Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend Talk 'Battle in Seattle'

Anti-globalization gets lost in the war on terror, and the star and actor-director aim to bring it back to the fore.

By Karl Rozemeyer

On December 10, 2006, singer-actor André Benjamin of Outkast fame donned a cardboard turtle suit and joined a group of fellow "protesters" on the streets of Seattle. Seven years before, tens of thousands of real demonstrators had descended upon the Seattle Convention Center and surrounding hotels to protest the actions of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The turtle-clad demonstrators — whose costumes highlighted the plight of turtles killed by shrimp nets — joined other anti-globalization vocalists and rallied against the leaders of the WTO, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank in sometimes violent clashes with police. Benjamin's participation in the re-enactment of the events of November 30, 1999, was for Battle in Seattle, a feature film by first-time helmer Stuart Townsend (perhaps best known for his role as Lestat in Queen of the Damned that stars an ensemble cast including Woody Harrelson, Michelle Rodriguez, and Martin Henderson, as well as Townsend's long-term girlfriend, Academy Award–winner Charlize Theron.

While several documentaries have been made about the civil unrest that unfolded in Seattle against the WTO Ministerial Conference, this is the first time the topic has been adapted for a major motion picture. Theron and Townsend, who have had limited box-office success with their previous collaborative projects Trapped and Head in the Clouds, are hoping that Battle in Seattle will connect with Hollywood's current interest in films inspired by political events. At the Toronto International Film Festival, Theron discusses the importance of making films like In the Valley of Elah and Battle in Seattle, while Townsend reveals the difficulties of directing such an ambitious project on a $10 million budget.

What was the genesis of this project and why this issue?
Townsend: I first started thinking about doing this film in 2002. And I remembered the event in 1999, but barely. I didn't really gain any knowledge or insight into the WTO or what the protesters were protesting about. I just saw the violence with the anarchists and the riots and stuff. And then I was reading a book about globalization by Anita Roddick called Take It Personally, and in the book there were photographs of the violence in Seattle. And they just really captured my imagination. So I went on the Internet and started looking to see what the Battle of Seattle was and I saw a story instantly. I thought it was really cinematic and visual. And the more I started researching the story, the more and more I was amazed at how little I knew about the event, and I asked myself why. So I thought it was a story that needed to re-remembered in a way. And it kind of started from there. I could see it in my head, so I decided I wanted to actually direct it and make a movie rather than give it to someone or act in it.

And this is your directorial debut. Was it intimidating approaching a project of this nature?
Townsend: I didn't look at it as intimidating, no. I really just loved the story and I decided not to even think about a defeatist attitude. I am going to try to make this. Hopefully I can do it. Maybe I can't. If I fall on my face, then I fall on my face. But I really felt passionately about the story.

Charlize, you are here at the Toronto Film Festival for Battle in Seattle as well as In the Valley of Elah. They are linked by their strong political overtones. Are these projects that you actively seek out for that reason?
Theron: No, I am interested in people, and I think we find ourselves in really interesting circumstances right now. At the end of the day, I am really drawn to good stories and the circumstances in both of these happen to be very socially relevant right now. But it is not an agenda of mine. It is not something that I really seek out, but it is always nice when you can do something that you really believe in and know that is going to be a part of your legacy.

Battle in Seattle has a large ensemble cast. How did you attract some of the actors to the project, such as André Benjamin (André 3000)?
Townsend: I wrote the character of Django. He is the sunshine of the film. He has got the funny lines and lightens the film. A couple of the things he says draw a big laugh. I think it is nice if you are making a film that can be serious at times and violent at times but that can also be humorous and emotional at times. He provides that aspect. I wanted someone with energy and charisma. I saw him perform with Outkast years ago and it was one of the best concerts I had ever seen. I was [impressed by] the energy of that guy. And I knew he was acting and so I got the script out to him and he loved it.

Do you think that the issues surrounding the World Trade Organization have gone a bit off the boil perhaps because there are so many other political issues that the world is facing right now, but the WTO issues still deserve attention? Is that one of the reasons why you thought this film should be made now?
Townsend: That is exactly one of the reasons. In effect, the War on Terror and the war in Iraq have taken all the coverage for the last few years, and it has taken a lot of heat off a lot of the other issues which I think are more important. I don't want to eat genetically modified food. I don't want to breathe dirty air. There are a lot of issues that the WTO deals with as well as institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank — and rightly so. [Many people] around the world were suffering because of either laws that they were enacting or money that they were lending. The focus was really on them, and unfortunately the War on Terror has taken the focus off these institutions. In a way, it so happens that the Seattle meeting did derail the WTO. It is still floundering. They are still trying to get this Doha Round [which aims to lower world trade barriers] together, but I do think that these are issues that won't go away. They will be around long after the war in Iraq.

This brings to the fore a much larger issue: At that time American society — at least in Seattle — felt galvanized enough to voice their dissatisfaction. Six years have passed and approval of the war in Iraq is at its lowest rating…
Townsend: Well, that is another point, and why I think the film is relevant now. This was an event where people from all walks of life — labor unions, environmental activists, teachers, farmers, religious groups, animal rights activists, everybody — came together. Young, old, from around the world. I think that is a good story right now about unity, rather than about division. People are galvanizing against the war. Thirty-six million people protested the war in Iraq, the largest protest in history, but it gets marginalized by the mainstream media. They do interviews with the dumbest people they can find who aren't even there to protest for the right reasons. And [they are the only ones] they interview. And, now, ever since Seattle, you cannot get within ten miles of the leaders that you are protesting at any of the G8 summits. At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Syndey, they just spent $600 million dollars with 350,000 police and that is in part because of Seattle. Because Seattle was the one and only time when they stopped [the convention], and it was filled with people saying that another world is possible. And that hasn't gone away.

This touches on some of the elements of In the Valley of Elah as well. Do you feel the U.S. government is suppressing a lot of the information that is coming out about the war? Do you believe that people are not vocal enough about it?
Theron: Oh, I think it is very evident that when you turn on the TV, and you see men in well-pressed suits in air-conditioned buildings telling us how the soldiers are doing in Iraq. I very rarely see a soldier talking about what is happening in Iraq. I think that is what In the Valley of Elah was really about: giving the soldiers a voice. But that film really is saying we can sit and debate the war, whether we should have gone or not, until everybody is blue in the face, but you cannot really make a movie about that because you will still have a divided audience. But let's take the facts: We are at war, and those [soldiers] are not coming back [soon], and the government isn't giving them the tools to go back into society and function as normal human beings. And they are not [given the tools] because there is no pressure. There is no knowledge about what happens to American soldiers once they come back from war. This happened in Vietnam. It is happening in Iraq. More people died committing suicide coming back from that war [than were killed during the Vietnam war]. What do you expect when you send a 19-year-old boy or girl into a situation like that and [they] have to witness all that stuff? And then bring them back and not expect them to have some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder? Then we get little glimpses, like what happened at Walter Reade, and all of a sudden everybody goes: "Wow! Really?" But as Stuart was saying, there is very, very little independent press out there. The ones that are out there need some more support. There are very few places that Middle America can go to actually get the truth. And I think this is such a great medium, making films, to put that forward in an entertaining way. All of us can have smart little political conversations but at the end of the day Battle in Seattle and In the Valley of Elah really deal with human beings who are in those circumstances and giving them a voice and saying: "This is really what happened." Because we are getting very, very little in the media and in the press.

Where did you shoot Battle in Seattle? The logistics of recreating the event must have made you think twice about embarking on the project?
Townsend: We shot it in 29 days which was pretty intense. We shot it mostly in Vancouver with two days shooting in Seattle. It was difficult because it was a small budget so there are only so many streets you can close down that you are able to get for the [right] price. So often we would have one street and shoot down it and then we would get a hold of another set of actors and shoot down it and then we would get a whole lot of other actors and cross shoot it. You get creative.

Did you have to get special permission from the city of Seattle?
Townsend: They had just done new tax breaks and they want film. The head of the Seattle Film Commission was great. I was surprised. I was a little worried because you have to have police there helping you with traffic. And they were all cool. I started talking to one of them and she started telling me about the Police Chief who they used to call Captain Kangaroo. I was like: "Wow! I didn't know any of this." And she was like: "Yeah. I was here. I was up on that building right there. And it was a mess." It was really kind of interesting. I think they were excited about it — maybe not the police. A lot of extras who came were people at the event. Some of them even brought their own turtle costumes that they had used eight years ago.

Now that you have cut your teeth on this film, is directing something you would consider returning to?
Townsend: Yeah. I really loved making this movie. It is a lot of work. I don't think I could do something just for the sake of doing it like I have done with acting, where I wanted to work or I needed money so I jumped into something for a few months and jumped out. Directing takes like two years of your life, so you have to really want to tell the story.