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Taylor Russell: “The only cure is love”

This article is published in issue 46 of Vanity Fairon newsstands until November 15.

The dark-eyed girl drives eight hours from Toronto to New York. 790 kilometers for an audition. “I’ve spent my life traveling. Across Canada. And then up and down between Canada and the United States. All for the dream of cinema ». Taylor Russellprotagonist of Bones and All, Luca Guadagnino’s much-discussed film about cannibals, has the liquid and melancholy gaze of certain children behind car windows. He made his debut in the TV series Lost in Space but the role that pointed it out is that of the dazed teenager in Waves – The waves of lifean independent film directed by Trey Edward Shults, a drama that tears apart the American dream by disintegrating the motto “If you believe it, you can do it”.

Taylor shines throughout the film, even when she is framed by mistake. And the same happens in Guadagnino’s feature film: the young promise, not surprisingly awarded as a revelation at the last Venice Film Festival, even manages to overshadow the star
of the moment, Timothée Chalamet. Twenty-eight years old, an African American father and a white mother, after Venice we have already seen her at a fashion show, on the most important red carpets and, we are sure, soon in the running for even higher prizes. We meet her in New York, in an autumn of colored leaves a little too warm but otherwise textbook.

Has he really traveled that much in his life?
“Ever since I was a child. With my family we moved from Vancouver to Toronto, practically a Coast to Coast of Canada. I slept in different houses, in tents, in hotels. Sometimes I didn’t even know where you were. ‘

What child was she?
“Curious. Curious to the point of boredom. And I wanted cuddles. Lots of pampering. I wanted to touch everything, hug everyone. I remember my mother taking me to a rocky beach, Deep Cove. I was six and spent my afternoons moving stones to look for crabs. If I close my eyes, I still feel
the smell of the sea ».

His father is African American, his mother is white. She has repeatedly said that she grew up not black enough for blacks and white enough for whites. However, she was always different.
“Yes, it’s true. But thinking about it now it’s all different. In childhood and adolescence I moved so much, from city to city, and I think it was normal to feel isolated. Maybe all children feel this way, but it was normal for me. ”

It has been difficult?
“Children are the most adaptable creatures of all. For
they are all normal. For me that life was normal. I began to feel fatigue in my twenties. Before, however, I filled the spaces of solitude with the imagination. I don’t know, maybe it’s rash to say, but maybe I wouldn’t have become an actress without those spaces of silence and
imagination”.

How did you become an actress?
“Creativity comes from my parents, from the simple things I’ve seen them do throughout my childhood. Dad was very good with his hands, he created and fixed everything. Mom managed to make up a dinner even if there was nothing in the refrigerator. And when we didn’t have a penny, she pulled the perfect gift out of thin air. For the rest, as I told you, I was always there, with a flashlight, under the covers until five in the morning, talking to myself and inventing worlds that didn’t exist. It all started in those nights of a thousand words ».

Was it difficult to enter the world of cinema?
“Well … yes. But on my side there was the fact that I had no expectations. There was a feeling, a sixth sense that this was the right thing to do and that, sooner or later, something would happen. I remember being eighteen, driving from Toronto to New York for eight hours just for a casting. And then back to the waitress job I found myself. I’ve been doing all sorts of odd jobs since I was thirteen. When I finally got the part in Lost in Space and I saw the check I said to myself: do they really give me so much money? But don’t I really have to go back to being a waitress? So yes, it was difficult. But no, I can’t complain. Because I feel lucky ».

How did the meeting with Luca Guadagnino take place?
“I had just seen the series We Are Who We Are, the best thing of that year. She calls me my agent and tells me that Luca wants to meet me. See you on Facetime and while he speaks he seems to have known him forever. I was nervous but at the same time he made me feel comfortable. He asks me if I want to read the script and I obviously say yes. When I read it, I am overwhelmed and I say to myself: even just a shot, even a character that is only seen for a second, but please, let me give me any role. When they tell me that I was cast in the lead role of Maren, I freak out. I was fucking happy. ‘

Do I write “fucking”?
“Please write like this.”

The film tests viewers. It’s really, really gory. What was it like shooting the cannibal scenes?
“Every day was a surprise. Because Luca often improvises, changes, adapts to the context. And I learned that in those moments of improvisation the best things happen. As for the toughest scenes… Well, I would talk about intensity. I had intense actors around me: besides Timothée, acting alongside Oscar winner Mark Rylance was like being safe, protected. With them it was about not being afraid to follow a crescendo. Because on the set, as in life, there is no point in escaping the pain, it is important to embrace it instead. You have to throw yourself into the fire if you want to try to put it out. And there’s a lot of beauty in the people you meet when you dare to push yourself to the crater of a volcano. The experience of this set has taught me that beauty is found in intensity ».

What was it like when she was first seen on screen in this film?
“Oh my God, terrifying. It was summer, Luca invited me to Rome for the screening and I found myself alone in a small cinema. When the film was over I burst into tears, the people on the staff didn’t know what to do. So I went around Rome crying like a fountain until she called me Luca. “Come to dinner,” he tells me. And I, “of course yes”. As soon as we see each other, I hug him, I apologize, I tell him that I have everything wrong. He looks at me, smiles and tells me: “Stop being ridiculous” ».

Has it passed her?
“I saw the film a second time, in Los Angeles with Timmy and some of my friends. I loved him terribly ».

At the premiere, in Venice, someone left the room, someone whistled, someone cried and applauded. The latter were mostly young spectators. How do you explain it?
“This is the first time I’ve heard it. Look, everything that has happened so far with this film has already overcome all my wildest fantasies. At the moment I can tell you that I like to listen to the many different impressions that this film is arousing ».

The metaphor of cannibalism, the loneliness to which it condemns the protagonists, seem to speak a lot about the culture of judgment and the condemnation of ridicule and cancellation typical of this era. What do you think?
“That’s a good question. Let’s put it this way. I have two thoughts about it. The first, the smartest. What I think about the film is not important, what matters is what the audience thinks. Second: I have a young brother who is in his twenties, so Generation Zetas. Do you imagine what it means today to be twenty years old and to be constantly connected with people you don’t know, who are in places you’ve never seen and who are constantly judging you? Looking at my brother, I wonder about the extent of the effort it takes to get out of this immense collective arena of judgment. And how painful, if not sometimes impossible, it is to cultivate who you are in all your diversity. The new generations probably like this film because it makes them feel less alone in their solitude. These kids are not adults and in any case, like everyone else, they look for a place that makes them feel loved and understood. Well, the thing I can tell you is that I am proud to have been part of an artistic project that deals with these topics ».

Luca Guadagnino in Venice thanked for the director’s award saying: «Thank you for letting me make a film about monsters». Are these cannibal monsters, then, a reminder of the importance of always accepting and understanding diversity?
«It is a beautiful interpretation. To comment on it, I quote a sentence from one of my favorite writers, Clarice Lispector. In one of her works she comments that at a certain point, in one’s life, everyone asks himself: “But am I a monster or simply a human being?”. Here, I think Luca is asking himself the same question. Being a monster … For whom? For you? For others? Sometimes what you think is crazy is natural for others. And viceversa. The problem is to isolate without encountering. And if you don’t meet, you don’t understand. And then there is the chimera of perfection. Being monsters is better than being perfect because perfection is a narrow place, it is a place where nothing can flourish, where nothing can transform itself. Perfection is death. And I don’t believe in the spiral of perfection. I believe instead in the spiral that generates being informed, grateful, kind ».

Have you ever felt alone like the protagonists of the film?
“The real truth? All time. As a child. As a teenager. And even today. But I made peace with it. I grew up surrounded by people older than me and I always idealized mature age thinking it was the solution to everything. It is not. And that’s okay. The remedy? Surround yourself with people you love and who love you. And have a dog. I have one, she is female. I am madly in love with her ».

What scares you the most?
“Don’t let the people who support me and love me understand me.”

What makes her happy?
“The music. My dog. Being hugged. Being in nature. And good food, of course ».

His favorite food.
“A good hamburger.”

What makes her fall in love?
“The mystery. Because I, of love, have not yet understood anything. And I don’t even know if that’s possible. But if there is one thing that makes me fall in love, they are two eyes in which to feel recognized. In which to feel at home ».

What did you learn from this film?
“This film makes me learn a new thing every day. Perhaps, in general, I have understood that there is never a single idea for one person, for one fact. The manifestations are manifold and in each of them there is value ».

She recently modeled at Paris Fashion Week. A future in the sector?
“It’s official: I’m a retired model. My career on the catwalks ends with that wonderful experience at Loewe thanks to Jonathan W. Anderson. And then, does he want to put? Have the best hairdresser, Guido Palau, and the best makeup artist, Pat MacGrath, at your disposal. But when does it happen again? ».

Taylor Russell’s next engagement.
“I’m making an independent film, Mother Couch, with Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn. Ellen is a legend, she is almost ninety years old. On set she always tells a lot of anecdotes from her life. I hang from her lips, listen, learn. The stories she tells are an immeasurable treasure. I don’t know what I will be like at ninety, at seventy or even at forty-five. And I don’t know what corner of the world life will take me to. I just know that I want to live the stories. Because all I want is to be transformed by the stories ».

Source: Vanity Fair

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