Kinsey is released on DVD and video on 11 th July from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
QUESTION: Kinsey is the third time you and Liam Neeson have worked together - after Love Actually and on stage in The Crucible?
LAURA LINNEY: It's the second time we have actually worked together because we didn't share any scenes in Love Actually , but we did The Crucible together. That working relationship was successful on so many different levels. And when you have that sort of ease with someone. I had never had the experience of working on stage with someone and then going on to make a movie with them. It was fantastic and we were playing married couples in both projects. Liam and I very easily work together, we don't discuss a lot, we just sort of fall into it. And I know he is absolutely right there for me.
QUESTION: What research was necessary for Kinsey ?
LAURA LINNEY: There is not a whole lot on the character I play. There were some photographs that the Kinsey Institute very kindly let us look at and some video tape of her moving around and of her being interviewed. But the most important thing was that there was an audio tape of her being interviewed by Clive Martin, who is played by Peter Sarsgaard in the movie. From that is really where things clicked for me. Hearing the timbre of her voice, hearing how she how she organised her thoughts, hearing the breezy, brisk, mischievous, refreshing approach; her laugh. All that was very helpful.
QUESTION: The Kinsey's honeymoon scene was especially emotional and believable because sex was not a romantic fantasy. Was it easy to do?
LAURA LINNEY: The whole movie was easy to do. We were so comfortable with each other and the writing was so fantastic. Everything clicked so easily. If it had not been Liam it would have been very difficult.
QUESTION: Do you collect DVDs?
LAURA LINNEY: I am a little bit, I've just started. I love that through DVDs I can get an entire film festival of one person's work. I like to get all of Bette Davis's films for instance. You can see their progression as an actor, which movies didn't work and what they learned from that for the next project.
QUESTION: Do you like the extras on DVD?
LAURA LINNEY: I do like the extras. They are great fun. The new release of Willie Wonka has all of the children grown up and it is hysterical.
QUESTION: What five DVDs would you take to a desert island?
LAURA LINNEY: Dodsworth, Alexander Korda's The Thief Of Baghdad, Strictly Ballroom, Witness For The Prosecution and Robert Donat's Goodbye Mr Chips ...there are so many.
QUESTION: It's been said that you piled on 30 pounds for Kinsey ?
LAURA LINNEY: (laughs) It has grown in number. I was told I'd gained 40 pounds! But no it was 22 or 23 pounds.
QUESTION: So that weight gain is like putting on 11 bags of sugar?
LAURA LINNEY: Well I consumed about 11 bags of sugar. I did it by eating glazed donuts, my favourite food group. It really was easy to put the weight on, I couldn't believe it. To take it off I used a thing that is very popular in the United States right now. There are these food delivery services and they tailor a diet for you. It's a big thing now. I had another movie called PS to make right after Kinsey and I only had two days off between the films. I knew I wasn't going to be able to lose all of the weight but I thought I could lose half of it. So when I started to wear fat suits in Kinsey and they didn't need my real body I was able to start the diet.
QUESTION: What kind of diet did you use?
LAURA LINNEY: It was something called the Zone Diet, which is about food combination - the ratio between fat, and protein and carbohydrates and you eat five meals a day. It's amazing. The theory is that you need food to kick your body into a higher metabolism and it actually works.
QUESTION: What do you think of Hollywood 's obsession with shape and image?
LAURA LINNEY: It gets to a point where it is grotesque. An actor has to be somewhat in shape but that doesn't mean they have to be thin. It means their body has to be able to receive and give. There is something to be said about just basic health. I'm all for health. But it can really be absurd and it can really be more about self agenda than about the actual work that's being done. It's absurd to have a period movie with a botoxed face. I'm just tired of everybody looking the same.
QUESTION: What is your view on plastic surgery?
LAURA LINNEY: Plastic surgery has a wonderful place in the world to help people who are suffering with congenital problems, disfigurement or have had a car accident or scarring...things that are extreme. I'm all for that. It's truly a magnificent thing that they are able to do. However having said that, the body is an amazing thing. People age and I think that is quite wonderful. People don't appreciate their own resources.
QUESTION: When you got older in Kinsey did you see yourself like your mother?
LAURA LINNEY: I saw my paternal grandmother, I looked more like her. My mother is quite glamorous, a head turner. She was a nurse when she was younger and she is really stunning.
QUESTION: When she saw the movie did your mother notice and comment on that resemblance?
LAURA LINNEY: No she didn't say anything.
QUESTION: It's said after reaching 40 that you become more comfortable in yourself?
LAURA LINNEY: You do, 40 is a wonderful thing. I think it's just experience. You look around and realise you don't have to worry about half the stuff you've been worrying about. If you are lucky enough to be happy with who you are and what you are doing and the way you treat your family and other people, then it's really ok.
QUESTION: Your birthday was on February 5, so what is your attitude towards each birthday now?
LAURA LINNEY: I made it through another year. This year on my birthday I was at the Screen Actors Guild Awards with a bit of a 'flu. It was fine, I have a superstition about birthdays. I feel I need to be working on my birthday. I just like the idea of being active on my birthday and I consider the SAG Awards to be a little bit of fun and work so that filled the bill.
QUESTION: When did you last have a cake and candles and a party?
LAURA LINNEY: My best friend in Los Angeles has two adorable little boys and the day after my birthday I went over and they had a cake, the boys were jumping up and down. So that was ok.
QUESTION: When you attend a big awards event or a film premiere how do you cope with all the TV cameras and photographers on the red carpet?
LAURA LINNEY: They're all screaming at you and not in a nice way! I breathe a little deeper and try to have it on my terms...or else I wouldn't enjoy it.
QUESTION: Was Love Actually good fun?
LAURA LINNEY: I loved it! I loved being there and the people. I adore a candy bar called the Lion bar which we don't have in the USA . And I love going to the theatre in London where people come early, there are children playing in the lobby. I was making Mystic River at the same time so I was flying back and forth between London and Boston .
QUESTION: Are you still in touch with any of the cast?
LAURA LINNEY: Yes I'm in touch with Rodrigo Santoro and I saw Colin Firth at the Toronto Film Festival and I got a lovely phone call from Richard Curtis the other week.
QUESTION: And what about Hugh Grant?
LAURA LINNEY: Nobody does what Hugh does. It's remarkable. He makes it look so easy but people don't realise how skilled he is. I think the world of Hugh, I find him just delicious. I can't say enough good things.
QUESTION: We'll see you next in PS what sort of character do you play in that?
LAURA LINNEY: The superficial plot is that she meets a younger man who resembles a lost love. The deeper core of it is a woman who has reached a stage in her life when she realises life has not turned out the way she thought it would. She is lonely, divorced and works at a job that is not as fulfilling as she thought it would be. It just doesn't make sense to her. She is in life panic. So she has to stop and figure things out. The young man who reminds her of her lost love also brings up the memories of feelings connected to life.
QUESTION: It sounds very emotional, when did you last cry while watching a movie?
LAURA LINNEY: I rented Truly, Madly, Deeply recently. I'd seen it before and there were buckets of tears.
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