I saw Journey to the Centre of the Earth in 3D when I was in the US recently for Comic-Con and had a total blast, so when the opportunity to interview Anita Briem, the film's female lead came up, I jumped at the chance. We had a really great chat about the new technology used in making the film, working with Brendan Fraser and Icelandic-Viking warrior women!

ENTIRELY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Anita Briem, Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Q: Hi Anita, how are you?

A: I'm very well, thank you, how are you?

Q: I'm great, and it's a real pleasure to get to talk to you. Now, I saw the movie when I was in the US recently, I managed to see it in 3D and had a really good time with it, its great fun. First of all congratulations!

A: Thank you very much!

Q: So I was wondering, could you tell us a little about the film, because it isn't a straight remake...

A: It certainly isn't, it's very different. I'm very happy to hear that you saw it in 3D, I would really recommend to everybody that they see it in 3D because this is the first time that this has ever been done, with high-definition 3D and these brand new cameras that James Cameron developed. It really is an enormously different starting point from, well, any other movie! When you have those sorts of tools and the story of Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, it?s a really exciting journey to go on.

The story that we are telling has only three people in it, except for a couple of, you know, dinosaurs and creatures trying to steal my thunder but I just won't let them! Josh Hutcherson and Brendan Fraser's characters set out on a scientific expedition and they come knocking on my door, on the Highlands of Iceland and ask me to take them up onto the Highlands, which I'm happy to oblige for a small fee. We get trapped inside a cave and in trying to get out, we keep going further and further towards the centre of the earth. As the story progresses, it keeps getting more and more like the original book, but it really is a new story. It only has these three characters in it and that's what I found so wonderful, that you have this enormous, magical story that is very famous, you have this brand new technology that allows you to watch it in a way you've never seen before and then you have a very intimate cast of three characters that you go on this journey with. That's a pretty good starting place in my book!

Q: It definitely seems that the three of you developed quite a sense of camaraderie on the set, you gel really well. What was it like working with Brendan Fraser, who has a background in these big budget special effect films?

A: Really terrific! The beautiful thing was that everyone working on this film came from such different backgrounds and had such different experiences, but we were all learning about this new way of making movies together. We'd film and experiment with it, watch it back, seeing how a difference in simply being closer to the camera can change the way you're telling the story. As an actor, you all of a sudden have thousands of new tools you can play with.

Q: It definitely shows. There are some fantastic scenes were you encounter a dinosaur, glow birds and different things like that, it must be pretty tough to play against nothingness when you're filming, how do you prepare for a scene like that?

A: You know what? When it comes to working with green screen and things that aren't there, it isn't that different to doing it when things are there; you're still taking on the personality and mindset of another character that isn't yourself. It's kind of the same, you're still using your imagination to connect with things that aren't happening in your life and developing relationships with them, but in fact my theory with it is that sometimes, you get a lot more freedom because you can really make it whatever you want it to be. We tried to get some real sea monsters to play with us, but I think they were busy shooting another movie!

Q: You mentioned that you were using new technology developed by James Cameron. That's got to be quite exciting, be the first?

A: It was so weird! When I first heard about this movie, I had no idea what they meant by 3D. You know, I had it in my head what 3D used to be, with things coming out of the screen at you, so when we started filming and I saw the first pieces I was totally amazed because you, as the audience, get to actually be present inside the story in a different way to any before it. James Cameron came to set and was watching us film, and he told us we were his guinea pigs! I soon realised something special was going on... I'm so excited to see what our masters of cinema will be able to do with this technology, our James Camerons, our Tim Burtons, Steven Spielberg, the masters of the visual narrative. As an actress, it is an exciting new time. I've gone with families to see the film and the children, they think movies are like this now, that this is the way films are supposed to be now!

Q: It is funny you mention kids, I actually saw the movie by myself and had a fantastic time, but there were kids in the cinema who sat there, glued to the action. It's quite enthralling and really makes you feel like you're in the movie, something we've not experienced before. I've got to give a lot of credit to the director Eric Brevig. He's from a special effects background and this was his first time directing. Once we've seen this technology in use and our directors get their heads around what they can do with it, kids are going to expect that this is what cinema is now, and I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.

A: Definitely. I think James Cameron said he had to wait for the technology to catch up with his vision, so he created a new way to watch movies. I want to watch, not just kids movies, but everything... wouldn't you love to see Pee-Wee's Big Adventure or Poltergeist in 3D?

Q: Oh, for sure.... Now, how did you come to be involved in the film, as we've not seen you in much here in Australia?

A: It's been an interesting time... I grew up in Iceland, my parents are musicians so I grew up in the rock 'n roll world, sleeping on studio floors and behind my dad's drum kit. I went to the National Theatre of Iceland when I was nine years old and spent my childhood there, and when I was sixteen I decided that I wanted to go into this industry, a big decision. Having seen my parents? life, I knew it took a lot of dedication. I moved to London and trained, then moved to the West End. It was kind of by fault that I found myself in America; I flew over and auditioned for this. I must've auditioned twenty-five times for this role! It was a really serious process, somebody told me the other day I actually beat Cameron Diaz's record for how many times she auditioned for There's Something About Mary. I would literally go in every week, so I developed a sense of humour about it, and I finally nabbed the role. This is my North American debut, and I think it is highly unusual that somebody unknown gets to jump into a leading role like this.

Q: It really is. You made the role your own and I have to congratulate you again on it. You played up the slight romantic triangle angle between the three of you really effectively. Josh was quite enamoured with you during the filming, wouldn't you agree?

A: Haha... It was a great experience for me, having two boys fighting it out for my attention! It was something I think I could get used to, a lot of fun. There's a fun storyline where the nephew and the uncle get competitive and start calling dibs on me. As an Icelandic woman, I'm shocked that these men could be behaving like this, a really fun dynamic. What I loved about playing Hannah was that she's not the standard female character that you see in action or action/adventure films where the female character has to sit there and be the damsel in distress. I love the fact that Hannah takes control and leads the action most of the time, it brought out the Viking spirit and fighter in me!

Q: Now, there's a term you use in the film, Vernian. Do Vernians exist, are they a real thing?

A: This is a really interesting concept. Vernians do exist in many forms, they're like a tribe of people who live in a special community by themselves who believed that this was true, and they dedicated their lives to proving that the Earth was, in fact, inside out and that we were living on the inside. They kept trying to prove that if you headed towards the horizon it would move up... It is such a bizarre and amazing story, I encourage people to look it up and find out more for themselves! There are also people who believe that Elvis and Hitler live together in the centre of the Earth, and also inhabited by robots... It is hours of fun investigating, and I'm thinking sequel.

Q: You could hang out with some exciting celebrities from the past near some lava!

A: Hahaha, exactly!

Q: Now, I understand you're something of a weapons master, are we going to be seeing this skill set of yours on screen at any point?

A: I sure am, I think so. I've always been very attracted to combat. I studied from a young age with broadswords, knives, other swords, unarmed... Recently, I've begun studying Jeet Kune Do, which is Bruce Lee's fighting technique. I guess it has always been a fascination of mine; I was a little different in that respect than the rest of the kids my age. I never quite got the hang of basketball, football, but as soon as I had a sword in my hands, a spark went off... I guess what I also love about it is that I have a very small frame, I'm very, very petite, but it in all these forms of combat it really doesn't matter at all how big or small you are, or how much muscle power you have. It?s all about how you position yourself, and a kind of chess game, and the feeling in your core that you can defeat a six-foot man, that the strength is coming from yourself. Some of my friends say Anita thinks she's six foot tall, and I guess I behave that way. You don't need to be muscular to come out on top!

Q: Finally, I'd like to ask you about The Storytellers, the next film we'll be seeing you in.

A: Yes! Well, Wes Bentley and I, we play a team where he is a writer and I play an illustrator to the books he writes, but my character suffers from an extreme case of agoraphobia, or going outside. So we have this strange, slightly unhealthy relationship where the rest of the world is unaware of our relationship. Therefore, they start to believe I'm a figment of his imagination. I'm going to be filming that soon, so that is very exciting.

Q: Well, best of luck with that, it sounds very cool. Anita thanks so much for your time today, it has been great, and I really encourage people to head along and see it in 3D if they get the chance as it is an experience unlike any I've ever had.

A: Absolutely! Take your family, take your kids because it?s an experience that's never been seen before, and I'm very proud to be introducing it around the world!

~T