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Cabaret star Natasha Richardson stars in the Disney remake of The Parent Trap, but she had no previous knowledge of the original. Coming from an acting family, she knows the ins and outs of acting in theater and movies. In the near future, Richardson hopes to become a movie producer. Here, she speaks about her current movie role, as well as her husband's Star Wars future.

Natasha Richardson

roughcut.com's Andy Jones

You look tired. Have you been getting enough sleep lately?

I'm a little bit tired because I'm doing Cabaret in New York and I got on the plane after the show last night and I got something like three and a half hours of sleep, so I'm a bit...

So, how is the play going? Are you enjoying that?

I am. I'm tired but it's been just an extraordinary experience. I mean, a really big learning experience. In fact, last night on the plane we did listened to the CD of the cast album, recorded three months ago. And I've wanted to listen to it, but I felt, "Well, I'm on the plane, and I've had a couple of drinks, I'll listen to this." And I listened and I thought, "Damn, I can sing these songs so much better than I could three months ago when we laid this down." It's been, for me, a constantly learning thing. I'm having a great time. I mean, it's amazing how the audience has had a real response to it.

Have you gotten a weird gift or a congratulatory telegram backstage in your dressing room?

A weird one? I'm trying to think. No, I have somebody who writes me really, weird letters but....

Who is your favorite person you've met backstage?

Well, I'll have to say that one of the favorite people, because he was so charming and so wonderful was Harrison Ford.

Really?

He's a great looking man, to start with, but he was so generous in his praise and full of humility. He had tears in his eyes from watching the close. I was blown away. It's hard to know because you've had so many people, you admire so much... It's just been great.

What about your career? Do you want to be a big time star?

Star burn and money things have not been the things that drive me. The only thing I see in common, in all the work I've done, is I've always played great parts. So, sometimes, I will have chosen to do a great part in a smaller movie, rather than a not so good a part in a big movie. I would like to have as many choices as possible in my life, like everyone else. If you're in a hit movie, then it opens more doors for you. It's a tedious cliché at this point, but there isn't that much great material for women...

Was The Parent Trap a favorite of yours, growing up?

I never saw this movie. I didn't know it. I was raised in England. It's not like The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins that everyone has seen.

I think people see it like Mary Poppins now.

No, I didn't see it. So, when I read the script, I just think this is funny and romantic, and I like that. I didn't know anything about the original.

A lot of actresses, who made their name on the stage, have moved on to TV and film lately.

What do you think is the appeal? What's the attraction?

Because it's the ultimate test for an actor. Because it's grueling doing it eight times a week and a whole performance. My husband came with me to this award ceremony recently, and he made this really lovely speech. It was like he was thanking me for pushing him to go back to real work. For getting him back to the theater, instead of the real world of making movies, where you act for two minutes and then go back to your trailer and make phone calls for an hour and a half.

He's now on stage, too.

Yeah, and the other great thing, for an actor on stage, is not only do you play the whole journey every night, you have to do it every night again and again... You're in control. It's you and the audience and the words and the music. In the movies, you're just a cog in the wheel. That can be very frustrating because you don't contribute as much as you'd like to. I understand why some of those stars get this total control-freak thing and they have their own writers. I don't think that comes from a bad place, I think it can get to a bad place, but I think it comes out of "I want some control over my own destiny, my face up there, and I want to be a part of this creative process."

When you work with actors like that, some will have tantrums. They want to bring in their people.

As an actress, do you think stars need to make demands like that?

I think it's a difficult question because my background, which is sort of coming from an acting family and is very much the sort of attitude "the show must go on and do your job and be professional and you don't behave like that." But then there are times when you see people behaving badly, and it gets results. It gets them the space and the time they need to do their work. So, I'm wary of being judgmental on that issue. And sometimes you don't serve yourself well if you always say, "Sure. Yeah. Whatever. Fine. I'll do it. I'm not going to question you." Have you ever heard that expression, "meat puppets?" Well, that's what actors are sometimes in movies. It's a horrible feeling. I also learned that it's always ultimately the director's vision and that's who you have to go with and have to trust when you're making a movie.

Have you thought about directing?

I don't think so. I'd be a good producer. I can think about a lot of things at the same time and I think ahead and I like to make sure people are OK, but a director.... My dad is a director... I have too much respect for the whole process. I can't imagine what it would be like to kind of keep your focus in the editing room, watching it again and again.

So, since you are married to Liam Neeson, what is his role in the upcoming Star Wars prequel?

Someone was asking, "Who does he play in Star Wars?" I started to say who he plays in Star Wars and then I thought, "Yeah, he's the Jedi master. He's like ... the man."

Well, do you think I'm going to reveal his role?

You didn't have to sign any kind of confidentially contract?

No, I didn't. But he's like the Jedi Master... He's somebody, who I guess is a cross between Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

You know the characters.

I do. And they're going to shoot a couple of more scenes in early August. And then I guess it's going to be released Memorial Day next year.

Didn't it wrap six months ago?

Yeah, but you know it takes a long time because of all that stuff. It takes forever.

Was Liam happy with it?

He hasn't seen it yet. I think he is satisfied in a much bigger way than this [The Parent Trap], where we had to do this technical stuff for the twins. It was so hard to act with. He's having to act with lots of things that really aren't there. I think that was really exhausting, imagining all sorts of creatures and things coming at you from all over the place in the action scenes.

Is it hard to keep your concentration?

Sometimes, yeah. 'Cause I think the hardest thing is you have to repeat exactly the same for each side. And you're trying to keep it fresh and trying to keep it slightly different... So, it's the antithesis of what makes good acting, so it's sort of a big challenge.

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What are the words that always trip up Americans, when they're doing British accents?

You know, I guess bad people do bad American accents. They start sounding like cowboys or something. And then people do English, they tend to go awfully too posh or something... I'm not sure exactly what it is.

What is your next project?

I'm not sure. My next immediate project is to go on vacation.