'Leave No Trace' star Ben Foster: 'You can fake chemistry'
Bill Goodykoontz
Ben Foster plays a lot of intense characters in movies.
He sounds fairly intense in conversation, as well. At least he did in talking about "Leave No Trace," Debra Granik's excellent new film in which he plays the father of a 13-year-old girl, played by Thomasin McKenzie. He suffers from PTSD and lives with her in the woods of a park in Portland, Oregon. They're discovered, and have trouble assimilating into society.
You don't see a lot of goofy comedies on Foster's resume. You do, however, see films like "Hell or High Water," "3:10 to Yuma" and "The Messenger." Foster talked a bit about what attracts him to dramas in a recent interview.
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Question: If someone dropped you in the woods, how much of what you do in the movie could you do?
Answer: I could do all that. That stuff was practical. There were some time cuts, but I came in for an intense few weeks with some great, great folks in Portland who are survivalist experts. Anybody can learn. It's not that complicated. It's being able to read your environment and, hopefully, you don't have to be stuck in that situation in the first place. But building, shelter, water, edible plants or food, fire making, those basic skills, it's a great course, I recommend it.
Q: Thomasin McKenzie is terrific in the film.
A: Yeah, she was a real find. Debra's great at that. She's got a radar for these powerhouse women. (Jennifer Lawrence's breakout role was in Granik's "Winter's Bone.") Yeah, Tom was excellent. Really nice to work with, a sweetheart. She's just a very present human. She's right there with you. She's great to work with.
Q: Can you fake chemistry? This is a different kind of relationship, even that the traditional father-daughter one.
A: We didn't do a traditional rehearsal process. I wanted to go in early to the training, just to get my head around it and ask them to stagger hers in order to allow me to learn something that I could then teach her how to do. And those kind of physical actions, those practical learning experiences, had a great effect on creating a shorthand for us. If you know how to be together out in the woods, quietly, and communicate and make that a safe place to chop wood, or creating feather sticks — she was masterful for the fires — you just get a feel for somebody. It takes all the (expletive) out of it. Do the thing. Spend time together. And it worked.
You can fake chemistry, and I've found that if you really don't like somebody, there can at least be an energy there that's compelling on camera (that) can translate. But in our case, we actually enjoyed each other's company. That was a plus.
Q: What is your take on your character? He seems like he wants to do what is best for her and he knows he's not, but he can't help it.
A: Yeah (sighs). Yeah. That sounds about right (laughs). It sounds very human to me. We all kind of struggle with wanting to better than we're capable of at times. He's dealt with his trauma, suggested from war, and developed a philosophy of existing outside of society's hustle and bustle. And to that part, I do understand it. If I don't touch nature once a day, I get a little squirrelly. There's good medicine there. It's real. It's much bigger than us, and it's important to have a relationship with nature. His is not one that I necessarily would want for myself. But I do believe that he's trying to save his daughter from perhaps the toxicity of society, and the poor nutrition of technology. I get that. I relate to that. I just read today that most North Americans, I think it is, spend at least four hours on their phone, on their computer. That's 25 percent of their day. We didn't have that technology 15 years ago, 10 years ago. It wasn't around. And in that time, anxiety and depression have skyrocketed. So it's worth thinking about.
Q: Yes, but I'm not sure his approach is the correct one.
A: He just goes so far. His imbalance is what becomes toxic for her, I believe.
Q: What makes it so sad is his self-awareness — he knows this isn't the best thing for her, but he can't help it.
A: Yeah. He's struggling, for sure.
Q: But the same goes for her. She realizes this isn't right. And it develops organically. She doesn't just wake up one day and say, "Oh, I want a TV."
A: (Laughs) It's a slow burn, for sure.
Q: I liked how we don't know exactly what happened with him.
A: That takes a lot of courage for a filmmaker. It's unusual. When we go to the movies, we expect to be told everything and shown everything. The way Debra approached it is very appealing. It gives the audience a bit of credit.
Q: I like when they ask if he's a team player, and he just says he used to be. It says a lot about the character in a few words.
A: The more spare we made him, each line had a lot more weight. Debra and I enjoyed taking a razor to the script and saying, "If he doesn't need to say it, he shouldn't say it." We cut out quite a bit of dialogue. He wasn't a chatty Kathy, but we pruned him down, for sure.
Q: What's it like to prepare for that?
A: It was an extraordinary time, mostly because my wife was expecting. We were expecting the birth of our daughter. So the job lent itself to time to consider these ideas in a very real way. So it was beautiful and heartbreaking, to come to work and say goodbye to my daughter and come home and see her kicking in my wife's belly, it's a special time that will not be repeated, I'm sure.
Q: You often play people who are damaged or wounded in some way. What's appealing about that?
A: I like to learn things. ... Making the movie is kind of silly at times. You're repeating a similar action over and over. But the research part of it, similar to a journalist, is exciting. You get to say why do you do that, and how do you do that. I suppose the characters that I've been drawn to have just shown up when they've shown up. I either need jobs, or I was really excited to work with somebody and was excited to ask those questions with them. I should probably talk to a head doctor about why I choose what I do, but I'm going to avoid that.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.
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