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What would happen if we opened ourselves up to our fellow human beings?
What would happen if we made chairs out of branches?
Travoltas performance is appropriately unassuming and eventually heartbreaking, but I believe Sedgwick is the standout inPhenomenon.
She cries on at least four separate occasions, and each time her face gently crumples.
She rocks an imaginary baby under an apple tree and its unbelievably poignant.
Lets go back all the way to the 90s.
Where were you in your life and in your career when you auditioned for this movie?
What do you remember about that?Gosh.
I know I had doneSingles.I had two kids.
My daughter was 2, my son was 5.
He sounds like a little kid, and hes just one of the funniest people that youll ever meet.
And I actually think Kevin was cuttingLoverboy, orLosing Chase,or something.
We shot most of the movie in Marin County [in California].
I just had a fucking ball, you know?
I totally, thoroughly enjoyed those guys.
He had a lot of personal identification, I think, with the character.
And he was great.
I remember saying, Thats a lot of movies to do in a row.
And he said, Making hay, making hay.
I remember doingthe famous haircutting scene, I remember doing the scenewhere we fight about the chairs.
I remember doingthe death scene when were in bed together I was absolutely dead set onnotcrying.
And I was like, Oh, all right.
You do a lot of crying in this movie.
Especially with a slow push-in on a dolly.
Its, like, your worst nightmare.
I can remember just being so scared.
I think we did my POV of the tree first, and then turned around on me.
Afterwards, John Turteltaub came up to me and goes, How do you do that?
It was just so cute.
The truth is, you just never know if youll get there.
I mean, Im sure Meryl always knows shes going to be able to get there.
I think since then Ive learned.
I think that you empathize with the character.
I think that you build a history for them, whatever that looks like.
And this is a woman who wasleft by her husband, a single mother with two kids.
So she was really a tough nut to crack.
But once you cracked her, she was really cracked open.
And sometimes, you just totally feel nothing and do it technically.
And whos to say if the audience feels one way more or the other?
For me personally, this is a huge cry movie.
Theres something about the music and the score and the trees.
I mean, why are the tree shots emotional?I would agree with that.
I remember the DP [director of photography], Phedon Papamichael, being very dramatic.
He always had big feelings around how things were going to get shot.
But, yeah, the trees were amazing.
Phedon is a freaking genius.
And that wasone of his first movies.
I think Jon had seen his work in some foreign film that he did.
But he was like, Weve gotta get this DP.
Did it feel that way to you?
Did this movie feel like a breakthrough at all?You know what?
I think it wouldve felt more that way if the movie had done well at thebox office.
I think it wouldve been huge for me.
But my role was so funny and hilarious.
How so?Kevin and I both say this about ourselves: Were workhorse actors.
We never had that meteoric rise.
Weve always just been slow and steady wins the race.
Whether it looks like that on the outside, I dont know.
But I feel like I never had that big moment where everything changed that Jennifer Lawrence moment.
Or that Julia [Roberts] moment, for that matter.
And Ive had a sane life, probably, because of it.
Does any part of you wish that you wouldve had the Jennifer Lawrence moment?Oh, of course.
Isnt it our human nature that we always want what we dont have?
I spend a lot of time being grateful for what I have, no question.
But I can tell you that we all thought that movie was going to be a big hit.
And we were all disappointed.
I will say that.
Look, as it was, every time I got a job, I felt so guilty leaving anybody.
I think every woman feels that way.
Guys, not so much, but every woman is like, I got a job!
And shes like, Uh-oh.
Even though I certainly contributed greatly to our financial life together, no question.
But probably because my mom worked so much, I felt guilty literally the day they were born.
The truth is, though, if I have any regrets, its that I felt guilty.
Because guilt is a useless emotion unless it moves you to make a different choice.
Does Kevin have that guilt, too?No.
No, we talk about it all the time.
Hes like, Are you fucking kidding me?
I think thats the difference between men and women.
I think its a DNA thing, I really do.
When you think back onPhenomenonnow, whats the first thing that comes to you?
Is it frustration that it didnt do better?Oh, God, no.
I think its so sweet that people are moved.
Thats why I do what I do, right?
Its one of my favorite movies.
I think it really touched people because it spoke of grief.
You and John Travolta have incredible chemistry inPhenomenon.
I think thats what makes so much of it work.
What do you remember about meeting him?Well, Im such an enormous fan.
I mean, I watchedSaturday Night Feverlike ten times or something.
But what really, really connects me to John is his deep vulnerability and empathy.
Hes so empathic and so am I. I think that we really bonded on that.
But that little face!
He was just so vulnerable.
I mean, you fall in love with him.
Youre just completely smitten.
I was smitten with him.
Wouldve been like, Ex-squeeze me, what the fuck are you talking about?
I mean, Id been working professionally since I was 16.
And I was living on my own, making my own money.
I was like, Im fiercely independent.
Suddenly this thing came over me and I was terrified.
Because I didnt count on people.
That wasnt where I felt like I would be successful.
Not as an actor, I mean as a person.
What was it specifically about this relationship that changed you?He just was the one, you know?
He was just the soul mate, he was just the one.
You mentioned it briefly, but I want to get back into the shaving scene.
People come up to me, still, and its the most romantic thing theyve ever seen.
Its like, just me cutting his hair!
But it was so sweet.
I think it was sensual.
Everyone says its the most sensual scene.
And it is sensual, right?
And I think that definitely was the direction Jon Turteltaub gave us: Sensual, sensual.
And everything was slow motion, and the lighting was insane.
It took a long time to shoot it.
How did you interpret that direction?My goal was to just completely love and nurture in that scene.
I think that was my actionable item.
They were falling in love at that moment, werent they?
I remember we had to be really careful, because Johns hair had to sort of be justso.
Did you actually shave John?No, I was not shaving him.
No, no, no.
It was foam and then a fake razor and he was clean shaven underneath.
Were you nervous at all, filming something that intimate?No.
I think he was nervous.
There was something about that day.
He was nervous in that scene, and he was nervous in the other kissy-face love-making scene.
Why do you think that is?I dont know.
Well, the love scene itself is rather chaste.
What sort of direction did you guys have?
And I was like, Guys, I got this.
Let me just tell you exactly what I would do if I were her slash me.
She kind of takes control of the whole thing.
I mean, if you look at that scene again, youll think John looks terrified.
Maybe not, I dont know.
I think theyre both shy, And Im not shy.
I mean, they may remember differently.
I need to be like, Come on, guys.
Heres the way we do it.
And yes, its chaste, but I had to take my shirt off, of course.
Women always have to take their shirts off.
I mean, it was the back of me.
But it felt a little vulnerable.
And John Travolta stared in my eyes.
He didnt look anywhere else, just looked right in my eyes.
Its not preachy but its moving.
Since then, Ive become much more of a spiritual person.
At the time, I wasnt.
We talked about what we dont know and how much we dont know.
And, yeah, some people are in tune with things that arent visible to the naked eye.
Nature is very spiritual for me.
Its like, I know the flowers beautiful to attract bees.
Is that the only reason why a flowers beautiful?
Is it there because something is creating beautiful things and knows it?
Ive always felt that nature was holy.
Especially now that nature is in peril.
I feel something every time I see something struggling to live in the world that weve created for it.
I had this feeling that I needed to call you.
And theyll be like, Well, thats funny because …
I usually have a sense about the people that I really love a lot.
And yeah, I see things.
And then I find out that thats the reason.
Its hard to explain.
How are they feeling?
I have a little bit of that hypervigilance, too.
And it can definitely get exhausting.Right.
It is, its exhausting.
And then people like us like to be alone.
We really need to spend some time alone because its too exhausting to be around people and their feelings.
You get this really beautiful expression.
Do you remember filming that?
Were you thinking of your own kids?God, that was so beautiful.
And I totally did.
I used my kid.
Do you show your work to your kids?My kids have no interest in seeing our work.
I mean, seriously, from the time they were little.
I honestly dont even know if theyve seen that movie.
You should show them this one![Laughs.]
You must sit down and watch mommys work from 30 years ago.
No, that wouldnt happen.
