Interview: Robin Tunney and Chris O'Donnell Interview with Spanish Magazine (2001)

Click on Read More to read an Interview from the Spanish Magazine "Fotogramas", done in 2001 with Robin Tunney and Chris O'Donnell, during the Spanish Premiere of their movie "Vertical Limit".
You can also find the interview in the Interviews Section.


Thanks to @Aleee_O for the find, and to @Chizuruchibi for the translation from Spanish to English.




TITLE: O'Donnel & Tunney: At the limit of fame


To the right, next to small picture that reads 'Vertical Limit': When they were strangers, they worked together making TV commercials. Years later they have met again for the action thriller "Vertical Limit", playing against all odds, not the protagonists of a lovestory, but a couple of siblings.
It gives the impression that Chris O'Donell (30) and Robin Tunney (28) want to confirm the impression we have of them when we see them onscreen: on the one side, the healthy boy, polite and mannered that's uncapable of looking straight in the eye; on the other, the indie movies forged actress that takes with easiness and an irreverent sense of humor her new role of Hollywood star. O'Donell demands that the cigarretes of the room are put out; he's civil but point-blank.




Big, quoted text: In this business, the actors are never happy and the protagonist wants to be the evil guy and viceversa.




FOTOGRAMAS: It's weird for a Hollywood actress that she doesnt have scruples against tobacco..


ROBIN TUNNEY: I'm desperate making this promotion tour. Chris always glares at you when you lit a cigarrete and I only smoke three a day.




F: Weren't you scared filming at such heights with no specialists?


CHRIS O'DONELL: What scared me the most was riding a helicopter to go film every day.


R.T: Very often I was terrified, but I got through thinking very coldly: for example, while I was shooting a scene in a cliff I got to thinking how could I make my will or wonder if my old highschool boyfriend would go to my funeral.. besides, I was the only girl amongst 12 guys and I couldn't keep up their walking rythm. We shot in New Zealand and I found out people from there has an extra chromosome.




F: Doesn't a movie like this box you in even more in the eternal role of "good guy"? Do you think an appearance like yours is an impediment at the time of getting roles of the evil guy?


C.O: It's true that often appearances work against the actor, of what they really want to do. Right now I'd like to change, do smaller, more intimate movies. I'm also not against playing the bad guy for once. In this business, the actors are never happy and the protagonist wants to be the evil guy and viceversa.




F: You come from the independent film industry and you made yourself known with Niagara Niagara, that made you win the Volpi Cup for the Best Actress at the Venice Festival. Isn't it an abrupt change to participate in a big budget film like this one?


R.T: Of course. Niagara Niagara was a movie in which I got really involved, so much so that I ended up marrying the director! Afterwards I did 'The end of days' with Arnold Schwarzenegger and I was terrified: everything was so big, I couldn't stop wondering what was I doing in all that mess. I prefer smaller films, character-driven: one of the things I like about Vertical Limit is that I spend most of the movie locked up in a cave with two other actors: it was a bit like making theater.




F: With movies like this.. does Hollywood send messages about family values?


C.O: I've always defended family, that's why I feel very close to my character that's very attached to his sister. I think it's very important, and I like the idea of not telling the typical love story, but to talk about sibling love. Besides, it's impossible to have a romance at 3000 meters high!


R.T: I think the fact that they're brothers adds dramatism to the story. I particularly got interested in my character, because she's the tough girl, the one that takes initiative. Chris acts like chicks used to do on the movies, he's indecisive, he won't stop crying, he's not that good at climbing..




F: Projects?


C.T: I won't make a new Batman movie, if that's what you're asking. I know that it's being directed by Darren Aronofsky, but I think the Robin character is not on it. Besides, I can't see myself on that suit again. I still haven't materialized new projects, I don't know.


R.T: I've finished the movie with Alan Rudolph, "Investigating Sex", about the surrealist group and their different ways of understanding sex. My partners are Nick Nolte and Neve Campbell. It was shot in a single room and I was delighted, because there was no hiking mountains, nor carry boots or hanging from cliffs..