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| Olga Kurylenko in Chief Of Station |
If you don’t know her name, you almost certainly know her face. Ever since 2008’s Quantum Of Solace, in which she managed to stand out alongside James Bond, Ukrainian-born Olga Kurylenko has been making a big impression. A former model, she has an instinctive approach to acting which has served her well in the likes of To The Wonder, The Water Diviner, Mara, The Translators and The Bay Of Silence. She’s also made a name for herself as an action performer – “A lot of people somehow call me back to do action. I wonder why,” she says, laughing – and now she’s hitting screens in her latest thriller, Chief Of Station, alongside Aaron Eckhart.
“I get lots of action propositions and I do say no to a lot, but certain things I do say yes, and for very different reasons,” she says. “For example, this one is because I know Jesse [V Johnson, the director]. I've worked with him. It's our fourth movie together. So, you know, he's become a friend. He's become like a family, and actors he uses, he tends to hire them again and again. He's very loyal to his actors. So I know that I'll be back with the family, with the same people that I've worked before.
“It's nice to see each other. It just feels nice and cosy and comfortable and obviously, you know that you will do great stuff together, but when you enjoy it, it's always better. But the last few films I did have nothing to do with action. I've done two comedies and I'm going to do one thriller and I'm going to do another comedy.”
I mention that the last film I saw her in before this one was Boudica, and she points out that that was one of Jesse’s as well. I ask if that familiarity gives them a shorthand that makes communication easier on set.
“Yeah,” she nods. “We now know each other. Maybe that's why also, he keeps hiring me, because he’s always, like, ‘It's easy with you. I tell you what to do and you do it.’ I want the same thing. He gets me. He knows how I work, what to tell me. It goes faster. He doesn't need to sit down and start explaining. And he knows there's going to be no problem. There's no ego play or anything like that. In the end, people are tired of all of this and you just want to have a great time, have fun, deliver something that's watchable, that's nice, that's fun and entertaining. That's what we do – it’s entertainment. You know, we're not saving anyone's life. And that's all. Life is too short to not be in good company.”
At this stage in her life, she has other priorities as well, she explains.
“I now only try to pick projects that shoot for two weeks, not longer. So I pick supporting roles because I don't want to be away from my family for longer than that. So I cannot do leads. After all these years of working, I realised, look, I've done enough, you know? I don't need to keep doing project after project. I just want to enjoy my life and be with people I love. And that requires being there. And when I work, I'm not there. So I just have to sadly refuse work most of the time. This one was sweet and short, and that's all I'm taking now: two weeks, ten days, nothing else.”
A lot of actors tell me that supporting roles actually translates to more interesting characters a lot of the time, I say.
“Actually, yeah, it's true, because sometimes they're short and poignant. I'm even more excited about this. I know it's just going to be a period of time and you give it your all and then you go. And those parts, sometimes they are called villains or they’re crazy, eccentric characters.”
There's a lot of backstory with this character that we don't necessarily get to see all of, but there are hints at it. Did she have a clear sense of what the backstory was when going into the role?
“Yeah, of course. I discussed it with Jesse. Clearly she worked with Farah [the hero’s dead wife, around whom much of the story revolves], and there was little thing that we said to each other, that maybe my character even had a relationship with that woman. We invented that. Because for me to go and help and feel so emotional about her death, I needed to be much more, not just to be her friend. So I did say in my head that maybe I loved her. That's the backstory, to me, that justified all the involvement.”
I tell her that I got that impression when watching the film, and she’s pleased, because she didn’t know if it would show. I ask her how she approaches expressing a character’s emotions in a film like this when she spends a lot of time running around and the camera rarely settles on her face.
“I don't know,” she shrugs. “I guess you just give it when the camera is there and when it's your moment, just try to be there and feel it. And you have to express it because, you know, a lot of people hide their feelings. You have to be generous with wanting to share all of that with people standing around, and then everyone else that's going to see it, which is probably not easy for a lot of people. And I understand why we want to be private.”
Speaking of two week shoots, this seems like something that would be tough to film for longer, simply because it's a very physically demanding film. She did most of her own stunt work, she says.
“I mean, that I guess I'm used to. But it does get tiring. Although it's good for you, right?” She laughs. “Not just to keep myself alive, but because in my private life, I'm so lazy about exercise. The only thing that gets me moving is my work.”
We talk about the development of the stunt sequences.
“Jesse, by now, knows what I can do well. He knows better than I do,” she says. “I don't come up with the stunts because I just don't have the expertise. I'm not a stunt person, I'm a good soldier. I follow. They show me and I pick it up. That’s one thing that was easy for Jesse, and why he likes working with me. I pick it up very fast. Maybe it comes from dancing ballet. So if they show me some sort of choreography, I literally know it five minutes later. I can do it on set without even training before. It's just my thing. I'm not good like this with other things in life, believe me. So this one, I have to admit, I have it. I just get it very fast, and I enjoy it. When it's short and sweet, it's okay. Imagine, like, for non stop every single day of your life – you’d be exhausted.”
Ballet is also about telling a story through dance. Is that how she sees stunts, too?
“Yes. I think that's why I pick it up very fast and I can do it as well. I'm also flexible from nature, born like that, so that also helps. It's like dancing again, in a more violent way.”
It also requires knowing what to expect from one’s dancing partner, who may or may not have the same level of skill.
“I have to learn all their movements or I won't be able to avoid them. It's quite a bit dangerous. So it's basically dancing together and knowing who moves away at the right time and who moves in. And how to make it all believable and looking dangerous without actually hurting each other. It's quite a thing.
“I enjoy that. That's the magic of it, because we make it so awfully wicked and right looking. And yet the main point when we're doing this is to stay safe, to not hurt anybody, including us. So it's a puzzle, and it's a challenge, and I like challenges.”
What was the most fun part of this particular film?
“I don't know. A lot. Everything.” She smiles broadly. “Just being with the greatest people. All the actors were lovely and it was lovely spending time with them, working, doing all these stunts. Also being in Budapest. That I loved. It's a beautiful city with beautiful food, with very nice people. I had never been before. There were too many good parts. I can't list just one.”
going forward, however, she’d like to move in a different direction.
“I've done a lot of dark work and told a lot of dark stories, and once in a while, I'm sure I'll do it again. It's great. But after having done a few comedies, I realised how much I enjoy it. It's just so nice to laugh on set. Also, somehow with comedy, I can improvise, and I love improvising. I'm just myself, and I can really give it all and just say things. It's even funnier when I improvise. I don't know, just somehow, for me, it's such a fulfilling type of work. I don't know why I hadn't done it before. Well, people weren't really thinking about it.”
There was The Death Of Stalin, I remind her – though that’s quite dark for comedy.
“Yeah, exactly. And also, my character wasn't very comical. But in Johnny English [Strikes Again[/film], there was little glimpse where I could be a tiny bit funny, even though mostly it was a glamorous role. But then, since then, I did this Netflix French series where it's a pure comedy, and I enjoyed it so much. And I just thought ‘This is what I'm supposed to do.’ I think I'm going to try and find more of those.”
As for this film, it was about more than action, she says, and she hopes that audiences will engage with that.
“The action scenes are very well done and for an action film, I found it quite emotional. I really felt it at moments. In the script, it read very action oriented, but on screen, the way Jesse edited it, I saw it as a story of a heart, a very emotional story. It really got to me. And Aaron is great in those scenes as he's great in the action scenes as well.”
