In Blade Runner 2049, Robin Wright plays a hard-nosed LAPD lieutenant - the latest memorable performance from an actress who's been everyone from a princess, to a president.
She talked to Kim Holcomb about her long career that started at age 19, on an NBC soap opera.
HOLCOMB: "I have to tell you something that you might hate but I have to tell you because I've been waiting all these years….”
WRIGHT: “Oh no…”
HOLCOMB: “I used to watch Santa Barbara every day when I would get home from school. And I loved you from then on. So, thanks for Santa Barbara.”
WRIGHT: “Look at you!”
HOLCOMB: “Do you hate that? Do you hate if someone recognizes you for that?”
WRIGHT: “No, I'm just surprised that you're still watching stuff that I do! Like, you should have been tapped out at that."
HOLCOMB: "What would you tell that version of yourself now?"
WRIGHT: "No more big hair. That was some 80's hair.”
HOLCOMB: “I feel like that's advice we could all give ourselves at some point. Your character in this film is fascinating because I don't know if I'm supposed to like her or not. Do you like her?”
WRIGHT: “You always have to like your characters that you play… she's got a job, she's got to keep order in this new futuristic world. Because if you don't keep order, another movement could take over humanity.”
HOLCOMB: “It does bring up this question that any thought about (artificial intelligence) brings up which is, ‘what is truly human, what is humanity?’ What is your definition?”
WRIGHT: “Well, if you want to pick descriptive words - humility and standing for something. So, can you stand for something if you're genetically engineered? That's the question."
HOLCOMB: "There's so much we can't talk about with this movie but I feel like we can in general terms talk about how prescient many of the themes are.”
WRIGHT: “Very much so.”
HOLCOMB: “But it doesn't whack you over the head with them.”
WRIGHT: “No, true. It's multi-layered. It's thought-provoking. But really, the sensitivity and vulnerability to it that Denis Villeneuve brings to it as a director, is that delicate balance between humanity and technology. How you want to hold on to connection and maintain love, as we know it today?”
Blade Runner 2049 is rated R and opens October 6.
