- Title: USA: RACHEL GRIFFITHS SPEAKS ABOUT HER NEW FILM "ME, MYSELF AND I".
- Date: 20th March 2000
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 20, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE (English) RACHEL GRIFFITHS SAYING "It was kind of exciting as an actress to play like the same character that at a certain point in her life goes on two different paths. So you say, well, what would this person have been had they been in this environment and learnt these skills and h
- Embargoed: 4th April 2000 13:00
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- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, US AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAAZQKGYNNM1LV8WFJVUHMU80B3
- Story Text: Academy Award nominee Rachel Griffiths plays one woman who gets the chance to live her life over in the new Australian film "Me Myself I," which the actress calls "Sliding Doors" crossed with Groundhog Day."
Pamela Drury is in a crisis.As she enters her thirties, she is struck by the realization that she has made a complete mess of her lif.Sure, she's travelled the world, has an award-winning career, and owns her own flat.But she's left with the overwhelming feeling that she's missed the boat to love and happiness.No where in her life is there a Mr.Right.
Pamela comes to the conclusion that she let him go when she turned down a long time boyfriend over thirteen years earlier.
Racked with regret and at the brink of despair, Pamela magically collides with someone who is to change her life - herself.The Pamela who actually decided to settle down with the boyfriend those many years before.
Pamela Two comes complete with a husband, three children and a dog.Astonished to meet her alternative self, Pamela is further stunned when Pamela Two vanishes, leaving Pamela stranded in the married life, with some funny, revealing, and poignant consequences.
For Griffiths, the appeal of the role lay in being able to portray a woman taking two very different paths in life."It is the one character and it has to truthfully be the one character but you think what happesn to a woman when she has children, what changes in her demeanor or in the skills and language that sha has and utlilizes," says Griffiths."So it was kind of cool -- it was like getting to play two different characters but not really."
The film began life as a treatment written by its eventual director, Pip Karmel, who stepped behind the camera for the first time.Although the film was entirely funded by the French studio Gaumont, the film was shot entirely on location in Australia.
Casting for the role of Pamela took the film's makers from England to Scotland and finally to Australia, where they happily came into contact with Rachel Griffiths.
As a way of varying one woman's portrayal of two parts, the director and cinematographer used different lighting for the two Pamela's scenes.Pamela One's scenes are shot darker, with more hectic camera movements and a bit of pollution in the air.Pamela Two lives in the suburbs so the light is always shining.Additionally, the two identities are distinguished by their physical lives.Pamela One lives in a 1920's style inner city apartment that is constantly being renovated.All that was require for the domestic Pamela Two was the ideal suburban dream home.
For Griffiths, the role of Pamela Drury was the perfect follow-up to her Oscar nominated performance as Hilary du Pres in the film "Hilary and Jackie." "I always say that this film is like "Sliding Doors" meets "Groundhog Day," she says.Where she believes it veers from that comparison is "that she's actualy aware that this isn't her life that she's living."
"There's a lot of comic potential from that situation that some of those other film don't have," she concludes.
The entire cast of "Me Myself I" is Australian, including David Roberts, who plays Pamela Two's husband Robert.
"Me Myseld I" is currently playing on North American theatre screens. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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