Although she is best known for her indelible take on Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men films, Famke Janssen has had an eclectic career that's seen her appear in everything from the Taken franchise opposite Liam Neeson to the Netflix series Hemlock Grove. Now, Janssen is lending her star power to The Vault, a heist film with Freddie Highmore, Liam Cunningham and Sam Riley in which her British operative character, Margaret, has an outsized influence on the action even though her time onscreen is limited.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Janssen spoke about what drew her to The Vault, whether she'd be interested in playing Jean Grey again in future X-Men movies and the many projects she has planned as filming slowly returns to normal amid the coronavirus pandemic.
CBR: How did you get involved with The Vault?
Famke Janssen: I'd been filming a bunch in Europe -- I'm European, I'm Dutch -- and I was living for a bit in London, and I was filming there. And my British agent came to me with this project, and since I was already in London filming, it was such an easy trip back over to Madrid. I ended up taking it even though it's a small part but mostly because I enjoyed the script very much. I thought it was an interesting take on a heist movie, setting it against the backdrop of the World Cup and especially -- which is kind of ironic -- that Spain is playing the Netherlands, which is my country, so I thought that was kind of a fun little thing to add to it. And then the director [Jaume Balagueró] is really talented, and the cast is wonderful. So, I ended up taking this small part and just having fun with it and spending some time in Madrid, which is one of the most beautiful cities.
Your character is pivotal to the plot even though your screen time is limited. How do you tackle a role like that when the character isn't as fleshed out ?
I think that's something that I have been asked to do for so many projects over my career. Not that it's only been like that, I've done leads in movies and things. But I think because my decision-making often has to do not only with, "I'm looking for the juiciest part," it's a whole combination of everything: the script, the characters, the director and all of it. And so I don't always go for the ones that tick every box. Sometimes there's one box that I want to tick, to work with a specific director or actor or whatever. And then I think you're responsible to bring whatever unique qualities you can to a character and try to make the best out of that what you can. I think that's our job as an actor anyway.
Your character Margaret also has a very distinct look. She's very polished. Did you have input into her hair and clothes?
Oh, I have a lot of input in all of it always. It's how I work. I always start with that. Yeah, I mean, she's a very, very different person than I am in my own life, and I thought it was important that that look represented that, a kind of proper world of how you look and your being, which is very much part of our lives anyway. I mean, the moment you set foot in a room, somebody is going to judge you based on your looks. And so that's why that particular wig that I was wearing [was chosen] because my own hair is probably about to my waist or something, which seemed really inappropriate for the character. And so that hairstyle seemed appropriate to me and that kind of way of dressing just said a lot to me about who Margaret is.
You also use an English accent in this film. Was that challenging to master?
Yeah. I personally am not happy with it. And I can blame, but I always feel like you need to take responsibility for everything in life. Working with an all Spanish crew and a Spanish director and not being in England or being around people who speak English make that much more challenging than if you were to do it with an English crew or English-speaking people around you. But mostly Spanish was spoken and broken English was spoken around me. So I found that to be probably the most challenging aspect of it. Keeping it consistent, not having a dialect coach on set in a way that I've had that we've worked in the past. Or when I did a film in Boston where we were filming in Boston and everybody had to do Boston accents, and it becomes much easier when you're surrounded and you can keep that up. But, yeah, there were I don't know how many different accents on our set. It certainly made that more challenging. But you live and you learn in life.
You're known for your roles in action films, like James Bond and X-Men. But you've done a lot of roles in other genres. Do you have a favorite kind of role that you enjoy tackling?
No. The thing is, I guess, I went into acting thinking this is a great place to explore different characters, different personalities. And I think this is the reason why, for me personally, I've gone for so many different genres, sometimes smaller characters, sometimes bigger characters, supporting roles, lead roles, whatever it is because that, to me, epitomizes acting.
What I see happen a lot in the United States is that people become a certain character, and they get cast as that. And, to me, that was never that interesting because I thought if I can just be myself or a version of myself and repeat that over time, I would get bored. So that's been behind most of my decision-making as an actor. I just try to mix it up, and mostly because I can get very easily bored of certain things and I just need to keep it fresh like that.
One of your most iconic roles is as Jean Grey in the X-Men films. Disney is now in charge of those characters. If you were invited to reprise Jean Grey, would you be interested?
I mean, I think it's a wonderful character. Sophie [Turner] has been doing such an amazing job with Jean Grey and the Phoenix that I don't know that they would. But, of course, I mean, she's an iconic character. And I played her five times over all the different movies that I was in, including The Wolverine, so it's been a wonderful experience and a really great character to explore. And we've seen it, obviously, with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, that they brought them back at the same time as their younger versions in the movies. So who knows? You never know. Life is very unpredictable -- as we all know more than ever.
Is there another superhero or villain you'd ever be interested in playing?
Oh god, I'm sure there's so many. I can't think off the top of my head because those are not the kinds of movies that I tend to watch a lot or comics that I read or anything like that. But there's no shortage of great villains, I'm sure. I've played a bunch myself. And they're always such a juicy part. You know, it depends.
I mean, I'm busy at the moment. Thankfully, things are picking up again after this crazy year. And I'm filming [drama series] Long Slow Exhale and an indie called Dormouse. And then I have a bunch of other projects down the line called Knights of the Zodiac and a show called New for Sky TV. And then [the film] Redeeming Love that I have coming out, which is based on a novel by the same name, and we filmed it in South Africa, literally right up until the pandemic started. So that's a very cool project.
You've also spent some time on television shows. Most recently, you guest starred on How to Get Away with Murder. Do you enjoy being able to follow up on a character on a weekly basis in TV or do you prefer film?
It's so interesting because in my career I've mostly done movies, and you realize once you start tackling television that it's so cushiony and, in the end, probably easier to do because television goes fast. Even if it's for just a bunch of episodes on Netflix or whatever it is, the pacing of it, the amount of footage that you shoot per day is so much faster than any film ever is. And the biggest difference for me always has been on a film, you sign up, you read the entire script, you see the character arc and you know what you get as an actor going into it. On television or episodic or whatever you want to call it now with the arrival of all these various platforms, you most of the time only see a pilot episode and then you don't really know. You're going in on good faith hoping that the rest of it turns out the way you want it to. So it's very different.
I enjoy it because it's nice to revisit a character and have some time exploring them. And luckily enough, in my film career, I've been able to do that with the Taken franchise and with the X-Men franchise, obviously, coming back numerous times on the same character. And then Hemlock Grove I did for three years, and then How to Get Away with Murder, I came in and out a bit.
You mentioned the Taken films. After you initially starred in those, you started work as a UN Goodwill Ambassador. Can you speak a little bit about your activist work?
That is so incredibly important to me. Animals are probably on the very top of my list. When I was in South Africa, I visited a rhino sanctuary, and I've been working with them. And I will continue to work with them for hopefully the rest of my life. It's called Care For Wild, and it's so incredibly important to see the work they're doing and trying to protect that species.
And I have worked with the UN a bunch. Gorbachev has an organization called Green Cross International, and I've worked with them on climate-related, mostly water-related issues. There are various things. But like I said, the climate change and climate-related issues and anything having to do with animals, those are really my passion projects.
What do you find fulfilling about that work?
Well, it's mostly that I believe that we're really at a crucial time in our lives, that unless we take action and we do things, it's going to be dire. And I don't feel like I have a choice other than to bring attention to it in people's lives. And I really do believe that together, we can make a change, that we don't have to continue living the way we have lived before. And we all saw during the pandemic, it was sort of a reset time where people didn't travel as much and they were eating locally and our carbon footprint [was lessened], especially somebody like me who travels as much as I have for work, these are problematic. And some of the biggest people in our world, the billionaires who travel all over the world -- I don't travel privately, it's the worst possible thing you can do for the climate, obviously -- but they travel privately, that doesn't have to happen. We can change that and call them out on it.
And of course, Greta Thunberg, it's just absolutely stunning what this young woman has done and the attention she's drawn. So I'm very excited to see what not only the next generation is going to do because we can't put it on their shoulders, it's crazy, but just to see how coming out of this pandemic, the lessons we've learned in this time of reflection and what changes we can all make.
You've talked a bit about all the projects you're set to appear in. It seems like you're always busy. You also wrote, directed and produced the film Bringing Up Bobby in 2011. Would you consider doing that again?
Yeah, I'm actually developing a bunch of projects at the moment. I'm developing one in the UK for me to star in and produce. So we're actively working on those scripts and the treatments right now. And another two or three in the US in the same capacity of being an actor and a producer. And recently, I actually got an offer to direct something, but I didn't think that one was good enough. So yes, I mean, it's something that I hope to pursue and continue to do.
But this pandemic kind of threw a bit of a wrench in all of our lives, obviously. But right now I just feel foremost I have to go back to work as an actor to just make some money again. And then meanwhile, I'm actively pursuing many other lines of work as a producer, like I said. And I enjoy it very much too.
Starring Freddie Highmore, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, Liam Cunningham, Sam Riley, Luis Tosar, Axel Stein, Jose Coronado and Famke Janssen, The Vault opens Friday, March 26 in select theaters and on VOD.