Based on Anna Erelle's book In the Skin of a Jihadist, Profile tells the compelling and downright nerve-wracking story of journalist Amy Whittaker's attempt to investigate ISIS' recruitment of young European girls. The movie is presented in the novel "screenlife" format, telling the entire story through Amy's computer screen. The end result is an unusual thriller that resonates even more after a year of virtual living.
Actress Valene Kane talked with CBR about working on Profile, and the process of bringing Amy to life. Filming Profile was unlike more traditional movies, and Kane discuessed the unusual filming process, her improv relationship with co-star Shazad Latif and how her tradition of creating a character-specific playlist helped contribute to the overall feel of the movie.
CBR: Can you tell us a little bit about your character, Amy?
Kane: Amy is a journalist from London who, when we meet her, is sort of at that middling point in her 30s where life hasn't quite worked out the way that she wanted it to. She's not sure whether she's in the right relationship. She's not making enough money. Her career hasn't blossomed as a journalist. And she realizes that she needs to do something quite drastic to make her career go where she wants it to. So, she finds this story, and then she goes hell for leather into really unraveling herself.
Is there a characteristic of her that you most identify with?
I think ambition was the first thing that I noticed about her. I certainly, from a very young age, was very ambitious as a woman. I still am, although life also takes over. But that ambition of really wanting what you want, I think that's sort of the strength of her. I wanted to play her as one of the boys, very much able to stand her own in a roomful of men. I wanted to play her tough. I didn't want to play her like a wilting wallflower. Particularly when I met Anna [Erelle, author of the book the movie is based on], Anna had a sort of a fierceness and a presence that I wanted to bring and replicate.
So you had a chance to meet the real person this character was based on?
Yeah, we got to do a Skype just at the end of the rehearsal process before we started shooting. Timur very kindly brought me into a room and was like, "I have a surprise for you." We met on Skype, which is all very meta. In the beginning, it was a very silent Skype for the first minute, where we both just sort of sat and saw each other and took each other in. I wonder how she felt about me, you know -- who was I to play her? So it was all quite interesting, that experience.
How much did that change how you were intending to play Amy?
That's a good question. I think there was a certain inner something that she had, a sort of inner fire that she was masking. And I thought, "Okay, that's what I want to bring. I want to bring that ball of intensity, that ball of kinetic possibility but mask it." I'm sure that she was cautious because she was in hiding and wanted to make sure that she didn't say the wrong thing. But there was definitely a sort of mask that she wore that I wanted to try and replicate.
Amy has a number of defining relationships beyond Bilel, including her friend, boyfriend and boss. Which do you find most compelling or driving for her?
I think probably her boss because I feel like when we meet her, she's kind of so unsure about Matt, so unsure whether that's what she wants. It feels like she's sort of just playing the numbers a bit with their relationship. Whereas I think she really respects her boss, and she's desperate to impress her. I think it's that desperation to impress and further herself that we see change the dynamic of who she is throughout this story.
I think, obviously, at the end, she realizes what she has in Matt and that she's definitely destroyed a relationship. But I think there's something more interesting about this -- I mean, I always like to see two women on screen. So I think there's something interesting about her really wanting to impress her boss that I liked.
How do you think audiences will react to Amy -- is she sympathetic, brave, reckless? What do you think audiences will come away from this thinking?
I mean, I don't know whether she is sympathetic. It's funny to play because I think that as an actor you kind of have to go into all roles and just play them for the authenticity of who they are, rather than wanting to be liked. But I think you sort of go on a mad journey with her, where you really empathize and understand all of her choices, even though if you read it, you'd be like, "That's ridiculous. She's a grown woman. She's an educated woman. She's a Parisian. How would she do this?" And then we follow her, and we kind of understand it because Shazad [Latif] is so charismatic, as Bilel was. So you go, "She's going further than I would have gone. Oh, and she's really going for it now. Wow."
I think what's interesting is that normally we can see the subtext of a character through the camera lens, the way that the director will decide to shoot an actor in their interior lives on their own is so interesting in filmmaking. But we couldn't have this with this film because the only time that you saw her face was when she was making a call, so she was always public-facing when you saw her. And what was interesting about this format is that the interior life was through the text messages, or the deletion of the text messages, or how you saw her maneuver around the laptop. I think that's what was sort of fascinating for the geek in me. It was like, "Oh, this is a new language."
How different was that to film as an actor?
So different. You don't have another person's body and energy there. You don't have their eyes to look into. Because when I'm looking at you [over video chat], I'm not looking at the camera. When I'm looking at the camera, then you have eye contact with me. But I suppose you learn the language of it. So when we really wanted to push the button of our intimacy or our flirtation, then we would look up at the camera -- that would make us feel something.
But I think for me, being my own DOP, being my own gaffer -- that was difficult. To hold a really heavy rig and be aware of everything, while also knowing that everything that I did on the desktop was being recorded, was a challenge. But it was a good challenge because I suppose it took me out of my comfort zone, and it was fun to learn that new skill, but it was so different.
So is that actually you operating the computer then?
Yeah, that's all me! I had to do all that, all the stage direction is me. So that was hard to get used to. But then any frustration that I felt I could just channel into the performance. Things would go wrong, and it would go wrong for Amy rather than going wrong for Valene. We just shot continuously. there was no break where you went to a trailer. I would just say, "Listen, I'm tired. I need to have a cup of tea or something." But we could essentially just film and film and film and film because there were no location moves, no lighting setups. There was just me and a laptop.
Director Timur Bekmambetov mentioned that a lot of Profile was actually improv. How much was scripted versus just you reacting to the moment?
There was a script. there was a brilliant script written, and obviously, we had the book. But I think me and Shazad, we were very lucky that we both came to the project with a strong desire for improvisation, and we were both really comfortable in that field. And when we met each other, we were like, "Cool, this is going to be fun. We can fucking push this."
And Timur was just so up for it. He was like, "You know the characters. I don't know the characters -- bring it, just keep bringing it." It's really sexy as an actor to be able to fully go there. You never thought, "Oh, shit, I've forgotten how to say that line." It was like, "No, I'm talking to Bilel." So a lot of it was improvised, which was was difficult, obviously, if Timur was like, "Oh my god, I loved that take. Can we do that one again?" And we were like, "We don't know what we did."
Can you tease either your favorite part of Profile or something that you felt was interesting to you as an actor?
I think my favorite part is the score. I just feel like the sound, the whole score of the movie is so unique because it's the sound that we all hear every day -- text messages, Skype calls, FaceTime calls, our computer booting up and booting down. Then how the sound designer has mixed that in with beats, with the music that she listens to, that was our producer's idea.
I had made a playlist because I always make a playlist for all my characters. I like to listen to it when I'm going to set or when I have time off. So me and Olga [Kharina, writer/producer] worked together. And she was like, "What music did you put on her playlist? This is the music I put on the playlist." Then when I played music in the scene, then I played those tracks. That, to me, it's so unique and unusual. And I suppose all screenlife movies will now have this, that the score will be almost like another character of the film.
Profile is directed by Timur Bekmambetov and stars Valene Kane and Shazad Latif. The movie hits theaters May 14.
0 Comments