, and I’m really grateful.
SNMag: We heard that you were her first choice for the role of Fisher Willow. What are your thoughts on that?
BDH: The fact that she would feel that way is astonishing and humbling, and it was amazing to work with somebody who is also an actress because she knew this character so well. She knew this character not only from the perspective of a filmmaker but from the perspective of an actress. I could really rely on her in ways that I haven’t in previous projects. It was really great. It feels like this role was a genuine collaboration.
SNMag: What was it about the role specifically that drew you to the character?
BDH: Well, the character is very different from me and to be honest it was kind of challenging at first, for that reason, to really understand her. I think the reason why I was having difficulty in understanding her is because I operate from a very apologetic place. I just don’t like to take up a lot of space and I’m always feeling bad if I do something. I’m a people pleaser and she’s none of those things. She is totally unapologetic and every single emotion that she has, every single nuance comes from that. She doesn’t care what people think about her.
SNMag: Were you a fan of Tennessee Williams’ work before taking on this project?
BDH: Oh yes, very much so. I went to drama school and I was always really disappointed that I was never cast in any of the Williams teams. It’s such a delicious thing for an actor to do a Williams role. It is so emotional and the characters are so expansive in their emotions and how they express themselves and the language is so beautiful. I mean, to be honest, one of the reasons why I went to NYU is because when I was a junior in high school, I went and saw an NYU production of Suddenly, Last Summer and it was amazing. I wanted to go to the school. So, the possibility of acting in something that draws you in with the rich beauty of his heroine …it is just outstanding for me. That’s a huge treasure.