Juno Temple finally gets to play her age (23) in “Brass Teapot.”
Credit: Magnolia Pictures
Juno Temple has been working overtime, with eight films in the can yet to be released, including her latest, the dark and quirky fable “The Brass Teapot.” The film finds the 23-year-old actress and Michael Angarano playing a hapless married couple who discover a mystical kettle that rewards their suffering pain with cash. It’s a juicy enough role, but Temple was just happy to get out of adolescence for once.
Is it nice to play an actual adult and break out of the high school-age roles?
Yeah. I know, it’s about time!
There’s a thing in Hollywood where it seems up until you’re 30 or so…
You can still be in high school, totally. I do still get a lot of teenage roles, and can I be honest? I’m really thankful for them because, you know, I’m not completely ready to leave them behind. As long as it’s a great role I connect to, who cares about the age? I’ve also played a pixie that’s like 900 and something. I guess on camera it feels like I’ve been 15 for a long time. I definitely think it would be pushing it a little for me to be playing a 30-year-old right now, but yeah. Yes, it’s frustrating sometimes when your feedback is like, “Sorry, you kissing him looks … weird.” It’s like, damn it, I just wish I could make my face look older, but then at the same time I’m ready to wait for the older roles, and I’m ready to play with the younger roles; whatever.
You’ve been very busy, project-wise.
Yeah, last year was a busy year. And “Maleficent” isn’t out until next year! That’s crazy. We finished filming before Christmas. “Sin City 2,” which they just wrapped, I think comes out the end of this year. And then I had these great indies that were at Sundance, and I really hope they get a real life — this film called “Magic Magic” and this film called “Afternoon Delight.” Last year was a trip, man. I played a couple of prostitutes — it happens — I played a sort of normal, day-to-day girl from the ’70s, I played a pixie, I played a dead girl who is a memory the entire time and I played a schizophrenic. (laughs) That was nuts, that was such an exploration creatively and also emotionally for me.
How much time did you have between the jobs?
I think tops was about two to three weeks. I like that, though, because you could snap in and out of it, you can’t dwell on the fact that you’re schizophrenic, can’t dwell on the fact that you were a sex worker. And I quite liked that because then when I finally had downtime I could pause and be like, “Wow, I just sent some pretty awesome people into the universe.” Because I feel that, I feel like when I play a part I kind of like the idea of sort of releasing her. There’s something fun about that.
Which one of those was “Horns”?
The dead girl who’s a memory. Yeah, I play Daniel Radcliffe’s girlfriend in that, who … is no longer with us. And the pixie was “Maleficent.”
Are you still working at that sort of clip right now, or are you taking more time between projects?
Right now I’ve got some downtime, which is nice because there’s going to be so many projects coming out that it’s also kind of nice to give each one its own thought process before talking about them with people. And there are a couple of things in the pipeline, possibly. Hopefully money comes through, because it’s such a bitch to get anything financed nowadays. And so I’m excited about 2013. I’m excited about it being a little bit calmer. It’s definitely nice — even though I thoroughly enjoyed hopping all over the place last year. So yeah, I’m excited about what this year will bring. Hopefully good things.
