Q&A by Joe Utichi
Logan Marshall-Green is known for
recurring guest roles on “24” and “The O.C.” In theatre, he's the recipient of
a Drama Desk Award for his performance in Neil LaBute's “The Distance From
Here.”
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| Logan Marshall Green in Prometheus |
His feature film debut came in 2005 with “The
Great Raid”, and he portrayed Paco in Julie Taymor's “Across the Universe” in
2007. He can also be seen in “Brooklyn’s Finest,” as Melvin Panton and 2010's
“Devil,”, based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan.
On the set of Ridley Scott's
PROMETHEUS, Marshall-Green discusses his character Holloway, working with one
of sci-fi's greatest pioneers, and the themes of the film.
Q: What
can you tell us about your character?
A: I
play Charlie Holloway, who is a scientist and the love interest of Elizabeth
Shaw, Noomi Rapace’s character. They are a team. If she’s the brains, he’s the
legs. I wouldn’t go so far to say
muscle, but he’s the legs. He’s the one who leaps before he looks, and
sometimes it hurts them as a team but a lot of the times it’s helped them. He takes a lot of chances and so far so good.
This mission is one of the chances. The beautiful part is Noomi and I are
teamed, but we actually differ in our philosophies as to exactly what we want
or what we believe. She’s the believer. I’m the scientist. I’m the
skeptic. I’m the atheist, if you will.
But we complete each other, for lack of a better word. We make a whole in that
sense. I think its what’s drawn the characters together romantically as well.
It’s just this kind of respect, full respect but my skepticism matched with her
beliefs, her faith.
Q: How
do you react to a call saying Ridley Scott is interested in talking to you
about a sci-fi project?
A: One
word, “Sure.” And then, “Sign me up.” It’s
funny, the story for me is – without giving too much away – I auditioned for
the scene that I had understood to be a science fiction scene. So that was already exciting knowing it was
the scene for a Ridley Scott movie. He
hasn’t done a science fiction in 30 years.
So I’m reading the scene, I’m doing the scene and I find out that they
might want to offer me this role and I say to myself, “Well, I need to read the
script.” Even though I know it wouldn't take much for me to sign up. So I’m
reading the script, and I have to go back to the office to read it, it's a
super secret script. I realise it's this great script. This character is really
good. This is a science fiction and all of a sudden I get to – I won’t say
what, but something happens – and I couldn’t believe it. My jaw hit the floor. At that point it was, where do you sign me
up? Where do I get in line? Because I’m a fan boy. Ridley is really one
of the reasons not only that I act but that I love cinema. He defined modern science fiction. It was a very easy choice. If he says, “Jump,” I say, “How high?”
Q: The
story deals with some pretty big themes, which is quite rare of a blockbuster
of this scale.
A: Rare
definitely for most cinema, but not so rare for Ridley. I think Ridley, he’s a man who deals in
detail and spirit and in big questions.
He’s not just going to make another ALIEN movie. He’s not going to make
just another GLADIATOR movie. He’s going
to ask the bigger questions as well. It’s all in the detail with the man. It’s
just astonishing to see the detail in the world. How truly realized his future
is. It allows you just to sit in it and then get to know the characters.
Q: The
crew of the Prometheus all have their own reasons for being on the ship. How
has the interaction been to play with the other actors?
A: It’s
been kind of beautiful. Like you said,
everybody is kind of there watching everyone else. But there are these really
beautiful duos where you have Noomi’s character and my character who really
hold on to each other because they are surrounded by people who don’t believe
in them and want to destroy them. And then you have Rafe Spall's and Sean
Harris’s characters and you have Charlize Theron's and Idris Elba's
character. All the pairs are kind of
watching the rest.
Q: How
have you enjoyed working with Noomi?
A: The
experience with Noomi has just been a dream. I rate my experience with working
with actors on their work ethic. Nobody has a better work ethic than Noomi. We
got kind of thrown into it together. We had to really show our history of being
romantically linked, professionally linked. I just couldn’t have asked for a
better actress to dive in with and get physical and do little idiosyncratic
things. I think she and I both had our eyes on the exact same prize, and
hopefully it shows. Without giving anything away, the relationship is essential
for the story. Instead of showing the
relationship, we try to attack it with idiosyncrasies that are innate in strong
relationships. Did she just feed him a
frozen space raspberry? Yes.
Q: Does
it raise your game when you're working with such talented co-stars?
A: You
want to play with the best. Hopefully,
you want to learn from the best and steal from the best, and do your best.
Ridley is one of those guys who is an A guy. Ridley gets A people. B people get
C people to make them feel like A people. Ridley surrounds you with a cast of A
people, a crew of A people, designers of A people, and also he needs you to
help him tell the story. The collaboration that’s happening in this massive
motion picture, where we have the time to find these scenes and work the script
so that it’s right and not just so that we make our day, I had never been a
part of that before. It starts with Ridley and then it ends with us. I have
never been part of the cast that is so cohesive; socially as well as
professionally.
Q: You
talked about Ridley's attention to detail, is he a precise director?
A: My
big thing is I need a director I trust. The way I trust directors is when I'm
that they know what they way. No one knows what they want more than Ridley. He
has that beautiful attribute of being able to let some decision-making go to
the actor. Again, allow the crew and the cast to help him tell the story. He
knows what he needs in any given moment. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen
before. He’s working not just on a different plane, he’s working on 15
different planes. While he’s talking to you, he’s storyboarding for the camera,
he’s watching 10 screens. He’s an octopus.
Q: Can
we expect a lot of action from the film?
A: Yeah. It’s not going to bore you at all. It’s not
going to trick an alien through 80 pages and then deliver the alien. It’s not
going to do that. It’s going to trick a philosophy and a world. Once chaos
happens, it happens. That’s kind of the beauty which has always been inherent
in these kinds of movies. We’re doing something different. No one is going to
be bored in this movie.
Q: Have
you been enjoying the chaos?
A: Yes!
So far we’ve never been hurt. It’s chaotic, there is no doubt about that. We’re
not CGI-ing the storm later. You’re being blasted with storm and chaos and it’s
wonderful. It’s just ideal to act in.
PROMETHEUS
3D is released by 20th Century Fox and distributed by Warner Bros.
