Furthermore, she had to involve Nancy Downs.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you get involved in the reboot?
FAIRUZA BALK:I was approached at a show by [producer] Jason Blum.
Lisa Rose/Columbia Pictures
Are you interested in being involved?"
I was like, “Eh, I don’t know.”
Then I got a call from my manager that Zoe [Lister-Jones] wanted to meet me.
And that I was the mother of the central character.
She was still working out where it was all going to go.
It went through a lot of different incarnations.
But the reason that I got involved was because her motivation was a really positive one.
There are so many movies that are reinforcing women fighting women and the bitchiness.
How did you all decide Nancy’s look after all these years?
They don’t really let you know how or why she’s in an insane asylum.
She can’t have been there all these years, that’s impossible.
She’s not supposed to look well put together; it should be the very farthest from that.
[Laughs] It’s very different, and I wondered, “Will people even recognize her?”
Let’s you know that you’re doing it right.
It’s such a short scene but did you and Zoe talk about Nancy’s headspace at all?
The core of that character, when we did the original, was fury.
That was the emotional center of that character at the time.
And Zoe wanted some of that to definitely be there.
Zoe mentioned apotential sequel.
Would you be interested in playing Nancy again in the future if given the opportunity?
It would depend on the story, if it would be a challenge and something fun.
My whole reason for being involved was Zoe’s pitch.
She’s very, very smart.
But it would depend on what they write and what they come up with, I suppose.
[Laughs] It takes a lot of energy, being psychotic.
