[IMG:L]She may not be the titular marksman of the new thriller Shooter, but Kate Mara’s definitely on target to become one of Hollywood’s Next Big Things. The comely chestnut haired actress, 24, cut her on-camera acting chops with several recurring roles on high-profile TV series, including Everwood, Nip/Tuck and 24 before breaking out in the big screen with roles in a diverse array of films, such as Brokeback Mountain (as Heath Ledger’s dutiful daughter), Zoom ( as an on-the-edge superheroine-in-training) and We Are Marshall (as the mourning young fiancé of one of the ill-fated football players).
Now, with an eye-catching turn as the trusting widow of Mark Wahlberg’s former sniper spotter who helps Wahlberg’s on-the-run sharpshooter in his attempt to evade a frame for an assassination, Mara’s becoming that actress you’re certain to see more of, as she explains to Hollywood.com.
Hollywood.com: What techniques did you use to develop your character? Did you study southern accents?
Kate Mara: No, I didn’t. Does that make me really lazy (laughs)? That was just the accent I chose … it was just my creation of what I thought she should sound like, but Antoine [Fuqua] was so great because he really wanted me to be involved in really creating her, not just her voice . . . he had me make lists of things that I could have in her house, things that the audience probably would never see. Like what sort of things would she have in her fridge. What music would she be listening to and what kind of car might she drive.
HW: Did you have any preconceptions about your costar Mark Wahlberg?
KM: He’s done really good movies and really different films, so I always admired that about him. You just get the sense that he must be a really hard worker. I’d never met him before … and he is one of the hardest workers I think I’ve ever met. You just get the sense that he does his homework, he always knows his lines. It’s sort of bizarre. He never messes up.
HW: Were you looking forward to the operation scene where he was wearing nothing but a towel?
KM: I don’t think it said in the script that he was lying there with just a little towel over him (laughter). No, no, for some reason that kind of went over my head. It really did. I swear … that was the quickest scene we shot.
HW: Did your two characters fall in love in the original script?
KM: No … There’s a version where they do kiss. There wasn’t any crazy love scene or anything like that — we talked about it before I ever even got the role. Antoine and Lorenzo [di Bonaventura] during our first meeting asked me about it . . . Everyone expects the female and the male in a movie to kiss. That’s what happens in most films . . . I [thought] it would be more honest if they didn’t, especially with their situation. They clearly have this emotional connection. This attraction — there is one there but I just think it makes them a lot more layered and honest if they don’t.
HW: Part of the movie was filmed on a glacier, what was that like?
KM: I think Mark fell once when we were having a race. The boys act all tough like they’re not cold or anything, and then by the end of the day they’re all freezing which is really funny … They kept making fun of me because I complained that I was going to fall over because I was so cold. And they were like “get her fuzzy boots.” But they weren’t standing there in a skimpy little tank top and leather jacket. Yeah, that was a hard week, but it was actually really fun.
HW: Did you helicopter up from where you were staying in Whistler, British Columbia?
KM: Yeah. It was incredible because it was in the summer and it was really, really hot. That was the hottest week, and then we’d get ready and be sweating down in our trailers and then take the helicopter up five minutes and [it was] snowing. It was amazing.
[IMG:R]HW: Do you have any plans to return to theater?
KM: Yeah, I love stage . . . that’s basically how I learned how to act was in theater. I think the first play I did I was 9 or something like that. Just community stuff and that was really my acting school. Being from New York, I just grew up going to see Broadway shows, and it actually made me want to be an actor. So yeah, that would make me feel really amazing if I ever got back to Broadway.
HW: You might get the chance to sing in the movies …
KM: I would love to do a movie musical. It’s so cool that they’re coming back, because I’m such a musical nerd!
HW: Have you crossed the bridge where you’ve gone from auditioning to being offered roles directly?
KM: I really want to be careful about what path I choose. I really want to make the right choices, so sometimes that you get offered [roles, and] it’s not the right time for you to do that. But also as an actor if I really like a role and they want somebody else with a bigger name or whatever, I would so much rather fight for that role and not get it, than take the other part that I was offered — it’s a good movie, but I would so much rather fight for a role and try and prove them wrong. I really like that. I like the feeling of that when you accomplish it.
HW: With all the momentum you’ve been building, do you feel like this is your break out year?
KM: I never really feel like ‘Oh, this is going to be the year.’ I don’t feel that right now. I just feel really happy about that I’ve had the opportunity to work so much. I really like to work. But I also am really picky, normally, about a script and don’t really like everything, and so I feel lucky that I’ve found so many roles that I respond to in this past year especially. . ..I feel really good right now about where my career is at this moment . I just finished a film last week called Transsiberian, totally different than anything I’ve ever done. It’s an independent film with Woody Harrelson and Sir Ben Kingsley. It’s a big ensemble [and] such a really interesting cast. We shot it in Lithuania and the crew was Spanish and the director Brad Anderson is American, Woody and I are both Americans, but Emily Mortimer and Sir Ben Kingsley are both British.
HW: Did you call Kinglsey “Ben” or “Sir Ben?”
KM: I never had the guts to ask him. I just called him Sir Ben . . . I just felt out of respect feel I should call him that. I didn’t want to take a chance.
