People: Amy Ryan disappeared into ‘Gone’ role
Amy Ryan jokes that friends won’t let her baby-sit any more, that society will never let her have kids of her own.
That’s what happens when you do your job as well as Ryan did in “Gone Baby Gone.”
Coming out on DVD in Tuesday, Ben Affleck‘s directing debut features Ryan as Helene, a low-class mom who displays shocking callousness and duplicity amid a media circus over the abduction of her 4-year-old daughter.
The performance earned her a best supporting actress Oscar nomination, along with similar recognition from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Ryan, in her late 30s, attended New York’s High School of the Performing Arts and began working in theater, TV and film, landing recurring parts on such TV shows as “The Wire” and “I’ll Fly Away.”
Her career has surged since last fall, when she followed “Gone Baby Gone” with roles in Steve Carell‘s “Dan in Real Life” and Sidney Lumet‘s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”
Q: What did you think of your character when you first read “Gone Baby Gone”?
A: I thought it was incredible. All too often, you see two-dimensional versions of this character, the poor white trash or the drug-addicted character, but she kept surprising. She kept shocking and surprising, but it wasn’t only for shock value.
In her world, her choices made sense for what she’s up against. Certainly, I can presume not in yours and I know not in mine would they make sense. But in her world, it made absolute sense that she would behave that way.
So I like that my jaw kept dropping open with each new scene. It was like, ‘Oh man, don’t tell me she’s going to do that? She’s going to say that?’ I couldn’t wait to play it.
Q: Helene clearly loves her daughter, but she’s a terrible mother. Did you find much redeeming about her?
A: Yeah, in that she was trying the best that she knew how to. I could have compassion for her because I could see how a person in her situation is up against all the odds: No education or child care or health care, addicted. Really caught in a deep, deep cycle.
I think she was the same 4-year-old, cute, blond, blue-eyed daughter once to someone else the same way. I’m sure her daughter will grow up into that, as well. So the question really is how do you break that cycle for the neighborhood at large or the community or for people who do need extra help?
Q: How do you wash away the taste of an unsavory character like this?
A: When we wrapped this movie, I had to clean up my language. I was cursing like a sailor for about two weeks. … So yeah, first I had to wash my mouth out with soap. You get drunk on the power of such strong language.
The birthday bunch
Actor Leslie Nielsen is 82. Actress Tina Louise (“Gilligan’s Island”) is 74. Actor Burt Reynolds is 72. Singer Sheryl Crow is 46. Actress Jennifer Aniston is 39. Singer D’Angelo is 34. Singer-actress Brandy is 29. Singer Kelly Rowland (Destiny’s Child) is 27.