Sandra Oh On Auditioning For Rabbit Hole And Kevin McKidd

Here is another great interview with Sandra Oh who talks about the auditioning process for Rabbit Hole and what her Grey's co-star Kevin McKidd and director/writer Tony Phelan had to do with it:

You’re typically drawn to smaller, indie projects so did you seek Rabbit Hole out or was it brought to you by one of the producers?

Sandra Oh: I sought it out so hard! I begged to audition for this. I campaigned seriously. I read the screenplay and they were like, this is coming, this is happening, and there’s this role and I read it and I immediately went back to my agent like ‘Oh my God. I have to do this. I have to get this role.’ They were only seeing people on the East Coast and I was working on “Grey’s [Anatomy]” at the time and I was like, ‘No, no, no, please let me audition. Please let me audition. Can I please be seen?’

How did you finally land an audition?

SO: I was talking to John [Cameron-Mitchell] and he goes, ‘They’re reading a bunch [of guys] for the Jason character.’ So I remember asking Kevin McKidd, my acting partner on “Grey’s,” to drive to Santa Monica on a Friday, at 5 o’clock to read with me. He’s such a good guy. And I was working with one of our director-writers who knows the play, Tony Phelan and he was helping me with a bunch of directions and stuff.

So Kevin McKidd aka Dr. Owen Hunt aka Major Hottie auditioned with you for the movie?

SO: Kevin drove all the way up to Santa Monica to read with me because we really wanted to do a good job on this audition tape and I needed someone who’s not just a “reader” or some 20 year old girl. I really needed someone who I could work with and he graciously did that. I credit Tony and Kevin for helping me get this job.

Speaking of talented and gracious collaborators, the majority of your scenes in Rabbit Hole are with Aaron Eckhart. How was it working with him?

SO: I respect his acting so much and to be able to have had scenes with him. There are so many reasons why I wanted to do this piece but it was basically because the script is so stunning it’s insane, and John, and then Nicole and Aaron. For me being a fan of Aaron’s work for a long time, being able to act with him onscreen — I jumped at the opportunity!

In one scene in particular you guys have to both burst into laughter during a really inappropriate moment. Whenever you have “laughing” scenes in movies they always run the risk of coming off as fake but you guys looked like you were genuinely having fun. Were you?

SO: When you’re talking about that one scene, it’s actually not so easy to do. I think you can feel as an audience member when it’s not genuine so it’s actually pretty challenging to do but Aaron and I would just crack up. It was great.

You didn’t really have that many scenes with Nicole Kidman as an actress but did you get to interact with her as a producer?

SO: I didn’t really have any interaction with her as a producer because during her time on set she was acting. She was in her acting head. But I also knew that Nicole had a hand in deciding and choosing people. Hopefully, she was pleased with her choice of me as Gaby.

How long did you guys film for?

SO: Four weeks? We don’t know. It was like a regular kind of indie schedule. I’d say we probably had about 25 or 30 days but you’ll have to check on that.

Rabbit Hole will open in theaters in limited released on Friday, December 17.

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