While actors Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich are not exactly unknowns today, they almost were when they originally signed on to play the young couple at the center of writer-director Warren Beatty’s first film in 15 years, RULES DON’T APPLY. When I first interviewed Ehrenreich three years ago for Richard LaGravenese’s BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, he had already made two films with Francis Ford Coppola (TETRO and TWIXT) and had already shot BLUE JASMINE with Woody Allen and STOKER, the first English-language film from South Korean director Chan-wook Park. Earlier this year, he was a standout as the lovable idiot Hobie Doyle in the Coen Brothers HAIL, CAESAR!. But Ehrenreich is probably best known for a film he hasn’t even made yet; he’ll be playing young Han Solo in the STAR WARS anthology film being directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, set for release in the summer of 2018.
Lily Collins (daughter of musician Phil Collins) made her film debut in 2009’s THE BLIND SIDE, followed two years later in the vampire action film PRIEST, and getting her first starring role as Snow White in MIRROR MIRROR, directed by Tarsem Singh Dhandwar. She followed that up with high-profile turns in THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES and LOVE, ROSIE before moving on the RULES DON’T APPLY. Her upcoming slate looks equally impressive with parts in Joon Ho Bong’s OKJA, co-starring Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal; writer-director Anthony Lucero’s HALO OF STARS; and perhaps most anticipated, writer-director Marti Noxon’s TO THE BONE, co-starting Keanu Reeves.
I had a chance to sit down with the pair a couple weeks ago in Chicago to talk about the long and rewarding process of working on RULES DON’T APPLY with Beatty, and a little bit about a couple of their upcoming projects. It was a lively and lovely conversation, so please enjoy my talk with Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich…
Capone: Hey, how are you both?
Alden Ehrenreich: Good. Nice to see you again.
Lily Collins: How are you? Nice to meet you.
Capone: Everyone has a perception of what Warren Beatty is like just as a person, as a director, and I’m wondering did you have any conceptions before you met and worked with him, and were they in any way subverted or confirmed by working with him?
LC: I only knew of him, because I grew up watching some of his films. My dad’s favorite is HEAVEN CAN WAIT, so I was very much aware of him only really as this icon, as a name. I didn’t know much else. But when I met him, I was immediately thrown by how charming he was and how he makes every single person in the room feel like the most important person, and how disarming he can be, and how he’s such a family man, and how collaborative he is. I really had limited expectations, other than the fact that I was nervous, then those nerves went away, and all of a sudden I was just in the presence of someone that I greatly admire but is so down to earth and chill. I was very much surprised by that.
AE: Yeah. It’s been such a long time that I’ve known him that I don’t really remember my expectations, but one thing, and I think a lot of people have this experience, he's so generous with his time, and he really goes into so much depth and will really share so much with you when you meet him off the bat that you walk away…I remember I met him when I was 19 and I couldn’t believe I had access to this person, and he really makes you feel that you are buds. Then getting to know him over the course of those years, that just gets richer, deeper, and more meaningful.
Capone: Someone during the Q&A last night described the process as you have all these lunches and dinners and meetings, and then it just goes right into actually working together. It’s like he deliberately makes that transition so it doesn’t feel as much like work. Was that your experience?
AE: Yeah, I think so. The rehearsal process, we were there at his house all day long for a month or something. You were just around him so much. We were doing the scenes, and all that went into very much the first day.
LC: All of a sudden it was like “Well, tomorrow we start filming. Nothing is going to change, you’ve been rehearsing in this set-up, just add a camera.”
AE: You also just don’t know if you have the role until then, basically.
LC: Yeah, he could change his mind up until the 10th hour.
Capone: Did that surprise you yesterday when he said he actually knew it was you guys almost immediately.
LC: Yeah, yeah. He did say to me that he had to blink, but then he kept playing around. I was like, “Just tell me.” But I didn’t want to force it out of him. I wanted him to be able to take his time and let me know, but I also had flights to book. I’m like I have to know if I’m doing it.
Capone: He told that story about Alden reading and reading and reading, and it went from audition to rehearsal. Did you have anything like that as part of your audition process?
LC: Yeah, he asked me one night if I would like to meet Alden, and I thought that was a good sign, but I had said yes because our moms had actually known each other for a few years, and I had never met Alden, and I came over one night, and he said, “Why don’t you take the script and read through some scenes and come back here and choose one and do one of the scenes.” And we just sat at the dinner table and played around with the scenes. We read the scene when you come over, and I talk about Bobby Darin, and then he told me to put the script away and do the scene without knowing what I was supposed to say. That was terrifying, because I had to improv it. So I basically hadn’t memorized it, because it was on the day, and he took my script away and said, “Alright, do the same scene.” and I just rambled and rambled on. It was fun. I guess that was an audition, but it wasn’t really an audition.
Capone: When you first got a handle on who these characters were, what do you remember latching on to initially about them?
LC: Warren and I, we were talking about the Bobby Darin scene, and how the whole point of that is she feels old in comparison to what all the other girls are doing. She feels not worthy enough, she feels like she’s not making the right steps, she feels like she should have done more by now, a failure, and she felt old, but she was so young, and I can totally relate to that. When you’re in something for a long time trying and trying and trying and not getting anywhere, you start to feel like old news or you start to feel like “All these other girls are 18 and they’re coming up behind me, I’m going to be old news soon.” And I thought, this is ridiculous. In the big scheme of things, “Lily, you’re 24-years-old.” But I felt Marla’s pain. I felt her struggle, and all of a sudden I went “I get it. I get her, I get where she’s coming from,” and only from a place of pure passion and wanting something so badly, which is where it comes from for me. So all of a sudden, her mindset completely clicked for me.
AE: I think I was 19 when I met Warren for the first time, and I think that’s how old Frank is in the beginning of the film, and when he finally gets to run the company, he’s 24, which is how old I was when we filmed the film, and during those five years, it was really questionable like “Do I have this role? Is he making this movie? What can I do to get the role if I don’t have the role?” And I did a few other films, but this was in the forefront of my mind for a long time, so that felt like the movie. It felt like the energy of the Hughes/Frank relationship in many ways.
Capone: Did either of you get a sense that Warren saw a little bit of his experience in both of your characters? Because it seems like he just split his life into two parts for this film.
AE: Right, she’s from Virginia.
Capone: And from a religious background—both your characters are. Did you get a sense that it was more personal for him on that level?
LC: He definitely inserted his own stories to us, especially with certain scenes. Sexual repression and the puritanism and all that stuff that I wasn’t aware of, and that I couldn’t appropriately act without his stories and with him telling us the ins and outs of it and how emotionally affected the characters were. So having him there describing the period and his experiences was a total gift, because it wasn’t like a historian came on for the day. He was there day in and day out. So if he didn’t see something as genuine or true, he’d tell us and explain in a way we would understand.
Capone: On an a pure acting level, what do you learn from his vast experience and just watching him?
AE: I had never worked with someone who was directing and acting in a film at the same time, and one thing he did that was really interesting was he would direct in character. Usually, he would not break the scene and say, “Hey, I want you to do this and do this.” He would say as Hughes, if he wants you to do it maybe more forcefully, he would say, “I don’t really believe totally what you’re saying. Why don’t you really try to convince me?” So he would do it in the first person, and made a huge difference. It made a big difference that he would stay in it, because there’s something about the make-believe of it all that it kept you in it.
LC: That’s a good point. I completely forgot that he did that. There was a scene when I first meet him over TV dinners, I delivered a line to him something about, “I don’t drink.” He’s like, “You DON’T drink?” I was like, “No, I don’t drink.” He’s like, “Really, why don’t you drink?” And he gave me such attitude, but it was because he wanted me more riled up, and at the time I was like “God, Warren had it out for me” But I finally realize why he did that. He directed in character.
Capone: I love that scene when you get drunk, because that’s just you talking for days, and you completely lose your composure, you don’t care about poise anymore. Tell me about shooting that scene, because that’s a phenomenal sequence.
LC: I was terrified. I remember reading it going “It’s 13 pages, and I’m drunk and I have monologues and I’m singing?” I am very proud to say I got through that scene. At the heart of it, it’s humorous, because yes, there is a romance there, but it’s mainly humorous, and that’s how brilliant Warren is, because he creates a tone that’s so specific and unexpected. But it’s when Marla’s inhibitions go out the window. She’s never had a drink in her life, and now she’s completely wasted, and her strong-willed determined nature comes out more so than ever, and I think she really does become the teacher in that situation, and I think Hughes needs it. It causes him to get emotional when she’s singing the song. There are moments when Frank does it to him, and there are moments when Marla is able to teach the master, and it’s his insanity that drives him to that point, but then ends up teaching him. I think that’s one of those scenes, then it ends up being quite comical.
Capone: Warren said more than once last night that this is not a story about Howard Hughes. It’s a story about your characters falling in love. With that in mind, you’re basically dropping this budding young romance in the middle of like Hurricane Howard. And they both realize at different times the only way it’s going to work is if they evacuate the area.
LC: Yes, it’s very, very, very true.
Capone: But both of your characters don’t right away because they are so drawn in by what being that close to Hughes has to offer.
LC: But then I have that reason to take me out. I found a reason that I believe strongly enough needed to take me out, and when I come back, I see that it’s still going on, yet I have the power to just drop that ring and leave. I think you actually hold the hurricane down. You’re the one holding down the tent. When you go, it all goes. But then you reach a point when you realize that you can’t flail forever.
AE: When I find out what happened. Warren said it once that the movie is like TITANIC, and Howard Hughes is like the iceberg.
[Everyone laughs]
LC: I love it. It’s very true.
Capone: I want to talk about the song because every time it’s sung, it’s in a different context and it means something different. And there are a couple of people in the film who think the song is about them, and Warren has had a song like that in his life.
LC: The difference I think between that is, for Marla, she wrote it for Frank. She sings it to Frank, but then when she’s in that state with Howard, she knows that it can also apply to him, and that it’s going to help him. So I don’t think she’s confused as to who she wrote it for.
Capone: It’s not confusing to her; it’s confusing to the men.
LC: Oh yeah.
AE: I didn’t know that she wrote it for Frank. I didn’t know that.
LC: Well, I’m saying that she did.
AE: You’re the person who decides that.
LC: I think she did write it for Frank, but she’s such a brilliant song writer that many people can relate to it. But then I think Howard got out of it something else, and I think that’s what then propelled him to go into proposing. I think that song is so from the heart and raw and pure that it can really be applied to anyone.
Capone: The one thing that hasn’t come up a lot in the conversations about this film is that you both have a lot of scenes with Matthew Broderick.
AE: You’re the first person to ask about him.
Capone: What’s really cool about his character is that he vanishes sometimes, even when he’s right in the room, and he just pops out. Talk about working with him, because he’s amazing. He’s so good in this.
LC: So funny.
AE: He’s so funny. It was a real problem for everybody.
LC: Oh yeah, there were scenes that you just can’t —
AE: You couldn’t get a break, including Warren. He’s so funny. I grew up on FERRIS BUELLER; it was my favorite movie when I was a kid, so just meeting him was pretty much a thrill. I also pushed for him for the role early on.
LC: I remember that, because you don’t expect him to do what he does at the end.
Capone: And he’s kind of sleazy, but he’s not like pushy about it. He’s just sleazy enough to creep you out a tiny bit.
AE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like he’s also done certain things like HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS…, and he just feels like he fits into that world.
LC: Happy-go-lucky, but sleazy-ish.
AE: Yeah. And he’s just such a sweet guy, and he was great to have. He was like the comedic relief for everyone in the film.
LC: Oh my God. And on set, waiting and waiting to shoot, he’d just be there.
AE: So hilarious.
Capone: Sometimes he’d show up in a scene and I’d think, “He’s just been standing there the whole time, and I didn’t realize it.”
LC: YeahA
AE: Exactly.
Capone: I want to talk about stuff you have coming up. I’m excited as hell that you did a movie with Marti Noxon, because she’s one of my favorite writers of genre stuff.
LC: I love her.
Capone: I don’t know anything about this movie, other than it has an incredible cast and that she’s in charge of it.
LC: Yeah, it’s very much based on her life story with some other things involved, but it’s about a young woman who suffers from anorexia, and goes into a home where she meets five other people who also suffer from anorexia or other eating disorders. It’s a coming-of-age story about this girl and how she finds love within herself to battle the disease and come to terms with it, and whether or not she decides to basically save herself or not. Randomly, it has some comedy in there, but only if you know Marti Noxon’s sense of style and sense of humor. It’s dark, but it’s got a lightness to it that only someone I feel that has experienced it first hand would be able to tell in this way. It was a huge honor for me, because I feel like it’s a subject matter that is considered taboo, yet it’s becoming more and more prevalent in men and women today, and to start a conversation about it was really important to me.
AE: What’s she done before?
LC: She’s done a lot of TV writing. She did “Buffy.”
Capone: She was Joss Whedon’s go-to writer for his shows for a while.
LC: She’s the coolest, badass woman. I hope it goes to Sundance.
Capone: Alden, we haven’t really read anything about stuff you have coming up. [Everybody laughs] You’re young enough where you obviously weren’t alive when some of the older STAR WARS films came out, but how much was it a part of your life growing up?
AE: When we did the announcement at STAR WARS Celebration, my mom had just found all my Han Solo action figures, and we showed a picture of all of them. Yeah, I grew up watching it, I grew up with the toys, I grew up particularly with that character who’s so appealing I think to every little boy and girl, and it was definitely there. It’s almost like for everybody.
Capone: I saw that video of you at Celebration talking about going on the Falcon set, and Lord and Miller are two of the nicest, funniest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch work. I visited and talked a bunch to them on the first JUMP STREET movie. You’re going to have a blast.
AE: In a similar sense of working with somebody like Warren or Woody Allen, you’re just so into the idea of it, but then what’s great about it is what you get to do on a day-to-day basis and the actual work you get to do. That’s how I feel with this. The idea is so exciting, but what I’m more excited about is the particular story we’re doing, working with these guys and the other people that I’ll have the opportunity to work with. It’s really exciting.
Capone: Well, they just announced one of them [Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian].
AE: I know. Absolutely.
Capone: Anyway, it was great talking with both of you.
