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In the Action
FILMINK speaks to Max Payne star Mila Kunis about making the step from TV to film in this action blockbuster.
You might not recognise the name, but you'll no doubt recognise the face. MILA KUNIS played Jackie Burkhart in That ‘70s Show between 1998 and 2006. She's also the voice of Meg Griffin in Family Guy. But the 25-year-old stunner is now making her assault on the big screen. Earlier this year she was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In her latest film, MAX PAYNE, she has a much bigger role. Based on the popular game of the same name, Kunis plays a sexy assassin out for revenge.
Tell me about your character in Max Payne.
"Her name is Mona Stacks. She is an assassin, and she loses her sister and assumes that Max Payne [Mark Wahlberg] was the one responsible for it. But he gets set up. So she goes on a spree to kill Max Payne, and while doing so, they realise that they're looking for the same bad guy. They team up and ultimately realise that you can't save the dead, and that once a person is dead, they're gone. Revenge doesn't solve anything."
Were you familiar with the video game?
"I was. I played the first game years and years ago. I never finished it and I was really bad at it. I never played Max Payne II."
Are you into games or was that a one off thing?
"I'm more or less into games. My number one game is World Of Warcraft. It's about a lost civilisation. That's pretty much it."
What training did you have to do for this role?
"I had weapons training more so than anything. I can put an MK5 together and I can shoot a Colt evenly. I did a little bit of baton training. I ended up doing a little bit of kickboxing but that was mostly for myself. I wanted her to have a stronger stance, more of a man's stance."
Do you normally work out and keep fit?
"I do not work out at all. I go through phases. I'll do Pilates for two months, and then I'll get bored. A year later, I'll do yoga for two months, and then I'll get bored. So no, I'm not one of those work out fiends."
Was it hard to get this role in terms of the competition?
"I read for it. I went and did Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and half way through, I got a phone call that I got the part and then I had to go to Toronto and do my training and stuff. It's a great part, so I'm assuming there were a lot of people fighting for it. I didn't really think I would get it, so I didn't fight for it."
Why didn't you think you'd get it?
"I respect [director] John [Moore] for taking a chance on me. He could have easily gone for the stereotypical girl who's done these types of parts before, and I respect him for trusting me and allowing me to do something that no one's ever seen me do before."
Your career is really taking off at the moment; do you have a plan?
"I don't think you can have a plan in this industry. If they say they do then they're just lying to themselves. I take one day at a time. I started to make my own decisions and pick my projects. I'm in a very lucky position where I'm able to do that so I take advantage of it. I mean I started acting when I was nine-years-old and at that point you just do whatever is given to you, because it's not about a career it's just about working and having fun. Then when you consciously make a decision of this being your career, you start taking pride in the roles that you choose. A lot of it is conscious, but it's not necessarily a plan. I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow."
What made you start acting at nine?
"It just happened. It wasn't a conscious decision. I took an acting class and I met my manager who's my manager to this day. I went on an audition for a Barbie commercial and I ended up getting it, and that was it. I got hooked pretty easily. It never occurred to me that I could make a living off it or that it could be my career at age nine."
Then you got That ‘70s Show when you were fourteen, right?
"I was still really young. I was still going to high school and I graduated high school and I was going to go to college, and then half way through the first semester, I was like, ‘You know what? I know what I want to do'. Then I dropped out."
On Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you asked for a body double for the nude scene. Why?
"My parents raised me to have a pretty strong head on my shoulders, and my dad always instilled empowerment in myself. He was very pro-woman. He was always like, ‘Be strong as a woman'. My dad was really, really great about that. I've made dumb decisions, don't get me wrong, but my grandparents don't need to see my boobs."
You've become a pin up girl as well. How does that make you feel?
"It's very sweet and it's really nice, but it just doesn't mean very much to me. I'm very honoured that people find me attractive or that one person finds me attractive, but it's just not something that's important to me."
What's next for you?
"I'm in a film called Extract, with Jason Bateman. He owns an extract factory and then a boy of his gets impaled in the genitals and I seduce the employee to sue the company for $1 million. I play a pathological liar who's a kleptomaniac. Jason Bateman slightly falls in lust with her and wants to have sex with her, but he's married. So he hires a gigolo to seduce his wife, and his best friend, played by Ben Affleck, finds the gigolo for him. Meanwhile I'm stealing stuff, and he ends up catching me stealing stuff and he finds out that I've been lying and knows that I'm helping to sue the company and hilarity ensures. It's really, really funny."
Max Payne is released on October 16.
