What would happen if we not only lost our ability to communicate with the world around us, but with the people in our life, in the most basic, fundamental way? That's the question at the heart of David Mackenzie's "Perfect Sense." Starring Eva Green and Ewan McGregor, the story follows the promising new relationship between two young lovers, just as a virus is sweeping the Earth, one that causes those infected to lose their senses gradually, one at at time. And as that ability to interact with the world and one another diminshes, the methods that remain to communicate become all the more vital and important.
As you might guess, it's some heavy stuff, but when we spoke to Eva Green last week about the film, she noted that during her research into epidemiology (she plays a doctor in the field), the actress learned that the biggest shield those in the profession have is laughter. "I actually had a few sessions with an epidemiologist and a virologist in Glasgow, so I felt like a bad student when they put me there," she laughed. "[They] had a very thick Scottish accent, so I couldn't understand everything they were saying. But what actually struck me was their sense of humor. They talk about terrible things, but with such a wry, dry sense of humor. It's kind of amazing. And I think because they deal with death and disease everyday, they have to have an armour."
But when we first meet her character of Susan, she isn't quite ready to laugh just yet. Still nursing a heartbreak, and questioning her taste in men altogether, she's wary of Michael, (Ewan McGregor) a charming chef and ladies man, but eventually gives him a shot. "I think she really loves the man who just left her. In life I think you grow through the relationships, and with her, she gets bad experiences but one day she gets the lottery," Green said about the relationship in the film. "Michael is a perfect soulmate, and they find one another. If she hadn't have those bad experiences before maybe she would not have met him. Michael is also kind of damaged. He hasn't really met somebody that he really loves. Both damaged people find one another and discover they're meant to be together."
And though boasting a high concept, it was the love story that drew Green into the project, as well as the realistic approach to the sci-fi elements. "[It's] quite romantic, sentimental, a very great story. And very unusual," she explained, adding, "With 'Perfect Sense' there's something very real. We don't have a spaceship or something weird, it could happen, it's very real."
But one of Green's upcoming projects certainly won't be mistaken for reality. She's set to star opposite Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's big screen adaptation of the cult TV show "Dark Shadows." In the film she plays Angelique Bouchard, who is heartbroken by Depp's Barnabas Collins, turns him into a vampire and buries him alive. Burton has previously described the movie as a "weird soap opera" and Green described to us her take on the film. "I think it's very, very funny, with a dark sense of humor, but really funny. And I play Angelique Bouchard, and she's a cuckoo character. An extreme character, who is madly obsessed with Baranabas Collins, and it's a very electric relationship. And she wants to own every bit of Barnabas," she said. "It's not a typical villain, and that's what I like about how Tim dealt with her. She has a good reason to act like that. It's a really a love story."
And while further down the road, Green is eyeing "300: Battle Of Artemisia" one project you won't see her in soon is the long-developing biopic of Maria Callas. The project gained a director last year in "Whale Rider" helmer Niki Caro, but otherwise, the movie seems stalled. "I'm not happy with the script, we'll see what happens. It's kind of a dangerous subject and you want it be good," she told us.
"Perfect Sense" is currently available On Demand and opens in limited release on February 3rd.