Englishwoman holds her own as 'Vicky'
By Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.15.2008
While you may expect to be wowed by the shenanigans of Scarlett Johansson and Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" — opening in Tucson today — you'll likely come out of Woody Allen's film asking who was that third actress who stole the show.
Rebecca Hall plays Vicky, the ostensibly sensible half of an American duo spending a naughty summer on Spain's sensual Costa Brava. It's OK if you don't recognize her; "VCB" is only Hall's third feature film, and she worked with her natural English accent in "The Prestige," which also starred Johansson, and "Starter for 10."
An acclaimed stage and TV actress in Britain, Hall's international profile should rise as several intriguing upcoming movies make their way to theaters. Right now, though, she's still processing having actually worked with Allen, a dream she's had for a dozen years.
"There are sort of three stages you go through," Hall says. "First, there is the person you grew up watching, knowing his mannerisms and the way he's going to talk. Then it goes to, 'Now I'm on the set working with him,' and it's almost disappointing because he's a normal person who talks normally. And then the third stage is where you go, 'I love this person I've been working with; he's great fun and rational.'"
Hall, who is in her mid-20s, comes off like a young Emma Thompson, funny and versatile and not the least bit pretentious. She also attended Cambridge and, asked if she has any relatives in the theatrical field, replies with a cagey "Me? Maybe."
Actually, Rebecca's dad is the renowned stage director Sir Peter Hall (he did her stage debut, "Mrs. Warren's Profession," for which she won the Ian Charleson Award for actors under 30 in a classical role) and her mom is the American opera singer Maria Ewing.
The Anglo-American actress will be seen later this year in "Frost/Nixon," Ron Howard's adaptation of the play by "The Queen's" screenwriter Peter Morgan.
What's your role in that one, Rebecca?
"Nixon! I used the American accent, it was barely a stretch.," she jokes. "No, I play David Frost's girlfriend, Caroline Cushing. Very different from Vicky, very English and glamorous."
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