Susan Blackwell talks Redundancy with The Fan Carpet’s Stefan Pape

Every now and again Hollywood throws a financial thriller our way, but there have been few in recent years as intelligently written and well-performed as Margin Call, which was released earlier this year. Featuring a merciless opening scene whereby we witness a loyal employee being made redundant, we caught up with the perpetrator Susan Blackwell, to coincide with the DVD release on November 12.

Blackwell plays Lauren Bratberg, a HR executive who fires Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci) to kickstart one of the most tense and anxious 24 hours this crumbling financial firm has ever faced, as the employees tirelessly work over night to help save the company, and their jobs.

Blackwell discusses her part in the said scene, and how her own experience in HR helped her when taking on this particular role. She also tells us of her favourite redundancy scene in cinema, and how fantastic it was to work alongside the likes of Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons to name just two.

Meanwhile, as the interview took place the morning after the US election, we listened to Susan’s thoughts on that matter too…

Of course this interview is in aid of the DVD release of Margin Call – so for those who missed the film on cinematic release, can you just tell us a little bit about Margin Call is about?

Sure, Margin Call is a financial thriller, and takes a look at 24 hours in session of a financial crisis at a very large financial firm.

Your character Lauren Bratberg is effectively a ‘villain’ of the piece, that must have been fun to play?

[Laugh] It’s so funny when you do these things you don’t think of it in that way, I guess if you’re playing Iago in something you sort of think you’re all justified in your behaviour, and I think in situations like that it’s true that HR does get the bad press and you hear about HR policies, which isn;t necessarily a reflection of the philosophy of the firm, but it was very satisfying, I’m not gonna kid you.

So how do you prepare for a role like that? Did you do much research into the financial world?

Well you know, I’ve got to be honest with you, I have kind of a strange life Stefan, in addition to being actually quite successful as an actor, I’ve played on Broadway, I’ve been in films, I do television… When I moved to New York as a young actor to support myself I didn’t wait tables I worked in offices and slowly over the years worked my way up from receptionist to management. Also I have extended corporate experience hiring people, firing people, and even now because I’m a very pragmatic person I still work in an office and in an executive search firm that works in HR actually. So I did my research very thoroughly over many years by actually working in and around HR, and firing people, so there you go.

It’s quite amazing then that with this film you’ve managed to combine your two career paths. There aren’t too many roles based around HR in Hollywood…

It’s kind of amazing. I got the script actually and I thought it was dynamite and I thought the termination scene where I fire Stanley Tucci’s character was very realistically written, very well written. I thought, wow, if I can’t get this part I’ve got to hang it up, it was really interesting to receive that script.

The screenplay was nominated at the Oscars – was it apparent when you first received it that this was potential Oscar material?

I don’t know if I thought about the Oscars, but you could intuit very quickly that it was a very special script, that it was better than most. I mean I read a lot of scripts, a lot of things get passed by me, and it was very special, a real page turner. Even though we all knew what eventually happened we all wanted to know what would happen on the next page and how it was to be portrayed, and you could tell this was very, very special.

Just how helpful is it to an actor to work with such a sharp, intelligent screenplay? How much of a difference does that make to your job?

You know it’s a huge difference because if the script is that good all you have to do is learn your lines and sit down and do it. It’s when the script is a little bit less good that you have to start strategising and thinking how can I make this work? How can I make it sound like a human being is actually saying this? But this was so well written that really you just had to memorise the lines and be smart and say them.

Redundancy is something that happens to people every single day, did you feel any pressure doing justice to quite a familiar theme and one that is sadly quite close to many people?

I certainly wanted it to be realistic, I’ve been on both sides of the table, I think if you’re an adult and lived for a few years you usually find yourself certainly being terminated at some point in your life, unless you’re very lucky – so I’ve been on both sides and when I went in to the audition I asked them if they wanted it to be like Up in the Air, which is sort of a more, almost comedic version of a termination, or do you want this to be very realistic – and they wanted it to be very realistic so I think I wanted to do a good job, not just to get the part, but also to honour the quality of the script, and I agree with you, those situations, the very heightened moments in all of our lives when you find yourself on the receiving end of very bad news.

Have you got a particular redundancy scene from a film that you find the most gripping?

I’d have to say the beginning to Up in the Air, there is a montage Stefan – where real people, actual people who have been terminated are recounting real experiences that they’ve had and it’s edited together and you can tell they aren’t actors and right in the montage it moves into the actors and you can tell immediately who is an actor. But the people who have really been terminated I actually found that very fascinating and moving because that is such a heightened moment in people’s lives and to see people talking so honestly and so boldly about such a challenging experience I thought was really fascinating.

As for J.C. Chandor, not only did he write the screenplay but he directed the film also, and it’s his debut feature film. Just how bright a future do you see for him in Hollywood?

I’ve got to tell you, I think quite bright, and I hope that for him as well. In addition to being extremely talented he is also absolutely delightful to work with, you can tell from his writing he is obviously a very bright guy, and I’ll also say that I’ve never seen a director on a set so relaxed and so enjoying himself and he was like a kid in a candy store, I just loved the spirit and joie de vivre on set, he was just delightful, absolutely delightful. So I hope his future is very bright. I feel like he really is the real deal.

And I suppose on more of a personal level, it must have been brilliant to work alongside the likes of Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, to name just three…

C’mon, it’s the best! The cats is crazy, I felt really honoured and excited to be a part of it, that was an amazing cast they put together.

On a side-note it’s interesting to speak to you today in the aftermath of the US election, given the film is based around the recession – what’s the mood like over in the States this morning?

Well it is extremely early here, so it’s still dark outside, but I had to go to bed at a certain point while they were tallying results, but around 12.30 my husband just very quietly said “It’s Obama” and I woke up and I couldn’t get back to sleep I was so excited. And Facebook is an early indication that people are very, very excited.

I found out when I went on Facebook on my phone and the top status in my timeline was just the word “Phew” so I guessed Obama had done it…

[Laughs] Now don’t get me wrong, not everyone is excited – there is half of the country that is less excited, but I would say that most of the people I know are very, very excited.

My final question is just about what’s coming up next for you? Have you got any projects lined up?

Yeah I’m filming a TV show at the end of the week, but what I’m finding interesting is the strong potential I may be coming over to the West End to do a show we did on Broadway that my collaborators and I put on called Title of Show and there is a strong possibility that in 2013 we’ll be coming to the West End and doing it there. It’s a musical and I play a character based on myself and I talk a fair amount working in an office and what that feels like, so these two beings just keep combining in my life.

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Margin Call is out on DVD & Blu-Ray on November 12, pre-order your copy here