Patrick Stoner: You speak Chinese? How convenient when doing a film like THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS. How can this be? You learned it in school, or what?Mira Sorvino: Yes, my major in college was actually Chinese studies.
Stoner: Excuse me. Am I the only one who finds this ironic?
Sorvino: It's NOT ironic. It's intentional. I've wanted to work with Yun-Fat because I have been a great fan of his Hong Kong films. I'm very drawn to filmmakers from Asia, because I want to work over there. It was VERY intentional on my part. It wasn't random.
Stoner: That had to have helped in your acting craft, since you could communicate with him in a language in which he could handle the nuance.
Sorvino: Well, you know, he can handle the nuance in English, actually. He would just kind of humor me when we spoke Chinese because his native speech is Cantonese. Mandarin is a separate dialect entirely -- which he speaks really well -- but he was just doing it to humor me, because I would say, "Oh, please, can I speak Chinese with you?" His English is much better than my Chinese.
Stoner: I'm sure your sensibilities in this area helped the craft. Speaking of sensibilities, I got into an argument with your father, actor Paul Sorvino, recently. I made the mistake of making some comment about acting, in an interview, and he said, "No, no, wait a minute. Let me tell you something about acting. In acting, you can only 'do'. After hearing about this for some time, I said to myself, "The next time I talk to Mira, I'm going to ask her about 'acting as doing.'"
Sorvino: Acting is "doing," because everything you say or do is some kind of an action, is some kind of a verb. Like now, I'm "explaining," I'm "doing," I'm not just "talking." Now, granted sometimes WHAT you're doing is inconsequential. You're passing the potato back and forth. But you're always connected to the other person through some kind of action. You're responding to their actions with actions of your own. It's not like "putting on" some condition or attitude. But you have to come in at the right point for that character at the top of the scene. That's why it's not SIMPLY "doing," because you have a goal that you're trying to accomplish. Acting is what happens on the way.
Stoner: So "being" gives you nothing.
Sorvino: Right. "Being" is like pretending.
Stoner: So that explains what a dedicated method actress like yourself likes about your character in THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS. She's always "doing" things in a very active way.
Sorvino: Yes, exactly. I liked that about her. She never waits for the man to spark the action -- like most of the women in action films. She's a self-starter. She DOES get the job done in a very powerful way. She's a lone figure, unlike most women in movies. She's as much a loner as any figure in a Western. I liked that a lot.
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