She's No Angel: Brittany Snow in 'Finding Amanda'
Brittany Snow and Matthew Broderick in Finding Amanda
Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
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Do you think you gained any greater insight into why some girls end up hooking?
In the movie, it kind of touched on that [Amanda's other] uncle had raped [her] and then — what I always thought was — because she has been raped and her parents were not that attentive to her in that situation, she wanted to create a sanctuary in a certain way. So she starts creating this home where she is by herself and she can have this car and this house, have the perfect couch, have the perfect lamp. And this is going to be this sacred place that she is going to call home, and that is how she is going to feel safe. In order to get that, she needs money and so this is what she does. And because she feels like these perfect possessions make her happy, she is willing to do whatever it takes [to get them], which is prostitution.
How do you explain her relationship with her abusive boyfriend Greg? Can you relate to a situation where everyone else can see that this is detrimental but you're too blind to see the problems?
Yeah, I think she knows that Greg does not love her and is using her. She knows that prostitution is probably not an okay thing, but she has convinced herself that in order to be happy, she has got to have these certain things. So having this boyfriend who is really good-looking... she figures that is a way to be happy as well. She convinces herself that he loves her and he says and does the right things to get what he wants, but she is willing to believe it. It's all lies, but she moves so fast and she acts so happy because the minute she drops that façade and the minute she feels anything and stops smiling, she is gonna breakdown, which you see [in the movie].
But Amanda is not ready to give up her addictions, even after she is dropped off at the clinic, all expenses paid. Do you think you have to reach rock bottom before you are ready to accept help?
I think that is what I liked about the script a lot. It wasn't this stereotypical story about this girl who hits rock bottom and then she goes and gets help. This is a moment in time where her uncle tries to find her and it takes a few times of falling in order to realize that you are not going to get back up without help. I think a lot of people have a lot of rock bottoms before they hit their rock bottom. She is so convinced that this is the thing that makes her happy that, no matter what happens and what little speed bumps get in the way, she is still is convinced this is the way to go.
Amanda is a strange blend of upbeat energy and pathos, a lost sadness. Was it difficult getting that balance? How much direction did you get to nail that?
Interestingly, not a lot. I think Peter really trusted me. It was definitely a gamble, because I knew that I wanted her to be really energetic and happy and perky to the point of it being uncomfortable and annoying, almost, but still wanting to make her likeable and yet on the verge of breaking down at any time. It was a little difficult. We didn't really talk about it that much. I connected it with something I relate to as well. I used that to create this girl who was so happy that it was sad.
Did you have rehearsal time?
The way that Peter works is very interesting. He is very quick, which helps me a lot because I wanted the pace to be so rapid. He only did one or two takes at the most, so it was very fast and we didn't have a lot of time to rehearse or over-analyze what we were doing, which was a challenging way of working.
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