Sweet Virginia

Virginia Madsen parlays her Oscar nomination

Movie: Firewall
Director: Richard Loncraine
Starring: Virginia Madsen, Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Alan Arkin
Studio: Warner Bros

In early 2004, Virginia Madsen was just another working actress. Then a little movie called Sideways came out and she went big-time. Thankfully, she still let us interview her.

In her first big studio movie after her Oscar nomination, Madsen plays Harrison Ford’s wife. Not a bad gig. In Firewall, some baddies hold the Stanfield family hostage and make Jack (Ford) hack his own security system. Mrs. Stanfield (Madsen) keeps the kids calm so they don’t make the crooks too trigger-happy. And they say housewife isn’t a full-time job.

The Wave: Now that you’ve done a supporting role in an action movie, would you like to play a full-on action heroine?
Virginia Madsen: No. I thought I did when I was doing this. I was like, “You guys gotta let me kick some ass.... Harrison, listen, the way women are today, I cannot just be sitting on the sidelines being afraid.” He said, “Oh, that’s a good point.” Cut to toward the end of the shoot. I was like, “Ouch. Do I have to run again?” I was so wimpy by the end.

TW: Did you get any bruises?
VM: Oh, God, I was always falling down and I couldn’t run with my hands tied behind my back. I think there was a shot they actually cut out because I looked so silly. Here comes Harrison, diving through the window, onto Paul Bettany, they struggle, they break through the railing and fall onto the stairway. And I’m [lying] there going, “My shoulder hurts.” I could see him walking to base camp, all covered with blood, “Hey, Virginia!” I just said, “Oh, God, he’s so fit.”

TW: What was the first Harrison Ford movie you saw?
VM: Star Wars. Over and over and over again. I was that dysfunctional girl who liked that kind of man who paid no attention to you at all. I thought, “But, inside he’s really sensitive, he just can’t say it.” Like when Princess Leia finally goes, “I love you,” and he’s just so confused. He goes, “I know.” Why was I attracted to that?

TW: Did you tell him about this schoolgirl crush when you got to work with him?
VM: No. Actually, the reason why I really wanted to work with Harrison, and I think the reason why women love him – we know why men do – is because he’s so emotional. Not when he was Han Solo, but when he does his action movies like The Fugitive, when he was looking at Tommy Lee Jones, going, “I didn’t kill my wife.” We don’t like him as the strong silent type. We like him because he’s so emotional in those moments.

TW: Did being a mom in real life help you in the role?
VM: Oh, yeah. I was teaching before I was acting. It’s just something that I have an instinct for. So I think because I feel at ease with the kids, they’re probably at ease with me.

TW: Could you really stay calm in a hostage situation?
VM: I don’t know. Often in emergencies, I become extremely calm, and then I fall apart later. My son broke his arm one time really badly, and I got that dreaded call from the school: “You’ve got to come now, there’s an ambulance here.” So, I had major road rage on the way over there. Somebody saw me, too. I met them years later and they said, “God, I saw you and you were pounding the steering wheel on this corner.” Then, as I saw the ambulance in the distance, I just kind of pulled it all together. Then, once he [fell] asleep that night with his little cast, I completely fell apart and was hysterical with my mom on the phone, like, “My baby!”

TW: When did you know Sideways was going to change your career?
VM: Initially I thought it would change things because I knew it was going to be a good movie. But it was really the guys’ film, and Sandra Oh was the sexy one, so I just thought she’d get the attention. I never dreamed that there would be so much focus on all of us, let alone focus on me and one scene that I did. That was really cool. It’s not like you go into a job [thinking], “Yeah, I’m going to get a nomination for this film.”

- By Fred Topel