Canadian Sarah Gadon stars in two films showing at Cannes

CANNES, France — For an actor to be in two films at Cannes is nothing new. This year’s two-fers include Isabelle Huppert, Matthew McConaughey and Jessica Chastain, who never met a festival she couldn’t multitask.

Toronto native Sarah Gadon is in a unique position, however. She has a starring role in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis and another in Antiviral, a first film by Cronenberg’s 32-year-old son, Brandon.

The one came on the heels of the other. Gadon had just finished shooting Cosmopolis when the younger Cronenberg’s script landed in her inbox. (It doesn’t hurt that both directors employ the same casting director, Deirdre Bowen.)

“There was a moment when I thought: ‘Oh no, what if I don’t like this film? I love David so much.’ But then I started reading the script and I thought the ideas were well executed and thought out.”

Even so, Gadon didn’t think the part was right for her. The film imagines a world where fans of celebrities regularly consume their favourite stars (through cloned muscle tissue) and pay through the nose to be infected with diseases of the rich and famous. The 25-year-old plays Hannah Geist, biggest star of all, afflicted with a mysterious and deadly virus.

“It was actually something that kind of deterred me from accepting the project because I really didn’t see myself in that role,” Gadon said. “I didn’t see myself as somebody who would be that objectified, and whose body would be fetishized in that way. So I really didn’t think the part would be for me.”

She met with Cronenberg anyway, suggesting that perhaps what he needed for the role was a fashion model rather than an actress. “It was him who convinced me that it was the humanity and vulnerability in Hannah Geist that he wanted to shine through,” she said of her decision to take the part. “But it’s still weird.”

Gadon was also intrigued by her recent trips to the celebrity stratosphere. Before signing on to Antiviral, she had done festival tours with Cronenberg Sr.’s A Dangerous Method (in which she plays Michael Fassbender’s wife), then worked on Cosmopolis with Robert Pattison. Neither man has a low profile.

“That’s what made the script more appealing to me at the time,” she said. “It’s something that was in the forefront of my mind.”

Five minutes with Gadon and it’s clear she has a lot on her mind. This is an actress who can work phrases such as “the scopophilic fetishization of the female body” or “the semiotics of film” into the conversation. And she argued that the festival circuit is actually a vital stage from which she can speak her mind.

“That’s why I like to speak about film and why these junkets are really important to me,” she said. “Because so often the media platform that we’re given is related to fashion and beauty. I understand that’s part of the machine and I accept that, but I think it’s equally important to hear young actresses speak about film in a meaningful way.”

Antiviral, with its images of body fluids and horror, has drawn numerous comparisons with the early work of the elder Cronenberg. Gadon found similarities in the two directors’ work ethics as well.

“They give their actors a lot of space to create their own characters,” she said. “They’re not breathing down our necks. With David I always felt like I had complete freedom to craft whatever characters I wanted within the confines of the script.”

Making Antiviral, Gadon became fascinated with the idea of a celebrity facing death. “Once a person reaches an icon status — you’re posthumous, you never die,” she said. “But as a human being, facing death is a very real, tangible thing.”

Cosmopolis doesn’t get its first screening in Cannes until Friday, but afterward cast and crew will crowd into the festival pressroom to discuss their work. Behind them will loom a larger-than-life portrait of Marilyn Monroe, gone these 50 years but still willing to blow out a candle to celebrate Cannes’ 65th birthday. Art meets life — and death.

National Post

Sarah Gadon on industry (Robert Pattinson as well)

Interview for FILLER magazine

There is something immediately disarming about Sarah Gadon. Characterized by a cool breed of beauty that would have turned Hitchcock’s head, this blue-eyed, fair-haired actress negates any misgivings one may have of her as the reticent Hollywood starlet with her candid conversation and easy laugh. There is no aloofness to chip through when meeting the 25-year-old actress for the first time, and, comparatively, zero indication of mannered charm waxing an “average Jill” persona. She’s the type of person that, were you to arrive 10 minutes early for an interview with her, she’d already be there at the coffee shop waiting, passing the time reading, not messaging and Twittering on her phone.

Exemplifying archetypal Canadian humility, the actress is genuinely still wide-eyed by how her experience with the international film festival circuit — TIFF in particular — has come full circle with the success she’s had as director David Cronenberg’s new muse. Taking me back to her introduction to the festival scene, Gadon recalls her earliest experience at an official TIFF press conference, where the guest talent from the 2007 programming line up included herself, there as one of the representatives from Canadian short Burgeon and Fade, and her future director, Cronenberg, attending with his Eastern Promises star, Viggo Mortensen. While her film got less then desirable media attention at the conference, Gadon watched in awe as the Eastern Promises‘ duo basked in the spotlight and fielded the bulk of the journalists’ questions. “The Canadian press erupted for them when they walked into the room. All the women laughed extra loud at Viggo’s jokes. And nobody talked to us,” she shares, laughing. “I remember looking over at them and thinking ‘Those guys are so lucky…they’re so lucky…I can’t believe they have this platform. I wish one day I could be part of something like that. I wish one day I could be a part of a film that people wanted to talk about and care about.’”

Well, “one day” has arrived, and that buzz Gadon remembers longing for is exactly what does encircle the films her named is attached to as of late. From last year’s international film festival staple A Dangerous Method (her first Cronenberg feature), to American Psycho director Mary Harron’s horror drama, The Moth Diaries (premiered at TIFF 2011 and in theatres across North America this month), on to playing the wife of Robert Pattinson in the upcoming Cronenberg adaptation of Don DeLillo’s apocalyptic tale, Cosmopolis, and starring in Antiviral, the feature debut of Brandon Cronenberg (son of David), there’s no doubt, Gadon is a part of films people want to talk about.

Age and looks would dictate that Gadon — who began her climb through the ranks of television over a decade ago — pursue casting as the syrupy sweet girl-next-door in any number of blockbuster rom-coms, but as the actress’s most recent roles in the aforementioned films reveal, she is intent on playing characters distinguished by personality layers of a darker dye.

Shaking off the reserve demanded by her Dangerous Method role, the actress swaps the inhibitions of her Emma Jung character for the modern liberty of Cosmopolis’s Elise Shifrin, the eccentric poet and heiress, whom 28-year-old Eric Packer (Pattinson) put a ring on not 22 days prior to when the narrative action begins.

“She’s an oddball,” says Gadon of Elise. “When I read the script, I almost thought that she was kind of a hermit, even though she is a socialite, because she’s kind of inaccessible. I almost feel like she’s the type of person that doesn’t see the light of day very often.” Detecting a touch of the Grey Garden recluse in her character, Gadon researched “Big Edie’s” generation of atypical socialites for insight into the enigmatic Elise and her relationship with husband Eric. “She doesn’t really surface, she’s just right under the surface. And, I think her interactions with her husband are all about trying to figure out who he is and what the hell he does. I feel like they’re constantly trying to communicate, but they’re speaking two completely different languages,” the actress explains.

Gadon’s two turns at playing “wife” see her flexing a chameleon knack for transformation. “It’s funny because people don’t recognize me at all, which is kind of what I like,” she giggles. “I go on the red carpet and people are like, ‘You were in A Dangerous Method? Who were you?’” Even co-star Vincent Cassel didn’t recognize the actress out of character during camera call at the Venice Film Festival, a confusion which does nothing but please the actress. “I get so into characters…in ways that I can’t even tell you about,” jokes Gadon about “method” acting. “I like morphing into these characters…I like to create little worlds for them.”

The intimacy of her acting process nearly kept Gadon from taking the role of Hannah Geist in Antiviral, for fear she would not be able to relate to the character. “The character [the director] had me in mind for was an iconic, celebrity female starlet…something that I don’t identify with at all,” explains the actress, who felt “uncomfortable” with the idea of being immersed in the objectification of Hannah. In fact, it was a male role that most intrigued Gadon, who evidently prefers to play against her empirical beauty. But after meeting with director Brandon Cronenberg to discuss the inner-workings of the Hannah character, the actress was convinced she could find her way into the role. “He is extremely persuasive and very specific about his vision,” says Gadon of the director. “He really shed light on the character that I really didn’t see when reading the script.

Content with the character, and ready to sign on to the picture, the concern was now one of public perception. As the son of a prolific Canadian filmmaker — a director whom played a significant part in introducing Gadon to international audiences — critics might cast a negative slant on the shared pool of talent, but as the actress shares, the first-time feature film director was resolute in his refusal to let his last name factor into any aspect of his filmmaking. “When I sat down with Brandon for the first time, I asked him, ‘Are you sure you want to work with me? Because people are going to compare you to your father, and I will just be another link to that comparison,’ and he said what I thought was very admirable: ‘I think you’re right for this role. I’m not looking at any other factors or anything else that would affect that kind of judgment. I think you are perfect for this character.’”

A critique on celebrity culture, Antiviral, which co-stars up-and-comer, Caleb Landry Jones (seen later this year in Byzantium starring British A-listers Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Jonny Lee Miller and Sam Riley) was the ideal successor to the pop culture-laden Cosmopolis. “Coming off of the film with David and Rob, it really got my wheels turning about the whole idea of cultural phenomenon, pop stars [and] celebrity-ism.”

Having been plunged into the media shark tank/celebrity blogosphere last summer by rumours circulating about an off-screen romance with co-star Robert Pattinson during the production of Cosmopolis, Gadon knows something of the cultural phenomenon that is R. Patz. “You’d have to be living under a rock not to realize the far reach of his fan base.” Quick to deny the rumours and highlight the brevity of their working relationship (“I get asked so frequently about Rob and working with him, but we didn’t spend very much time together…we did our scene and then left.”), it’s evident the actress is combating the gravitation pull of the R. Patz orbit. “It’s kind of like this whole different force beyond it. I really honestly feel like I exist on a different planet than he does…I do,” she trails off, laughing. “I don’t live in that world…I go home…living in my bachelor apartment, taking the TCC, reading my school work…it’s weird.”

One Tweet from our photo shoot with the actress alerted a mass of Twilight fans across the globe on the hunt for any morsel of information leading them back to the whereabouts of their deity, something Gadon has becoming familiar with since opening her own Twitter account this January. “My Twitter account is open so anyone can follow me, and it’s really not particularly interesting. I tweet things like ‘Going to New York!’ and I have like R. Patz Venezuela saying, ‘Have a great trip’….it’s so bizarre.”

Asked if her glimpse of R.Patz fandemonium has since made her more protective of her personal life, a reverent Gadon insists: “I just don’t think I will ever achieve that sort of fame. It’s reserved for the teen heartthrobs, it doesn’t exist for us ‘normies.’” There’s no feigned humbleness when Gadon shrugs off any possibility of becoming a cultural icon, though readers would do better wagering the opposite, judging from the momentum of the actress’s rising star.

With Cosmopolis rumoured to be an official selection at this year’s Festival de Cannes in mid-May, and Antiviral vying for a spot in the competition, and of course both being optimal possible CanCon selections at this September’s TIFF, it would appear that Gadon is in for a rapturous international film festival season.

Cannes on the horizon (fingers crossed), the actress is feeling more prepared for this year’s tour of the red carpet. As she shares, last year’s premiere frenzy over A Dangerous Method at its Venice Film Festival screening came across almost “silly,” what with all the flashing cameras and elaborate dresses, both alien to what had constituted her acting career up to that point. “It was my first big red carpet: tons of journalists and celebrities, and I remember stepping out of the car and people were screaming and yelling, and I felt so awkward and uncomfortable that I wanted to start laughing,” she recalls. “After that, I told my mom, who was with me, that I thought it was so silly, and my mom said ‘Well, you shouldn’t, you should take this really seriously.’” And she did, from that moment onward. Gadon now perceives waving at fans and press on the red carpet in a pretty gown as a practice in audience-building. “This is a part of my job and a part of the industry,” she remembers thinking after Venice. “I believe in accessibility, and I really think that the fashion component of it all is a big part of that. I feel like my whole perception of fashion has really changed.”

Admittedly a tad wet behind the ears still when it comes to the industry’s off-screen facet, Gadon credits TIFF’s Talent Lab for guiding her via their Emerging Artists Project. “TIFF is amazing because as an organization, beyond the festival, they’ve really gotten behind me and helped support me as an emerging actor. I can’t tell you how appreciative I am, and how valuable I think that is to the trajectory of my career,” gushes Gadon. “Not only did it create a community of people to talk about film with and appreciate film with, but it also became a pool of resources for me to draw on when I was promoting my film, getting myself out there to the Canadian press and the international press…I’m really, really appreciative.”

Doubly proud of TIFF itself, while the low-profile actress prefers the mellow vibe found at smaller festivals like Venice, Toronto’s festival is dearest to her heart. “It’s a proud moment being from Toronto. I hear so much criticism about the Canadian industry and Canadian film, but I just think it’s such a proud moment that we have such an important festival…internationally. It says a lot about the neutrality of Canada in terms of the film market, but it also says a lot about the platform that we have,” says Gadon. “As Canada emerges on the international stage as a filmmaking nation, it’s really important to have young filmmakers and young directors that the Canadian audience can point to…that the international audience can point to, and it ultimately propels our own film industry.”

As contemplative in her approach to character development as she is with her strategy to manoeuvring the industry at large, Gadon esteems a balance between craft and trade. “I think that in our industry, you’re constantly fighting between art and industry; you have to find that balance,” she explains. “You’re trying to live and survive, but you’re also trying to stay stimulated as an artist, so I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way.” It’s the appreciation of the art form and “how far reaching a medium it is” that motivated the actress to enroll in the Cinema Studies program at the University of Toronto. “Every time I’m confused [about the industry], I walk into class and fall in love all over again.” Adding with a chuckle, “That’s why I stay in school.”

Intrigued by humble origin stories, Gadon own modest demeanour is anchored by the lack of get-famous-quick tales shared by co-stars like Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen, whose frank reply to how he became Cronenberg’s foremost leading man was, according to Gadon, along the lines of “he was the only one who employed me.” “It doesn’t matter how often you hear how much people have to struggle in this industry to make it, its just refreshing to hear great people talk about it,” says the actress. “It’s so great to be around people like that…it’s humbling.”

A self-possessed screen presence, a pronounced wit with awe-shucks appeal and a Golden Age screen beauty to boot, don’t eliminate the possibility of Canada’s Sarah Gadon advancing to international pop icon stature; from what we gathered, all signs point to an S. Gadon Venezuela Twitter account in the not-too-distant future.

TEXT BY JENNIFER LEE

Sarah Gadon for FILLER

Dangerous beauty

She’s the girl on Robert Pattinson’s arm, after spending months clinging to the right side of Michael Fassbender, and she’s been the favourite of A-list directors David Cronenberg and Ridley Scott, but she still remains relatively unknown. Canadian actress Sarah Gadon has indisputably hit a stroke of luck in a time when movies aren’t being made and the good ones are few and far between. Despite being suddenly cast into the VIP section of cinema, she’s surprisingly humble, smart about her roles, and excited about whatever ventures lie in her future. The 24-year-old has a background in dance, spending her youth training as a Junior Associate at the National Ballet School of Canada and as a student at Claude Watson School for the Performing Arts. She took on her first major adult role in A Dangerous Method playing Emma Jung alongside Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen. She simultaneously starred in Mary Harron’s Moth Diaries. To boot, she has also already completed Cronenberg’s Don DeLillo novel-adapted film Cosmopolis, in which she plays Robert Pattinson’s wife, to be released next year, as well as the Ridley Scott-produced mini-series World without End in Hungary. Her earnestness may make her seem green to those that meet her, but the actress is hard working and shows a glint of business savvy. Are we a fool for loving her? Either way, we’ll likely be seeing more of her. FILLER took a moment to catch up with her during the Venice Film Festival to talk Cronenberg, success, and where she thinks she’s headed.

What is it, you seem distracted?

It’s really awkward that this person is taking photographs right now, it’s like we should be pretend-working or something.

Yeah, look busy! So, how’s the festival been?

It’s my first European festival and it sounds so corny when I say it, but magical? But it kind of is. I was actually just working on a mini-series in Budapest, so I flew straight from Budapest. So I’m all acclimatized. But I’m just such a huge fan of cinema. And I love the roots of this festival, and to be in Venice with a Cronenberg film …

Have you seen Mary Harron’s yet?

I haven’t seen it yet … Yeah, so that’s a little nerve racking.

How was it shooting that film, and how does that compare to this role, which is a bit more mature?

I think with my role, Emma Jung in A Dangerous Method, there is a maturity, but also it kind of gets confused with how I think Swiss Germans suppressed their own emotions. And it was a completely different time, and a completely different consciousness. And she came from a very kind of wealthy Swiss-German background. And there is definitely a reservation there that was inherent at any kind of age. My character does age throughout the film, so you do get to see that kind of an arc, which is interesting because I shot that film before I shot Mary Harron’s film. And in Mary’s film I play a 16-year-old American girl in a boarding school, so it’s a bit of a switch.

Was this the first role that you play an adult?

Yeah, I mean I would definitely say that this is a step into more of the adult.

How was it working with the cast?

How was it? It was terrifying. I cast this role off of tape. I made a tape in Toronto and I sent it and David cast me. He flew me to Germany. I hadn’t met anyone until our camera tests a few days before we actually started shooting. I was so terrified that I was going to show up and the rest of the cast who are amazing, established actors would look at me and think, “Who are you?” So I was terrified, but I think it really forced me to grow up and become independent really quickly. And I learned so much being surrounded by Viggo, Michael and Keira. They are so established and they are very dedicated to their craft. And it was just a huge learning experience for me. And I loved it.

A Dangerous Mind deals with a lot of dense psychological subject matter. Did you know much about this kind of stuff before you shot?

Yeah, I did, I actually knew a lot about the world of psychoanalysis, because my father is a psychologist. So I grew up with that, and I grew up with names like Jung and Freud floating around our dinner table from a very young age. So it was very kind of comfortable subject matter for me. And then I studied it in school as well. I took psychology in university, the University of Toronto, I still go there part-time. But of course I’ve actually seen a Jungian psychoanalyst. And then I did a lot of reading, I did a lot of reading on Emma to learn about the character. And then of course I also kind of knew that relationship dynamic between a woman dating a psychologist. You know, maybe not the infidelity part, but definitely the whole dynamic of being married to a doctor.

Emma did a lot of psychoanalysis as well.

Yeah, she did. And it was later in her life. I mean the film takes place before any of that as well. So you do see a kind of younger side of their marriage. And a younger side of that character, that person.

How was it working with David? You know, it was amazing. I think David gives his actors a kind of freedom and independence that I’ve never experienced before working with another director. And of course with that freedom comes a lot of responsibility. And you want to come to the table with something that is going to be compelling and that he’s going to find compelling so there is a lot of pressure in it that way. But I think he creates a working environment that is at total ease and everyone is so well informed and it feels comfortable and feels like they are working on a film with a great director. So really, it’s the most ideal situation to be in. And having worked with him twice now, because after A Dangerous Method, at the beginning of this year, I did his latest film, Cosmopolis, it was just even easier. He’s a really inspiring person to be around because he’s an intellect and he’s a passionate artist and just to hear him talk and promote the film and to discuss his work after having seen it, is just inspiring, too, on a whole new level.

In Cosmopolis, what kind of role do you play?

I play Robert Pattinson’s wife.

You’ve had some pretty favourable casting.

Yes, I have. I have good marital relationships. But she has this kind of cat-and-mouse game going on throughout the whole film so she’s a little more sexy and not as reserved as Emma, and she’s an American. So I have kind of a New England accent in that film.

How was that?

I loved it, it was great. It was so great to switch gears and play. When I did Cosmopolis we were doing our camera tests, because he had offered me the part and I didn’t have to audition for it, which is the whole other terrifying territory. He came up to me and he said, “So you ready to play a modern woman?” and I said, “Yeah, yeah I’m ready,” because it’s a contemporary film. And I said, “So do you want to discuss the character and the choices that I’ve made for this character?” and he’s like, “No, it’s all there,” and he just pointed at the script. That was a bit overwhelming.

Are you kind of like his latest muse?

I would NOT refer to myself as that, but others might. I would consider myself the luckiest Canadian actress right now, that’s for sure.

Do you want to do more Canadian stuff?

Yeah. I mean, I love film and I love great projects and great stories and it doesn’t necessarily matter to me who’s telling them, the nationality of the person who is telling them. But I think doing Canadian work is really important in the sense that I think it’s important that we feed and inspire and encourage our own cinematic industry within the landscape of our country.

So what do you have coming up?

Well … I just finished Cosmopolis, [and] I did a miniseries called World Without End produced by Ridley Scott that I was shooting in Budapest. [Then] I flew straight here, and now I’m going to exhale and figure out what’s next.

Sarah Gadon and ANTENNA Magazine

She’s female. She acts. But don’t call her an actress. “There are so many negative connotations associated with that word. There’s that whole diva culture,” Sarah Gadon says, while getting ready for her ANTENNA photo shoot. “I realize how ironic the situation is, to be telling you this while in hair and makeup.” Ironic, because her life alternates between two different worlds.

You see, Gadon, 24, is a part-time student at University of Toronto, where she takes courses like Feminist Approaches to Cinema. Which was an odd class to walk into after getting glammed-up and working numerous red carpets at film festivals in Venice and Toronto. She’s been busy promoting her first major film, A Dangerous Method, in which she plays Emma Jung, wife of psychiatrist Carl Jung, played by Michael Fassbender. The movie is directed by master of uneasy tension David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), a fellow Canadian, and he cast Gadon straight off tape, didn’t even meet her until the camera test. “He could’ve asked me to be a grip, and I would’ve done it,” she says about working with Cronenberg.

She started acting when she was only 10 years old, mostly in television, mostly in her native Canada. In a way, staying home preserved her; she didn’t prematurely thrust herself into the limelight, and she gained an outsider’s perspective of the Hollywood studio system. “If you have distance, you realize that you can take from it what you want and not necessarily steep your entire career there,” she says, before explaining that Canada’s public programs to fund art allow artists to be more experimental and smaller than, say, traditional studio-backed films that are pressured to make big returns on investment. It’s obvious she’s thoughtful about her craft and her industry. She’s careful to select her roles. “I’m just trying to be patient. It’s about finding stories that are appealing to me as a woman,” she says. “I’m not interested in playing roles where the woman serves no function in the narrative other than to be that spectacle, to be that woman for the man. I’m interested in roles that go beyond that.” Being that her next big role is in Cronenberg’s next film, Cosmopolis, starring Robert Pattinson (yeah, that vampire guy), Gadon seems to be picking them just fine.

As she settles into the next phase of her ascending career, she’s still adjusting to what comes along with it: fame. “To be honest, it’s not something that I feel comfortable doing,” she says about red carpets. “I realize just how important that side of the industry actually is. I really want to represent the work in a positive way.” Post-interview, Gadon will head to Budapest to finish a miniseries produced by Ridley Scott, and at some point, she will be back on campus, clad in a hoodie, learning about all the great actors who came before her, just like everyone else in the classroom. Except, she’ll be the only one on her way to becoming one.

Sarah Gadon for PULP Magazine Issue No.4

SARAH GADON A CLASSIC ACT

up-and-coming actress Sarah Gadon, is a student with a gift for drama

If you were sitting in a 10.a.m Cinema class at University of Toronto in the early weeks of September, you might have been witness of a petite, slightly tired nonetheless striking blond taking a seat beside you. You could assume, like many other students, she was late up partying the night before. In this assumption you would be 50 percents correct. Except that the party wasn’t in the someone’s IKEA-filled dorm room and that cute guy from your philosophy class wasn’t there. In fact it was an InStyle A-Lister red carpet event at the Windsor Arms Hotel and George Clooney was on the guest list. The 24-year-old sleep-deprived beauty is Sarah Gadon: part-time student and and full-time movie star.
Don’t worry, in the months a head, she will not need an introduction.
Despite her 13 years of industry experience, Gadon says that her recent whirlwind of back-to-back press stops for David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, from Venice to the Toronto International Film festival, have felt like a true learning curve.
“I was wary {of the press junkets} initially. There is always a degree apprehension as an artist; you’re concerned with your presentation and breaking the ice.“ At {TIFF} the Canadian journalists were really informed and sparked such interesting discussions. The foreign press love David but he is very intense and seeing me {after completing Q&As with Cronenberg} would no doubt breathe a sigh of a relief!”
Luckily, so could Gadon, as the film has been well-received, showered with praise by both the art house aristocratic-types in Venice and the notably more mainstream, commercial critics of TIFF. The film, an intense drama, focuses on the tumultuous and complex relationship between Carl Jung {Michael Fassbender} and his mentor Sigmund Freud {Viggo Mortensen} and the resulting of birth psychoanalysis. Amidst this cast of well-established stars, Gadon holds her own, playing Jung’s wife Emma; stoic and and unwavering in the face of Jung’s infidelities.
Not to say that she didn’t have some help from some extreme pre-WWI costuming.
“I wore a pregnancy corset. That was a first.“

In Cronenberg’s upcoming film Cosmopolis {slated for an early 2012}, Gadon plays the better half of to another powerful man: this time to a Manhattan multimillionaire who, in the course of 24 hours, loses his entire fortune.
Dead centre in another cast of heavy-hitting actors, including Paul Giamatti and Juliette Binoche, it is Robert Pattinson {said millionaire} that has garnered early buzz for the film and by association, brought Gadon’s name to the forefront. In the weeks leading up to the pre-production, Gadon consciously avoided any Pattinson-themed media – a near- impossible feat in the climate of Twilightmania.
“My decision not to read any of Robert’s interviews or press {stemmed from} my desire to go into the project without any preconceived notions {about him} that might inform our work together.”
Gadon recalls coming into her camera test and sitting across from Pattinson only to emerge, hours later, to mobs of people outside the building screaming his name. She is quick to dispel the “celeb” stereotype, saying that in their working relationship, Pattinson was “refreshingly normal” and “deeply concerned about the development of his career.”
“It was wonderful to watch Robert in such an intelligent project, and for David, {Robert’s fan base} will open up a younger demographic.”
Not a bad deal for Gadon either, for whom both Pattinson’s and Cronenberg’s name will translate too much less anonymity. If at first somewhat overcome with excitement and anticipation at the thought of working with such a big names, Gadon is levelheaded and thoughtful about the process.
“There is this sense of wanting to prove yourself – to your colleagues and to your director. {Once you’re working} that anxiety melts away. Independent films in particular are really a director’s medium. They set the tone. David is so established and has such confidence and clarity in his own vision that it is easy to work with him… there is an atmosphere of trust. For artists this is so important to feel secure and open; to be able to trust their choices.“ For Gadon, choices are becoming more plentiful. Her passport is getting a rigorous workout and she is becoming accustomed to packing and unpacking her life, taking little pieces of home with her. {Her Great North must-haves: David’s Tea and maple syrup for cooking.} It also doesn’t hurt bouts of homesickness to run into other homegrown talent across the pond.
“I was in a book store in Budapest with {fellow actor and Canadian} Megan Fellows and we ran into Colm Feore! He travels with his own knife set. He is a huge cook, and apparently, it is something that isn’t easy to come by when you’re travelling.“

Other than some choice teas and maple syrup, Gadon’s focused on retaining her piece of mind and balance in an industry that can be unpredictable and at times ruthless to young actors.
“I {tell myself} to stay patient, stay present… not to panic about my next job and just enjoy the moment. To live in the moment.“
That seems like the place to be for Gadon, because this is her moment. -

Interview by: Naeme El-Zein

Photographed by: Caitlin Cronenberg

Featured photos from an upcoming book “The Endings”

Sarah Gadon for Vogue US

If you ask Sarah Gadon which actresses she enjoys watching, she’ll tell you Deborah Kerr and Grace Kelly. “I’m an admirer of very classic leading ladies,” she says. The 24-old Toronto-born actress has what it takes to become one herself. Possessed of an allure that’s poised without being remote, Gadon has begun making her mark in roles ranging from poetess wife of Robert Pattinson’s Manhattan billionaire in David Cronenberg’s upcoming Cosmopolis to Emma Jung, wife of psychoanalyst Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), in the director’s acclaimed new period drama A Dangerous Method. In person, Gadon looks so delicately ravishing that it’s easy to see why, in the upcoming Starz miniseries World Without End, she plays the dream woman covered by the villain. Yet her manner is all Canadian good cheer, whether she’s talking about still living with her parents ( “I consider them my personal patrons of the arts,” she jokes), the discipline gained from years of studying ballet, or the thrill of working twice with a world-class auteur like Cronenberg. For his part, the director predicts big things for Gadon. “Sarah is, of course, beautiful,” says Cronenberg, “But what makes her a terrific screen presence is her talent and technique. She can do anything. She’s capable of playing upper-class elegance without a blip, but I have no doubt she could play a much tougher character. When an actor’s that good, there’s no limit.”

Spotlight: Sarah Gadon is a model of restraint in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method

Cinderella stories are among Hollywood’s most clichéd and hollow myths. Yet they keep happening, both onscreen and off. Sarah Gadon should know: in less than a year, the 24-year-old Toronto actor has gone from guest stints on such shows as Being Erica and Murdoch Mysteries to starring in major movies alongside the likes of Michael Fassbender and Robert Pattinson. Gadon’s fairy godmother came in the form of David Cronenberg, who cast her in his next two films. A Dangerous Method, which opens in January, explores the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (a jauntily moustachioed Fassbender). Gadon plays Carl’s wife, Emma, who watches her husband sink into a tortuous sexual affair with Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), an emotionally volatile patient. As Spielrein, Knightley has the film’s showiest part—all hysterical screeches and tics—which could easily have eclipsed the quietly suffering Emma. But Gadon brings a heartbreaking intensity to her character, refusing to make Emma a mere victim. “She’s the most rational person in the film,” Gadon says. “For her, the work her husband is doing is so significant that she doesn’t see her relationship as a sacrifice.” Gadon’s next big role is as Pattinson’s brittle young wife in Cosmopolis, Cronenberg’s adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel, due later in 2012. The aloof Elise is nothing like Emma Jung. What links them is Gadon’s sense of control, as embodied in her almost too beautiful face. Cronenberg has made a career of exploring extremes. In Gadon, he has found an actor whose best trick is restraint.

The 2011 Ten to Watch: Sarah Gadon

Sarah Gadon actor

Hometown: Toronto

Agency: Creative Drive Artists / William Morris Endeavor Entertainment

Big break: David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method

The 24-year-old kicked off her acting career at age 11 with an appearance in La Femme Nikita in 1998, followed by roles in Canadian and U.S. TV series such as Being Erica, The Border, Happy Town and Total Drama Island. But, she professes, her first love is film and it’s a passion she’s been indulging to widespread recognition. In the past two years, she’s seen her name appear on the credits for Jim Sheridan’s Dream House, Mary Harron’s The Moth Diaries and two David Cronenberg films: A Dangerous Method, in which she plays psychologist Carl Jung’s wife Emma, and Cosmopolis, as heartthrob Robert Pattinson’s love interest.

You’ve really exploded onto the feature film scene. What’s changed in your approach to acting?

When you’re a younger actor, you’re just trying to get experience, but when you transition into being an adult, and develop your values as an artist, you can say things like “I really want to work with auteur directors who have an interesting vision, and aren’t tainted by studios or people or big-name producers.” So last year, I worked with Sheridan, Herron and Cronenberg. Those kind of choices aren’t just, “oh lucky me.” They are conscious choices I’m trying to make.

What was it like working with such well-known casts?

For A Dangerous Method, I cast off tape then I found myself on a flight to Germany. I’d never met [David Cronenberg] until our camera test and there were no rehearsals. I was beside myself, working with actors like Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen and then to have the added layer of David Cronenberg, it was surreal. I don’t know how I did that!

How would you like to see your career evolve in the future?

I’m a cinephile. If I can, I will always keep working in film. But will film always pay the bills? I don’t know, but I’m trying to find that balance between art and commerce. Everyone struggles with that, whether you’re an actor, writer or director. I’m trying to do projects that I think are interesting, and I’m definitely not opposed to TV. ECA

Sarah Gadon Is New Class

Sarah Gadon has been acting for more than a decade, but now is really her time to shine.
This year alone, she appeared in David Cronenberg’s Freudian flick “A Dangerous Method” and Mary Harron’s “The Moth Diaries,” and this week, she gets her scare on in “Dream House,” alongside Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz.

Up next, Gadon, 24, re-teams with Cronenberg on the Robert Pattinson-starring “Cosmopolis.” Her work in period pieces and her ethereal, striking looks certainly make her the perfect candidate to stay trapped in a time when women wore more restrictive clothing. That’s why she’s MTV Movies New Class’ “Most Likely to Wear a Corset … A Lot.”

MTV: We’re always looking for the next exciting talent, and it’s not like you just started acting, so does it feel like a particularly exciting time where all that hard work is paying off?

Gadon: You go through different arcs in your career. I think when I was younger, I was definitely into the performance side of the industry. I came to acting through that way, and then having gone to university and studied cinema studies and watching tons of films and understanding film theory and making a conscious choice of working with auteur director marks a new chapter in my development as an artist.

MTV: You mentioned some of the directors, Mary and David, two geniuses, talented individuals; how do you build on that? Because that sets the bar high going forward.

Gadon: I think when you work with really wonderful directors who have a really strong vision, it lets you as an artist set the tone for your own career. So for me, it’s not necessarily having that kind of notoriety. I’m interested in great work and working with people that have a singular vision, and I think the work dictates that.

MTV: Can you give me a sense of Elise [in “Cosmopolis”] and how she interacts with Rob’s character?

Gadon: I think it’s a really interesting film, and I don’t want to give away too much, but I think in a really kind of pared-down version of the film, it’s about a young millionaire who loses everything in the course of a day. And I play his new wife, so I’m one of the only characters that really kind of comes in and out of the story throughout the film. We have breakfast, lunch and dinner together, and those are going to be some interesting meals.

MTV: Is there someone to emulate?

Gadon:Yeah, of course there is. I think there are so many great actresses out there. I think Tilda Swinton is terribly interesting. I think she’s fascinating. I love her work.