Ray Pride

Actors hate movies.

At least that's what most of them will tell you. Unlike filmmakers, and whether sincere or programmed by publicists, the average actor doesn't talk about being in love with movies. Amanda Peet, however, is a sweet and run-at-the-mouth exception. It's difficult to talk about her latest movie, "Identity," since it's an 88-minute game in the same mindfuck genre as "The Usual Suspects." It's raining in the Nevada desert, and ten people find themselves trapped at the same ten-room motel with a disturbed night clerk. The topography is as beautifully barren as a landscape painting, in a story as direct as a children's book. We also know that a criminal with multiple personality disorder might, just might, be on the loose as well. Like many tersely plotted movies, "Identity" could be taken for a movie about filmmaking: as actors like John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Rebecca DeMornay, John C. McGinley and Jake Busey are alternately suspected of being a killer, the lightning pace of the twists give you just enough time to wonder if it could all be a terrible dream in the mind of a screenwriter, or a director like the eclectic James Mangold.

As in other roles, like in last year's "Igby Goes Down," the 31-year-old actress manages to bring an eccentric liveliness to her role as a woman trying to leave a crime or two behind, dreaming of living out her life in a Florida orange grove. Without hinting at the plot's turns, Peet has a delicate balancing act, playing a caricature, but also bringing her to life. "I think as an actor, you should never try to play a quality," she says. "I don't think about sweetness or edginess or anything like that. Sometimes it's dangerous to try to be appealing. Not dangerous, but...You know, not useful."

While certain career paths frighten Peet--"I'd rather do `Identity' than be the girl on `Seinfeld,'" she says--this script scared her. "I'm such a pansy, I was so terrified when I was reading. By page like twenty, I was like, I can't do this movie. It was so scary. I don't see a lot of scary movies. I get really scared. I live alone. Not good. I saw 'Signs' and I like lost my mind for a month. And that's just green monsters!"

After most shoots, she's at a loss. "I went right into this movie I'm doing now with Jack Nicholson so I didn't have time to be sad, but if I had just had time to myself, I would probably have been really depressed. There's also the hangover part that I have that [stars] probably don't have, where it's like, `Ohmygod, it's all in the fucking can, what if I sucked? It's all done, I don't have any control of it anymore!'"

I wondered if the new movie, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves and Frances McDormand was an intimidating prospect. "What are you, crazy? C'mon! I was just like, `This is not possible.' I wanted to get it, but I didn't want to get it. I didn't want to do it, I just wanted to get it." She laughs. "I wanted it to be done. Somehow. They're all great, like really nice, like not scary intimidating weirdo people."

She sounds like a devoted movie fan. "Yeah, a little like a crazy person, yeah. Slightly deranged. Lines... I get very obsessed with moments. I'm very detailed that way. If I'm obsessed with a movie, I get it down to the tiniest... I'm a rewinder, you know what I mean? Rewind it like eight times. I just watched `Racing with The Moon' last night. There's this moment, Sean Penn's' so young in it, it's so beautiful. He has a cigarette. He's studying planes. He's about to go to war. He brings the binoculars down and he sees the woman he loves and his cigarette drops and he just goes `Oh Christ.' I rewound that like five times. I cannot believe the way he says, 'Oh Christ,' and the way his cigarette... it's just not really possible." She leans forward, talks faster. "And also, what was he looking at, on the day that they shot it? Did she go stand over there, how did they do that? I get obsessed! I can't help it! There's nothing more fun than rewinding. Nothing!"

Fun, but not something she can learn from. "You can't learn, that's just the thing. That's what makes something genius, it's inimitable. It's weird for me with Diane and Fran. We've done a lot of things, the three of us in a three-shot, like the `Witches of Eastwick,' we've joked. Really, the truth of what's going on in my head is like `Holy fucking shit, I'm acting with Frances McDormand and Diane Keaton! It's not possible! It's just not possible.' I rented 'Annie Hall' last night, which I didn't see, because I had to watch `Racing with the Moon' and the `Oh Christ' moment, but the other day I was doing a scene with Diane, and she says, 'I love you,' and she says, `I love you more' and then one time we were doing it, I just said, `I lurf you.' I was like, `Oh my fucking god, I just quoted 'Annie Hall' to Diane Keaton, I just quoted 'Annie Hall' to Diane Keaton, I just quoted 'Annie Hall' to Diane Keaton! It was the scariest moment. She looked blankly, I said, 'that's from `Annie Hall',' and she's like, 'Oh, oh, god, right, yeah, right.' Another time? I said, 'You do it,' and she says, 'No, you do it,' and I say, 'No, you must be Don Francesco's sister,' from 'Love and Death,' and again, she just stares at me. They don't understand what they've meant to people! She practically didn't recognize it, I go, 'No, you must be Don Francesco's sister,' Hello! Are you crazy?'

You can't let them know, then you'd be a little psychotic," she says, smiling. "If I really told Diane, I need to talk to you, then that she might think I'm a stalker, a deranged person. I try to just be... appropriate. It's really hard sometimes, though."

"Identity" opens Friday.

(2003-04-22)

Also by Ray Pride

Tip of the Week
In his first feature, Mexican director Carlos Reygadas wears his influences on his sleeve, yet his film is some kind of original.
(2003-04-15)

Short Runs
This week's limited screenings
(2003-04-15)

This American guff
The casts of Christopher Guest's improvisational smug-umentaries include several performers I admire mightily, but a movie like "Best in Show" or his latest, a so-daring spoof of white-bread aspects of the 1960s folk-music phenomenon, leaves a rotten feeling in the pit of my stomach.
(2003-04-15)

Growing up
It's the rare movie that gets you from the get-go, but Peter Sollett's "Raising Victor Vargas," razor-sharp, tender, specific and utterly fresh, is one of those sweet events.
(2003-04-15)

Tip of the Week
(2003-04-09)

Double down
(2003-04-09)

Short Runs
(2003-04-09)

Taking stock
(2003-04-09)

Off camera
(2003-04-09)

Tip of the Week
(2003-04-02)

Short Runs
(2003-04-02)

Tip of the Week
(2003-03-26)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment