Melissa Leo: From Brent Cross to 'The Fighter'

Tom Huddleston talks to one of the best character actors on the circuit

Melissa Leo is the comeback kid. Last week, the 50-year-old New York actress picked up her first Golden Globe for ‘The Fighter’ and when she spoke to Time Out last Friday night an Oscar nomination was on the cards – but not long ago she was a TV star struggling to find work after the cancellation of ‘Homicide: Life on the Streets’. It was her Oscar-nominated performance in the extraordinary 2008 film ‘Frozen River’ that turned everything around. In her new film, ‘The Fighter’, from infamous ‘Three Kings’ and ‘I Heart Huckabees’ director David O Russell, Leo plays the hard-headed mother and manager of two struggling boxing talents, played by Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.

F Scott Fitzgerald said that there were no second acts in American lives. You’re proving him wrong…
‘I’m thrilled! In the States there is a  throwaway aspect to a lot of parts of our lives. And one of the most appalling things is how we throw people away as they get older, especially in this business. So a Golden Globe at 50 is extraordinary.’

You had a few tough years between ‘Homicide’ and ‘Frozen River’. Did you ever think of giving up?
‘The frank truth is, this is the only thing I understand. I’m not the brightest girl in the room. I’ve developed keen instincts and I like the kind of smart I am, but I don’t know if there’s anything else I could do. I was a terrible waitress! I worked in the employee kitchen at the Brent Cross shopping centre in London when it first opened, in the ’70s, when I was going to Mountview Theatre School. I was terrible. So when I came back to the States I knew this was what I needed to do.’

Your character in ‘The Fighter’, Alice, is a tough cookie. Is resilience something you look for in a character?
‘I’ve always had a fierce determination, with every woman I‘ve played, to play a complete and whole human being. I’ve spent my life in the study of human behaviour, so I know we all have two sides to us, just like a penny. With every role I play, both of those sides are considered. It’s then up to the director what he does with the performance. Does he make me more acerbic in this scene, does he make me gentler in that scene? They’re shaping the story.’

There are a few people on this film who have a tough reputation of their own, like David O Russell and Christian Bale.
‘A set is a hallowed place from me. I find the more I try to explain what goes on there, I invariably say things that aren’t quite what I mean. Because it’s complicated. I mean, how should a director behave? Like a prince among men? Not if he isn’t getting what he needs and we’ve two more minutes to shoot it. Then, anything goes.’

Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams and yourself all have distinctive acting styles. Did you ever tread on each other’s toes?
‘A fabulous acting class could be created around “The Fighter”. Such different styles, and everyone bringing their A-game. Mark with this quiet way he runs his business, so suited to that part. And Christian is completely misunderstood. Everyone wonders: is he kooky? No, he’s a great actor completely involved in his work! It was a dance among all of us. The ballerina was there, and the cha-cha dancer was there, and somehow we made this dance together.’

You won a Golden Globe, and an Oscar is possible. How much do you care about all that?
‘I’d heard from a lot of people that the Golden Globe was mine, but I didn’t want to listen to that. I learned long ago, marching to all those auditions and not getting them, how to prepare myself to have no expectations. So it took me a minute to realise they had actually called my name! I’m marching towards the Oscars in much the same way. I’ve thought I had jobs then ended up home on the couch, so it’s this balancing act of not shunning the notion, but not assuming that it’s a done deal.’



---