Evan Rachel Wood: unlike her rock-star boyfriend, this actress—who's played everything from a wholesome beatle maniac to a jaggedly rebellious teen—has no fixed public image. And that's a good thing

Interview, May, 2008 by Graham Fuller

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Evan Rachel Wood's restrained performances in Thirteen (2003), Pretty Persuasion (2005), Down in the Valley (2005), and her latest, The Life Before Her Eyes, have raised the specter of an all-American golden girl who yearns to be tarnished. Her romance with Marilyn Manson--which began in 2006 when (quel horreur!) she was 19 and he was 37--increased the suspicion, at least among the censorious. Her appearance in the video for Manson's "Heart-Shaped Glasses," a slice of quasi-autobiography that rains blood on the loving couple, was another red flag. And who could doubt their sincerity? Yet the relationship has scarcely made Wood a household name, for celebrity falls off her back like a mink worn without lingerie.

But Wood can play wholesome, too--a girl dreamed up by Paul McCartney, say, as in Across the Universe (2007)--or sexy and perplexed, as in Running With Scissors (2006). Despite her uncalculated gestures of subversiveness, she has no image, and it's plausible she'll play nuns, hookers, and killers in the coming years without telling us any more about herself than we know already. That, of course, is how should it be.

The Life Before Her Eyes was adapted from Laura Kasischke's novel about a high school girl's murky present and canceled future. Diana (Wood), who has all the usual vices, and Maureen (Eva Amurri), who has none, are best friends. When a youth on a killing spree at their school finds them alone in the girls' bathroom, he asks them to decide which of them he should murder. As usual, Wood does a lot by seeming to do nothing. Whether or not she dies in Vadim Perelman's movie, her blood couldn't be stanched on the set of Darren Aronofsky's upcoming The Wrestler, in which she plays a recovering alcoholic seeking reconciliation with her father (Mickey Rourke), a former professional fighter now on the underground circuit.

GRAHAM FULLER: Did you give a good account of yourself in The Wrestler?

EVAN RACHEL WOOD: I bled for Darren Aronofsky. There's a scene where I get very angry at Mickey. I picked up an aluminum soda can and squeezed it, I guess, and threw it at him. We were in the middle of this emotional scene, and all of a sudden I think, Why does my hand feel wet? And I look down and my hand is covered in blood. I'd split my thumb open. And, of course, Darren loved it. He's like, "Use it! Use it! Look at your hand!" And he asked the makeup artist to take note of the color of my blood. Darren glued my finger back together and we kept going. I was proud of myself, and I think I proved myself to Mickey. [laughs]

GF: You're difficult to pin down as an actress. If there's a theme in your work, it's rebelling against authority. You've played a few bad girls.

ERW: One of the reasons why I fought for those roles is that I think there are so many things about them that are just human, but people like to label them as weird or bad or wrong because they're scared of them. I don't consider them bad--they're girls [laughs]. They're going to make mistakes, but the films show the repercussions and show that they're going to learn. A lot of people are made to feel bad for being sad, so on top of already being unhappy, you're gonna hate yourself for it. I have my own demons, my own pain and darkness, but I choose to embrace them and look at them head-on and deal with them. Then it doesn't hurt, and you learn from it.

GF: Do you think Diana's waywardness in The Life Before Her Eyes can be explained by the absence of her father?

ERW: And mother, really. She doesn't have a lot of people watching her, and that's not her fault. She's different from Tracy in Thirteen because she isn't trying to shove it in people's faces or cry for help. She's trying to do the best she can and have fun, so anything she does that has consequences comes from a very innocent place. She wants to live her life and be happy. She has only one friend who knows her and gives her a chance. I think a lot comes from loneliness, from wanting to feel something and to be loved. I connected with her because she feels judged. She's still going to keep doing what she's doing, but it's going to be painful at times.

GF: But isn't she acting out? She flaunts her pot smoking and the fact that she'd been having sex while Maureen was in church.

ERW: I don't really see it that way. I think these girls are drawn to each other because they're smarter than most people their age. And what Diana's doing, smoking pot.., it could be a lot worse. I'm not saying do it or don't do it, I'm just saying she's okay. She's just hanging out on a couch, and you know, teenagers have sex. [laughs] I don't think she's trying to prove anything to Maureen. They love each other because they're opposites. She's amazed by Maureen's innocence--well, not innocence, because I think they're both innocent. It's more that Maureen is pure and untouched. Diana likes Maureen looking up to her, while Maureen is attracted to Diana's wildness. It's not really rebelliousness--it's fearlessness and curiosity. She's just got a fire.