Interview With Hilary - Provinces of The Night

Like many Southern Gothic heroines, Hilary Duff’s character, Raven Halfacre, in “Provinces of Night” is described as “precocious,” mature beyond her years.

But during her 10 days filming in the area, Duff was having fun getting back to her own childhood. The Texas native enjoyed working in rural Pender County where the weather was just as nice as the people. And she even learned, a little bit, how to roller skate.

The actress plays the daughter of a promiscuous alcoholic (Sheila Kelley) who has difficulty expressing love for her child. Raven herself is no angel either and soon embarks in a relationship with a kindred soul, Fleming Bloodworth (Reece Daniel Thompson).

Fleming has his own family problems to deal with, and together, they learn about love, family and themselves.

The Star-News caught up with Duff in Atkinson during her final day of filming. After a short scene with Kelley, she sat outside under a shade tree to discuss the film and her thoughts on the Wilmington area.

“Provinces of Night” continues filming through mid May.

Q: This is kind of a different character. The movie has an almost Southern Gothic feel to it. What’s Raven like?

A: I wouldn’t say ‘gothic,’ but she definitely is in a dark place with her family. Her mom, you can kind of tell they have a loving relationship but I think my character’s constantly challenged with, you know, who she is. If she’s like her mother or if she’s totally different, but she doesn’t know how to be different. And she’s never fallen in love or even knew that that was out there until she meets Fleming and she gets to experience something that’s kind of magical to her. And it gets taken away. It’s a very hard story to explain but everybody’s characters are key and it’s really just about how all of their relationships are intertwined, I guess. And how you hurt the people that you love.

Q: I imagine you have some pretty difficult scenes. Is that challenge one of the reasons you decided to do this?

A: Well, it’s a great story. I think it’s fun for me because it’s different and I get to kind of challenge myself, and I think that’s what actors look for. But also it’s an interesting movie and the characters are all very different and I like the story. I like the script. I like where it takes place. All those things kind of come into play.

Q: You probably get sent tons of scripts. What was it about this one, a small independent film that struck you?

A: I think the character. You know, I’m definitely not a brat when it comes to, you know, I don’t want to do just big movies. These little movies are the most fun. You get to play the most. It’s such a different process than working on a huge movie. And it’s, I don’t know. It’s kind of just free. It’s like anything goes and the people are all here because they feel passionate about the project and that’s what I like. I like that kind of team spirit. And it is hard work. It is low-budget. But we all feel passion for the project and that’s why we’re here.”

Q: And you’re from Houston, Texas. Is this familiar to you?

A: It is. It’s so nice. I grew up half in Houston and half in San Antonio and we lived in the hill county. So it was pretty much like this, maybe not so small town. But it’s so nice to be here and have weather and wind and rain and just land. I’m so used to L.A. now that, it starts raining and everyone’s like, “Oh, no! It’s raining, it’s going to hold up shooting.” And secretly I’m loving it because I don’t get good rain storms any more. And the people are so nice. It’s very different.

Q: Southern hospitality is back.

A: Yes, it took me awhile to get used to it. I mean, someone looked me in the eyes and asked me how I was doing and expected a response. In L.A. everyone’s like (in a lazy voice), “Hey how you doin.” They don’t really care.”

Q: Have you gotten to do anything in Wilmington? What do you think about the city?

A: It’s really sweet. It’s very quaint and we’re staying by the river. It’s just really sweet – little boutiques and great restaurants. And we’ve just kind of walked around a lot, and we’ve eaten a lot. I’m just kind of taking it all in. I haven’t been to the beach. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it, but I love the little downtown area.

Q: Back to the movie. What do you think about working with some of your co-stars, like Kris Kristofferson and Val Kilmer?

A: You know, unfortunately, I don’t have scenes with any of them. Most of my scenes have been with Reece (Thompson), who is great. And Sheila, who plays my mother, who is a wonderful actress as well. She just blows me away every time we work together. She has this mixture of sweet and really angry at the same time that is pretty powerful. And then I have one scene with Val and that’s pretty much it.

Q: Have you worked with the director or producers before?

A: Never. I met (director) Shane (Taylor) a few months before we started filming. Just to talk about the project. It’s a really nice feeling on set. It’s mellow and the crew works on “One Tree Hill” together so everyone’s really close. Everyone

really has it down, you know, has a formula that really works. And it’s nice to walk onto a set like that, that has kind of a family feel. And of course, Earl’s (W. Earl Brown) great. He wrote it, so he really has great insight when I have a question or don’t feel confident with something. Shane and Earl have lived with this script for eight years, so it makes it easy as an actor to get into that place by picking their brains.”

Q: I don’t want to give away too much about the movie. But is there a scene that you really enjoyed doing?

A: It’s kind of a blur now. They were ambitious days. We’ve done a lot in each scene... Reece and I did a really sweet scene yesterday where he’s playing me his granddaddy’s record and, we obviously both have very dysfunctional families, but it’s a nice bonding moment between the two of them. I think maybe to watch those two characters be so different but have so much in common.

Then we did a scene at the roller rink which was really fun. We both, we didn’t fall down, but neither one of us are too experienced on actual roller skates. So that was a big fun one to do.

Q: You’re not a big roller skater?

A: Well I mean I’m a roller blader, but roller skates are totally different. My boyfriend’s actually in town and he plays hockey. And he was coming that day. Thank gosh, his plane didn’t come in that day until after I’d gotten off the skates or he would’ve showed me up somehow . . . My character was supposed to know a little bit better what she was doing. I hope it comes out OK.

Thank gosh

haha who says that!?

Great interview it sounds like an interesting film and so does her character Cannot wait for this! thanks!

Yeah it was funny ay,"thank gosh!". But really good interview.
Your welcome.