Transcription
Well, when you're working with the likes of David Bowie and assorted elves and creatures, in that order, Jennifer Connolly, I guess it's got to be almost like a dream. Your character in the film is dreaming. Maybe this was like a dream for you as well.
It was absolutely incredible to pinch yourself on the set sometimes. Yeah, I did stop saying, you know, "Oh, this is great! I love it! I love it!" People are probably getting so sick of hearing me, you know, praise everyone and everything.
Well, everybody's very high on your work in the film now. Why do you suppose that is? What, in your opinion, has made you such a hit on that set?
I don't know. I don't trust what they say. I don't know me either. Get a second opinion. I don't know. That's nice to hear, though. Yeah, okay.
Now, you must have watched many times Sesame Street on television, and here you are, grown up, 15, 15. Now working with the man himself. Now, that must also be an odd feeling.
Yes, and also Kermit. Kermit the Frog. We must not forget. Was Kermit there too? Was Kermit there?
Um, well, Jim. Jim is his voice. His voice is. Chromosomes were any of the Muppets there?
No, no. Not in the film.
When you hear the voice, though, when you hear the voice, though, it's, I mean, in the beginning, it was actually kind of hard to say, "Hmm, this is very strange. You know, I know this voice. I know this was."
But had you made up your mind to ask him anything in particular, or, or did you have any idea what you would first say when you met him?
No, I didn't really think about it.
Well, he told me he was nervous about meeting you too.
About meeting me? No! Oh my goodness.
Take us on to the set. You're falling down shafts. You're being, you're hanging by your fingers from ropes. What moment can you select is maybe the most genuinely hair-raising for you, not for the viewer, but for you behind the scenes?
Um, I think one that was really frightening to me was, um, in the slashing machine scene. Um, where this is huge. We're in this, this corridor, and with, with Hoggle, there's this a gate at the end, and behind us, there's, um, this huge machine with blades spinning in all different directions and points and spikes and whatever. And, um, there's, there are no doorways on either end. And I mean, on either side, there's no way to go. Up, there's no way to get out. We're just running, but, you know, there's no place to go. And it was really frightening. I wasn't really frightened for myself because I knew it was, everything was under control. But I was frightened, um, for Sherry, who was, who is the girl who plays Hoggle. Because when she's in Hoggle, she can't, she can't really see very much. She can see a little bit out of the mouth, but not that much, only when it's open. And she can't hear either. She has an earpiece in her ear because the mechanisms of, of the facial expressions make so much noise, she can't really hear anything. And so she's like, not really aware of what's going on around her. And I felt kind of responsible for her, you know. So the two of us are running away from this machine, and it's getting closer and closer and closer. And like, she would fall and stumble in it, and I would like pick her up. And it was just frightening, um, to me, feeling like, you know, what if, what if something happens? And now that's essentially a human being we're talking about. That is to say, there is an actor inside.
Right. But for the completely fashioned actors, the puppets themselves, did you find yourself reacting to them as if they were human?
Also, not quite as if they were human, um, but as if they were real characters, not as if they were pieces of plastic or whatever.
Were you ever tempted to, after the shooting stopped, put one in your hip pocket and take it home with you?
Yeah, I wish I would have, actually.
We don't know what that's like. Do they keep a guard on those things? Is there type of security?
Um, yeah, they, they put them back in the workshop and lock them up at night so no one takes them.
Now, since you are the little girl with the dreams and the fantasies, were you ever permitted to sort of, oh, make suggestions about the course of the film and about your character itself?
Um, I didn't really get involved with the course of the whole film. Um, that, I mean, there's certainly more experienced people than, than myself involved with, with the way that was looking. I mean, George Lucas and, and Jim Henson certainly know what they're talking about a lot more than me, I think.
But I bet they were smart enough to ask you sometimes, especially about, I mean, about the things that I was involved with, about Sarah as a character.
Jim, you know, would just let me do whatever I thought was right. And if it didn't seem like it was working, he would give me suggestions. But, you know, I put a lot into it also.
And of course, we know how, how much you wanted to portray Sarah as a hateful character at the beginning. I know this story, but I'd love to hear you. What story?
Well, you, you and little Toby were were great friends at least at first.
Oh, yeah. I felt so awful. It was so terrible. We, we got along really well. I love little babies. They're so sweet. And sometimes, usually, maybe that's because I don't have a little brother or sister. But, um, so we spent some time together so I would know what he was like. And so we got along really well. And then the first day of shooting, I come in and I start screaming at him and yelling at him and and being mean to him. And he, he just got completely baffled. He couldn't understand the same person that that was just hugging him and and feeding him his applesauce was yelling at him. They couldn't feel what was happening. Yeah, I felt kind of badly.
But listen, Jennifer, is it possible for you, after this film, especially, to be a normal high school kid anymore? Know what I mean? Is this like a turning point for you? There's no going back.
No.
Can you go back to high school as one of the guys? One of the guys?
Yeah, yeah, you can.
You know?
Are you sure?
I am sure.
What is it inside you that makes you so convinced?
Because school is very important to me, and I like it, and I enjoy it very much. And there's so much there. I have so much in school. I have all these, you know, besides the things that I'm interested in, the subjects that I'm interested in, of my friends and, and my, you know, teenage life, you know, teenage normal life, um, which I, which I want to keep up. And I think by keeping work and school separate, I have, you know, I have both.
Okay. But Jennifer, what was it like working with David Bowie?
No, we're really out of town here in Dallas with Jennifer Connolly, Labyrinth, for KCTV 5. I'm John Tibbetts.