Flying under the tabloids' radar for the better part of the last three years, actress Alison Lohman is a star for the new century; she is concerned more with the quality of her work than with her image. I have been writing about film, attending industry functions, interviewing actors and other talent and dealing with the inner workings of Hollywood for eight years now. I’ve seen the Sony marketing department create a film critic to say complimentary things about their releases. I have bumped into actors who were supposedly suffering from "exhaustion", been privy to the real stories of sexual prowess of Hollywood’s A-list and even learned of a strange PR campaign to keep the boyfriend of one of the industry’s hottest actresses in the shadows in order to make her more appealing to the Maxim crowd.
During this time though, while I have heard rumors of press-shy stars, I have never actually met one. Chatting with Rosario Dawson was the closest I have come to this mythical creature, and Dawson would better have been deemed angry-at-the-media than press-shy. This is understandable too, given that when I spoke to Dawson she had just suffered through the ignominy of being mislabeled as ‘the other woman’ in Jennifer Lopez’s then relationship. Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt have absolutely no reason to be excited by any of the stories the mainstream media has written about them in 2005, yet with Jolie on the cover of Vanity Fair and Pitt striking a pose of the cover of GQ, it could hardly be argued that the two might-be lovers are press shy.
Just as I was beginning to think that I’d find my first press-shy actor sitting in a room right next to the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, I bumped into 2003’s biggest gainer, 24-year old actress, Alison Lohman. Within the first minute of our conversation, Lohman sets the tone by recalling a statement of hers she’d made several times previously: The acting is fun; the publicity is what you get paid for. These were words of wisdom that were originally offered to her by her White Oleander co-star, Michelle Pfeiffer. "It’s true," Lohman laughs, shrugging precisely because it is. Lohman doesn’t do many interviews (if you Google Alison Lohman Interview, you get 46 results; for perspective, Angelina Jolie Interview returns over 1,700 listings) and she is fiercely guarding her private life. Since I don’t particularly care who she’s dating, whether she’s wearing Armani or Versace or following the latest Ashton Kutcher news, we’re already off on the right foot.
Lohman is deep in thought, pondering the question I’ve just asked, "Is there good press?" She says, "Um," holds the word for a moment and then says ‘um’ again. Finally an answer emerges. "I guess if you’re dealing with a social-environmental-political issue that could inform people or make people more aware, that’s good press," Lohman responds.
It’s generally pretty hard to make an honest connection between Hollywood and social-environmental-political issues, but Lohman does so with ease. Having recently completed the English voice-over work for the new DVD release of famed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s 1984 film, Nausicaa, Lohman comments that, "Even though it was made twenty-one years ago, Nausicaa is still a great movie for anybody to see. It’s got a great environmental message." Committed to a green lifestyle, Lohman genuinely responded to Nausicaa’s positive environmental tidings. It’s one of the major reasons that she agreed to supply the lead role’s voice. Lohman sighs and declares with a sharp tone, "God, it’s so pertinent now. This movie focuses on what’s happening with the pollution of the world and the need to understand the relationship between nature and humanity."
Lohman returns our conversation to the issue of good press by then saying, "So if you’re doing a movie that has a good message, I think press is good; yeah." A brief pause and, "In that situation, I think press is good." When I jokingly threaten to grill her for information about partying with Tara Reid and Paris Hilton, two activities in which I know Lohman has little interest, she laughs and then piques my interest by saying, "That would be so boring. I wouldn’t even want to have that kind of conversation."
Lohman isn’t angry at the thought of a reporter prying into her life looking for some tidbits of red-carpet gossip nor is she flattered by the attention; she’s ...bored? Granted, if journalists continue to press her for information, that boredom soon morphs into amusement, yet this is still another change of pace from other Hollywood actors. "People are obsessed with people who are wealthy and beautiful… All that just takes the place of the king and the queen, right?" she asks rhetorically. "I don’t know, I just think it’s boring." Lohman holds up her hands, starting to show the first signs of bemusement. "There are so many other subjects to be talking about right now, but we are diverted to this… I mean, what is that? [Gossip] has no meaning, no relevance to anything." Then, going outside the box one last time, Lohman concludes, "It’s almost like we need to brainwash ourselves to listen to what’s really happening. We shouldn’t just listen to the propaganda and what the press shows us."
The experience of re-dubbing Nausicaa is fresh in Lohman’s mind and was a decidedly more laid-back acting gig than some of the others that she has tackled in recent years. If nothing else, she is happy that she isn’t being asked to play a fourteen-year old again, as she did in White Oleander and Matchstick Men. She nods wearily at that thought and divulges that she was eager to take on some new challenges after her last series of films.
Having only done additional dialogue recording (ADR) previously, the notion of doing voice-over work for an already animated character provided her with quite the tonic. "You have cartoon animators that are creating the movements and gestures that [my character] makes. It’s up to me to fit the sound to that." Lohman takes a deep breath and says, "It’s not like you’re coming with–I mean, the body is not there! The movement and the gestures have already been created for you. You have to kind of match that. If something clashes with the animation, then the audience isn’t going to get the full effect."
While this might not seem like that much of a challenge on the outset, Lohman’s attraction to this becomes more readily apparent when she begins describing the path she takes with her live-action work to determine how she is going to create her character. "So much of the character is defined by the actions behind their words," she begins, "because somebody can be talking the talk, but it only means something if that comes through in the manner in which she says it."
One of the more unusual aspects of my conversation with Lohman is the brevity of her statements. While certain actors are more than happy to ramble on at length, talking in near Shakespearian monologues often making it hard for me to get a word in edgewise, my chat with Lohman is just that: a two-sided discussion about life in Hollywood and the pursuit of truthfulness in acting.
Not only does Lohman admit that her press-shy nature often separates her from the majority of her fellow actors, but she is also far more honest, introspective and inquisitive than most of her compatriots. My favorite quote of hers comes when she answers my question about whether a role could ever be too easy. Admits Lohman, "I don’t think a role could be too easy, I think I find everything I do hard."
Though she never actually comes out and talks about her reverence for the craft of acting, her respect is patently obvious. Her eyes light up as she begins to talk about Nicolas Cage, because he ‘gets’ acting. "Nic is so spontaneous that he forces you to be as well," she exclaims. "Because of that, your character takes on other dimensions that you hadn’t previously worked on... That’s the excitement of it; you want to be in that moment together." The tone of her voice shifts and she dutifully counters, "But sometimes that doesn’t happen and you’re forced to rely on what you worked on, on your own."
We continue talking about the mountains one climbs as an actor and why having co-stars who listen is such an important trait for Lohman ("They’re putting their energy into you," she asserts). I am listening to what she is saying-–her points are succinct and spot on–but at the same time, I cannot figure out why the press has not latched onto Lohman’s star and refused to let go.
It’s soon after Lohman makes the following proclamation, "I think the best performance is one that doesn’t have too much attention focused on it," that I realize she doesn’t have (or want) the skill of self-promotion. Diametrically opposed to discussions about who is wearing what and where the new hot spots are, Lohman is quite content making her impression on-screen and leaving the magazine cover stories to Jolie and Pitt. It’s amazing that her passion about her work and carefully constructed characters are no longer selling points to mainstream America. Lohman laughs at this and says, "It’s true, it kind of goes along with the [nature of] the tabloid magazines." And that is a distinct shame.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE OF STUMPED?
Actor Nick Nolte
Writer/actor Kevin Grevioux
Writer/actor Paul Reiser
Director Fernando Meirelles
Director Morgan Spurlock
Actress Bai Ling
Shrek 2 director Conrad Vernon
The Diary of Hollywood Starlet, Rachael Huntley
Hollywood Then (1985) and Now (2005)
Location Scouting in Manhattan
Don't miss writer/director Robert Rodriguez's sumptuous Sin City, writer/director Dan Harris' debut Imaginary Heroes or the rerelease of director Michael Curtiz's epic The Sea Hawk.
Back issues of this magazine are available for purchase.
