Interview With Kelly Macdonald, Star Of PUZZLE

Kelly Macdonald, who has been in films for the last twenty-two years, has had parts in many significant titles over that time. Beginning with Danny Boyle‘s Trainspotting, and finding parts in the Coen brother‘s No Country For Old Men, the lead in Disney’s animated Brave, the Harry Potter series, and a recurring role in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, she’s consistently had a foot in Hollywood. In her newest film, Marc Turtletaub’s Puzzle, she plays Agnes, a mother and housewife who feels stuck. When she’s rejuvenated after completing a jigsaw puzzle, she realizes she has an aptitude for it, and it ignites a fire under her.

I was able to chat with Kelly about her newest role, her perception of the character, and whats next!

Kristy Strouse for Film Inquiry: Thanks for taking the time today! I loved the film and you are really terrific in it.

Kelly Macdonald: Thanks, that’s always nice to hear!

Can you tell us a bit about how you first heard about the project, how did it get started?

Kelly Macdonald: I was sent the script and soon as I started reading the story I just wanted to be her. I found her really compelling and just very different from any characters I’ve played before. She’s cut from the same cloth as a few characters I’ve played maybe that were sort of on the quiet side. There’s something older about Agnes that I felt would be interesting.

What was your first impression of Agnes when you first read the script?

Kelly Macdonald: I just… I liked her a lot and I felt that her rebellion felt very real. Things happen to her in the film, but they are not big dramatic things, nobody dies, ya know? She has an affair, but it is not catastrophic, and she’s very honest about it. And it’s not about the love affair- she just felt like a very real person with real issues.

I agree! You’ve played a lot of different parts, many intriguing women but this is one of your first leading roles. Was the preparation any different since it really is Agnes’s film?

Kelly Macdonald: No, my preparation wasn’t any different, I actually didn’t think too much about the lead aspect going in. I met my fellow actors and it felt very much like a team, like always. I’ve done lots of lovely ensemble work. It’s really about perspective with the film, but it keeps being brought to my attention that I was the lead, but I didn’t think about it too much while I was working.

While the story revolves around a jigsaw competition its really about Agnes and her quest for self-fulfillment, as a wife and a mother she doesn’t put herself first and as someone who is also a mother I’m sure you’ve dealt with that balancing act, your own needs vs your family needs. Was there any personal experiences that you drew from or anything particular about the character that you related to?

Kelly Macdonald: There are some things that resonated but you know Agnes is not like me. I saw her as being kind of on the spectrum. Her issues are very universal, her struggles with identity and finding her voice are very real struggles that people can relate to.

Definitely! She lives a very sheltered life, she keeps to routines, she even rejects technology at first.

Kelly Macdonald: Yes, very uncomplicated. She’s like a contradiction. She’s uncomplicated on the surface, but on the interior it’s so chaotic.

Since it is so specific to your character, I have to ask, are you a jigsaw puzzle fan or did you become one? Did you prepare at all with Irfan Khan?

Kelly Macdonald: No, I didn’t do any beforehand. I mean I have done jigsaw puzzles in my adult life and I enjoy them, but it just brought it back to me. Doing the film, I started doing jigsaw puzzles again and I just really love them. I find them very fun. It’s amazing when you start talking about puzzles with people you find out how many of them do them as well, but it wouldn’t come up ordinarily. [Laughs]

So, by the end it kind of restored your love for them?

Kelly Macdonald: Oh yeah, and I stole quite a lot of the set puzzles.

SPOILER. The ending is sort of an option three scenario, like… she doesn’t do the tournament, but she still leaves, going to Montreal. In your perspective how do you see Agnes going forward, what would her life look like after the film?

Kelly Macdonald: I think she is just incredibly brave, in that she doesn’t… I just think it would be a mistake if she immediately went back to her husband. Or went away with Robert. I think she is smart enough to realize what she is doing, and that she has to deal with it on her own. It’s almost beside the point as to what happens after that.

Starting with your first film Trainspotting, which was 22 years ago, how much have you changed as an actress or how much has the landscape of cinema changed since then?

Kelly Macdonald: Not a lot has changed since Trainspotting, but I’m enjoying the fact that I’m still doing it all this time later and it’s getting more interesting and not less. I’ve read historical pieces that say entertainment actresses, ya know, there’s not much work casting at this age. I’m at an age where it’s really interesting. I’m interested in the age that I am now, and I think there are a lot of great stories to be told with really multidimensional characters. I’m really enjoying it.

Absolutely! You’ve done both television and film, and you were wonderful as Margaret in Boardwalk Empire and had an enormous presence there, would you be open to getting into another TV series as demanding, again?

Kelly Macdonald: I have other considerations, because I have kids, and TV is very demanding. Long term, television series takes such a commitment. You are filming sometimes like 9 months out of the year. I couldn’t just decide to take something that will film in Hawaii or something for that amount of time. I would really struggle to commit to something as big as Boardwalk again.

Outside of acting do you have any other aspirations or goals?

Kelly Macdonald: I enjoy being a mom and I’ve got quite a full life. I don’t know, it’s an interesting life and I’m enjoying it.

Of course, do you have anything coming up you can tell us about, any new films you’re working on?

Kelly Macdonald: I’ve just started a new project for Netflix and the BBC One called Giri/Haji. It’s a story that takes place between Tokyo and London, and there’s a lot of amazing Japanese actors in it, and they’ll be speaking Japanese so a lot of it will be subtitled. It’s a crime story, actually, featuring a lot of multi-dimensional woman (again) so I’m delighted.

That sounds great! I look forward to it. You’ve done a lot of different kinds of movies, Brave (which was great), Harry Potter even. Is there any particular role or experience that stuck with you the most?

Kelly Macdonald: I feel like I’ve got a lot of them and I’ve got certain benchmark roles that sort of changed things for me in a global way. Boardwalk definitely opened up America a bit more. No Country for Old Men was great, and it gave me a chance to see I could do something other…someone completely different. I don’t know, I’ve been given so many amazing opportunities.

Well you were great in so many of them! And you’ve had a very eclectic range of roles and in Puzzle why I think you shine so much is because of kind of what you said earlier: she’s a contradiction, and she starts finding this simplicity in puzzles that awakens something inside of her, were there any challenges getting into her mindset?

Kelly Macdonald: I mean I was pretty solitary when I was doing it, I had all the fun family stuff to do and working with the actors, but for most of the film I was on my own. I think that was both challenging and necessary. You know, a huge part of Agnes story is told in the scenes when she’s alone and the audience gets to know her that way. I thought that was interesting.

Absolutely. I loved the film, you have great chemistry with Irfan who plays Robert, among the others, how was it working with the cast?

Kelly Macdonald: It was amazing, I just really liked them all, they are great actors. They are all so diverse. Everybody had a real character, there were no sort of cut outs. Everybody had depth and were multi-dimensional. And I couldn’t have asked for nicer people to be around!

We want to thank Kelly Macdonald for taking the time to speak with us. 

Puzzle was released on July 27th in the US and September 7 in the UK. To read my review on Puzzle, click here.