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Winter of Thora Birch, Part II
April 20, 2009
Here’s the second half of our interview with Thora Birch regarding her role in Monterey’s Winter of Frozen Dreams (street: May 5) as Barbara Hoffman, the real-life biochemist and prostitute who was convicted of two murders in 1978. Hoffman never admitted her guilt and remains in prison to this day.
VB: Barbara doesn’t give interviews and refuses to go before a parole board, so how did you embody the character without input from Barbara herself?
Birch: I think she was very clear in what she was doing. I don’t think she was very clear in why she was doing some of the things. And I think that confusion was maybe part of her internal struggle. It was a difficult time for someone who was that intelligent in a way because there are not as many opportunities for women like that then as there are now, and even now, you know, there’s room to grow.
VB: What was one of the hardest scenes or most challenging parts of the film?
Birch: Probably trying to figure out how she allowed herself to be encumbered with certain individuals. And I don’t mean her clients, but people whom she worked with, and specifically her boss. I think that she was, in some way, truly obsessed [with him]. And I had trouble trying to figure out how someone with that much going for them would give into that focus on another individual. I was really intrigued by her ability to plot and plan and at the same time, do these incredibly dumb things. I mean she’s an incredibly smart person who did these incredibly, admittedly, dumb things.
VB: I thought it was interesting that she made that final statement of innocence in her trial, but that’s all she has said about it.
Birch: I think in some way, it was just her total attitude. I think at that point, she was done. She didn’t even care anymore. She had to have one final statement, and she was going to make that her statement, because why not? It was just as good as any other one.
VB: The film had an open-ended conclusion, in that you aren’t entirely certain if she did the murders or not. What do you think?
Birch: There are certain things that are hard to imagine that it was any other way. Yeah, I think she’s guilty, but maybe of only one. I don’t know which one. I don’t want to fill in the blanks. She’s not going to, so why should we? But I’m pretty sure that for one of them, she’s pretty guilty.
Posted by Cheryl Cheng on April 20, 2009 | Comments (0)
