Robert Rodriguez knows how to make a movie that will keep audiences talking. And his latest, Hypnotic, is one that challenges what we’re seeing and makes you second guess everything before you. Starring Ben Affleck as Danny Rourke, a man looking for his daughter, and Alice Braga as Diana Cruz, the woman who has to help him, they’re both brought into the world of the hypnotics and the fear that they can bring to those around them.
A movie like Hypnotic is hard enough for the audience to keep track of because we’re desperately trying to figure out what is going on. So coming at it from an actors standpoint cannot be easy. So I asked Braga what her approach was to Diana was and how she mapped out her beats throughout the movie. “I love breaking down scripts before I start doing anything,” she said. “So I love just breaking down very much what’s happening, what the character is doing to then kind of put it on its feet. But I did that. And then I really wanted Robert to understand what he wanted for these versions of these characters. Which even though if they’re very different, they’re the same heartbeat, they are the same woman. So it was interesting to connect with Robert to understand what he wanted. And he really wanted the differences of being like a harsh coldhearted, more cold blood woman in one side and a warm more loose. Even the hair is curly. She’s like a hippie and all that. Completely different characters on the outside. It felt very much like that. And Robert wanted that even in the way of speaking should be completely different.”
She went on to talk about how she blended those two personalities into one specific character. “But as an actress, I really tried to create a little bit of a thin line of connectivity between both of them because it’s the same heartbeat, it’s the same person, even though if it’s playing around with the reality, she’s acting in one reality, then she’s in another reality which is completely wiped out memory so she could protect her daughter,” she said. “So there’s so much in it, but I try to just keep it alive into being one person instead of being completely different characters without any connectivity between them. Yes, it was a nice challenge. It was a great challenge as an actor.”
You can see our full chat here:
Hypnotic is in theaters now!
(Featured image: Hypnotic Film Holdings LLC)
