WOMAN in red (at the Fun Fearless Latina Awards) is developing three scripts. AP
Actress Michelle Rodriguez, who has consistently played tough and tomboyish roles in the movies, is frustrated about the lack of good writing in Hollywood, of scripts that highlight interesting female characters.
Rodriguez was first seen on the big screen via the 2000 indie film “Girlfight,” where she was cast as a troubled teen who channeled her aggression by training to become a boxer.
The following year, she was cast as feisty street racer and mechanic Letty Ortiz in “The Fast and the Furious.” She was also seen in “Resident Evil” and its sequel “Retribution,” “S.W.A.T.,” “Avatar,” “Battle Los Angeles” and “Machete Kills.”
Rodriguez said she was willing to appear in a drama or comedy film, provided it was well-written.
“It’s so hard to find good writers [in Hollywood] these days. Eighty percent are men. Most of them live in Beverly Hills and are married to women who obviously annoy them so much that they wouldn’t want to write about them,” she told writers during a recent visit to Manila to promote “Fast and Furious 6.”
Strong, independent, free-spirited women in films are all too rare, she noted. “It’s a matter of getting more female writers in the business. That is my next move… I want to write. I’ve been lazy for the last 13 years.”
Rodriguez said she was working on three stories. The first is “Sedated.” She volunteered: “It’s about drugs, and depicts people in different parts of the world chasing new sensations.”
Another story in the making is entitled “Matriarch Society,” she said. “It’s about a secret society of women that has been around since the 1400s. It’s ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’ meets 007. It’s me trying to find a great excuse to bring all these great Hollywood actresses together in one movie.”
Third is a story for kids called “Kingdom Come,” which discusses the depletion of the planet’s resources, Rodriguez said. “All the animals are attacking anything that’s not pure. It’s kinda crazy.”
The actress explained that she’s drawn to tough characters because she does “not want to feel comfortable playing weak women. If the dialogue was weak, I’d change it. If the woman’s position wasn’t logical, I’d speak out.”
MICHELLE Rodriguez in “Fast and Furious 6”
If the director disagreed and said her character was not an intelligent person, “I’d ask, ‘Then why am I even here?’ I just don’t see the point of playing somebody I don’t want to be. I have to feel proud of the character.”
Not on paper
Was she happy with the way her role in the “Fast and Furious” franchise was written? “What you see onscreen was never what was on paper. I always have to change things. There were only two things I didn’t ask to change—the writing on ‘Girlfight’ and ‘Avatar.’”
Rodriguez also regarded being part of the franchise as an opportunity to represent the minority.
“It seems to be the only franchise in the action genre that has all these street characters … from various cultures and different parts of the world. For me, it’s cool because I also came from the streets. It’s very dear to me.”
She added: “It’s kinda cool for me to see this come to life onscreen. You don’t regularly see normal people in Hollywood films, which present so many illusions— beautiful, sexy people.”
For her, the franchise’s cultural diversity “is more real … closer to reality.”
In “Fast 6,” Rodriguez is seen in two fight sequences with former mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano, who plays federal agent Riley Hicks.
“Those are my favorite scenes in the movie. I didn’t get to do the arm bar because Gina was too scared to injure me,” she recalled. “I had fun during the fight sequences, also being in the zip lines for that catch-in-mid-air scene. We did that with wires on a green screen and I thought that was cool.”
Rodriguez’s character was shot at and presumed dead in “Fast 4.” With her “resurrection” in the latest sequel, the actress admitted to feeling tremendous pressure. “Knowing that you were asked to come back by fans and colleagues, you kind of want to prove yourself,” she said. “Not for a minute did I forget the responsibility that came with it. I hope that people like the final product because it’s something that I really worked hard on.”
“Fast and Furious 6” cast members Carano, Vin Diesel and Luke Evans joined Rodriguez during the red carpet premiere held in Manila recently. The film is currently showing in local theaters nationwide.
(Email mcruz@inquirer.com.ph)