• twitter
  • rss
  • facebook
  • youtube
  • tumblr

The most comprehensive source for everything DIVERGENT.

#Divergent Fansite Set-Visit: Amie Newbold Interview

 

Chicago Set Visit Report- Amie Newbold

 

Contrary to her character Molly, Amy Newbold has got to be one of the sweet girls we’ve met. She’s got an infectious smile and a bubbly personality that left us wondering how in the world she was able to pull off acting as mean as Molly. The day we interviewed her, she wasn’t even scheduled to be on set but she had heard that we were coming so she drove in on her day off to see us. You can’t get much sweeter than that! We had a blast chatting with her and we’re still worried about having to dislike her in the film.

So how’d you get the part?

Amy: I auditioned.  No, I came in for an initial audition because I worked for like four years in casting a while back—right after I graduated from college.  Then I quit that job like two years ago because I decided I wanted to be a nurse so I went back to school for nursing. And then my boss got this script and she was like you’re tall and you like working out, you should come in and we’ll see if you’re any good. And so, I came in. I auditioned at first just with my boss in the room and a tape. That’s usually how it goes in Chicago. And then Neil saw the tape and wanted to meet with me so I came in and met with him and then I didn’t hear anything for like two weeks. I kind of let it go.  I was like no way and then I got the call and they were like “you’re her!”

 

Do you take that as a compliment? Veronica Roth talked about spending time with you and that you’re awesome, but the character is so…nasty?

Amy: No, I totally took it as a compliment.  I mean, I think I know that I’m not that person in real life, so it’s nice.  It’s for sure a compliment that someone thinks you’re capable of being a good enough actor to pull it off.  And it’s so fun to be nasty, especially when you’re not in your normal life.  It’s fun to take a departure from who you are.  It’s also fun to think through why she is the way she is.  As an actor I think that is always your challenge to give a character like that just a little bit of depth.  The temptation I think would be for her to be really one dimensional, and my hope is that she’s not totally that way.

 

What’s your theory about why she’s like that?

Amy:  I mean I have a lot of theories about her home-life, where she comes from, why did she choose Dauntless?  She comes from Candor which is [a] brutally honest faction of society, and she’s not particularly, maybe likable naturally, and I think there are people like that in the world and I think being in a faction that’s based on honesty you could hear a lot of really hard things growing up.  It would make you really hard, I think. And I think she loves this Dauntless idea, and she is that really.  Especially physically really strong—everything outwardly says she should be a part of this faction.  So, when she sees it she’s like oh my goodness, a place to belong. And I think there are probably a lot of things that contribute to why she’s the way she is. But, yeah, I have some theories. I’ve worked on a few things.

 

Which faction would you choose, if you had the choice?

Amy:  If I had the choice. I was talking to Entertainment Tonight the other day, and I was like my answer is so lame, but I would probably be Abnegation, to be honest. Candor, I would like to think I could be honest all the time, but sometimes it’s hard. And I’m definitely not brave enough to be in Dauntless.  I could not jump off that train or off the roof.  But, yeah, I think probably Abnegation.

 

So, do you plan on continuing more acting after this?

Amy: You know what?  I have no idea. Everybody keeps asking me that, and I just really don’t know. I have a real desire to travel.   I wanted to live overseas for a while, that’s why I thought maybe being a nurse would be a good idea.  I’d love to live somewhere that’s kind of remote, or developing maybe.  But now I’m like, I’m having a really great time, and I think I’ll just ride it out as long as I can, and if people think I’m capable, I’d love to continue to act.  Who knows?  I’m kind of learning it’s best not to plan your life and just let it kind of happen and enjoy it.

 

Any funny moments from the set so far?

Amy: Any time Miles is around.  I mean honestly every day is super fun, and really funny.  The group is, I mean you talked to the guys, they’re all so great.  I’m trying to think of a particularly funny moment.  I think fun is the overall theme of us being on set.  Maybe not one [moment] that stands out in my mind but no day is without a lot of laughing.

 

Everyone’s getting along?

Amy: Yeah, they’re such a great group. Overall it’s such a fun group of people. So, I’m having just an awesome time. The fights were the most fun for me, and those were like our first week of filming.  Obviously that’s my most active part of the film; most of what my role is in the film is centered around those, really my two key fights.  So most of the action I was doing in the movie was those first few days and it was kind of hilarious.  Zoe, like, kicked my butt.  She’s funny.  She’s feisty.  She’s really fun to fight with, so I took a couple hits that day. That was kind of funny. I bet it looked funny for people to see her—she’s like five feet tall.

 

How was boot camp?

Amy: It was awesome. I worked out for four weeks with the stunt people, everyone else came in two weeks before [unintelligible] so I got to work out with them for four weeks.  It was hard, but it was awesome.  I love anything athletic so it was like, my dream world, cause like my full-time job.  I was working out five to six hours a day.  So it was like perfect for me. I loved it.  But yeah, I had a great time.  But it was definitely hard.  Those guys don’t mess around. It’s for real.  Especially like the couple of weeks that everybody was here. [Unintelligible]. It was really fun.  I loved learning to fight.  I found that I actually really like fighting, which I didn’t like before the film.

 

You’re dangerous now?

Amy: I’m very scary now.  Yes, I’m very scary. No, I don’t know.  There’s something about letting out aggression.  I think when you’re not an aggressive person in your normal life, it’s nice to have an outlet for that or something.  I don’t know.  But, I’m loving it.  I’m continuing to do mixed martial arts and stuff now, so I think I’ll keep doing it.

 

What would your fear landscape look like?

Amy: Interesting.   I think we’ve all thought about this, to be honest, and I think, thinking about what your biggest fears are–I think you have emotional fears, and then physical fears.  And me, Amy, I have a lot of physical fears, but I don’t think that Molly does. Physically I don’t think that anything really phases her. She could take a ridiculous amount of pain I think. And probably in terms of the physical, natural world she could take on just about anything.  But I think emotionally, like for me if anything bad happens to my family or people I love or having to do something bad to the people I love and I think that’s such a common [fear], that would be something that would totally show up in your fear landscape in Dauntless you know they’d be like I’d have to do something horrible to my little brother or something; just any context where something bad was going to happen to the people that I love.  But if I had to choose something physical to have in my fear landscape it would be broken glass.  Anything with broken glass, those are the worst.  There’s a Madonna video, “Die Another Day”, where she’s rolling around in broken glass.  I can’t watch that video.  It’s like super troubling. Anyways, I don’t know, I have an irrational fear of broken glass.  Broken glass and open water.  Like what’s in there in open water?  Why would you go swimming in the ocean? There could be anything swimming underneath you.  So yeah, that was really garbled answer but those are some of the things I imagine would be in my fear landscape.

 

What did you think of your costumes?

Amy: They’re so awesome!  Have you guys seen the Dauntless costumes at all? They are so bad ass.   I love them and I love my Candor costume.  You put on this tactical vest and grab a gun and you feel like you could do just about anything.  They’re really cool but they’re also like minimalist, in a way that I think is necessary to the world.  And Carlos is just really, really brilliant. The aesthetic that he has achieved with the costumes is cool.  And I think given the, sort of parameters the book sets up, you really only have so many colors to work with and he’s just done a really brilliant making them interesting.  In terms of texture, you guys will see that there’s a lot of variation in textures, and things like that.  Even between the different factions.  Like, I don’t know, structure versus, the sort of like flowy-ness of Shai’s Abnegation dress versus the Candor outfits which are just, I mean you guys saw Zoe’s , it’s cool. I love my costumes. They’re very fun.

 

What was it like to work with Neil?

Amy: He’s brilliant! I’ve never ever met anyone who’s so specific.  He sees everything.  He has such a clear vision for what he wants every shot to look like.  He’s so visual in a way that I’m not, so much more conceptual and he just sees.  I think he just has a really clear picture in his mind like of where this coffee mug is, or where this phone is.  Like if it’s there but it’s supposes to be there, he’ll see it and change it.  It’s really amazing.  He really gets what he’s going for in terms of creating this world, which I think is helpful for that.  It’s easier to live in a world that’s so clear someone’s mind.

 

Speaking of that, obviously Veronica was on set, did she give you any advice about your role?

Amy:  Advice about my role, no. We compared heights because she’s also very tall, which was fun.  We talked a little bit about Molly.  Mostly she asked how I was enjoying playing her so far, what my thoughts were on her.  We were still in the warehouse when we were filming all the fights, which was the coolest set.  It was freezing and dirty and gross, but it was  so cool.  We just talked about normal life things, to be honest. We kind of hit it off.  I dig her.  She’s a cool girl.  So we just talked about living in Chicago. We have mutual love for this city.  I think we talked about the characters for a hot second and then turned to our lives.

 

Even though Molly’s kind of a bully—rude, mean— what’s her most redeeming quality?

Amy: I like that she does not care what other people think of her.  Or at least she doesn’t let on that she does.  I wish I had more of that.  No matter what it’s a result of, and I think that it’s probably a result of some really hard things in her life.  I appreciate anyone who can walk into a situation and genuinely not let other people’s opinions effect how they feel about themselves.  I love that concept of not getting validation or value from other people, because it’s such a crazy thing, as people it’s so crazy unhealthy if you allow other people to determine how you feel about yourself.   I think so many people walk around doing that, so I love that about her.  She just is who she is and maybe she’s not pleasant but she’s okay with herself.  I just like her.  I’ve grown to really love Molly.

 


Tags: , , , , , ,


Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *