(L to R) Jason Isaacs and Maxine Peake in ‘Words of War’. Photo: Decal.
Opening in theaters on May 2nd is the new biographical drama ‘Words of War’, which tells the true story of late Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and was directed by James Strong (‘Torchwood’).
Executive produced by two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn (‘Mystic River’ and ‘Milk’), the film stars Maxine Peake (‘The Theory of Everything’) as Anna Politkovskaya, Jason Isaacs (‘The White Lotus’) as Alexander Politkovsky, and Ciarán Hinds (‘Belfast’) as Dmitry Muratov.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Maxine Peake and Jason Isaacs about their work on ‘Words of War’, Peake’s first reaction to the screenplay and Politkovskaya’s true story, her approach to playing the character, Anna and Alexander’s relationship, Isaacs’ experience working with Peake, and what it was like for Peake to collaborate with director James Strong on set.
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Maxine Peake in ‘Words of War’. Photo: Decal.
Moviefone: To begin with, Maxine, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and learning of Anna Politkovskaya’s true story, and how did you approach playing her in this film?
Maxine Peake: The first reaction, initially, even before the script came in, I was told the script was coming and it was about Anna Politkovskaya. That straight away felt like a no-brainer. Plus, the script is going to have to be bad for me to say no. Then I read Eric’s (Poppen) script, and I thought it was fabulous. I just loved the way it told a domestic life as well as a professional journalistic life. I thought the balance was fabulous. For me, what really struck home was what was happening at home, what was happening in her life with her husband, with her children, and that impact, because I don’t think we see that a lot. We see the intrepid journalist now but what is happening back on home soil for her? It was interesting because it’s set in Russia. We’re playing real-life people. But that for me initially was like, “How’s this going to work?” But I think it’s the right thing to do that we kept our own voices. We were playing as English. I think if we’d have done the accents, it would’ve maybe tilt it into something very different. But I think for me, that was quite an interesting dynamic of creating this character who wasn’t from where I’m from, but was in many ways who I am.
MF: Jason, can you talk about Anna and Alexander’s marriage, how he felt about her work and how that affected both of their lives?
Jason Isaacs: My version of Alexander, because he didn’t tell me these things, but there are some things that are very well-documented. Like he lost his job. He was a shining star in this political chat program, but he was also enjoying the benefits. They might’ve been violently against this newly elected president, (Vladimir) Putin, but nonetheless, he was a popular TV star, and he was not when his wife became infamous. When she really challenged the regime, that was the beginning of his career taking a real downturn. So, I played what my instincts told me must have happened. He was both loving her, respecting her, and jealous of her, and resentful of her and all those things together. It’s not that I played anything because I was opposite a magnificent actress, and I just wanted her to say or do the things I wanted her to do. Acting is never actually about the thing you are doing. It’s about what you want the other person to do. I wanted her to value me. I wanted her to stop doing it. I wanted her not to endanger the family, but maybe it was really my ego. I wanted all those things. I wanted stuff from her. I think something like this happened, but we’re not trying to recreate it as a documentary. We’re trying to tell a dramatic story. So, my version is he had a very troubled time and he had great difficulty with what happened to his wife.
Jason Isaacs in ‘Words of War’. Photo: Decal.
MF: Jason, what was your experience like working with Maxine to create that relationship on screen?
JI: She is a brilliant actress, and the fact is, you do a bunch of research, you do whatever you can. If people are alive, you talk to them. If not, you talk to people who knew them. You read it. Then you look at the script and you just follow your human instincts. Instincts that have been honed over decades and decades of creating human beings that seem in the round. Then James says, “Action.” He let us off the leash a lot to improvise, to try and create a healthy dynamic. You try and make something real, emotional, and truthful happen in the moment, and that’s what it is. He’s an award-winning director for a reason.
MF: Finally, Maxine, what was it like collaborating with director James Strong on set?
MP: It was great because he did let us off the leash, didn’t he? He let us improvise. We just had a freedom. He trusted us to, what Jason said before, do those scenes and they’ve got to feel in the moment, and you’ve got to feel real, and that people are connecting. We didn’t stray a million miles away from the script, but just being able to play that in the moment, and like Jason says, to affect each other, which is the most important thing. Not knowing what was coming next from each other. You have the skeleton of the scene, but just to have different bouncing off points. It’s like a dance. The film looks beautiful as well. You know what I mean? But yeah, it’s the trust. He had trust in us, which you don’t always get.
“In a world silenced by fear, her truth was unstoppable.”
World-renowned journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya went from being a local print journalist to braving the Chechen killing fields and exposing… Read the Plot
What is the plot of ‘Words of War’?
Anna Politkovskaya (Maxine Peake) was a journalist and human rights activist who persisted with reporting on the conflict in Chechnya despite considerable danger to herself and tried to expose corruption within Russia under the governance of Vladimir Putin. She continued in the face of poisoning, intimidation and violence before being the victim of a contract killing in the elevator of her house on October 7, 2006.
Who is in the cast of ‘Words of War’?
Maxine Peake in ‘Words of War’. Photo: Decal.
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