美国国家公共电台 NPR Michelle Williams On Economic Inequality In Her New Movie — And Her Career

 

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

"After The Wedding" is a movie full of transformative secrets. It's a remake of a 2006 film. And when we first meet the main character, Isabel played by Michelle Williams, she's living a modest humble¹ life running an orphanage² in India. Then one day she's asked to go to New York City to clinch³ a deal for a life-changing donation for the orphanage. The money would come from a media mogul, Theresa Young, played by Julianne Moore. That transaction lands Isabel in a world of wealth and power tied too closely to her past when she was a very different person.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS: I thought of her as somebody who used to burn very hot and whose fire had to be extinguished. And that only a place like India with all of its sights and smells and sounds can calm a person like this.

PFEIFFER: I spoke⁴ with Michelle Williams about her role in "After The Wedding" and what it was like filming part of that movie in India.

WILLIAMS: It's a place that I've been drawn⁵ to for its religious heritage, its fervor⁶, the way that it kind of overwhelms your senses. But what was most unusual about it was shooting in a third world country. I don't think that I've ever shot a film in those circumstances. And the sentiment that I was left with when we departed India was it's such a luxury to have problems. And it was one of the things that I wanted to address in making this film was to play somebody whose tolerance⁷ for petty grievances⁸ or opulent displays of wealth was shattered because of the life she had lived for the last two decades.

PFEIFFER: Well, that's - I'm glad you brought that up because there's a clear sense from your character that when she lands in New York City and is parachuted into this world of wealth and luxury, put in a penthouse in Manhattan and given an on-call driver that she's very uncomfortable with that. Were you hoping that when people watching the movie saw your character react to this wealth and this luxury they would see that wealth and luxury through different eyes?

WILLIAMS: Well, what my character is - finds herself in is a situation where, with a woman who thinks that there is a price on people and that what she's offering will appeal to my character - that isn't it what everybody wants - money and power? And what my character is saying by resisting the offer is that more than anything she wants freedom and autonomy and to live a life of her own making. But the ultimate question comes towards the end when what she's made to realize is that this money that's being dangled⁹ in front of her will affect other people's lives.

PFEIFFER: So much of this movie deals with wealth and I have a question for you about how wealth has affected¹⁰ you in terms of your personal and professional life. And I don't even know if you like talking about this, but last year you were sort of accidentally thrown in the spotlight¹¹ over the issue of pay inequality. This came after reports that your co-star Mark Wahlberg in "All The Money In The World" had been paid significantly more than you to reshoot some scenes. Now that time has passed and you can look at that in the rearview mirror, how do you think that affected you and your relationship with this industry?

WILLIAMS: Oh, no. I love to talk about it. The only thing I'd rather talk about is my child but not in this situation. But it is a sort of private humiliation¹² that became the greatest public platform of my life, much more so than talking about my film or stage work. Because as I said in a speech on Capitol Hill, if it's like this for me, how bad is it for other women? And I have started to see a shift certainly in the way that people treat me and from what I hear from women coming up to me that my example has been really useful for them.

PFEIFFER: Has that experience changed the way you pick roles or who you want to work with or even the kind of negotiating you do for roles?

WILLIAMS: It has changed the way that I try and think about money because it's tied into our self-worth, and I didn't really think to ask for it because I didn't think to value myself in that kind of a way. And when I started to think about what would I use money for if I had it and I started to think about freedom of choice or freedom of time, then I started to be able to open myself up to the idea that I could put a value on myself and ask for it in my workplace.

PFEIFFER: I'm also wondering how you've transferred these lessons to your daughter because on one hand you have the challenge of you have a daughter who's the child of an actor, yet you have the opportunity for her to learn from what you experienced. Have you thought about how you convey that to her?

WILLIAMS: Well, what's so great about single parenting is that you live in extreme intimacy¹³ with each other. So everything that I go through she's very well aware of it and for the better, really. So she was along for the ride of all of this in the last couple of years in terms of this issue of fair pay. So she's seen me struggle and then she's seen this almost fairytale happy ending which is the job that I most recently finished, a TV series called "Fosse/Verdon." I was paid the same as my male co-star.

PFEIFFER: Sam Rockwell - is that right?

WILLIAMS: That's right. And unfortunately, that's really the only way to move forward is that it has to start at the top. And that's what I experienced when I did this TV show with FX was they wanted to make the workplace fair. They wanted me to feel valued. So what it means when we talk about supporting women, it doesn't just mean holding our hands. It means supporting us economically.

PFEIFFER: As you think over the course of your acting¹⁴ career, do you feel like roles available for women are improving, worsening, staying the same as they ever were?

WILLIAMS: Well, I can say for me personally my opportunities have gotten better and better. I'm more and more excited about the kind of work that I'm allowed to do. And that periods where I'm not working or not getting the kind of parts that I want to play, I can work on myself in those times, I can fill myself up in other ways so that I'm ready and prepared when the rule that I've been dreaming of does come my way.

PFEIFFER: Michelle Williams stars in the new movie "After The Wedding." Michelle, thank you for talking about all of this.

WILLIAMS: Pleasure. Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF FRANK SINATRA SONG, “CYCLES”)

1 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

2 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

3 clinch   

v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench

参考例句：

• Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
• We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元，请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 fervor   

n.热诚；热心；炽热

参考例句：

• They were concerned only with their own religious fervor.他们只关心自己的宗教热诚。
• The speech aroused nationalist fervor.这个演讲喚起了民族主义热情。

7 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

8 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 dangled   

悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• Gold charms dangled from her bracelet. 她的手镯上挂着许多金饰物。
• It's the biggest financial incentive ever dangled before British footballers. 这是历来对英国足球运动员的最大经济诱惑。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

12 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

13 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

14 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。