'Solitary Man' and 'Cracks' actress Imogen Poots

You heard it here first: Imogen Poots is the future of Young Hollywood. The inconceivably beautiful Brit has been flitting around for the past few years from indie to minuscule English indie, but all this is bound to change by the end of the year with the release of two excellent films in which she appears. One of them, Cracked, is about a clique of girls in a remote English boarding school—led by the scheming Di (Juno Temple) and her lackey Poppy (Poots)—who share an almost cultlike devotion to their diving instructor (Eva Green); the other, Solitary Man, tells the story of a ruined car salesman named Ben (Michael Douglas) who—having finally begun, with the help of his Upper East Side girlfriend Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker), to rebuild his life—wrecks it all after an incident with Nancy's prep-school daughter Allison (Poots). Poots, with her formidable talent and equally formidable beauty, might seem intimidating; when I sat down to converse with her, however, I learned her to be anything but. Enjoy.

How are you? Enjoying being back in New York?
I’m good! Yeah, it’s amazing. Best place ever… it’s a lovely place.

Did you enjoy shooting Solitary Man here?
Yeah, it was amazing. I’d never spent time in New York before, so it was incredible. I mean, I’m from London; that’s where I grew up, so it was definitely familiar. There are similarities between New York and London.

Yeah, but very American versus very British. Speaking of which, I’d first like to talk about Cracks. I saw it and I thought it was great: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie meets The Secret History.
Yes, it’s extremely derivative of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. And The Secret History by Donna Tartt is an incredible novel, isn’t it? I love it. It’s probably one of my favorite books. Actually, it probably is my favorite book. It’s the best thing.

Have you read Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl? If you liked Secret History you’ll probably love it.
No, I haven’t. I’ll check it out, thank you so much! I love new books. Getting a new book is—I’m so sad. It’s the most exciting thing in the world! [laughs] It’s the best thing ever. Books are very important.

What are your favorites?
I love Catcher in the Rye by Salinger. I love The Great Gatsby. I love the Japanese writer Murakami; he’s awesome.

I actually have a copy of Norwegian Wood on my bookshelf waiting to be read.
It’s brilliant. It’s brilliant. I actually read that one around the same time I read The Secret History; it’s a really good one. Then I just love American writing. I just finished East of Eden by Steinbeck and it’s just incredible.

I read The Grapes of Wrath…
And it didn’t—you didn’t like it?

I just… couldn’t do it. Then again, I couldn’t do Romeo and Juliet either.
[laughs] A lot of the time I feel like they push Shakespeare in schools completely ad nauseam. But he is amazing.

I love him, just not Romeo and Juliet!
Oh, I totally understand. [laughs]

So, yeah, you seem to have a thing for twisty, super-introspective sorts of projects—between Cracks and Solitary Man and the upcoming Jane Eyre.
Yeah, definitely. I think that’s what can be fascinating about acting—that you’re constantly looking through someone else’s eyes at the world and experiencing their experiences, and you’re really breathing that character. But often those kind of twisted and sinister storylines are the most exciting ones because they’re so challenging and you can explore so many different aspects of human psychology.

And, as with any medium, those kinds of stories are the most fun to delve into and unravel.
Exactly. I’m sure they will make a film of The Secret History, and that’s something that would just be, like, incredible. Just think of the parts for actors in that! It’s so incredible.

Yeah, I’m hoping that happens soon. Not very many parts for females, though.
I know. There’s just Camilla.

And there’s Judy Poovey.
Oh, yeah! Judy— [laughs] Of course! How could I forget? Oh, no, that’s very true.

[laughs] There were all these serious, introspective characters, and then there was loud, coke-snorting Judy Poovey.
[laughs] Yeah, that’s true! I almost forgot about that. I’ll have to revisit her.

But in general there aren’t as many female roles as male roles out there.
Well, I agree, but if you look at someone like Cate Blanchett she constantly manages to find these roles for women. Dame Judi Dench as well.

Yeah, true, but once you reach an undisputed level of awesome…
[laughs] It’s true. And up until then I do see what you mean, yeah. It’s lovely that these great roles have come along my way.

Solitary Man actually had tons of great female roles.
Yeah, it really did, actually! And they’re all very strong women, I think, and that’s what’s important, between Susan Sarandon and Mary-Louise Parker… this one is a good one, I think, because it shows that these women all went off to pursue their own lives and it really shows Ben as the one who’s struggling, so that’s good.

Did you watch a lot of Gossip Girl to prepare?!
[laughs] I wish! I wish.

Well, did you read a lot of Gossip Girl? [laughs]
Well, my brother loves Gossip Girl—

Seriously?
[laughs] Yeah! It’s completely mad, actually!

How old is he?
He’s 24! He shouldn’t… like, and all his guy friends are like, “What are you doing!” He’ll be like “Yo, did you see that episode of Gossip Girl?” and I’ll be like, “What are you talking about? No, I haven’t! I should be watching it!” XOXO… whatever. No, I haven’t actually watched it, but it does sound very intriguing.

How old are you?
I was 19 when we did the film, and now I’m 20 years old. My birthday was June.

So you’re about to be 21. You’re about to be old enough to drink in a country you don’t even live in!
[laughs] I know! It’s very exciting.

That’s something I’ve wondered. Do people even care about 21 in England?
Well, I think 18 is the big age. I think it’s still a big deal, though, because then you can finally call yourself an “adult”. [rolls eyes] God. Then you have to deal with responsibility.

I can see you’re thrilled about that.
I know! I’ve got to, like, cope with the world. [laughs] But, no, hopefully it’ll be a good age to be.

And you’re still young enough to be doing roles like Allison.
Yeah, no, it’s cool! I think it also seems to be such a young industry right now: the director of Jane Eyre, Carey Fukunaga, is early-thirties. He’s barely out of his twenties.

What about Jordan Scott, who directed Cracks? How old is she?
Jordan’s in her thirties as well, yeah. She’d done a lot of stuff before that, but that was kind of like her “baby”, I suppose. But she did a great job.

…There wasn’t even a single male character in that movie, was there?
There wasn’t, no.

You know, I never noticed that while I was watching it, but… wow.
No, I remember, actually, because at the readthrough everyone was sitting around and we were like, “Hey, you’re a girl! I’m a girl too! What’s going on?” That was kind of cool because I think girls can be so hysterical together. It can really be kind of like contagious hysteria. It was good fun.

I guess in general you’ve been in movies with far more female characters than is typical. Does that create a different environment?
Um… I think it must have, in some way, but I don’t really think gender in terms of the industry provides much of a different atmosphere. At the end of the day you’re all working together, so it’s not like you’re just randomly in a room full of men—because the majority of crews tend to be men.

Do you enjoy playing teenagers, or are you ready to… I guess play “grown-ups”?
Certainly, yeah. I think there comes a point where you’ve played the Girl At Boarding School only so many times, and it’s important to branch out. It’s always important to try different things.

You know, when I was watching Solitary Man, I couldn’t stop thinking about how similar your character actually was to Juno Temple’s in Cracks.
Yeah, it was a very similar sort of character. I think they’re all strong people, and you’re right about the whole sinister aspect; that’s obvious as well, especially in Cracks with a setting like a boarding school, where it’s all mysterious and confined.

Speaking as an American, there’s definitely a mystique about British boarding schools—you know, “What goes on behind those walls?”
Yeah, it’s interesting, I’m sure America has embraced English literature more. We’ve had our whole lives, so for us it’s like “Jane Eyre? Really? Again?” But here it seems to be kind of adored, and it’s the same with the whole boarding school theme. Yeah, I guess it’s just an established form of education that in England we’re all sort of used to, and I’m sure we have the same reaction about American high schools… hence Gossip Girl and all that. [laughter]

Yeah, I was about to say that it seems like the equivalent. You know, Harry Potter must have been interesting to English audiences in an entirely different way—for you guys Hogwarts was only a slightly-tweaked version of an already-established school, whereas here it was entirely new.
Yeah, definitely, I think so. Harry Potter seems to be really popular in America, and in England for sure it’s a very big thing. Oh, gosh, it’s crazy that the seventh book is out, sadly! I guess there’s always—

Please don’t say “There’s always Twilight.”
[laughs] No, no! No, I was saying that there are always those types of books and films, and they’re going to continue on telling stories that mean a lot to people.

Solitary Man is out in select theatres now and Cracked hits U.S. theatres in October.