MUM’S THE WORD Jacki Weaver Is the Matriarch of the Animal Kingdom’s Criminal Brood

Of all things associated with the word Smurf, let alone a woman who has known the gift of being a mother, few are as awful as the ever-smiling matron who rules Australia’s Animal Kingdom. Just don’t mistake the grandmother who gave birth to its criminal brood as being some machine-gun toting Ma Barker. For in writer-director David Michod’s brutal, and brilliantly realistic debut film about the family woes of ex-gang life, Grandma Smurf (i.e. Janine Cody) hides her killer instinct beneath a calm, Cheshire-cat-grinning façade. She’s a woman who’d sip afternoon tea with the same calmness as ordering a hit, turning a blind eye to the murder and mayhem that go on under her roof.

Yet far from the cackling Mommie Dearest that Grandma Smurf would likely become on our side of the Pacific, the Animal Kingdom’s grand dame could be viewed as a twisted woman just trying to get by with the fact that her four sons have turned out as armed robbers. Now they’re adjusting to an evolving society, and ever-encroaching police force, that doesn’t appreciate bank jobs as a way of life. But leave it to the arrival of their broodingly deranged big brother Pope Cody (Ben Mendelsohn) to pull them back in with his lust for revenge.

Witnessing the blood feud between the cops and the boys is their nephew Joshua (James Frecheville), who’s landed on Smurf’s doorstep after her naturally screwed-up daughter has o.d.’d. And yet again, all Grandma Smurf can do is smile beatifically as her world burns down with one killing after the other, trying to hold her family unit together by the only sinful ways she knows how.

Animal Kingdom’s matronly spin on Lady Macbeth by way of Melbourne is played by the inimitable Jacki Weaver. If you lived in Australia, chances are you’d immediately recognize this veteran actress by way of movies like Water Under the Bridge and Trial by Marriage, if not be impressed by her numerous stage credits that range from “Blithe Spirit” to “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Perhaps if you’re a fan of Peter Weir’s breakthrough 1975 Australian film, Picnic at Hanging Rock, you might recall her as Minnie. But mark my words that when Animal Kingdom hits this August, American audiences will want to see more of Jacki Weaver.

In a performance of sinister subtlety, Weaver’s expert talent at grasping both Smurf’s darkness and humanity makes for an especially memorable hard-boiled character in the international annals of pulp fiction — a woman who represents both suburban banality and the underworld festering beneath it, just running the family business with a smile and a bloodily hidden iron fist. Indeed, in Weaver’s capably mature hands, evil has never seemed as pleasantly innocuous — one adjective that likely isn’t going to be used to describe the Hollywood splash this Esther Williams fan will likely make as a result of stealing the Animal Kingdom.

Venice:

Because Animal Kingdom never really delves into the characters’ pasts, what do you think made Grandma Smurf the way she is?

Jacki Weaver:

 I love it when the audience has to guess that. But I figure that Smurf’s had a very rough life with two different boys from two different fathers, all of whom have turned out to be very violent criminals. So because of whatever happened in her past, or if she was just born this way, Smurf is a certified sociopath. She doesn’t have a conscience, and is completely self-centered, pragmatic, and callous. While I don’t like to believe in inherent evil, I think some people are more pre-disposed to it than others. We’re all capable of doing bad things. But luckily, most of us have a sensor that stops us from being antisocial. But yeah, she’s certainly a piece of work. And like most sociopaths, you don’t realize that Grandma Smurf’s as bad as she is, because she’s very good at pretending to be charming and decent. She loves her boys, but it’s an inappropriate love- not necessarily incestuous, but as a replacement for all of the failed relationships that produced her sons. She loves them to destruction.

What do you think makes a bad mother?

Well, I think a good mother loves unconditionally, and she teaches her children to have courage, and not be frightened of most things in life. But I think a bad mother is totally noncritical, though I certainly wouldn’t blame mothers for all of the badly behaved men in the world! However, I think a bad mother is certainly someone who orders a murder!

But would you still consider Grandma Smurf as being truly, completely evil? After all, she’s only trying to protect her boys.

“Evil” is a word I don’t like. It’s got towering, biblical proportions. But I do think she’s definitely unbalanced. She’s condoned her sons’ lives of crime all along, and has lived off the benefits of it. And even though she doesn’t seem to take an active part in their activities, she certainly doesn’t discourage them.

Do you have any children yourself?

Yes, I have a son. And when we were doing the Q and A’s at Sundance, I’d get so many questions about her kissing the boys on the lips, which I have to say is really chilling. But I have to hand it to our writer and director David Michod, because that was his choice. It didn’t occur to me to do that when I was preparing the role. But I think it works really well. Though it’s a small thing, the kissing speaks reams about her power over the boys, and the inappropriateness about the way she feels about them. My son is in his thirties, and we are very close. But I haven’t kissed him on the mouth since he was two and a half! It’s something that most of us wouldn’t approve of, really. [laughs]

There’s almost a comical element to Grandma Smurf. As the cops are dragging her kids away, she’s drinking tea as if nothing was happening.

Everyone mentions that scene. It’s my husband’s favorite bit. I don’t know what I was thinking about when we shot it, maybe about when the catering truck was coming! [laughs] There again, it’s David’s vision. He knew what he wanted, but was also totally open to collaboration. He listened to everyone’s ideas, and sometimes incorporated them, unlike some directors who treat you like a puppet. And a collaborative experience is how you get the best results.

One of my favorite Australian actors is Ben Mendelsohn, whom I first noticed in The Year My Voice Broke. But I couldn’t have imagined how he’d grow up to play a psychotic bruiser like the Pope.

Yes, he’s amazing, isn’t he? Ben’s an incredibly good actor. I’ve know him since he was a teenager, and he’s just a bit older than my real-life son now. So I do have a naturally maternal feeling towards him. He was in a movie with me called Cosi that Miramax released back in 1996. I think I kiss him in that one as well!

If this movie had been made in Hollywood, you can imagine the heights of villainy that Grandma Smurf would’ve been taken to. Did you ever have to restrain your portrayal of her?

There again I have to give credit to David. There was a temptation for me to jump in boots and all, and signal her intentions right from the beginning. But her character is a lot more complex, because she’s not like some Walt Disney witch. Yet, God forbid, if someone in my family was hurt, there’s no telling what I’d do to wreak vengeance.

The movie definitely does play with your morals, in how the cops and the Codys cold-bloodedly murder one another.

Even though Animal Kingdom’s a piece of fiction, a lot of that stuff went on in Melbourne during the early 1980s. It was a bad time as far as the underworld and the police force were concerned. And the Armed Hold- Up Squad was very corrupt and doing some shocking things. There were reprisal killings going on. It was one of those things that had gone back for years and years, like the Mafia taking revenge for things that never got resolved. That can go on for centuries.

So is Animal Kingdom based on any real people in that respect?

No. Even though some very similar events occurred in Melbourne twenty years ago, David wanted the freedom to tell the story as a piece of fiction. He didn’t want to make a biopic or documentary. Right now in Sydney, there’s a very popular series on television called “Underbelly,” which traces the criminal world from the last 25 years in Sydney and Melbourne, and names the people. It’s like a dramatized documentary, with actors impersonating these real criminals. But David didn’t want to be restricted in that way. We’re not being those people.

Do you think Australian criminals are different than American criminals?

I’d doubt it. I’m not a psychologist, but I would guess that the criminal mind is pretty universal. And I’d also guess they make up two to five percent of the population. I’m now asked if Australia is a dangerous place. But I don’t know anybody there who owns a gun. The criminals have got them, but not the ordinary person. So we don’t have much shooting going on in Australia. That’s one thing that’s different there.

Grandma Smurf’s role grows through Animal Kingdom, until she virtually ends up stealing the movie. I certainly think more Americans are going to know who you are after this than the people who first saw you in Picnic at Hanging Rock!

If this happened years ago, it might be a different story. I’m a bit bewildered really about the fuss that’s being made. I thought I did a good job, but I wasn’t expecting to be overwhelmed with praise like I am being now. So it’s really nice at this stage. Last year I did three plays back to back, and this year I’m doing four, one with Cate Blanchett at the end of the year in Sydney. So I’ve never stopped working, but it’s always in the theater. So it’s a really lovely thing to be making a film that’s such a success, and to be doing a publicity tour in America for it. I certainly have spent a lot of time here in the past, but only as a tourist going to the theater. My acting generation really didn’t come to America, whereas every young actor in Australia now goes to Hollywood for the pilot season and to get themselves an agent. But we’ve always been steeped in American culture in Australia. I grew up watching Disney and Esther Williams movies. My son grew up watching “Sesame Street.” I was just talking about all of the American roles I’ve played on stage, which really brought it home to me. But as far as playing a shady kind of Australian character like this one, Grandma Smurf is a bit of a departure for me.

How do you think American audiences will react to Animal Kingdom when it opens this August?

I think they’ll love it. I was blown away with the reaction we got at Sundance. The enthusiasm was palpable, and exciting. That happens to good films wherever they’re made. I think the Americans are used to the way we speak now, so they can understand us better!

So where does Grandma Smurf get that name?

You’ll have to ask David! I told David that I hated that name. Aren’t the Smurfs those little blue goblins? ▼