Michelle Williams: "I left home at 15 and didn't finish high school: succeeding as an actress was a matter of survival for me"

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Michelle Williams (Kalispell, USA; 1980)

manages with the same ease in any corner of the ring.

The same can be seen in the latest Marvel extravaganza (

) that insists with Kelly Reichardt, the most brilliant and respected voice of independent cinema (his last work with her,

, comes after major works like

and

).

And so she until she became one of the reference actresses for any generation.

His latest work,

, directed by

, has earned him his fifth Oscar nomination.

Far from the tortured and feverish records of

or

(the other times she was a candidate), this time the interpreter who started as a child in the

series is light, friendly and, where appropriate, even weightless.

Now she talks about her career, how difficult it is to give life to a mother in front of her son, motherhood and even boxing

which, who would have thought, was her great passion as a child.

To know more

Cinema.

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Cinema.

Cate Blanchett: "We suffer from a patriarchal society, but I trust that we will never live its opposite: a shitty matriarchy"

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Giving life to Spielberg's mother in front of Spielberg himself seems strange, to say the least. Well, I've been acting since I was 12 years old.

So I guess I've needed 30 years of experience to be able to afford something like that.

At times I thought: "Luckily they have offered me to do this role now and not four years ago."

Anyway, if I think about it, it's not the first time I've seen myself in a similar one.

I've been doing a TV series where I was playing Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse's wife.

Her daughter, Nicole Fosse, was on the set every day.

At times you feel like an impostor.

How can you become or even come close to the person that Nicole saw every day of her life?

That feeling of fraud is always with you, it's part of the profession.She sounds very masochistic... Well, it's work.

If you make an effort and work on that feeling of insecurity, you will end up overcoming it.

So somehow I made it to the shooting of

with the lesson learned.

On the other hand, if you are in front of a great like Spielberg and he gives the go-ahead for you to be his mother, from that moment you already feel capable of anything.

You don't need any other approval or applause in your life.

I would go so far as to say that there was a moment during the making of this film that was most pleasurable.

Suddenly, the 30 years of profession that he was talking about made full sense, the sufferings ended. The whole film talks about how art, cinema in this case, transforms a life and gives it meaning.

You, who started this so young, did you ever feel something similar? The truth is that my story is much more puerile.

Fortunately or unfortunately, my world began to narrow very quickly.

I started acting professionally at the age of twelve;

I emancipated myself from my parents when I was 15...

I never really graduated from high school.

I got my degree by correspondence.

Let's just say that with this in mind, my options in life were greatly reduced.

I ran out of options.

I had no preparation to do anything else for the rest of my life.

Success as an actress was a matter of survival: either that or nothing. The following more or less absurd question just ruined me.

I understand that it doesn't make sense for me to ask her what it would have been like if she hadn't been an actress... I don't want to imagine it.

It would have been nothing. How do you think this desperate situation has marked her life? Above all, she has taught me to be a mother.

My obsession as a mother is to offer my children all possible options so that they can survive and be happy.

Looking back, I realize that I started to love my profession when I was quite old.

He acted, yes, but he didn't quite know what that meant.

It was later, when I began to appreciate the work of colleagues like Samantha Morton, Gena Rowlands or Meryl Streep, that I became aware of my profession.

And through my work, my world expanded.

I grew up in an extremely conservative environment where everything was either black or white, things were either right or wrong.

And then, you realize that there are nuances and that there are many ways to be a woman. You mentioned her children and I think about her role in the Spielberg movie.

In the portrait that the director offers of her mother, her resignation from being a pianist to dedicate herself to caring for her children is underlined.

It is a resignation that she regrets and drags on throughout her life... Yes,

For her and for many women of her generation, it was a crucial decision to give up her own life and sacrifice it for others that marked them forever.

And indeed, for her, giving up her career as a pianist was a bit of a living death. Can you imagine yourself in a similar position or is this definitely a thing of the past? Thank goodness we live in a different time.

It is everyone's responsibility, men and women, to create spaces of co-responsibility that allow you to work, fulfill yourself professionally and be a mother.

I understand that the complicated thing is to create a life where there is no difference between one thing and another.

But on the other hand, you have to be aware that every decision entails a resignation.

I imagine that everything is as complicated or as simple as knowing how to listen to that little inner voice that knows you.

It's about knowing how to listen to her or ignore her. I'm lost, whose voice is she talking about? Well, ignore the latter. In an interview I read that she is passionate about boxing and that when she was little her idol was Mike Tyson.

Does this explain that she has taken her profession as a desperate fight? Yes, it's funny, I loved to watch boxing as a child.

She watched combat with my father.

So somehow the harshness and extreme nature of the sport ended up influencing me as an actress.

I had never thought of it this way.

I thank you for the question.

I just made a connection that I hadn't made before.

I will say more, many times when I go to work I put on Rocky's music to cheer me up [hums the song and laughs]. Well, it's a pretty easy association.

Few sports lend themselves as much to becoming a metaphor as boxing. Yes, but not only that.

when you act

the set is a bit like a ring.

It is a part that is illuminated and all the rest remains in shadow.

You're not fighting with your co-star, but somehow that same desperate, kinetic connection is made in combat.

Sometimes you want to surprise him with something that throws him off balance;

other times, you hold on to it so as not to fall... Yes, acting can be interpreted as a form of fighting between boxers.

Thank you for playing the psychologist. You brought Marilyn Monroe to life in '

acting can be interpreted as a form of fighting between boxers.

Thank you for playing the psychologist. You brought Marilyn Monroe to life in '

acting can be interpreted as a form of fighting between boxers.

Thank you for playing the psychologist. You brought Marilyn Monroe to life in '

'.

At this year's Oscars, she shares a nomination with Ana de Armas for '

'.

As a predecessor in the role, how did you live through all the controversy that Andrew Dominik's film has raised? I think the myth of Marilyn captures everyone's imagination because she appeals to the girl in us.

You feel the broken girl and you want to take care of her.

In some way, it forms part of the collective subconscious and of the need to rescue the suffering boy or girl. What do you think of the work of Ana de Armas? I'm sorry, I haven't been able to see the film yet.

I'll do it soon.

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