- 10 hours ago
The actress discussed her latest film with THR.
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00:00Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter, and I'm in studio with Vicki Creeps today.
00:08Hi, Vicki. How are you?
00:10Hello. Good.
00:11We're here to talk about The Phantom Thread, which is getting a lot of attention.
00:16I just wanted to say that I've seen it three times.
00:20I feel like the first time you see it for the plot twists, which there always will be with a P.T. Anderson movie.
00:27The second time, you get to really get into the performances, because now you know what's going to happen.
00:34And then the third time is just taking in the set pieces and all the beautiful camera angles.
00:39Yeah, and I would say the eighth time, you understand.
00:42Yeah, right. By the eighth time, you understand.
00:45Yeah, I mean, it's so amazing to try to get into the head of your character, Alma.
00:51She's so interesting.
00:52Like, you go into this movie, and you're like, oh, there's another very powerful man and his new muse.
00:59And you just think, oh, I know the way this is going to go.
01:03And it doesn't. It doesn't.
01:04This is a character who really kind of commands a lot of attention in the movie.
01:10Yeah, she's, even for me, and I know Alma, but even for me, Alma is so, I realize now when I talk about her, you know, what she actually is as a whole.
01:24And she's so out of the box, really, like out of any kind of way that you would think you could define a woman, you know.
01:33It's almost as if she exists in between being a woman and a, not a man, but a not woman, you know.
01:40It's like, I don't know, she's, yeah, she's just free.
01:45If we get to talk to her, talk about her character as a whole, right, just knowing that we have both seen the movie and know what happens, does she, is there like a mission statement?
01:56Is there like a core definition of who she is that you really feel you tapped into?
02:02Like, did you have like, you know, a definition for that?
02:08No, I think what I just said is closest, that she's, she doesn't need a definition to be.
02:14And because she doesn't need a definition, she can be so strong.
02:18Yeah.
02:20If I ever understood her as some kind of figure, then it was only due to the time she lives in, you know, or the social upbringing she had.
02:33Right, okay, so like her backstory, basically, yeah.
02:36Because it was different back then than nowadays, you know, as a woman, you, when you were a woman in the 50s, that meant many things.
02:44You couldn't just be who you wanted to be in a way, you know, you had to apply to very many rules and, you know, expectations.
02:53So what's interesting is that she does apply to all of this, or like, not apply, I always look for words.
03:03Oh yeah, she fits, she fits into the mold of a 50s woman.
03:07Yes, and exactly, and even very, um, she's good at it, you know.
03:16She's like a good schoolgirl, like, I mean, she's not questioning to be this 50s woman.
03:22She, that's what she is, she's a waitress.
03:25She's learned to be a waitress and to serve other people and to, you know, as a working class woman, to have her position.
03:34She's not questioning this position, but she doesn't need to because she doesn't need this definition.
03:40And so it makes her free, and this makes her strong.
03:43Not her background or her money or whatever.
03:46Right, right.
03:47And a lot of, a lot of her backstory was kind of stripped away by editing.
03:51Yeah.
03:51Which kind of gives her even more of a very present character.
03:56Yeah.
03:56Um, and then also with, uh, uh, with P.T. Anderson's filmmaking style, you, you didn't meet Daniel Day-Lewis until the first day that you filmed with him.
04:05Is that correct?
04:06Yeah.
04:07Well, I met him in London.
04:09We, we met to read the script.
04:11Oh, okay.
04:12Yes.
04:12Right.
04:13But you didn't rehearse.
04:14We didn't rehearse at all.
04:15Um, I just had to trust Paul.
04:18That's what I did.
04:19I, I really don't feel like I did anything, really.
04:23I just trusted Paul.
04:25I listened to what was happening around me, and I tried to answer as honest as I could, in a way.
04:32Um, and, and everything, what I knew was what I gave Alma as a backstory, you know, where she came from.
04:39And for this, I really, um, took it from my grandmother, you know.
04:43I tried to understand what it means to, to be a young woman in the war, you know, and then seeing people die around you, close family members, and having to leave your country, go to a new country, be an immigrant, you know.
04:56So, all of this explains of why she's, how she is.
05:00Hmm.
05:00How adaptable she is.
05:02Yes.
05:03And, and, and ready to be submissive, in a way.
05:05Because in the beginning, she is submissive, as you say, you know.
05:08You watched a movie, and you think, oh, another one, you know, like this, like a poor, poor girl, and she's going to be lost.
05:16So, what, what is he going to do to her, and, um, but keeps her own strength, like a secret, almost, you know.
05:25Mm, yeah.
05:26Yeah.
05:27And you said before that when you were creating her character, or trying to get into her, that you filled her with emptiness.
05:35Yeah.
05:36Um, what, what did that entail?
05:39Like, what?
05:39I, um, I, I did it, intuitively, in one hand, did it because I knew I would meet someone who's a method actor, and didn't know much about method acting, and I didn't want to know much, because I knew Alma has to be very free.
05:56So, I tried to become empty, and it, it, it's like meditation, almost, you know, when you try to, to forget who you are, but more who you want to be.
06:09So, I had to try and forget what I want to be as an actress, or who I want to be as an actress, what kind of movie I would like to do, or, you know, what it means being an actress in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie.
06:20All these ideas, I tried to get rid of, and create, like, a silence.
06:26Did that work more on certain days than others?
06:29Did you have your good days and your bad days?
06:30Because it feels like the idea of kind of emptying out all of your expectations, um, could be tough from day to day.
06:38Yes, and do the emptying out was for the beginning, really.
06:41Yeah.
06:42And then, as soon as Alma enters the world, you know, it was filling up, and, you know, and then it was very soon, it was very full, and then it meant more trying to move around all of the stuff.
06:56So, what I mean by what she was filled up was his life, his, you know, his house, his clothes, his art, his people, you know, his everything.
07:06Like, the world he was living in, um, as this creator.
07:10And she had to live in this world, and so she had to move around all these, uh, little, like, on a checkboard, you know.
07:20Mm-hmm.
07:20You say chess, chess.
07:22Yes.
07:22These little chess figurines.
07:24And, uh, and then it was more being someone in a, in a room that's so full that you cannot breathe.
07:31Mm-hmm.
07:32You know, it was, it took, most of my energy went into being so submissive and, you know, restrained and, you know, really almost holding my breath and just telling the story in my eyes, you know, because there was nowhere I could move or go being with Reynolds.
07:51Mm-hmm.
07:52Woodcock.
07:53So, that's interesting that I made her empty in the beginning, and then it was so full.
07:57So, yeah, and, and that way the tension is kind of showing in the later scene.
08:04Yeah.
08:04Yeah.
08:04That's so interesting.
08:06Um, so I saw, like, a parallel between, uh, your character and, like, what is, was actually going on for you as an actress.
08:15Um, your character is, like, an ingenue, the new muse, the new person, and the house of Woodcock is this brother or sister who work really closely and tightly together.
08:27And I felt like there was kind of a parallel between that and P.T. Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis, and their partnership is so interconnected.
08:36Yeah.
08:36How did it feel to kind of start working with a team that's so interconnected already?
08:42Hmm.
08:44Look, when I first met them, it, it, it, the great thing that happened between the three of us, I would say, is we met and it didn't feel like getting to know someone new, but more like seeing someone again.
08:57Hmm.
08:57You know, haven't seen for a long time.
08:59Yeah.
09:00I don't know why that was like this.
09:02So this helped me to try and trust that it's going to be fine.
09:07Yeah.
09:08But, um, then going to the set, because we didn't rehearse, and then being at the set, it was very, um, like, like for Alma, it was very hard also to work in a place where people are.
09:25So, you know, I don't know how, I wouldn't say they are sure of what they do, because I think Paul and Daniel are both open to, to the fact that as a, as an actor, as a, as a creator, you never really know what you're doing.
09:38You're always in a quest for something, you're always searching, um, but still, you know, only by the fact that they've been doing it for such a long time, it gives them a whole different approach.
09:50And, you know, that's something I could feel, and, and I, I don't know, I just pretended that I wasn't scared.
09:56Hmm.
09:57That's good.
09:59Um, it's funny that Daniel Day-Lewis has such a, um, such a reputation, um, and, but then every time you see him in interviews, he seems so warm and nice.
10:10Hmm.
10:10Um, did, what, what experience did you have with him?
10:14Well, as Reynolds Woodcock, uh, he was, you know, very intense, because Reynolds is very intense.
10:21Right.
10:21But, um, I, I didn't have a, I didn't have the experience everyone expected to.
10:28I mean, it's not like he, he didn't break, I mean, of course, that's what he does.
10:33He doesn't break character, so he is Reynolds Woodcock, but once you find your way with Reynolds Woodcock, it's fine.
10:40And in between the takes, it's not like, you know, he's going to be mean to me, as he would be mean in the scene to Alma.
10:48See what I mean?
10:49Mm-hmm.
10:49And you, a couple of times, you went and asked Reynolds off-camera questions.
10:55Mm.
10:56Um, there was one story about a costume that you wanted to wear, or?
11:00Yeah.
11:01Yeah, I, I, I, I, you know, I started to realize that Reynolds Woodcock had, uh, because he was very intense, people were, you know, behaving around him, you know?
11:11Yeah.
11:12Like, this, oh, he said this, or we cannot, and, uh, very early on, I, I, I, I wasn't ready to accept, you know, I was like, what?
11:20What's, you know, I, I have to know it by myself, you know?
11:24I'm not going to accept just knowing it like this.
11:26So there was one thing, um, was that he was always in his room, and people were always whispering, he's, he's there, or he's coming, or he's, oh.
11:35And I was like, what, what are they all whispering, you know, why, is he, is he sick, or what?
11:42And, oh, but he's in his green room, and, yeah, but I want to ask a question.
11:46No, but you cannot call.
11:47What?
11:48So, I just went over the grass, and I went in the house, up the stairs, knocked at the door, and asked my question.
11:55So, you see, everything, a lot of it was rounded.
11:58So, the same thing was, uh, one day I asked the costume designer, why do we not have strapless dresses, and, in the whole movie.
12:05It's so 50s, it's so nice, and, no, um, Reynolds Woodcock wouldn't do that, because he would find it vulgar.
12:15I wasn't ready to accept it, so I went to Reynolds Woodcock, and I asked, so you find that vulgar?
12:21And then he said, no, I didn't say, I don't remember what he exactly said, but what came out was that he said, he didn't mean it for Alma.
12:30He said, it would be different for you.
12:31So, I went back to the costume designer, and I said, yeah, we can, we can do strapless.
12:36Yes, Reynolds says it's okay.
12:37Yeah, exactly.
12:38Yeah, it's okay for Alma, she's a true lady.
12:40Yeah.
12:41That's so great.
12:42It's funny.
12:43Um, what was it like, um, getting costumed for all of those dresses?
12:48I assume it must have been a very intense period of costuming.
12:52I mean, have you ever worn that many changes of clothes for a job?
12:56Well, no, not nearly.
12:58I mean, I have done period drama, but there was never a movie that only had the possibility to do this, you know.
13:08And all my characters, I think many of them were poor.
13:12So, when you're poor, you only have one dress.
13:14Right.
13:15You know.
13:16Right.
13:16And, and, uh, so no, that was the first time.
13:20And it was a, it was a job on its own to learn, to learn how to wear the dresses and to behave like I should, you know, like in the 50s.
13:29And, uh, it was very, uh, tiring.
13:33Yeah.
13:33Like, really, like, uh.
13:34Did you pick up any good tips for how to present yourself when you're wearing something like a strapless gown?
13:40Is there a certain...
13:41No, I think it was the dress itself that was always telling very strongly how you should wear it.
13:46Ah, yes.
13:47Because, you know, in some dresses...
13:48They're so structured.
13:49Yeah, exactly.
13:50You have, like, a corset or you have a, a suspender belt or how, how does it feel to wear lace or silk?
13:58It gives you a different feeling, you know.
14:00Like, if you have a bodice like this and you're going to do like this, then everything's going to be...
14:04Oh, it's going to spill out the top.
14:06You know?
14:06Yeah.
14:07Yeah.
14:08Or the same with shoes, you know, you cannot just walk like you walk in trainers or it will just...
14:14It won't look very good.
14:17Yeah.
14:18So, I think the clothes themselves, they were telling me what to do.
14:22Amazing.
14:22Yeah.
14:22So, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the reveal.
14:30I know we don't want to ruin anything for the viewers.
14:32They should go out and see the movie themselves.
14:35But there's...
14:37I don't...
14:38A lot of people, I don't think, will...
14:41When they see this movie, they're going to think, oh, it's a period piece.
14:45But there is a...
14:47How would you call this?
14:49I want to say it's like metaphorically kinky twist.
14:54Yeah.
14:56What...
14:57I mean, how did you feel to like take on a role like that?
15:00I mean, this is a unique experience to kind of go into the world of like...
15:06I don't know, like twisted minds or...
15:09Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:09You know?
15:10But I didn't know how...
15:11But there's nothing vulgar about it.
15:12No.
15:12As Reynolds Woodcock would say.
15:14Yeah, so I think I was just trusting Paul again.
15:19And that it would be right for some reason.
15:23And it was difficult to understand how you could come to such a twist.
15:27Why would someone come up with this?
15:29Why would someone go this way and actually do this?
15:34You know?
15:34I really had to understand because I would never do it, you know, myself.
15:39And then I just accepted that I wouldn't understand.
15:42And then I just accepted that I don't have to understand.
15:45Okay.
15:47And I just went with my intuition trying to feel why someone would do this.
15:53And I found that, you know, if you love someone, I think you do the weirdest things.
16:01Yeah, that's true.
16:02Alone or together, you know?
16:04And I think that's only what it's portraying.
16:06It's just saying, you know, how weird it can become when you're in love, but also how beautiful it can become, but also how difficult it can be.
16:14And, you know, there's no rule.
16:16There's no...
16:17There's nothing that doesn't happen at home when people are alone.
16:22Yeah, that's true.
16:23That's true.
16:24And it does allow people to kind of draw their own conclusions.
16:27Yeah, and I think this is just a playful way of telling this.
16:31It's very lovely.
16:33So I have four more questions for you before I let you go.
16:36This is our first best, last worst questions.
16:39So the first job that made you think, I've made it.
16:44Now I've finally made it.
16:46And it doesn't necessarily have to be the job where you actually made it.
16:50It hasn't happened yet.
16:53Always looking forward.
16:54This is the first movie I did where people tell me that this is...
16:58How does it feel that now you are...
17:01Well, it doesn't feel anything except that you keep asking me.
17:05So I haven't had this.
17:07No, you haven't had the moment.
17:08But best costume you've had to wear for a job.
17:12Is there a particular costume or maybe a dress from this movie that really...
17:18In this movie there were many beautiful dresses and...
17:25I don't know what best costume I ever wore.
17:28Maybe I think the clothes Alma's wearing when she goes on the mountain.
17:33The mountaineer clothes.
17:35I think that was the best costume.
17:36Nice.
17:37The last time you made a mistake and how did you fix it?
17:42Oh, God.
17:44Probably two minutes ago.
17:47Sitting like this on the chair.
17:49How did I fix it?
17:50Like this.
17:51I'm a kid.
17:53Worst audition experience.
17:55Worst audition experience.
17:57Worst audition experience.
17:59Oh, yeah.
18:01Once I went to an audition.
18:02I will not tell you what it was.
18:04But I honestly realized while I was there I didn't read the script.
18:09And I was sitting there and I realized, oh, fuck, I didn't read the script.
18:15But I think it wasn't meant to be, so maybe that's why.
18:18Definitely.
18:20Vicky Creeps, thank you so much.
18:21That was a good way of saying my name.
18:23Oh, really?
18:24Creeps, yeah.
18:25Creeps, Creeps.
18:26Thank you so much.
18:27Well, the movie is Phantom Thread.
18:29And thank you so much for joining us.
18:31And we will see you during awards season.
18:34Mm-hmm.
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