BeatBoxBetty Interviews Milla Jovovich

Perhaps the most famous teenager in history, Joan of Arc was a fearless being of devout faith living in 15th century France. And if you’ve studied anything from that period, you know it wasn’t a great time to be a girl.

In fact, it totally sucked. But Joan had bigger things to worry about; Voices were telling her to save France in a bloody battle. She did what they said by dressing up like a man and rallied the troops. And she actually kicked some major military bootie by leading armies that stopped the British from defeating France in the 100 Year War.

Not bad for a chick, huh? But despite her pleas that she was under God's divine inspiration, her country soon betrayed her, took her to trial, and burned her at the stake for heresy. Hello? A simple Thank You card would’ve been a nice touch. Instead, they toasted the girl at the age of 19!

Well, I got the chance to ask the lovely Milla Jovovich all about her role as the infamous Joan of Arc in The Messenger. Here’s how that cool conversation went:

BBB: What’s it like playing the most famous teenager in history?
Milla: It was a good time, but it was also hard. But sometimes hard times are the best times. It was really an incredible experience.

BBB: How did you prepare for the part?
Milla: For three months I worked on the horseback riding; learning how to ride in the style from that period. The last month was dedicated to riding with the armor, which was completely different than anything I’ve done before.

I also had a voice coach because I was really concerned with my accent. There was a lot of research which included reading the trial transcripts several times. I’ve seen her played the same way over and over again, but never could really tell just who she was. How did she get people to believe in her? This girl had such a personality that had nothing to do with being thoughtful or noble. It was more about the fact that she was so chaotic, she wreaked havoc on everyone around her.

And that’s how we decided to portray her. We made some really huge assumptions about her personality, which we needed to make for a good movie, but every assumption was made through what was logical in our heads.

BBB: You sure do play Joan with a lot of passion.
Milla: I think her passion was incredible. But it was also interesting seeing the workings of a fanatic. She really believed, but there’s such a dark side of Joan that nobody had shown before. She was made a Saint in 1928 and everybody just went along with it. But what you forget, is this girl was responsible for a lot of deaths – herself holding her banner and saying, "In the name of God, let’s fight!" How can God and fighting and swords be in the same category? Thou shalt not kill...but you can murder?

BBB: Did you freak out at all over the intensity of it all?
Milla: Yeah, before every take I did this sort of scream – like a primal yell. It was the same way the characters react to her in the movie…"here she comes again"...people around me were like "chill girl." But it was that breaking down of the ego that allowed me to go there again and again and again.

BBB: You must have had tons of faith in the film's director Luc Besson. That one stunt off the ladder was my favorite scene in the movie! How high was that backward free fall?
Milla: The production notes said 25 meters which is actually 75 feet, but I think it was closer to 35 feet. That was such a turning point for me in the film because it involved such a complete belief in the situation. I tried to be as organic as I could possibly be and not act. I just took what was coming. Taking it to another level by physically falling in such a way that – first of all, backwards, and watching Luc the whole time – it was such a strong sense of being her. That’s my favorite shot in the movie too. I just adore that shot. There was so much trust that went into it. After that, I completely lost any sense of the outside world.

BBB: Well it worked. That’s one amazing stunt.
Milla: Thank you.

BBB: You were holding a banner and swinging a sword in fifty pounds of armor while riding horseback? You must be strong, girlfriend! Did you ever get hurt?
Milla: No. Not really.

BBB: I know you have an amazing voice. Since you’ve had a very successful career as a singer, can we expect another "Milla album" out anytime soon?
Milla: Well, actually I have a brand new band called Plastic Has Memory. We did a bunch of shows in Los Angeles during the summer and we’re going to do some new shows in New York in the fall. We’re writing and doing a lot of pre-production work. We’ve only been together for five months so we just want to experiment more.

BBB: We'll certainly be looking for you in record stores! Thanks so much again for chatting with us.

Milla: You are so very welcome!