Elizabethtown - Bloom and Dunst

By Jenna Bensoussan

Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst star in Elizabethtown, the charming production about life's many set backs and destiny's innate ability to balance everything back out.

Orlando describes the film's theme best when he tells us, "I think we can all relate to the idea that you know life isn’t just about momentary happiness that you get from being able to buy a new house. You know career success means that you can buy a new house, a new car, whatever it is... a new life. The reality is you can’t take any of those things with you when you go. Life is about connections with family and the impressions you leave on people. That’s what Drew learns in this movie. Family and friends and coming to terms with the loss of his father is what leads him to being a happy individual and being able to love this girl."

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When it comes to portraying his character, Orlando recognizes some similarities to himself. "Well I always feel like I’m slightly on the edge of a fiasco; whatever that may be, and I sort of had my own sort of wake up call when I broke my back. The phone call Drew gets from his dad and the experience of going home to Kentucky is something that wakens him to his own life. It teaches him to appreciate his family and friends and come to terms with the loss of his father and ultimately fall in love with the girl. I had that kind of experience when I broke my back and it was it was certainly a wake up call. It was needed in my life."

Kirsten also reflects about her character in relation to herself and her own experiences. "I can definitely relate to the whole people-pleasing, extending-yourself-to-a-point where you know it is a little too much. In my past I’ve definitely been like that a lot more than I am now, so I could relate to that. I’m a pretty glass-half-full type of woman. I have a lot of things to be thankful for. I try to see the positive side of things. I’m not that optimistic anymore... like to the point of completely ignoring what I want or my life, and she’s pretty bold too. I’m not as bold and upfront as Claire. I’m more shy than her."

Although Orlando has had many enviable roles to portray over the years, he tells us how this particular role challenged him in a different way. "Well I’m English and he’s American... that was a challenge. You know playing an American, my first contemporary role... and playing an American. I felt so lucky to be doing it in the hands of somebody like Cameron Crowe, and working with a great dialogue coach like Tim Monack. It was something that I needed to do, sort of like a right of passage for any British actor so that was cool."

Kirsten, on the other hand, didn't see the role itself as a great challenge. Her challenge was something different. "I don’t think there’s one challenging aspect. I think it’s more like everyday is different. There’s different obstacles and personalities that you have to deal with, and situations that make movie-making so unpredictable. You think you have it in a certain way when you completely don’t. For me the challenge is being heard and getting my space so that I can do what I’m doing in the most free way."

Kirsten describes her typical day on the set. "I get up, get into hair and makeup, have my weird extensions fixed, order breakfast, rehearse, get dressed, and go to work." Working on the set came easy for her because of the great directorial stylings of Cameron Crowe, "He’s a great director and very collaborative with the people he’s working with. Ultimately, I felt safe with him and I trusted his judgment. That’s what you really want, a director that you feel comfortable with because then you can be vulnerable and he’ll add that."

Orlando also talks about how great it was working with Cameron, and tells us about his favorite Cameron Crowe movie. "Almost Famous... I thought it was cool. I love the music. I love the imagery. I loved the way it drew you in. You were drawn into that world that you sort of wonder about but don't really know about, and you know, it was cool."

Elizabethtown was a nice overall change for Orlando, considering he has been in one epic production after the other. He says, "It was a relief not to have to get on a horse. There was almost a moment in the movie where I did get given a sword but they took that out. But not to have a sword, yeah... that was great. It was great to just be an average guy, you know."

Orlando then starts talking about some of his favorite productions that he's worked on thus far. "This to date (Elizabethtown) would probably be up there with the best of them. I mean I had a truly remarkable experience making this movie playing an American and experiencing Americana in the South and Kentucky, the heartland of America... the great southern hospitality and the experience of that. You know I loved working on Kingdom of Heaven, it was a tricky and complicated movie that was remarkable for me. And Lord of the Rings, you know... I’ve been very lucky. To be honest it’s hard to pull any of them out because they’ve all been such treasured experiences."

Another thing he treasured was his road trip after filming for Elizabethtown was finished. "It was amazing. I took a road trip from Scottsbluff, Nebraska back to Los Angeles. It was profound... just me and my dog in a big car on the open road. The amazing thing about America is that it’s not as intimidating when you drive across it, funny enough, even though you are in a car for 2 days. You realize that there are just huge expanses of land where you can sort of just drive for hours and not really see anybody. I think I drove for up to an hour without actually passing a single car, which was really trippy. But amazing."

Orlando went on to talk about some of the people that inspired him to become an actor. "I was always inspired by the actors I saw on TV and in the movies because I was like, wow... if you're an actor you can be anything you want to be. You can be any one of those characters. I remember seeing the Hustler when I was very young. My cousin, who's a director and photographer, was in L.A. so he rented it and we watched it. I was like, wow this is so cool. Paul Newman was a guy I was really fascinated with. Johnny Depp was great... Daniel Day Lewis. There's a lot of fantastically talented actors and the list goes on and on and on. I've worked with many of them, and feel very lucky to have a chance to work with them. I just love sitting in the dark and getting lost in the world of a character and of a movie. That's really what inspired me."

From here we went into a discussion about music and Kirsten tells us about her favorite music videos. "I loved those Guns N Roses videos, November Rain, weren’t they? Yea those were like epics. I remember being little and waiting for the next one to come. And then I love... I loved Tom Petty’s, Mary Jane’s Last Dance video. Right now I love that video Gwen Stefani did. I Know We’re Cool. Sofi Mueller did it I think... and every time it’s on I’m just like obsessed with it. It’s beautiful and I love it."

Orlando also talks about some of his musical interests. "I’ve always got Jeff Buckley (in his CD player). I’m into that new Coldplay. I’m into U2 and Iron and Wine... Franz Ferdinand. There’s a bunch of great artists that are out there right now."

Speaking of what's out there, the topic of fansites and the online community came up. Kirsten actually does visit her online fansites, "Yea sometimes I’ll check out the pictures because she (the webmistress) has more pictures than I do of myself. My friends and I went on vacation and we’re like 'oh let’s just go on the website and see which ones she put up this time.' You know what I mean... she has documented my life in a way where you know I don’t even have half the stuff that she’s found out or has... It’s kind of funny but at least we can all see what we’re wearing and if we looked good in it. It’s really funny."

Orlando, on the other hand, barely turns on a computer. "I never go online so I can't say. I sort of haven't gotten into that world I'm sorry to say, but I do get given a lot of information about what goes on in terms of fansites and things like that by friends, my mom, my manager, or different people who kind of keep me in the loop with things that are going on. I know there's a lot of support from fans that obviously directly communicate through the Internet so I'm grateful to all those people."

What does Orlando look forward to once he is done with filming and promotions for the productions he's involved in? "Spending some time with my family and friends finally... enough. You know, I want to go home, and back to London... and spend some time just hangin’."

So - don't miss this fantastic story, even if Orlando is a bit squeamish about seeing himself on screen. "It's always very, very, very weird... always," he says. It may be weird for him, but not for the thousands of fans that will enjoy watching Elizabethtown, starring the very talented and intriguing Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst.