|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You may not recognize Jacinda Barrett's name, but if you see "Ladder 49" you just might recognize her face. The former cast member of "The Real World: London" is quickly making a name for herself in Hollywood, starring alongside Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta in the new firefighter drama "Ladder 49," and with Renée Zellweger in the upcoming sequel to "Bridget Jones's Diary." MTV News' Shari Scorca caught up with Barrett to see how she made the transition from reality TV to the silver screen.
MTV: What kind of preparation did you do for your role in "Ladder 49"?
Jacinda Barrett: Well, I didn't have to do any of that [firefighting] training. All of mine was really about the character and the about the lifestyle of a firefighter's wife, and that was my mom, because my dad was a firefighter. So it was something I sort of innately understood, and then I also did research in Baltimore and spent time with the firefighters and their wives. And then I went back to my parents and had both of them write sort of an early history of my dad being a firefighter and their relationship and the risks and stuff that were involved for both my mom and him.
MTV: Did you realize what your parents went through as a child? Did this open up your eyes a little bit?
Barrett: There were some things they didn't tell me because I was too young to know. I mean, especially some of the situations my dad was in when his life was in danger. I was amazed by that. It was nice, it gave me an insight into sort of my parents as adults, which was great.
MTV: How have you been able to get past the curse of being on MTV?
Barrett: You know what? I guess for me, they weren't linked. I did the reality, I did "The Real World" nine years ago, and at that time it was the only show like that on television. It was a documentary, that's what I understood it to be. And then I took ... after I finished that, I decided to go back to school. I took three years off and went back to school to study acting. And when I got my first job then, almost four years later, there was no link between having done that documentary show and then starting work. At least for me, I guess that's how it happened, I don't really think if you were to go on a show like that and then expect to get opportunities from that it works that way. ... They're totally different; one you're acting, and one you're being filmed doing your daily things.
MTV: You're going to be in the next "Bridget Jones" film, "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," with Renée Zellweger. How was that?
Barrett: It was fun, totally different from this. It was great. Renée's just, you just love watching her play this part. Everyone's back from the first one, so ... I loved the characters so much from the first part. It was just fun for me to hang out with them — a lot of the same kind of humor and a lot of new stuff thrown in too.
MTV: How was it to play Joaquin Phoenix's wife?
Barrett: It was great. You know, it's funny because we actually didn't rehearse at all for this movie. So what you see onscreen is real instinctual and spontaneous, and to do that we just had to have trust and be willing to risk and not judge, and that's how we approached the scene. So they were very intimate, and a lot of [the scenes] were in the house in this tiny little set, so it was different from what the rest of the guys did.
|
|
|
|
Photo: Alex Berliner
|
|
|
|
|
