We Got This Covered: Beatrice is a very different character from Lisbeth Salander, but there are similarities between the two such as vulnerability. Do you see that similarity between the characters?
Noomi Rapace: I don’t think I thought about it that much because for me I’ve done a lot of things between those two movies. I think it’s more for other people because they know all that stuff. What they do have in common is that kind of rage or anger or idea of revenge and avenging someone that did something wrong to them. But they are quite different in a way in that Lisbeth is so much more boyish and she doesn’t want to be a girl. She doesn’t want to play that game. And Beatrice is kind of the opposite in that she’s very much a woman, and she likes that and works in a beauty industry.
That’s also why this accident hits her so hard because she loses her beauty and it destroys her face, and she can’t do what she did before. Even though now when we see the movie, I don’t think she looks that bad. She’s still beautiful but she can’t see that. She woke up in the hospital, she almost died and she saw herself and she just wishes she would’ve died instead. Then she got through all the plastic surgery steps and it looks much better today, but she can’t see it. She’s kind of trapped in that.
We Got This Covered: Do you think a broken heart can be mended?
Noomi Rapace: Yes I do think so. I don’t think everything can heal completely. I think some scars in your soul will always be there, but if you can find a way to forgive and to move on and to let new things come into your life, I think you can heal well enough to be able to love again. And definitely I think love is the best medicine for most things.
We Got This Covered: So you believe in second chances?
Noomi Rapace: Yeah absolutely. It says on the poster “revenge is coming,” but this movie is very much about forgiveness, to find a way to let go of the past and to not let that set the rules forever. Victor and Beatrice are both on those revenge roads, obsessed with hitting back. Then because they get to know each other and uncover emotions they didn’t expect would fit in their life, they start to feel that they want to reconsider their choices. I think there’s a very beautiful message in the movie that says that the destructive choice of hitting back will only lead you into more darkness and it won’t make you happy. It won’t solve anything.
We Got This Covered: How was it to work with Isabelle Huppert who plays Beatrice’s mother, and can you tell us more about the character she plays?
Noomi Rapace: Her character was like this Frenchwoman who came and fell in love with this American guy and followed him to New York, and he left her and she was alone with this daughter and raising a kid on her own. It’s almost like she created this French bubble in New York. She’s very close to her daughter, and it’s almost like a symbiotic relationship. It’s almost more of a friendship relationship than a mother and other thing.
I loved working with Isabelle though. But I also think that the mother actually is the key to why Beatrice becomes so devastated of this disfigured face in the accident because her mother is so into beauty and being desirable and fantastic and mysterious and sexy. You can see that when she’s kind of hiding my face for Colin and she’s showing him photos and going “look she really was beautiful.” So I think that the mother was more devastated in a way when she saw what happened to her daughter. When she first saw Beatrice’s face she felt “oh my God, my daughter lost all her beauty. She lost everything. Nobody will love her.” So even though she doesn’t say it, it’s almost like she’s putting the spell over the whole thing.
We Got This Covered: There’s an interesting dynamic in the first few scenes with Colin because you first come off as very curious on the date at the dinner, and as soon as we get in the truck there’s this nervous energy you let out as you start to get in his face. Can you tell us more about the complexity of your character?
Noomi Rapace: All those scenes in the restaurant and in the car were like a chain that needed to head straight into the emotional and psychological journey and build the whole inner landscape. At the same time, the car was really chaotic around us and was spinning as he was driving. It was like a camera car and there are so many things happening at the same time. And for me that sequence is one the most important in the film because it kind of surprises her that she likes him when they’re in the restaurant because she’s been planning this, thinking about it, playing up the scene in her head of “what should I say? How should I act?”
Then when she’s actually there, she’s like “oh God I actually like him” and then she puts herself back on track. In the car, this anger and her decision is stronger than everything and she would call the police and say “I saw this man kill someone.” He’s going to do it and then she wants to forget him because she doesn’t want to look at her past in any way. She wants to leave everything and move on, but at the same time this guy’s doing something to her, so there’s a lot of things going on.
It’s weird because if you’ve done all the preparation before you start the film and you know who your character is, it’s almost like you don’t need to decide before you step into a scene. If you work with actors like Colin who goes with a moment, then you can just jump into it and see what comes. Quite often you will find your way through without even thinking.
That concludes our interview but we’d like to thank Noomi for her time. Be sure to check out Dead Man Down, in theatres this Friday.
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