Making it tough, getting it right

In an interview to publicise her new film, Synechdoche, Michelle Williams has been talking about what it was like to work with Ang Lee on Brokeback Mountain and how her experience was completely different from that of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. 'The boys' had it tough.


'With me he was very compassionate. He was almost like a woman he was just so gentle. He would just literally hold my hand and rub my back and say ‘I know, I know, I know'. He was just so dear to me. I think it's because that's what I needed, I think that's what he saw. I've noticed personally, I'm shy and I work best when I feel like somebody trusts me. When I worked with Todd Haynes and I was trying to do something that I'd never really done before and play this character that was very outward and edicentric creation I was nervous and it was all new to me, every time he would say ‘Great, do it again'. And I just got the sense that even if it wasn't great I blossomed because I felt so free and confident. I could make mistakes and I couldn't see him panic ever and he trusted me enough to make mistakes and not get nervous.'


'And I think Ang probably saw something similar but with the boys [Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal] he was very tough. He would give more notes to the boys. They would do some big meaty scene and ask ‘How was that? How was that?' and all he would say was ‘Light was good.' And they had just poured their hearts out, so I guess that's what makes a good director too. Knowing what each actor needs.'


Even if it might not be exactly what the actor wanted.


This reminds me of one of my favourite accounts from Jake of working with Ang: 'Well, it was really interesting, he was a man of very few words. He would say things like, 'Do that better,' 'That was okay'. I remember very specifically, I said, 'How was that shot?' And he said, 'Very gay.' Yeah, I think emotionally that was the most I got out of Ang. He was so excited that it was very gay. But yeah, he has a sort of – I hesitate to say manipulation, but he recognized the role of the actor and the personality of the actor. He plays with that relationship and knows that you're gonna want to please him. So he'll play back and forth on that, and then he recognizes how to do that within the character you're playing and what the character needs.'


'There was a scene where I was herding 500 sheep on my own, it's not in the movie, down this hill at sunset with, like, a horse. I felt so proud of myself, one, that I was actually riding a horse, two, that I was herding 500 sheep. And there were four or five cameras picking it up, and I remember coming down to the very end and Ang – I was so excited, and Ang said, 'kind of sexy'. That was what he said to me. And I said, 'Let's do it again!' He was like, 'Let's move on'. So my performance, really, I'd describe as 'kind of sexy', just kind of. And then the next scene we moved onto, I was eager to please. And I think he likes to keep that relationship with his actors.'


But when all's said and done...


Includes pictures from IHJ.