Rosario Dawson likes 'Trance' scene
If anyone is going to cringe at Rosario Dawson's destined-to-be-talked-about nudity in Danny Boyle's thriller Trance, it's Dawson herself, right?
Turns out, not so much.
"When I'm watching this movie, I'm seeing (her character) Elizabeth, I'm not seeing myself," she says, referring to a scene in which a very n*ked and notably, uh, manicured Dawson pays homage to one of Goya's nubile subject.
"And if I see myself, that's when I'm mad because that's not who I should be seeing up there."
And while she admits she hasn't done a lot of nudity in films, she adds, "because it was dangerous and risky (for the character) it felt less so for me. If it had felt like it was a se*y kind of thing, I think it would have been really terrible. In general, my whole perspective is always about what's best for the film."
Power of suggestion? The mind playing tricks? All appropriate subjects considering in Trance she plays a hypnotherapist initially enlisted to help traumatized fine art auctioneer (James McAvoy) recall the location of a stolen Goya masterpiece. To reveal much more would be to ruin the movie's trippy surprise element, but let's just say Elizabeth manages to hold her own against some very bad dudes, including Vincent Cassel as a vicious gang leader.
And it marks a welcome development in Dawson's career. After playing her share of girlfriends -- not that she's complaining, given that her bfs in question have included Will Smith, Colin Farrell and Clive Owen in films directed by the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee -- Trance gave her the opportunity to be the story's driving force.
And it required Dawson to make a few alterations to her usually alluring self.
"I had actually worn a little hairpiece at the very front to give me a widow's peak because I don't have one and always wanted one," explains Dawson.
"But it did something really interesting -- it changed my face a bit and just evolved into this kind of nun-ish style."
She also observed the personalities of different hypnotherapists who all shared a character trait quite different from her own.
"As you can see, I can't stop moving," laughs the admittedly animated, 33-year-old native New Yorker.
"I talk really fast but Elizabeth is very deliberate and still. One of the things I was struck by the most was how confident they are and that makes sense given that they're like, 'I've never met you before and you have an issue that you've been struggling with for 20 years and I'm telling you if you come to my office I can help you with it.' Pretty audacious, you know?"
As for reports she and the other actors allowed themselves to go under hypnosis before starting production, Dawson confirms this.
"We had someone who came in to see us in London to try to put us under," she says.
"We were all very much wanting to go under but we were also incredibly distracted. James had a moment where he couldn't pry his fingers apart but Vincent doesn't believe it at all and thinks he was messing with us."
