One of the boldest decisions ever made on Lost was to kill off their most intriguing character early in Season 2 -- the manipulative, drop-dead gorgeous beach bunny Shannon Rutherford. In the three years since her character was shot dead in a simple case of mistaken identity, 25 year-old Maggie Grace has gone on to become a card-carrying member of Young Hollywood, landing a number of diverse starring roles in The Fog, Suburban Girl and The Jane Austen Book Club while also reportedly flirting with roles in major superhero films. Later this year she'll be Alice in Malice in Wonderland, a re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's classic set in a criminal underworld, and this week sees her starring in Taken as the daughter of a highly-trained government operative played by Liam Neeson, whose vacation to Paris is cut short by an organized kidnapping ring.
SuicideGirls recently met up with Maggie in Manhattan to talk about her budding career.
Ryan Stewart: So, I promised myself I wouldn't badger you for Lost theories since I'm sure you still get that at every dinner party.
Maggie Grace: Yeah, pretty often and no matter what country. It's kind of a great equalizer in some ways. I'm not very well-versed, to be honest.
RS: It certainly got you out there, though. I hear you're getting caught up in a lot of superhero movie auditions these days.
MG: I've had a few run-ins, but what I love is when there's an added human twist. I liked the one that Liam did a lot.
RS: You mean Darkman? That was a while ago.
MG: Yeah, something with an interesting twist. I don't know if it's ever coming out because of the legal battle, but I thought that Watchmen was a really cool script. It's sort of like, we're all down and out and disillusioned by life, as opposed to the bright and shiny, 'I wake up and I have superpowers!' thing. I prefer Batman, because he wasn't born with superpowers. He's left to his own devices.
RS: I read a news story last week about real superheroes cropping up. People in Los Angeles are putting on costumes and going out to fight crime.
MG: Nighttime vigilantes? That's funny. I had this argument with a five year-old last week -- the son of a friend I'm staying with -- and I think that Batman really came out ahead [of heroes with supernatural powers], after our long conversation about it. He's a big Spider-Man fan, but Batman has to come up with his own stuff. He has to use gadgets and he has to really think his way through things.
RS: Your character in Taken is certainly no hero -- she's such a victim she's almost retro. She doesn't fight back at all, just waits for someone to come save her.
MG: Well, I think she's pretty drugged up. As much as I do like to see strong female heroines, the reality of this situation, of this industry, is more horrific than we could ever portray. The deck is so stacked against these women, whether you're a survivor, a tough girl, or from a very sheltered existence in Los Angeles. I think that with her extreme youth, she's so unprepared for a situation like this. I wasn't offended by it, as much as I like to see good, strong female characters. I felt that at least she still had some stronger qualities, you know. Her femininity wasn't mocked. She wasn't completely flimsy or oversexed or stupid or any of those things. She's just a very young girl.
RS: That scene where they haul you out for the rich men's auction was very Hostel. You just have to stand there and be bid on. What did you bring to that scene -- the clothes?
MG: [laughs] Are you asking if that's what I have laying around my house for Friday nights? Like, did I make the clothing?
RS: No, that's not what I meant, I'm just wondering what you can add to a scene where you have to stand silently.
MG: That was actually my first day on set in France, so it was an interesting way to meet a whole crew. I think the character was just so mentally removed and smacked out of her mind that it was a little easier for me. I understand that young girls are doing this on eBay of their own free will and I can't understand after doing that scene why and how that would be the case.
RS: Did you learn anything about professional kidnapping rings for real? I'm sure they exist in most countries.
MG: It's much worse than anything we touch upon in the film. The reality of it isn't usually, you know, well-protected, traveling American girls but completely vulnerable prepubescent girls in Cambodia, or places like that in much of South Asia. But even in the States, yeah, they recently found a ring outside of New Jersey that was pretty bad. There have been some pretty horrible cases right here in our own back yard.
RS: How did you get your adrenaline up for the scene where people are bursting through your hotel room door and physically grabbing you?
MG: For me, it's just more concentration and investment. I think we all have fears and nightmares of those sorts of situations, so there's a lot to draw on. And also in those kinds of situations I like to have an iPod on set, so if takes are back to back to back you can keep the energy up, whether it's take two or take fifteen.
RS: What kind of music gets you pumped up? Heavy metal?
MG: It depends, but Radiohead is one of my favorite bands of all time, not so much for lazing around the house, but more for that reason -- I find it very visceral. I recently saw them live for the second time at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco and it was just so transcendent. I really, really love their stuff and I think sometimes it draws out other facets [of me], I suppose.
RS: Of course, the downside of being kidnapped in a film is that you're going to be absent for the next hour of screen time.
MG: [laughs] In this case it was a very happy thing, shooting in Paris! Of course, let's just say that sharing any kind of screen time with Liam Neeson, I'm gonna be thrilled. I would be the spear bearer in the background if I could. In situations where you're working with people you really admire, it's of no consequence. If anything, it's more like the less you have to focus on, the less nights of sleep you're going to lose hoping that you don't screw something up. So having the middle, with a lot of the car chases and stuff, free, means I can start to learn French and go around Paris with my friends and become an expert in beef tartare, learn to make a souffle, hang out.
RS: As an action movie fan, I'd rather hang around on set. Didn't you want to watch them film car chases and shoot-outs?
MG: Yeah, for sure. I'm sure you've spent a decent amount of time on sets, but I think people are always shocked to realize just how much downtime there actually is. So, yeah, I would definitely visit occasionally, but Paris has its own charms.
RS: So you're open to returning to the action genre one day?
MG: Yeah, for sure and relating to your earlier question, as much as I don't mind playing the ingenue, especially when it's in company of such incredible caliber, it would be incredible to do some of my own stunts next time. And with this one it was really fun to see the way a French film shoots, since this was largely a French crew.
RS: I think Oliver Stone once said that French film crews are lazy.
MG: I certainly wouldn't say that. Obviously in a country with a 35-hour work week, Sarkozy or no, it's a different viewpoint that you have to come from, culturally, but they work incredibly hard in that amount of hours. Also, it's a little different as far as in that, our unions have so many rules about which department can do what. You can't step on any toes, and for good reason, but I think there it's such a small community that it's more like, if something needs doing you just step up and do it, whether it's your department or not. Everyone's worked together many times and there's a shorthand there. I really liked it, but yeah, they also do enjoy life a bit more as they go. I've worked twenty-four hour days in the States before. You can see the sun come up more than once on a film set. I'm sure there's a happy medium.
RS: Did you ever have the opportunity to pick Liam Neeson's brain for advice on acting? Not that you need any.
MG: Of course I do! All the time. Yeah, it would be tempting to pick his brain. I don't know if he's the exception to the rule, but I've certainly found that the more successful someone is, and when it's really based on substance as his success is, and the person has proven it time and time again, then there's some security there. He can really afford to be open and gracious and giving. It's the people who are worried about their position or they're new and too terrified not to overcompensate that will treat people badly, the crew or anyone like that. But it's lovely to be around him.
RS: And with Pierre Morel busy hanging out of windows to get his shots, I'm sure he left you to your own devices a lot of the time.
MG: He gave us a great deal of independence and somebody like Liam obviously comes to it with a lot already in place -- as I strive to do myself -- but one thing that was really wonderful about Pierre was that he really did take the time and was very conscious of that side of it, too. But he's so hands-on and I know that for Liam, doing so many takes that were so physically demanding, it's really great to have that kind of spirit from your director. Liam might be running for fifty takes, but so is Pierre with the camera on his back. I mean, we had Steadicam operators but he was still very much a part of it, in the trenches with you. Also, he was an incredibly accomplished DP and a camera operator in his own right forever, before he even began directing and it was really great to see his attention to detail. He was a consummate professional. It's great to see someone who cares so much about detail in an industry where the latest music video director is sometimes given a movie, whether he has a vision for it or not.
RS: You've got Malice in Wonderland coming out soon -- that's kind of like a Guy Ritchie crime film, right?
MG: Yeah, Malice with an M. It's a British indie, really offbeat and kind of bizarre at some points, but it's a riff on the Alice tale. Each character is a bizarre, modern analogy to an Alice character, so, like, instead of a caterpillar with the hookah there's a drug dealer named Cat, with a hooker. It's definitely a little off the wall, but it was a lot of fun and there were some great British and Irish character actors. Danny Dyer was a lot of fun, he taught me some good Cockney phrases.
RS: I didn't realize that Cockney was still going strong.
MG: It is truly alive and well, a language unto itself. It's the rhyming substitution thing that people are probably familiar from, like, Michael Caine. Some of it doesn't really translate, but for example, you call a car a haddock. There's a phrase called "haddock and bloater," which rhymes with motor, which means car, and sometimes it's like eight steps removed, so it takes a while to catch up. I would really compare it to learning French. It's complex, but interesting. And I've got a heist film lined up.
RS: Who's gonna be in that?
MG: Burt Reynolds. He plays kind of an aging crime boss. It's a first time director, but he's got some cool ideas.
RS: Looking forward to it.
Taken opens in theaters nationwide on January 30.
SuicideGirls recently met up with Maggie in Manhattan to talk about her budding career.
Ryan Stewart: So, I promised myself I wouldn't badger you for Lost theories since I'm sure you still get that at every dinner party.
Maggie Grace: Yeah, pretty often and no matter what country. It's kind of a great equalizer in some ways. I'm not very well-versed, to be honest.
RS: It certainly got you out there, though. I hear you're getting caught up in a lot of superhero movie auditions these days.
MG: I've had a few run-ins, but what I love is when there's an added human twist. I liked the one that Liam did a lot.
RS: You mean Darkman? That was a while ago.
MG: Yeah, something with an interesting twist. I don't know if it's ever coming out because of the legal battle, but I thought that Watchmen was a really cool script. It's sort of like, we're all down and out and disillusioned by life, as opposed to the bright and shiny, 'I wake up and I have superpowers!' thing. I prefer Batman, because he wasn't born with superpowers. He's left to his own devices.
RS: I read a news story last week about real superheroes cropping up. People in Los Angeles are putting on costumes and going out to fight crime.
MG: Nighttime vigilantes? That's funny. I had this argument with a five year-old last week -- the son of a friend I'm staying with -- and I think that Batman really came out ahead [of heroes with supernatural powers], after our long conversation about it. He's a big Spider-Man fan, but Batman has to come up with his own stuff. He has to use gadgets and he has to really think his way through things.
RS: Your character in Taken is certainly no hero -- she's such a victim she's almost retro. She doesn't fight back at all, just waits for someone to come save her.
MG: Well, I think she's pretty drugged up. As much as I do like to see strong female heroines, the reality of this situation, of this industry, is more horrific than we could ever portray. The deck is so stacked against these women, whether you're a survivor, a tough girl, or from a very sheltered existence in Los Angeles. I think that with her extreme youth, she's so unprepared for a situation like this. I wasn't offended by it, as much as I like to see good, strong female characters. I felt that at least she still had some stronger qualities, you know. Her femininity wasn't mocked. She wasn't completely flimsy or oversexed or stupid or any of those things. She's just a very young girl.
RS: That scene where they haul you out for the rich men's auction was very Hostel. You just have to stand there and be bid on. What did you bring to that scene -- the clothes?
MG: [laughs] Are you asking if that's what I have laying around my house for Friday nights? Like, did I make the clothing?
RS: No, that's not what I meant, I'm just wondering what you can add to a scene where you have to stand silently.
MG: That was actually my first day on set in France, so it was an interesting way to meet a whole crew. I think the character was just so mentally removed and smacked out of her mind that it was a little easier for me. I understand that young girls are doing this on eBay of their own free will and I can't understand after doing that scene why and how that would be the case.
RS: Did you learn anything about professional kidnapping rings for real? I'm sure they exist in most countries.
MG: It's much worse than anything we touch upon in the film. The reality of it isn't usually, you know, well-protected, traveling American girls but completely vulnerable prepubescent girls in Cambodia, or places like that in much of South Asia. But even in the States, yeah, they recently found a ring outside of New Jersey that was pretty bad. There have been some pretty horrible cases right here in our own back yard.
RS: How did you get your adrenaline up for the scene where people are bursting through your hotel room door and physically grabbing you?
MG: For me, it's just more concentration and investment. I think we all have fears and nightmares of those sorts of situations, so there's a lot to draw on. And also in those kinds of situations I like to have an iPod on set, so if takes are back to back to back you can keep the energy up, whether it's take two or take fifteen.
RS: What kind of music gets you pumped up? Heavy metal?
MG: It depends, but Radiohead is one of my favorite bands of all time, not so much for lazing around the house, but more for that reason -- I find it very visceral. I recently saw them live for the second time at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco and it was just so transcendent. I really, really love their stuff and I think sometimes it draws out other facets [of me], I suppose.
RS: Of course, the downside of being kidnapped in a film is that you're going to be absent for the next hour of screen time.
MG: [laughs] In this case it was a very happy thing, shooting in Paris! Of course, let's just say that sharing any kind of screen time with Liam Neeson, I'm gonna be thrilled. I would be the spear bearer in the background if I could. In situations where you're working with people you really admire, it's of no consequence. If anything, it's more like the less you have to focus on, the less nights of sleep you're going to lose hoping that you don't screw something up. So having the middle, with a lot of the car chases and stuff, free, means I can start to learn French and go around Paris with my friends and become an expert in beef tartare, learn to make a souffle, hang out.
RS: As an action movie fan, I'd rather hang around on set. Didn't you want to watch them film car chases and shoot-outs?
MG: Yeah, for sure. I'm sure you've spent a decent amount of time on sets, but I think people are always shocked to realize just how much downtime there actually is. So, yeah, I would definitely visit occasionally, but Paris has its own charms.
RS: So you're open to returning to the action genre one day?
MG: Yeah, for sure and relating to your earlier question, as much as I don't mind playing the ingenue, especially when it's in company of such incredible caliber, it would be incredible to do some of my own stunts next time. And with this one it was really fun to see the way a French film shoots, since this was largely a French crew.
RS: I think Oliver Stone once said that French film crews are lazy.
MG: I certainly wouldn't say that. Obviously in a country with a 35-hour work week, Sarkozy or no, it's a different viewpoint that you have to come from, culturally, but they work incredibly hard in that amount of hours. Also, it's a little different as far as in that, our unions have so many rules about which department can do what. You can't step on any toes, and for good reason, but I think there it's such a small community that it's more like, if something needs doing you just step up and do it, whether it's your department or not. Everyone's worked together many times and there's a shorthand there. I really liked it, but yeah, they also do enjoy life a bit more as they go. I've worked twenty-four hour days in the States before. You can see the sun come up more than once on a film set. I'm sure there's a happy medium.
RS: Did you ever have the opportunity to pick Liam Neeson's brain for advice on acting? Not that you need any.
MG: Of course I do! All the time. Yeah, it would be tempting to pick his brain. I don't know if he's the exception to the rule, but I've certainly found that the more successful someone is, and when it's really based on substance as his success is, and the person has proven it time and time again, then there's some security there. He can really afford to be open and gracious and giving. It's the people who are worried about their position or they're new and too terrified not to overcompensate that will treat people badly, the crew or anyone like that. But it's lovely to be around him.
RS: And with Pierre Morel busy hanging out of windows to get his shots, I'm sure he left you to your own devices a lot of the time.
MG: He gave us a great deal of independence and somebody like Liam obviously comes to it with a lot already in place -- as I strive to do myself -- but one thing that was really wonderful about Pierre was that he really did take the time and was very conscious of that side of it, too. But he's so hands-on and I know that for Liam, doing so many takes that were so physically demanding, it's really great to have that kind of spirit from your director. Liam might be running for fifty takes, but so is Pierre with the camera on his back. I mean, we had Steadicam operators but he was still very much a part of it, in the trenches with you. Also, he was an incredibly accomplished DP and a camera operator in his own right forever, before he even began directing and it was really great to see his attention to detail. He was a consummate professional. It's great to see someone who cares so much about detail in an industry where the latest music video director is sometimes given a movie, whether he has a vision for it or not.
RS: You've got Malice in Wonderland coming out soon -- that's kind of like a Guy Ritchie crime film, right?
MG: Yeah, Malice with an M. It's a British indie, really offbeat and kind of bizarre at some points, but it's a riff on the Alice tale. Each character is a bizarre, modern analogy to an Alice character, so, like, instead of a caterpillar with the hookah there's a drug dealer named Cat, with a hooker. It's definitely a little off the wall, but it was a lot of fun and there were some great British and Irish character actors. Danny Dyer was a lot of fun, he taught me some good Cockney phrases.
RS: I didn't realize that Cockney was still going strong.
MG: It is truly alive and well, a language unto itself. It's the rhyming substitution thing that people are probably familiar from, like, Michael Caine. Some of it doesn't really translate, but for example, you call a car a haddock. There's a phrase called "haddock and bloater," which rhymes with motor, which means car, and sometimes it's like eight steps removed, so it takes a while to catch up. I would really compare it to learning French. It's complex, but interesting. And I've got a heist film lined up.
RS: Who's gonna be in that?
MG: Burt Reynolds. He plays kind of an aging crime boss. It's a first time director, but he's got some cool ideas.
RS: Looking forward to it.
Taken opens in theaters nationwide on January 30.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
The only thing I disagreed with is the French! I work for a french owned company and with the French government. I can't staaandddd the lazyness. And this is the government!! Maybe the film crews are different though, I would assume it's not an easy job to get.