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 PETER JACKSON and his two leading actors – STANLEY TUCCI and SAOIRSE RONAN – talk about bringing the haunting novel, THE LOVELY BONES, to life with PAUL FISCHER. Additional reporting by DEE JEFFERSON.
The Lovely Bones is one of the most anticipated films of 2009, partly because it is based on Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel, but mostly because of the involvement of Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson. With The Lovely Bones, Jackson returns to the realm of magical realism that he inhabited so successfully in Heavenly Creatures. That film touched on adolescent sexuality and murder; this film is about the rape-murder-dismemberment of 14 year-old Susie Salmon in Midwestern America, and her subsequent existence in a netherworld halfway between the aftermath of her death on Earth, and a heaven she cannot quite reach.
While this story seems a far cry from LOTR, Jackson has brought his visual sensibility and bag of special effects along for the ride. Some critics describe the result as overblown and self-indulgent; others questioned Jackson’s decision to tone down the content of the book to meet a more accessible rating.
Jackson himself is unapologetic. "Fran and I have a daughter who’s Susie’s age. We wanted Katie to be able to see this film. There’s a lot of positive aspects of this film and it’s not something that I think I wanted to shield our daughter from. So it was important for us to not go into an R-rated territory."
Also a father, actor Stanley Tucci was at first reluctant to take on the role of the cold-blooded killer, Mr Harvey. "A role like this is like the actors dream and the actor’s nightmare," Tucci explains. "You get to transform yourself and go to this very dark, horrible place. And both the exciting part and the scary part is going to that dark, horrible place.
"I talked on the phone with Fran and Phil for a long time and then we had a video conference with everyone in New Zealand," the actor recalls. "I was actually trying to get other actors the job. I kept saying ‘have you thought about this guy or that guy?’"
 Ultimately, Tucci commits to the role so thoroughly that even his co-stars were terrified. "You absolutely hate his character," explains Saoirse Ronan. "And I hate him. I watched the scenes [in the film] and I forgot it was the lovely, kind generous Stanley who is playing him.
Ronan, Oscar-nominated for her role in Joe Wright’s Atonement, plays 14 year-old Susie Salmon, who is murdered on her way home from school.
"[Stanley] really became this creep. It’s an amazing performance. But at the end of the day [we] would give each other a big hug, and that would help a lot."
Like Tucci, Ronan’s first instinct, upon being offered her role, was to turn it down. "When I heard what it was about I talked about it with my Mum and Dad and we questioned whether I should do it at all, because it seemed so heavy," she recalls.
Now 15, Saoirse was just 13 when filming started. Already touted in Hollywood as a rising star, working on The Lovely Bones afforded her the chance to push herself to an emotional extreme – not to mention working with talent such as Tucci, Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon.
Because of the nature of her role, however, the majority of the shooting time was spent in front of a blue screen in Jackson’s Wellington studio – "we called it Wellywood (she laughs)" – working one-on-one with the director to shoot the scenes in Heaven.
"He’s so lovely and he’s quiet when you meet him at first, and then, as you get to know him, he’s just this great, funny, nice, crazy guy, who is a genius at what he does."
THE LOVELY BONES opens Dec 26, rated [M] www.lovelybones.com
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