Telegraph UK: Ninth Installment of 'My Week'
My Week: Olivia Williams
By Olivia Williams
7:00AM BST 06 Jun 2012
On set with Julianne Moore and the perils of googling Jordan
Last week I was back filming in Vancouver. You may remember I was cast in The Seventh Son as “pig farmer/witch”. Having shot pig farmer, I was summoned back to complete /witch and consequently have my entrails ripped out by Julianne Moore - one minute we were chatting about the ideal age gap between kids and the next she impaled me with a gruesome set of black nail extensions.
Halfway through the shoot I got an email from my agent saying that a very fine actress had fallen ill and they were looking for someone who could step into her spacesuit to shoot a movie set on Mars, filming in Jordan. A spot of geography revision (googling “Jordan” results in a depressing shortcut to large boobs, but I got there in the end) revealed Jordan’s unenviable address next to Syria (civil war), Israel (thinking of having a barney over nuclear weapons with the Iranians two doors down) and Iraq. That and the fact that my actor husband is still battling imaginary terrorists in South Africa resulted in an initial “no” to the role of Deputy Commander Kim Aldrich in Last Days on Mars.
But cycling around the sea wall of Vancouver’s Stanley Park, I figured a way of making it happen. Which is why at 2am this morning I was running up and down the blood-red dunes of Wadi Rum dressed in a spacesuit. Considering what the neighbours are up to, Jordan feels like a positive example of Shi’ite democracy and multiculturalism. After an enlightening chat comparing our constitutional monarchies with my Coptic Christian driver, I had a tour of the Roman amphitheatre in Amman from a charming Jordanian Muslim. I’m also hoping to squeeze in the Nabataean monuments at Petra. To miss one of the Seven Wonders of the World due to a dizzying case of jet lag seems foolish.
I have unwittingly achieved minor fame in this part of the world due to a movie I made in Israel about 12 years ago called The Body. Besides the obvious perk of snogging Antonio Banderas, I got to work with the great Palestinian actor Mohammed Bakri. Bakri’s skill and Eastwoodesque good looks should have guaranteed him a lucrative international career playing moody strangers. Instead, thanks to his involvement in Palestinian politics, we can watch his award-winning documentary testament to the suffering of his people, Jenin, Jenin.
Sometimes I wonder if my job trivialises suffering and insulates me from the political reality of the countries I visit, but I comfort myself that Art is a Metaphor and we all need a bit of escapism. Excuse me while I run up a sand dune screaming, “They’re dead but they just keep coming!”
source
By Olivia Williams
7:00AM BST 06 Jun 2012
On set with Julianne Moore and the perils of googling Jordan
Last week I was back filming in Vancouver. You may remember I was cast in The Seventh Son as “pig farmer/witch”. Having shot pig farmer, I was summoned back to complete /witch and consequently have my entrails ripped out by Julianne Moore - one minute we were chatting about the ideal age gap between kids and the next she impaled me with a gruesome set of black nail extensions.
Halfway through the shoot I got an email from my agent saying that a very fine actress had fallen ill and they were looking for someone who could step into her spacesuit to shoot a movie set on Mars, filming in Jordan. A spot of geography revision (googling “Jordan” results in a depressing shortcut to large boobs, but I got there in the end) revealed Jordan’s unenviable address next to Syria (civil war), Israel (thinking of having a barney over nuclear weapons with the Iranians two doors down) and Iraq. That and the fact that my actor husband is still battling imaginary terrorists in South Africa resulted in an initial “no” to the role of Deputy Commander Kim Aldrich in Last Days on Mars.
But cycling around the sea wall of Vancouver’s Stanley Park, I figured a way of making it happen. Which is why at 2am this morning I was running up and down the blood-red dunes of Wadi Rum dressed in a spacesuit. Considering what the neighbours are up to, Jordan feels like a positive example of Shi’ite democracy and multiculturalism. After an enlightening chat comparing our constitutional monarchies with my Coptic Christian driver, I had a tour of the Roman amphitheatre in Amman from a charming Jordanian Muslim. I’m also hoping to squeeze in the Nabataean monuments at Petra. To miss one of the Seven Wonders of the World due to a dizzying case of jet lag seems foolish.
I have unwittingly achieved minor fame in this part of the world due to a movie I made in Israel about 12 years ago called The Body. Besides the obvious perk of snogging Antonio Banderas, I got to work with the great Palestinian actor Mohammed Bakri. Bakri’s skill and Eastwoodesque good looks should have guaranteed him a lucrative international career playing moody strangers. Instead, thanks to his involvement in Palestinian politics, we can watch his award-winning documentary testament to the suffering of his people, Jenin, Jenin.
Sometimes I wonder if my job trivialises suffering and insulates me from the political reality of the countries I visit, but I comfort myself that Art is a Metaphor and we all need a bit of escapism. Excuse me while I run up a sand dune screaming, “They’re dead but they just keep coming!”
source