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Exclusive Interview with Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam and Director Lexi Alexander - Green Street
by Joe Utichi
Elijah
Wood seems determined to shake off Frodo for good. Since finishing work on
the massive trilogy, he's played a pervert in Eternal Sunshine, a cannibal
in Sin City and now he's a football hooligan in Lexi Alexander's Green
Street. And, while the results have been mixed, we're confident Wood has
the acting chops to move on from The One Ring.
FilmFocus caught up with him, his co-star in Green Street, Charlie Hunnam,
and their director, Lexi Alexander to discuss the film.
How are you all?
Charlie Hunnam: I'm alright. A bit tired. We were up in Edinburgh last night so I'm running on about three hours sleep at this point.
Elijah Wood: I'm very well - I'm really enjoying London. I wish I was here for longer, we've been so busy with the press that we've sort-of been sequestered to the hotel for the whole time.
Lexi Alexander: It's wonderful. I love it here.
Lexi, this is your first feature film, how great was it when you heard Elijah and Charlie and some other real talents had signed on?
LA: I was really excited. I guess they all responded to the script. I was really pleased that we could get them on board.
Elijah, this is quite far removed from Frodo, what attracted you to this project?
EW: I think the elements of hooliganism were really fascinating to me. It wasn't something I was really familiar with.
And it was a small, independent film - I was fascinated by Lexi Alexander and her vision and passion for the film. And, also, the opportunity as an actor to play a role that starts out very innocent and ends up becoming a hooligan. That was really interesting to play.
Charlie, this must be your first film back in England since the Queer as Folk days.
CH: No, actually, I did Nicholas Nickleby in the interim, but, you know, this is the first good film I've done since the Queer as Folk days! *laughs*
How's life treating you in LA?
CH: It's alright. You know, I'm just out there for a few more years until hopefully it gets a little easier to get the work that I want to get, and then I'll come back. It's taken a little longer than I'd anticipated but, you know, keep on keeping on.
I've been working a lot, you know, trying to perfect an American dialect, because I found that that was one of the things that was preventing me from getting the work I wanted to get.
Football hooliganism is quite a sensitive subject. How confident were you that you'd be getting it right?
LA: I did a lot of research trying to make it as authentic as possible. I had a lot of help from a fella named Cas Pennant - who's a real specialist on it - and my co-writer Dougie Brimson.
I wanted to do it real, and show it graphically and show it the way it really is so that we could emotionally connect with and understand the consequences involved.
CH: Yeah it is a sensitive subject to deal with, but like anything else, when you deal with anything like hooliganism or drugs, in order to explain to people why people get involved in it, you have to show the positives and the exciting glorious side of it. But you also have to take the responsibility very seriously and the obligation that you also have to show the consequences and repercussions. I think that Lexi's done a really nice job in striking that balance.
EW: Exactly. I was confident in all of us that we'd get it right and it was never our intent to just glorify hooliganism. It was always our intent to tell it from the most honest perspective possible. As Charlie says, we had to treat the positive aspects of it honestly, but we were really careful to show the negative repercussions to. I think we've done that.
Elijah, how did you take to the football match you went to see?
It had to be the most electrifying sport experience of my life. I've been to various sporting events in the US, you know, different kinds of sports, but I've never felt the kind of electricity or palpable energy as I did at that football match.
It's truly incredible, and it's almost addicting.
What have you got coming up?
CH: I've not got a lot, nothing to report; me and Lexi are going to do a film together next year. I'll also do a tiny little cameo in another film that she's about to do in London. I've got a few little bits and bobs going on but nothing definite at all.
Elijah, we're looking forward to Everything Is Illuminated...
It's a lovely, lovely film. It's based on a book that came out a couple of years ago from Jonathan Safran Foer. It's about a young man who travels to the Ukraine to find a woman he believes saved his grandmother during the war.
It's this lovely, very funny, story of these three people; two Ukranian tour guides and this character, Jonathan, who I play, travelling across the Ukrainian countryside. It's very, very funny and ultimately really poignant and beautiful.
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