Keeping an open heart: Q&A with Jane Seymour
Photo by Katherine Rountree
Saturday afternoon, District had the opportunity to interview Jane Seymour during the 2014 Savannah Film Festival.
Ranging from a Jewish woman in the Holocaust to a Bond girl to a comedy like “Wedding Crashers,” you have dipped your feet in all waters across the map of genres in the film industry. How do you alternate roles like that?
Well, you know, each one was at such a different time in my life. But I count myself incredibly fortunate because many people end up playing one role over and over again and I’ve never had that experience. I’ve always managed to play completely different roles in completely different genres and I think it’s actually paid off for me. For example, the 8- to 10-year-old girls will know me from “Saige Paints the Sky,” the new American girl doll movie from last year, the 30-somethings saw “Wedding Crashers” and can’t get over it. “Dr. Quinn,” that’s probably all ages. “Somewhere in Time” is you know, anyone who’s married and believes in true love, which is a good thing and so many different genres really and different age groups of people. It’s interesting.
Your art expands from writing to jewelry to painting. Which form of multimedia would you say you’re most passionate about?
I am most connected to the Open Heart and my paintings. That is where that all came from, so the paintings are my idea and my thought process; nobody asked me to do it. It’s just what comes pouring out of me. Then I take those paintings and images and turn them into designs for jewelry, for furniture, for lamps, for clothing or bed linens, even handbags. You know, I am now doing all kinds of things. I love the fact that when I freely allow myself to express myself in various mediums, I can pull from that and create something that’s hopefully beautiful.
Through the development of your career, in what ways have you noticed the industry change over time?
The film industry has changed enormously because of the equipment. When I started out, they were editing with actual bits of film that were actually left on the cutting room floor. The fact that anybody can basically make a film now with a camera — you can make a film with a cell phone and you can edit it at home on your own computer and you can put it up on YouTube and you can get millions of people to watch it. That is hugely different and so I always think it will be about content. And I think it will always be about something that’s relevant, something that’s authentic and something that is entertaining and meaningful.
You came from the UK to America. Do you have any specific people of inspiration from either place, and how do they compare?
My first mentor in terms of acting, really the person who discovered me, was Richard Attenborough — Lord Attenborough — who just passed away. I always credit him. In terms of art, I started painting seriously about 24 years ago when I lost everything in my life. I lost my husband, I lost my home, I lost all my money, I lost everything and I was completely devastated. And I really took my mother’s advice, which is when life is tough and you feel something is unsalvageable, your instinct will be to close off your heart and keep it all inside. But if you can acknowledge what happened and open your heart and reach out in some way to help someone else, that very action will bring love and purpose in your life. So I took that and made two open hearts, which is how the Open Heart came about. I did it for myself; I knew I had nothing. I was at a fundraiser for a child abuse agency and I thought that is about as hideous as it gets, so I gave the last money I had in return for an artist who offered to do a drawing of your children. So that led to this guy seeing my finger paintings and one thing led to another, led to another and here we are today in Savannah and I am just so impressed by this school and how everything I work in, you study here. People always say to just do this or just do that, and I think I broke all of those rules.
They aren’t separated, me the human being. Part of who I am and my experience in life is what makes me the actress I am. If I wasn’t a person and I didn’t have a life, I wouldn’t have anything to pull from. When I play a role, the aesthetics of what I am wearing, the costume design, the jewelry, the hair styles, the make up, the lighting, the look… I can’t separate myself from that. The writing, the character, knowing about different periods and then the ballet, the dance training I had. It is invaluable. I just paid a choreographer twice now and I am being asked to dance even in my 60s. But it’s wonderful that I had that… it is wonderful if I have to do a waltz, it’s wonderful if I just have to faint because I am in tune with my body.
I also, when I paint, I tend to stand and I move a lot. And I think when you look at even my brushstrokes, they are like dance movements. I can’t take one thing away from another. They all just kind of happen at the same time.
What advice would you give to students?
My biggest advice is don’t be afraid to put it out there and don’t be afraid to try. If you are a complete perfectionist, you’ll probably never finish it. If you’re a painter or an artist and you have a really good artist next to you, make sure they’re a really good friend who just goes, “Okay, you’re done. We are taking that away now.” I need that sometimes. The same thing when you’re acting, you need someone behind the camera saying, “Okay, we got it.” And then you have to let go.
I think the most important thing is the connection you make with the end user. Whether it is the audience who are watching my movies, or who read the books, or who buy the art and want to have it in their home, or the jewelry because they want a special gift or if it is meaningful to them because it reminds them to keep their heart open like it did for me — just think about who it is for and what they’re going to use it for.
And break the rules. Always break the rules.
