Life's a drag
Toni Collette is on song with her life and career, writes Daniel Hoy.
Toni Collette reclines in a big, comfy armchair at St Kilda’s Prince Hotel, glancing on the window as the rain drizzles on to a tram rattling down Fitzroy St. Taking in a typically rainy Melbourne day, she sighs contentedly as if to say, “life is pretty good”. “The rain is so Melbourne to me. I feel like I should have a glass of red wine in my hand,” she says wistfully. Since her debut performance in 1992’s Spotswood, Collette has appeared in 27 films. She has captivated audiences with her effortless ability to draw empathy with the slightest movement or expression, whether it’s be pity as the loveable Muriel in Muriel’s Wedding, or frustration and fear as a mother searching for the answers to her son’s torment in The Sixth Sense. As she prepares to speak about film No. 25, the comedy Connie and Carla, Collette could not look sound or act any less like a movie star if she tried. She is relaxed, unpretentious and content to chat about anything. Collette and musician husband Dave Galafassi are planing a family in the near future, but want to broaden their horizons and see a bit of the world first. “I can’t wait to have kids, but I’m only 31 so I do want to wait a few years” she says. “We Want to go travelling and be young and free in the world. I feel like I havehad so much resonsibility. I have been working since I was 17, basically. And now that I have found my soul mate and best friend, we just want to traipse around and see what the world is like. I mean I have seen a bit of the world through work, but I just want to feel a little freer my happy trails. I would love to try living in Italy or France, where I can learn another language, in a culture I really admire, especially Italy. They really know what they are doing over there, so laid-back”.
Collette has just had two months off and it seems to have agreed with her. Not only did she see a bit of Australia by visiting Uluru, she spent time working on her music and says an album will be out sooner rather than later. “There is no album to speak of yet, but we have some songs that I think would make a good album,” she says. “I have been writing for quite some time and with the two months off, I have had the opportunity – and the right people around me – to get together and go for it. “I have been sitting on it for so long I just need to do it. “It is not even for anyone else. I need to do it for myself, just to get it out of my system.” Unlike her career as an actor – where Collette is able to express her ideas but ultimately has to take her cues from the director – music allows her to take control. She’s the boss. “It’s fun because music is my thing. We can take our time and it feels natural and there is a real ease to it,” she says. “There is no stress involved at all. People often talk about actors being so wound up and stressed and musicians being so chilled out. There may be some truth to that. So I am happy to delve into the musicians’ world.” Luckily for Collette, Connie and Carla allowed her to combine her love of music and acting. Set in a world of drag queens and dinner theatre, the film also helped her come to terms with a past she felt a little embarrassed by – her beginnings in musical theatre. “It is quite funny that these girls (Connie and Carla) are into these cheesy musical numbers, she says. “I grew up doing musicals and I kind of walked right away from it thinking, how embarrassing. But I think I have fallen in lose with it again. I love singing. These songs are not songs I would choose to sing, but someof them are quite challenging.”
Collette’s performance is a stand-out compared to that of co-star and writer Nia Vardalos, who is adequate but not as believable as a cross-dresser. On the other hand, Collette is hard to distinguish from the real gender illusions. While the make-up department makes sure she looks like a man dressed as a woman, the way she walks, talks and stands makes you believe she has in fact has left her womanhood behind. “I think I was born to be a drag queen. I loved it.” she says. It was such a great script when I read it. And I have done musicals here and I had done something on Broadway, but they have such a small audience. I felt I had to go and prove I could sing and dance.”
The film was shot in Vancouver, which has a very healthy drag scene, and many of the extras were real drag queens. Collette’s performance must have impressed them because they presented her with the highest honour a straight girl can receive from a group of gender benders: a tiara and a drag name. “How many people Can say that?” she says, laughing. “My drag name is Matilda Towlette. I think it’s Matilda because of Australia and Towlette because it is cheap, nasty and sounds a bit like Collette.” Before she hits the road with her husband, Collette has two movies coming out: The Last Shot with Matthew Broderick. and In Her Shoes. In Her Shoes is being referred to as In Her Underwear after an onset thief went on a panty raid in co-star Cameron Diaz’s trailer. There it already strong buzz surrounding the flick, in which Collette plays the prissy, uptight sister of party girl Diaz. Collette describes working on the film as “one of the best jobs I have had in many years. The script resonated with me and I felt completely satisfied every day I went to work,” she says. “Curtis Hansen was the director and he has worked on things like Wonder Boys and L.A. Confidential and he was just so versatile and a wonderful person. He was so wise and brilliant, a genius of a director. It was great to work with someone who really knows what they are doing”.
Collette is so without pretence herself it is hard to imagine her putting up with any diva-like behaviour. Luckily she did not have to. “I also worked with the most un-Hollywood of all the Hollywood stars in Cameron Diaz. She is such a great girl, a great person and so easy to work with and be with in general,” she says. “We were also living in Greta Garbo’s house at the time.” While Collette is not yet at Nicole Kidrnan’s level of success, she has long ago said goodbye to the need to audition for parts. But sometimes she does force herself to line up with the other hopefuls. “I think a lot of people have assumptions about what certain actors are like, so I think it is good to go in and prove them wrong,” she says. “I think an actor should be able to play anything.” Even a woman pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman.
Connie and Carla opens today.