LIV TYLER
The end of the world is nigh, but LIV TYLER isn't heading for the bunkers. The Stealing Beauty actress joins the blockbuster league with disaster movie Armageddon. - s Nigel Floyd
APOCALIPS
NOW
IN 1996 LIV TYLER WAS 'THE FACE OF CANNES'. li\er) where you looked. her elongated lace. sharp cheekhones and dark eyes smiled hack lrom the posters tor Bernardo Bertolucci's Sim/tug Beau/i. So what was she doing hack in ('annes this year with .-trmugt'(ltlm1. a testostcrone-charged sci-ti moxie ahottt roughneck oil-drillers in space'.’ She was still wondering about that herselt'. ln l‘act. 'l'_\ler twice turned down the role ot‘ Bruce \Villis's daughter.
‘lt was really w eird.~ she adtnits. '1 went in and met .lerr)‘ [Bruckheimetz the prodttcerl and Michael {Ba}; the director] r.lerr_\ has this huge wooden desk that stretches from here to that wall o\ er there and they ol'l'ered me the role the next day. But I didn't reall) know an_xthing about the lilm. and I had this little gut instinct telling me that it didn‘t t’eel right.’
The director wasn't taking no for an answer. how ever. ‘Michael k'ept calling the and promising to write my part better. and when I heard ahout the rest ot‘ the cast. I said ok‘a}. l ligured it] was going to lace the end ot' the world. who better to do that with than Bill} Boh 'l‘hornton. Steve Btiscemi and m_\ triend Ben .-\t'l'leck.'
ln Cannes. 'l‘}ler was upset by reports that audience laughter had greeted the teart‘ul tarew ell scene hetween her and her on-screen lather. Bruce Willis particularl} because it had heen so hard tor her to do at the time. In the linished tilm. a degree of intimac} is created h) the tact that \Villis‘s lace appears on a huge hank ol' dit'l‘erentl) si/ed monitor screens. hut on the set the atmosphere just wasn't conducire to lull-blown emotion.
‘()h my (iodf e\claims ’l‘}ler. ‘that was the most dis- astrous thing that e\ er happened to me in in} whole lite. I got m}selt~ prepared h} just cr_\ing in m_\ chair t‘ot' ahout two hours. But when 1 went on the set. l had
'I figured if I was going to face the end of the world, who better to do that with than Billy Bob
to sit in the lltlLlLllL‘ (ll. Thornton' . a room. with a Steve BUSCQmI monitor showing and Ben Bruce's lace. and two
L'LtlllL‘l‘£t\ fill [110 ill Ullc‘c‘.
AfflECk.' Liv Tyler 125THELIST “i
"l'he genius who had made the tape ol'
Bruce speaking hadn‘t tell an} spaces tor tne to speak. It was such a disaster and it took a long lime to shoot. hecattse Michael lttttl to pause the tape e\er_\ time I was supposed to speak. There was none ot the intimac} I tell when I read the script. I‘d go to sa_\ something and it Michael hadn't paused it in time. I'd lime to repeat in} sell."
l-‘ortunatels. 'l‘_\ler had some acting technique to tall hack on. hut that old} took her so tar. 'You can't intellectualise e\er_\thing. hccause _\ou don't do that in real lite. You don't think ahout e\er_\thing het'ore
)ou speak. and know how soti’re going to sa} it. It hecomes repetiti\ e w hen _\ou ha\ e to do a scene like that o\ er and met again. and that's wh}. personall}. l lime to go out and liaxe a
laugh with the laws on the crew to halance that. to tree in) selt‘ol' it tor a while.
“It depends on the lilltt.tltottglt.'sl1e admits. '()n the last liltn I did. litter/1cUncut/t with Ralph l’iennes. I had to concentrate constantl}. But on others. like this one. wed
just sort ot goot‘ till all day.
Armageddon goes on general release from Friday 7 August. See review.