Fast Chat with Neve Campbell for The Company 1/11/04

Fast Chat: Neve Campbell
Valerie Gladsone - Newsday 1/11/04

Graceful as a ballerina, Neve Campbell sprints down the hallway of the Essex House in Manhattan recently, running from photo shoots to interviews with a big smile on her face. In town to publicize her dance film, "The Company," which opened Christmas Day, she is behaving more like a new parent than a glamorous movie star. For the pretty 30-year-old actress, best known as Julia in the award-winning TV series "Party of Five" and the heroine of all three "Scream" movies, producing and acting in the film has been like having a baby.
After studying ballet in her hometown of Toronto, Campbell turned to acting in her teens, only to find that nothing equaled the excitement of dance. She enlisted veteran scriptwriter Barbara Turner to help her bring a realistic story of dance to the screen. They toiled seven years on The Company, doing research and interviewing dancers and staff at the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, where the film was shot by legendary director Robert Altman. Settling down with freelance writer Valerie Gladstone, Campbell explained why those seven years were more than worth it.

What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

Convincing people that dance is a worthy subject. People are impressed with sports and athletes, but most of them have no idea that dancers train just as strenuously, if not more so. But because dancers make everything look effortless and beautiful, no one realizes what goes into it. They have no clue what dancers sacrifice physically and financially to dance. In telling our story we hope to show that dancers are as worthy of admiration, interest and respect as more traditional heroes.

How did you get a director as prestigious as Robert Altman?

From the time Barbara and I started working on the script, we always said we wanted the movie to be "Altmanesque," never really thinking we could get Robert. But when we finished the script I sent it to him, and he was interested. I was blown away. I then spent two months commuting back and forth from L.A. to New York to talk to him about my passion for the art and why it would make a good story. Basically I just nagged him into it. He became convinced. No one else could have done such beautiful work.

Why did you select the Joffrey company?

We wanted the story to be about a small company that performed a mixed repertory of modern, ballet and contemporary dance. With a bigger company you'd have too many characters, plus a hierarchy of corps, soloists and principals. The philosophy of Gerald Arpino, the Joffrey director, is "we're a company with all stars and no stars." I also really like that Gerry picks his dancers for their expression, for the light they have within, rather than for their perfect bodies or technique - though they have to be strong.

What was it like for you to dance again?

Wonderful. I trained for six months, 8 1/2 hours every day, to get back in dancing shape. It was really scary, but I wanted to make a good film and in no way did I want to be the actor pretending that I could dance, having had all the training and been a dancer.

How did you get interested in dance?

The way it seems almost every dancer does: I saw "The Nutcracker" when I was 6, and I thought, "That's what I want to do." My dad then bought me ballet classes for Christmas. By the time I was 9, I was in the National Ballet of Canada School performing "The Nutcracker" with them.

Why did you stop?

I studied until I was around 15, but I'd suffered a lot of injuries and I knew choosing dance as a career would be really hard on my body. Then I got a role in "Phantom of the Opera," and an agent contacted me. He got me modeling jobs, which I hated, and after that I started acting, and developed a passion for that.

Why do you love dance?

I love it because it's expression without words and a beautiful way to communicate. There are so many things that can only be said through movement. It also feels incredible in the body - like having a daily form of meditation - and becomes very addictive because it's so challenging. One day you do a double pirouette, and the next day you try for four. Every morning you wake up wondering if you're going to do better that day.