- [Reporter] It's hard to say what sort of genre
this film's going to fit into once it, it's kinda -
- Oh yeah, it really, I mean, this may be a wonderful film,
it may be a horrible film,
but I know it's like no other film I've seen before.
- [Crew member] Quiet, please!
(background chatter)
Volker [Schlöndorff], you wanna take a look at this?
- [Volker Schlöndorff] Yes, please.
- [Crew member] All right, Danny, can you give us playback?
- [Reporter] So tell me about - a little bit
about the plot of what a handmaid is.
- A handmaid is a woman whose function is only
to become impregnated and bear children, and
that's all they spend their energy doing.
- [Handmaids] ♪ Bless us, bless us, bless us ♪
♪ Bless us with fertility. ♪
- [Reporter] Tell me about the song that you sing
as you come in with this ceremony.
What's that type of thing?
- That's a hymn the girls are singing
as they're being officially, ceremoniously
dubbed 'Handmaids.'
- [Reporter] Talk to me a little bit more about your role.
You know, the character of Moira, and you know,
what her feelings are, you know, what separates her
from the other handmaids?
- She refuses to passively go along with the indoctrination
of this society, and so she uses whatever chance she can get
to rebel or, in some way,
cause trouble.
A device the character of Moira uses in order to escape -
her plan is to escape this society
or this handmaid indoctrination ceremony.
She says that she's going to pretend that she's sick
and be taken away in the ambulance
and hopefully talk the ambulance drivers into releasing her
and letting her run away.
- What attracted you to the role?
Did they give you the book first
or the script?
How were you approached?
- I think I must've read the script first and
I liked the fact that this girl was rebellious.
It was refreshing to me
and it's a little bit different
for me.
It probably will come out the same as everything
I've done before, but I mean initially,
it looked different on the page, so.
- [Ceremony Leader] You have been given this precious gift.
- [Handmaids] Precious gift.
- [Ceremony Leader] You are fertile.
You can give birth.
- [Handmaids] Precious gift.
- [Ceremony Leader] You can give birth.
You can give birth for our country.
- [Handmaids] Oh, precious gift.
- [Ceremony Leader] May the Lord -
- [Crew member] Stop! Thank you!
That's as far as you have to go.
- What attracted you to the role?
Did you get the script first, or the book?
I read the book first a couple of years ago
and I loved it.
I couldn't put it down.
And then they sent me the script, and I was amazed
that they'd managed to turn this book into a film
and I thought they'd done a great job on the script.
And when I heard who was directing it, I mean, and even more
when I heard what a great cast they had with Robert Duvall
and [Faye] Dunaway and Aidan Quinn and Elizabeth [McGovern].
I just - I thought this is too good to miss.
And the part - it's a roller coaster of a role.
There's nothing this girl doesn't go through,
from joy and elation,
to absolute despair.
I mean, all sorts of interesting things to play.
- Could you tell me about the different relationships?
If you could just briefly summarize them with Aidan.
My relationship in the movie with Aidan Quinn is
that he's very much, he's very much the hero
and the most sort of, you know, white knight sense
of the word, in the old-fashioned way.
And I love that.
I think you don't see that much in movies these days:
someone who's a great guy who you know
is going to come through,
and you don't know he's a hero
'til the very end,
but I just fall madly for him.
And I hope he falls for me.
So that's our relationship,
and with Duvall it's -
he is everything that is awful about the society.
He's a creator of this society, he's a killer.
And yet he's the most charming man.
And he's like my father figure.
So it's a relationship with a lot of
of different levels on it.
- Do you think that the book or the script for the movie
has any truth in reality?
Do you see it as being -?
- No, I mean, see, now I might be saying things
that Margaret Atwood would not agree with.
I don't think that's the intent of this film, though.
I think that Volker and the actors are pretty much
in agreement about that.
That what we're saying is not that this is an imminent,
conceivable situation.
We're not making any kind of political statement at all.
It's sort of an extreme,
paranoid world view
of what it's like,
and some of the pressures that one experiences
being a woman, is what it is.
- It keeps the essence of the book, but changed it
in order to make it much more of a movie.
So it's much more of a thriller mystery.
What's going to happen next?
Is she going to come out?
It's the ending of the book is dramatically changed.
There's much more action.
She's much less of a passive character.
And I think the love story is played up more.
So it's brought to life,
it's not so much someone's observations
of the world around them.
- The film - do you see it as being a genre of film?
Do you see it fitting into a category?
- I think this - if this movie works,
it would be like no other movie ever made.
'Cause I don't see what category it fits into.
I mean, you can stick labels on it.
And there is something for everyone:
There's a love story and there's the thriller side of it
and then there's the vaguely futuristic
side of it,
and the political side of it.
But, I don't know.
I think it would be a movie out on its own,
but I hope a lot of people will go and see it.
(laughs)