Famke Janssen Plays Hide and Seek

By Rita Cook

PENNY BLOOD: So when you take on a film like Hide and Seek, do you look at it as a popcorn film?

JANSSEN: I think you have to take everything on seriously.  I mean to remember what genre you are in
is very important, but I think you have to approach everything the same way and put your best foot forward
and do the best that you can. 

PENNY BLOOD: Do you approach this film differently than a film that might require something else from you?

JANSSEN: No, I mean I did research for this film the same way I would in another movie.

PENNY BLOOD: You play a psychologist?

JANSSEN: Yes, and so I interviewed a whole bunch of them.  Then once you start shooting then you remember
what genre you are in.  I take it seriously and non-seriously for each movie.

PENNY BLOOD: Non seriously?

JANSSEN: You know, you have to have a sense of humor in everything that you do.

PENNY BLOOD: You add nice little touches to your characters, do you do that as seriously as you
would anything else?

JANSSEN: Well for example, for one part in this movie I talked to the director beforehand and I said,
‘My character is going to be left-handed in this movie.  I am right-handed, but my character is going to be
left-handed.’  He looked at me and he said, ‘Why?’ I told him because she has to fire a gun at the end of
the movie and she has never done it before and I have.  If I am going to be right-handed I am going to be
way too comfortable carrying it and I am going to fall back into holding it like a pro.  We had a whole
discussion about it and he said that very few people are left-handed and I don’t think you should make
her left-handed.

PENNY BLOOD: What was the overall feel of the role for you and working with Robert DeNiro?

JANSSEN: Working with DeNiro was a big part of it and it was kind of different and very nice. 

PENNY BLOOD: I hear there were a couple of different endings shot for this film, one when you are
tucking Dakota’s [Fanning] character into bed and she wants you to keep the door open or something
like that…

JANSSEN: Who told you that?

PENNY BLOOD: Is that going to be on the DVD?

JANSSEN: I don’t know. 

PENNY BLOOD: Was that shot?
JANSSEN: Who told you that?  [Laughing]  I can’t confirm or deny that, but we did shoot different
endings of the movie, but this is the one they chose. 

PENNY BLOOD: Which one did you like the most since there were three?

JANSSEN: I always go for the most unconventional and the least safe and the darkest. 

PENNY BLOOD: Was it hard working with a child actress?

JANSSEN: You forget she is a child.  There is nothing childlike about her. She is a miniature grown-up. 
She was very smart and very together, very talented obviously, very sweet and very fun.  I had a great
time working with her.

PENNY BLOOD: Would it be important to cast a kid who is smart and together in a vehicle like this one?

JANSSEN: It helps, I mean if the kid is not off bouncing off the walls the whole time or running around
playing and stuff like that.  She was very focused so no time is wasted on anything.

PENNY BLOOD: There is a strong resemblance after dying the hair of a young Christina Ricci.

JANSSEN: Someone else said that, but I never really saw that.

PENNY BLOOD: You didn’t have any scenes with Elisabeth Shue, did you guys get to meet each other?

JANSSEN: Yeah, she was great.  We would overlap sometimes on set or something like that. 

PENNY BLOOD: What about the cat scene?

JANSSEN: I wasn’t in the cat scene, but I saw the drowned cat lying around on the set. 

PENNY BLOOD: Were there a lot of jokes going around on the set?

JANSSEN: Yeah, I mean that thing was like lying around forever. 

PENNY BLOOD: How many days did you actually work on the film?

JANSSEN: Between the actual film and the reshoots we did and all that – I didn’t keep track. 
But it took longer to shoot than was expected on certain scenes. 

PENNY BLOOD: Was the scene where you are thrown in the water a favorite scene?

JANSSEN: Oh, God no.

PENNY BLOOD: Why not? Some people might enjoy it.

JANSSEN: Being thrown in the water…

PENNY BLOOD: Any future parts in X-Men?

JANSSEN: Don’t know quite yet, but yes, probably.

PENNY BLOOD: Have you spoken at all?

JANSSEN: I have heard things and they are developing the script right now. 

PENNY BLOOD: Do you miss the director?

JANSSEN: Certainly, yes. I think he made the movie. 

PENNY BLOOD: Does the next director have any bearing on whether or not the cast will return?

JANSSEN: Some people are going to return because of the fact that they signed contracts and some
people can renegotiate.  I am sure it has to do with a bunch of different things. 

PENNY BLOOD: You would not want to do another sequel just for the sake of doing one?

JANSSEN: I would not want to do the sequel for the sake of doing a sequel.  I would definitely
want to do it if there was a good director involved or maybe do some renovations on [my part]. 
I can’t lie about it and the money. 

PENNY BLOOD: The Phoenix character is a very complicated character and probably a very
fun character. Have you heard if the next movie is going to revolve strongly, kind of like X-Men 2
revolved around Wolverine?

JANSSEN: I have heard things like that, but at the same time I am realistic about knowing that they
are going to have to give a bunch of people a good chunk of the movie for them to want to come back
and then there is going to be new characters introduced so it is always a little tricky. I mean if it is anybody’s
movie ever it is going to be Wolverine’s movie because that is the number one X-Man character.  What I
have heard is she will be a big part of it.

PENNY BLOOD: The Jean Gray character was such a strong character in the second film for the
audience it would be difficult [not to have her back].  They might see a different Storm, a different actor
doing that part, but to see someone else doing the Phoenix…

JANSSEN: I would have a hard time giving it up to someone else just for that reason.  I am too much
of a control freak so I don’t know that I could handle seeing someone else doing it. 

PENNY BLOOD: Have you been preparing yourself at all and reading old comic books?

JANSSEN: No, once we get the full green light I will.  But any of that kind of stuff you always feel that
you can jinx it or you get your hopes up.

PENNY BLOOD: Do you ever read any of the comic books out of curiosity?

JANSSEN: No, I am not a comic book reader it seems very complicated.  I have always read novels
and comic books I have never understood very well. 

PENNY BLOOD: What else is going on with you and your life?

JANSSEN: A lot of things that have just fallen apart unfortunately.  I was going to direct something and
that just fell apart.  Now I just have to look around for some other stuff to do.

PENNY BLOOD: Directing is in your future then?

JANSSEN: Hopefully.

PENNY BLOOD: Are you at all interested in being in the Superman movie?

JANSSEN: You know I don’t think that is a possibility because that would be a total conflict. 

PENNY BLOOD: Would you ever consider doing another comic book movie?

JANSSEN: It would seem weird.  Like I said there are always different times in your life when you consider
doing things for whatever reason so I don’t want to exclude it, but at the moment I can’t foresee that happening. 
I am looking to go on jumping in between genres and video and independent movies and whatever.