LILI Taylor Sarasota Film Festival Interview

Lili Taylor remains one of our finest actresses. Since making her indelible debut in Donald Petrie’s MYSTIC PIZZA, she has given brilliant performances in Paul Weitz's BEING FLYNNopposite Robert Deniro, Andrew Wagner’s STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, opposite Frank Langella; Robert Altman’s PRET A PORTER and SHORT CUTS, sharing a Golden Globe Award as well as a Venice International Film Festival honor with the ensemble cast of the latter, Stephen Frears’ HIGH FIDELITY, Oliver Stone’s BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, Cameron Crowe’s SAY ANYTHING and Mary Harron’s THE NOTORIOUS BETTIEPAGE and I SHOT ANDY WARHOL. Ms. Taylor received an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Nancy Savoca’s HOUSEHOLD SAINTS, and also starred for the filmmaker in DOGFIGHT. She will soon appear in THE CONJURING (directed by James Wan) and featuring Sarasota actress Shanley Caswell and Eli Roth's HEMLOCK GROVEexclusive to Netflix.

Lili Taylor appears in THE COLD LANDS, Tom Gilroy’s (SPRING FORWARD) long-awaited sophomore feature. It is part of our Narrative Feature Competition and you can see it—

THURSDAY, April 11, 7:15 PM with Lili Taylor and director Tom Gilroy

scheduled for the Q&A

Encore SATURDAY, April 13, 7:00 PM

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Lili will also be honored at our TRIBUTE LUNCHEON, receiving the Career Achievement in Acting Award.

Friday, April 12, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, SARASOTA YACHT CLUB, 1100 John Ringling Blvd.

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Lili is also part of our IN CONVERSATION series. She will discuss her life and career—

Friday, April 12, 2:00 PM, FLORIDA STUDIO THEATER, JOHN C. COURT CABARET

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SFF 2013: Let’s begin with THE COLD LANDS. Your character, Nicole, brings a sense of warmth and balance to young Atticus’s life but also encourages him to question many things. She’s something of an anchor for him in part of the story. How did you approach this role and your relationship to both Atticus and Silas, who plays him?

LILI TAYLOR: Tom Gilroy is one of my oldest and closest friends, so we had been talking about the script and the ideas and the characters for some time. I felt like I approached it through a collaborative effort with Tom. Tom knew much more about the situation than I did, so I gleaned what I could from him.

SFF 2013: What audiences do you feel would really be drawn to this story?

LILI TAYLOR: Tom took a lot of care with the shot compositions and storyboards, etc., so there is going to be a strong visual component to the film. I guess you could say it's of the art house variety, but if it's distributed well then hopefully anyone can have access to it and enjoy it.

SFF 2013: What do you hope audiences will take from your performance in THE COLD LANDS and the film itself?

LILI TAYLOR: I'm sure there will be an array of reactions, which is a good thing. I love films (or any art for that matter) that allows the viewer to experience many things; some of which they can't even articulate but can sense.

SFF 2013: Switching to your amazing career, you have delivered one extraordinary performance after another in films ranging from Nancy Savoca’s DOGFIGHTto Mary Harron’s I SHOT ANDY WARHOL to Alan Ball’s SIX FEET UNDER and PaulWeitz’s BEING FLYNN, to name only a few. What do you look for in a role?

LILI TAYLOR: At the end of the day, I think it comes down to the director.  Because it can be a great script, it can be a great role, but if the director doesn't have a vision and the ability to execute that vision then none of it means anything. I also think of working with a great director as a learning experience, so even if the role is small I can be getting a lot of the experience in other ways.

SFF 2013: What opportunities do you find that horror and science fiction-themed projects offer you as an actor/storyteller?

LILI TAYLOR: What I've found interesting about these so-called genre projects is that they can be very interesting because there is this tension  between the context of the genre and the pushing against it. I've come to realize that even though they are technically in a genre category, they are so much more. There's been something very freeing about it. For me, individually, I feel I can bring a complexity of emotion that one might not be accustomed to in a genre film/tv show. Everything is possible. The genre does not have to be limiting.