Mirror.co.uk – May 12, 2006

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Uma’s in her Prime

By Bradley Jacobs
Source: Mirror

In her new film Prime, Uma Thurman plays divorcee whose life seems to mirror her own.

Life imitates art for Uma Thurman in her new film Prime.

She plays thirtysomething career woman and divorcee Rafi who reluctantly re-enters the dating pool and falls head over heels in love with a dashing new man.

In real life, Thurman, 36 – who was divorced from actor Ethan Hawke in 2004 – has reportedly reunited with hotelier boyfriend Andre Balazs, 48, after a temporary split earlier this year.

Here, Uma talks about her new film and says she’s nothing like her screen image.

There seem to be some parallels between your own life and the character you play in Prime.

Yes. Obviously, it is public knowledge that I went through a difficult divorce and so I felt I understood the character very sympathetically. I only came into the film at the 11th hour, but I didn’t need to get in there any sooner because I knew what the story was all about.

The subject matter isnundefinedt very Hollywood is it?

Absolutely not. Coming out of a marriage in your mid-thirties is an interesting place to be and reading this character, I felt thrilled seeing it lived by somebody else. Honestly, it made me feel a little less alone and so it excited me to play with that in a movie.

I hadn’t been single since I was 25 and all of a sudden I was 34 years old and my life was taking a different turn. Nobody makes a movie about a divorcee in her mid-thirties who wants to meet someone she could have children with, but doesn’t know where to start.

You’ve been through two divorces – firstly to Gary Oldman in 1992. What are your thoughts on divorce now?

Obviously, I am not an expert, but I think that it is hard for everyone.

When you love someone you don’t want it to end, nobody does, so it is very, very difficult. But people are always growing in life, always changing, and what they need in one moment is different from what they need in another time.

Do you think that love really ends?

No, I don’t think it ends actually. I wish it did. I really do. I wish it would go away sometimes, but I don’t think it really does. No matter how much I might dislike them, I think I still love everybody I ever did love in my life.

And is love enough?

Yeah, certainly love is enough. I think we all think it’s enough, but we struggle with what we want from it. Do we want love and a house? Do we want love and a house and a dog? Do we want love and a house and a child? Do we want love and a house and a mother-in-law? It’s what you sometimes get with the love that is the debatable issue. Love, in general, I think everybody wants.

Is dating in your thirties harder than in your twenties?

I think everybody has a hard time connecting, but as you get older you want more, you expect more. It’s just different and a real conundrum.

In the film, your character Rafi falls for a man who is 14 years younger than her? Why is that?

Sometimes I think if you’re not really ready to be in another relationship, going out with someone who is much younger than you is a great idea. You can both have a decent experience and hopefully nobody will feel cheated when it ends. And if your plan is to have a fling with a young guy, nobody cares until you fall in love with him.

Ever dated a younger man?

No. Ethan was six months younger than me, so I don’t know if that counts. I like being with someone my own age very much, but sometimes it’s nice to be with someone older so you can maybe have something to learn. I’ve never dated young guys. Maybe I’ll start. I think it’s something you get into later.

Do the men you’ve dated have anything in common?

Only in bad ways!

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for love?

Gone out for dinner! I hate leaving the house. I’d be completely shut in if it was up to me.

Your Prime co-star Meryl Streep thinks that your character is the closest to the real Uma Thurman that she has seen you play. Would you agree?

I’ve always loved these kinds of roles in movies but I have had trouble getting them. It is like a film I did called Hysterical Blindness. Nobody wanted me to do it because they said it was just too unrealistic for me to play a girl who couldn’t get a date. Puurlease! It wasn’t unrealistic at all, but people are so limited by their preconceptions.

Before I did Kill Bill, I was always considered this ethereal actress. No one ever considered me as somebody who could run around with a sword. That would have been ridiculous. Now people keep asking me if it’s a problem being such a tough person. It is completely absurd. It used to be that I was only offered corset roles. I literally had to beat that corset back with a sword!

And people often think you’re cold and icy.

Isn’t it obvious that I am frighteningly arctic and terrorising! I’m amazed you’re even still in the room. The last journalist I met is still frozen. But, seriously, the tall, blue-eyed, Norwegian-looking blonde is just another cliché. And everybody falls into their clichés. It’s like the overweight actress. Everybody wants her to play a mother all the time while she wants to be a sexual human being. Everybody is stigmatised by something about them.

Meryl Streep plays your therapist. Have you ever seen a shrink?

Yes, I saw a shrink for a long time. It was helpful, but didn’t change my life.

She also says that her best on-screen chemistry was with Jack Nicholson (in Heartburn and Ironweed).

What about in your case?

Oh, Meryl and Jack was a great combo undefined I bet I’d have loved him too. I’m not done yet and I don’t think I’ve found it. Maybe it’s Meryl. There you are.

What about John Travolta, your dance partner in both Pulp Fiction and Be Cool?

Oh, I adore John. He’s such a lovely person. And dancing with him is our special little thing.

Are you always asked to dance with him whenever you happen to be in the same place together?

No, nobody asks me to dance. I can’dt remember anyone in my life ever asking me to dance. Ever.