Frances Fisher is known for her roles as Strawberry Alice, the madame prostitute in “Unforgiven” and Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the mother of Kate Winslet’s character in “Titanic”. This year Frances has been featured in “The Roommate” and upcoming “The Lincoln Lawyer”. Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with Frances about her roles and her love for what she does.
Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about your role in the recently released “The Roommate
Frances Fisher: I play Leighton Meester’s mother. It was a really fun film to work on but sadly they cut quite a few of the scenes i had done. My character is pretty much there to ask a question and to move the plot of the story along. The question that my character asks is an important plot point of the movie.
MG: Tell us about your upcoming role as Mary Windsor in “The Lincoln Lawyer”?
FF: Mary Windsor is the mother of Ryan Phillippe’s character and is a woman who has raised her son on her own since he was very young due to the passing of his father. Mary’s son is really the apple of her eye and would do anything for him.
MG: How was it working with such a great cast?
FF: It was terrific. Everyone on the cast was very professional and fun. I really enjoyed going to work each day. My first day of work was actually one of the bigger scenes in the film and each person had their part down and really nailed it. I really was just a great experience working with such high caliber actors and actresses.
MG: Tell us about your experience working on the film “Titanic”?
FF: I will never forget the view of the ship the first time I got to see it all lit up. It really looked like a ship had just docked. I was very spectacular. No one knew what that movie was going to do or how big of a success it was going to be when we were shooting it. I don’t think there will ever be another movie that will be number 1 for 14 weeks at the box office.
MG: What has been the most challenging project for you to work on?
FF: For me it seems to be whenever I have to play a cross examining lawyer role. I find it very challenging just because I have so much material. There is usually a lot of technical dialogue that can be tough. My role on “Eureka” is one that stands out to me. It probably didn’t seem very 
difficult but there were a bunch of technical terms that I had to remember.
MG: You have done quite a bit of stage work, what is your process one you get a role?
FF: I prepare the same whether I am doing stage, movies or television. I usually try to find out where the character is coming from. I try to create a back story for the character so I am not duplicating something I had previously done. I try to come up with everything from what the character is wearing to how they walk and talk.
MG: Any future plans to return to stage?
FF: I don’t have anything in the works right now but I am always looking! I am always open to anything good that comes my way.
