The Quick Rap: Three Questions for … Jennifer Jason Leigh!
Although married to the film’s director, the gifted Jennifer Jason Leigh received no special favors in being cast as the spontaneous, often shell-shocked bohemian bride-to-be, Pauline–sister of the excruciatingly harsh, Margot (Nicole Kidman), in Noah Baumbach‘s exquisite outing, Margot at the Wedding. About to marry an endearing dubious slacker Malcolm (Jack Black), Pauline is taken to the edge when her sister arrives with baggage.
Hollywood.com: Can you talk about the richness in exploring sibling rivalry?
Jennifer Jason Leigh: The script is very, very rich … your sibling is your first peer, your closest ally. It’s also your first experience with jealousy and envy–and all those kind of feelings that are kind of primal because they happen so early. It’s also your first experience of a real confidant. So, you’re always trying to get back to that time.
HW: So those formative childhood years with a sibling are crucial?
JJL: There’s something very, very pure about it. Then as you get older sometimes that changes. So in this movie they’re actually strangers but they always refer to each other as their closest friends but that’s not really the case anymore–but there’s the desire and the yearning for that.
JJL: Amazing! She’s just brilliant and fantastic and alive. She makes every scene so effortless and exciting.
Jennifer Jason Leigh‘s Margot at the Wedding opens in theaters November 16th.
