What is a sweet, wholesome Indian actress like Freida Pinto doing naked in a 3D action movie like “Immortals?”
It is a burning question that we had to ask when we met the 27-year-old Pinto, best known for her role in the Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire.” The answer might shock you.
See photos of Freida Pinto and “The Immortals”
The actress, who was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), most recently was seen in the hit movie “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” and has an impressive series of films coming out, including “Black Gold” with Antonio Banderas and “Trishna,” director Michael Winterbottom’s take on Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles.”
Those films seem more appropriate for the delicately featured former model than “Immortals,” a special-effects-laden period movie that opens Friday. She plays an exotic oracle that figures prominently in an epic battle between a brutal king (Mickey Rourke) and young champion of the people (played by Henry Cavill, who is currently filming the next Superman movie).
Pinto explains how she ended up in a movie like this, instructs us not to jump to conclusions about her steamy love scene and describes the moment she realized she was famous.
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Was the nude scene in this movie a career strategy meant to remind the movie industry that you are an adult woman and not the young girl from “Slumdog Millionaire?”
FREIDA PINTO: Hmmm. You are going to be very disappointed when I tell you this, but that was a body double.
Q. That wasn’t you at all?
A. The close-ups of the face were me, of course, but the whole stripping down scene was a body double.
Q. I am shocked.
A. I wasn’t even asked to do the scene. The director said there would be a body double and that was it. He pretty much knew what he wanted, and he felt like he didn’t need me for the scene.
Q. Were you insulted that he didn’t ask?
A. People seem to have no issue saying they had stunt doubles for particular scenes. They even brag about having stunt doubles, and he (the director) said there shouldn’t be an issue over it. His feeling was that there was no actual acting in that part of the scene, so why should I be there?
Q. Well, I can assure you that your body double got a great reaction at last night’s screening.
A. (laughing) I’m sure she will be really happy to hear that.
Q. Nude scene aside, where does “Immortals” fit into your career plan?
A. I think it’s a new step for me. I’ve discovered a new genre that I wouldn’t ordinarily be involved in if I hadn’t made a conscious effort. It was my first big-budget film because I did this before “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”
Q. How different was it to be in a big-budget film as compared to a smaller-budget independent film?
A. It’s not really any different when it comes to dedication and commitment that you need to have toward your character. What is different is the scale. And a big-budget film requires patience because your involvement is not required all the time. They have specific things they are trying to accomplish, and they will take as much time as it takes to get that, so you are left to wait around. So many more people have a say in a big-budget film, and that also slows everything down.
Q. And how does that differ from a smaller film?
A. You’re pretty much employed every day on the set. You get to flex your acting muscles a little more. In a big-budget movie, you feel like you’re there just to help to sell a dream.
Q. You were a model before you were cast in “Slumdog Millionaire.” The legend is that you had never taken an acting class before that film, so I was wondering if you were a model who did not have ambitions to become an actress?
A. I was thinking about becoming an actress, but I didn’t have any idea of how to go about it. The reason I never went to acting class is that I never found anyone who I felt could teach me something different. I would love to take a good acting class now. I always seem to do things backward. I did a great movie, and then went to acting class.
Q. So it’s true that you did sign up for an acting class after “Slumdog Millionaire” was a success?
A. Yes, it’s true (laughs). Everybody said I was nuts, but I was curious to know what I didn’t already know.
Q. Was modeling a means to an end?
A. Modeling was a means to get pocket money.
Q. But not as a stepping stone to acting?
A. I hoped it would be a ticket to acting. Like someone would see me in an ad and want to put me in a movie. But it doesn’t always work that way. There is so much competition in the modeling world that you need to be in the right place at the right time to stand out.
Q. How did you get cast in “Slumdog Millionaire?”
A. I was in competition with loads of girls from all over India and America and England. I had to bring my “A” game to every audition.
Q. Did your modeling experience help you on those auditions?
A. Yes. I was entirely comfortable in front of the cameras, but I knew absolutely nothing about acting. When someone yelled “speed,” I had no idea what they were talking about. I was faced with a lot of new terms.
Q. Once you got the role, what did you think it meant to your career?
A. It meant that I could finally say I had done my first movie role, and that I was proud of it. The sheer fact that Danny Boyle (director) was attached to it gave a sense of prestige to the project. Even if I had two lines in the film, it would have been a wonderful first film to have on my résumé. Whatever happens in the rest of my career, I know I did a first movie that I will never regret.
Q. What was the defining moment when you knew that the movie was going to change your life?
A. Those moments are usually horrifying. You think that it’s all downhill from here. It’s a very scary thought.
Q. Why is that?
A. There are so many stories of people of my ethnicity who have come ahead of me and tried and not made it. It’s scary to think of that, but I guess the timing was better for me. That defining moment came for me before the Oscars ceremony when I got a call to audition for a role in Julian Schnabel’s film “Miral,” and I was given the part. And then, three days later, I was given the part in the Woody Allen film “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.”
Q. Describe the first time you realized that you were recognizable to the public?
A. The first time it happened was hilarious. I had just wrapped up the first session of the press junket and I was headed back to India to see my family. I was very emotional, and I was sitting in a terminal at LAX with big sunglasses on and, all of a sudden, all these paparazzi started running toward me. It was my ever first attack, and it came from everywhere. They just started clicking away. I realized right then that it doesn’t matter what is happening in your personal life. When you’re out in public, just smile.
Q. You mentioned all the people before you who had tried to make it in Hollywood but failed. When you started making movies, was there a general sense in India that it was impossible for an Indian actor or actress to make it here?
A. I thought of that a lot as a little girl. There were so many great actors who had done such amazing work, and not been recognized for it. It was a very confusing moment, and I wasn’t sure if I would face the same thing. I didn’t think it would be impossible, but I did think it might be difficult. For me, impossible doesn’t fit into my vocabulary. You have to find a way to make it work. But, I have been a bit blessed with the choices I’ve made. Still, there are great roles out there that I would love to play, but they’re not written for a brown girl. Not yet.
Q. You really believe that such prejudice still exists in Hollywood?
A. It does. You don’t want to be seen as the token girl. I don’t want to play that character. I want people in Hollywood to think outside the box.
Contact the writer: 714-796-5051, ext. 1110, or bkoltnow@ocregister.com
