SPLICE's Creature Speaks! An Interview With Delphine Chanéac

Here we are with our second interview from the set of Vincenzo Natali's upcoming sci-fi horror film Splice, starring Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody. We spoke with producer Steve Hoban in our first interview and will be concluding things by talking with writer-director Vincenzo Natali and in between we have Delphine Chanéac, the French actress and singer who plays the adult version of the film's genetically manipulated creature, Dren. You'll find the full conversation below the break.

TB: Can you introduce yourself and say what your part in the film is?

DC: Okay. I am Delphine Chanéac from France. I’m twenty nine and I play Dren. Dren’s character is very interesting and I think they chose me because I am a little bit sporty and I can hold the stances and all the things they put on me.

TB: Are you able to talk about your character at all? Are you allowed to?

DC: A little bit. Dren is a mixture of animal and human. At the beginning she is a little bit more animal and more and more she becomes more woman and more human. Not more intelligent but the intelligence becomes closer to human intelligence rather than animal. And her body is not like a human body, it is changed a little bit which you’ll be able to see for yourself one day. I think that’s all you can know now. She is bald, she has no hair, her hair won’t grow.

TB: For this part you have a lot of body prosthetics, have you ever done that kind of work before?

DC: No, I don’t. I don’t have any.

TB: You don’t have any? They’ll be altering things digitally later?

DC: Maybe. [smiles]. I wouldn’t know.

TB: You mention that you think you were cast because you have a sporting background and Steve [Hoban, producer] mentioned to me earlier that the girl who plays the young Dren has a background in kung fu, so that seems like a common element. Is there an action component to what you have to do?

DC: No, it’s not exactly like that. When I was cast they didn’t know that I’ve practiced karate for eight years. They didn’t know that. But it helped me because it helps you to control your body more when you practice something like this. I think you have more control on your feet, on your arms and maybe on your mind. It helps you to focus on just one thing. For the stances, I have to jump on a lot of people and I can do that because I can put my legs the way I need and I can control what I’m doing. I think karate is very good, whether for women or men or children or adults, because you are more focused, you can separate your mind – one part is for acting and one part is for how you move your body. I think this is very important.

At the beginning they were shooting my back and they told me “Wow, you are very muscled on your back!” and I said, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe.” I think it’s good and it’s from the karate. And with Abbie [the actress playing young Dren] it really helps her because when you tell her to do something with her body she can because of her sporting way to think. It helps her to be much better in her acting.

TB: When you were preparing for the role and you have to move certain ways because of the animal part of your character, were you modeling your movements after any particular animal?

DC: No. I was just creating and it’s much more interesting, I think. And I also created the baby movements, the toddler movements, the teenager movements, everything including the adult.

TB: So you created the movements that Abbie is now using?

DC: Yes.

TB: Have you been working closely with her?

DC: Yes, of course!

TB: How is that for you?

DC: Cool! Very nice. We play on the trampoline all the time. I try to make some funny way to play and to work. She’s very young. Very intelligent but still very young and sometimes you must just play with her like it’s a game. It’s fun, I’m playing karate and she’s playing kung fu and it’s like a joke between us that we can use some katas and have fun with that. I think she can copy me very quickly and easily.

TB: Now I could see in the scene they were shooting earlier with Sarah and Abbie that Sarah feels very much like she’s Dren’s mother in the film. How is that relationship for you with you two being so close in age?

DC: I’m older! A little bit! I think there’s no problem because I am Dren and it’s okay. I never think about that. It’s just my character and it’s okay, I think of her like my mother and a friend. When you are playing the role you are your character and if my character’s eleven then I’m eleven and if that’s my mother then that’s my mother. I can imagine that and I can integrate that in my mind. It’s okay. And she’s very pretty so that’s good if she’s my mother! [laughs]

TB: Do you find working with the other actors and Vincenzo, has the language been okay? Are you able to understand?

DC: Yeah, it’s okay. I don’t have any problems today but sometimes when you are a little tired or when you are speaking so much in English you find yourself feeling like “I can’t! I can’t anymore!” But it’s okay, I’m learning a lot and I’m trying to work at home to understand all their needs. But I think with Vincenzo, when I don’t understand I can just get him to show me. And with Abigail, sometimes we don’t understand because there is a barrier with the language but I can mime or show her with my body and she understands. Vincenzo is exactly the same. But I think more and more as I get familiar with his voice I understand. When someone is new and they speak to me too fast sometimes it’s a little hard but when I am familiar with their voice it’s easy. Maybe it’s because I’m also a singer I’m already in the habit of listening to the sounds and to voices. With Adrien it’s very nice because he’s very nice and I’m very proud to play with him and with Sarah because it’s just cool.

TB: They’re very good actors.

DC: Yes! Sure! And Vincenzo! I feel the same about Vincenzo because when I saw CUBE before I thought “Wow! He’s completely crazy!” And it works, it just keeps working on your mind when you are thinking about it. And it’s such a smart movie, it works with the mathematics. I talked to him, I asked him if it works really, if the numbers really work and he said yes. And I thought, “Wow, unbelievable”, because I could never do that. Maybe I need to study more mathematics.

TB: Now, Vincenzo with this … I know this is a film that he tried to make ten years ago so this is obviously a film that has been close to him for a long time. Is he responsive if you – or Adrien or Sarah – come to him and have your own ideas about how things should work? Is there back and forth?

DC: It’s very cool for that. At the beginning he had his own ideas but when he saw me in the casting room in Paris – and I was the first one, the first woman he saw for Dren – he told me that I was exactly like what he saw in his head. That I have exactly the face, the body, the right way to move. And after that, step by step, I told him “Okay, maybe can we do it a little more like this?” And he agreed and said yes and he left you – I don’t know a good word. You can propose something for him and often he accepts because it’s for the movie. It’s to make the movie better than just one person can. I love to hear what he thinks, what other people think because it’s ‘out’, it’s not just what is in one person’s head. And I think sometimes it’s more interesting to have the opinions of several others.