What's On
Issue #33
Maya Lawson
By Amy Westervelt
Published: September 1st, 2007 | 12:00am
Maya Lawson recently had the good fortune to make her feature film debut in Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain! If you haven’t seen The Saddest Music in the World, Maddin’s 2003 feature-length, rent it now — if only to see Isabella Rossellini dance with glass legs filled with beer. In his latest, a silent film narrated by Rossellini, Lawson plays a teenage girl who lives with her brother on a mysterious island that they share with a horde of orphans. Suspicious head wounds bring a pair of teen detectives to the island, and teenage crushes ensue, though secrets must be kept from the siblings’ tyrannical mother. In true Maddin style, the story is both dark and innocent with plenty of whimsy thrown in for good measure, and Lawson seems destined for indie stardom.
Here she talks about her favorite films, TV shows, actors, and directors (yes, Guy Maddin made the cut).
FAVORITE FILMS
Cinema Paradiso was one of the first films to have a magical impact on me as a child; I fell head over heels for Marco Leonardi. Run Lola Run is a mantra piece for me — Franka Potente rocks, and I love films in which people go to desperate measures for love. Gadjo Dijo (Crazy Stranger) is another one of my favorite movies, because in my soul I am a gypsy, and I love the soundtrack.
TV SHOWS
I never watch TV, but I get series on DVD and stay up all night watching entire seasons of The Wire, Lost, and Six Feet Under.
TOP ACTORS
Samantha Morton, Sarah Polley, and Franka Potente.
SPOT-ON DIRECTORS
Alfonso Cuarón, Deepa Mehta, for their raw and beautiful explorations of humanity. And Guy Maddin, whom I trusted from the first moment I met him on set and taught me that making movies is fun.
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