ANDsuddenly emerges behind a sand dune, like a sea deity, with a turquoise tunic blowing in the wind, her hair held in place by a barrette. That We know Robin Wright is beautiful, but perhaps she is even more beautiful today: like this, without artifice. She laughs about it – casually, knowingly – when she greets me on Zoom.
We are thousands of kilometers away, she in Marbella (she is filming the series The Girlfrienda psychological thriller of which she is also director and producer), me in Los Angeles. The conversation instantly comes alive, despite the fact that the wi-fi on the Spanish beach is intermittent and interrupts us often. We are there to talk about regrets (few), about joys and sorrows, about love. Of life. Yes because Herethe Robert Zemeckis film in which Wright stars with Tom Hanks – a trio who reunite 30 years later Forrest Gump -, this is exactly what it’s about: the inexorable passage of time and our changes.
The flow of life in Here
The existence of a young couple flashes before us on the screen: Richard (Hanks) and Margaret (Wright) meet as teenagers, fall in love, marry and start a family. Since then we have followed them until they are 80 years old. «It is a meditation on mortality» says Zemeckis, «an opportunity to reflect on our present, projected towards the future and hope».
Dancer at ten, model at 14, soap opera actress at 18, Robin is already a star at 21 thanks to her role in The Fantastic Story/Princess Bride. With House of cards – The intrigues of powerin 2013, ushers in the streaming era, and Claire Underwood – the ambitious wife of corrupt politician Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) – becomes one of the most popular and admired television characters. She directs 10 episodes of the series and reconfirms her talent as a director with Land, a sort of psychological western shot in the mountains of Wyoming in Canada, where it challenges prohibitive climatic conditions.
Robin Wright: “if I meet someone and fall in love, I’ll throw myself!”
In the 90s married Sean Penn (with whom she had two children, Dylan and Hopper)to divorce in 2010. She remarried to Clément Giraudet, a manager of the fashion house Saint Laurent, and divorced again in 2022. Now he says he is happy to concentrate above all on his work as a director. She is a curious woman: during our conversation, she peppers me with questions, and interrupts to find out what I think about certain issues, she asks if I have read all those books that – on Zoom – she sees on the shelves of my house, which ice creams I prefer in Milan: in short, she’s open and fun. He laughs often and willingly.
Robert Zemekis, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright backstage at “Here”.
It is inevitable, when you witness Margaret’s life and events in Here, to reflect on what we wanted to do and didn’t do, on promises never kept, on certain regrets. How did you approach the set?
It’s all there, isn’t it? Life passes and, inevitably, repeats itself: people fall in love, fall out of love, stay together and then discover a new way of loving each other… There are all these beautiful things in life, as are regrets for mistakes salesmen, but no one is perfect, right? Hope, love, joy, pain, sadness: this is what you experience when you watch Here.
And the regrets?
But regrets are welcome! We have all wasted precious time. Now, for example, at 58 years old, I ask myself: why did I never wear miniskirts when I could afford them? (smiles) The film actually makes you see how when we are young we go through all the same experiences and the same obsessions, then you look back on it and say to yourself: “Damn, why didn’t I do it?”.
Tom Hanks and Robin Wright Digitally Rejuvenated in “Here.”
After the birth of her children she retired to Marin County and did not work for several years, just when she was in high demand and on the crest of a wave. Is this one of your regrets?
Zero, I have absolutely no regrets! I loved and love every minute of being a mother, I loved taking care of my children. I have dreamed of having children since I was four years old, it has always been a firm priority in my life: I remember talking about it to my grandmother. Furthermore, I was able to work while taking them with me during the summer. I didn’t want to break their daily routine, school, friends; it is traumatizing for a child and, I find, also very selfish on the part of the parent. They’re your kids, aren’t they?
She was very young when she started working and traveling alone. At nine years old he had already seen Person by Ingmar Bergman and, secretly, Deep Throat. She told it in an interview with Francis Ford Coppola in 2009 on Interview magazine. I still have a copy.
(laughs) But no, I was too young at nine to see a film like that: maybe I was 19, not nine! But I remember when I saw it Person for the first time the thing that struck me most were the silences, how many emotions you can convey with silence, without dialogues… After all, you know, one of my favorite films is Black Stallion where dialogue is minimal in the relationship between a child and a horse.
At 14 her European adventure began: she worked as a model in Paris, Rome, Milan.
I’ll stop right now… I loved it! And in Milan I remember eating the best ice creams of my life, I ate them every day. They’re always so good, right?
Absolutely, always. But how did she fare coming from California? It was his first experience abroad.
It was quite hard to find myself alone, fighting with modeling agencies, working and living every day with unknown people who spoke different languages.. That way you grow up quickly. But I wouldn’t change a thing about those years, they were wonderful. Afterwards I continued in that direction, to make discoveries: I wanted to get to know different cultures and worlds, learn their history.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 25: Robin Wright arrives at the AFI Fest 2024 – World Premiere of “Here” at TCL Chinese Theater on October 25, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/FilmMagic)
Each film was an opportunity for her to grow and broaden her horizons. When I met her for Land he told me he had learned to skin a deer and chop wood. What a wealth of emotions she brought home from the months spent on the set of Here?
Look, for me it’s pure joy to spend time with Bob (Zemeckis, ed.): if he suggests something to me I don’t even need to know what it is, or to read the script. Meeting up with him, Tom, and Eric (Eric Roth, the screenwriter, ed.) it was like coming home. I also enjoy acting with Tom immensely, spending time with him. When I ask him “But why do you continue to make films? You really don’t need it!”, he replies: “I like spending time in company, and being with Bob Bob”. Chatting, drinking a cup of coffee between one scene and another, yes, he really likes it… (laughs) On that set I felt safe, protected, we all have the same vision of things. And… we also have great laughs, what more could you want?
Robin, you are an actress, director, social activist and ecologist, as well as a mother… Is there an order of precedence in these roles?
Right now, in Marbella, I’m working as a director on the series Girlfriend (coming soon on Prime Video, ed.) and it’s the thing that interests me the most.
Your children are now grown up: Dylan is 33, Hopper is 31. What did you think was essential to pass on to them?
“Please – I repeated – whatever your choice, your path, you must be happy with it. Otherwise, what’s the point of life? Be kind to people, don’t be rude, recognize that we live as privileged.” Sean and I moved for work, and they came with us, having the fortune of absorbing other cultures, living other experiences: “You have to appreciate it, few have these opportunities” was my chant.
What worries you most today?
The general situation. The current political landscape is discouraging, with power concentrated in the hands of a few corrupt individuals. On the other hand, it has often been like this, and certainly not agitated by the desire to return to my country.
What makes her happy?
Now, here in Marbella I am happy and I would never want to leave again! I love working with people I like, who I have fun with, traveling and spending time with my children. And when I finish this production I would like to maybe go to Italy…
Don’t you feel the need for a partner?
No, but if I meet someone and fall in love, I’ll jump!
What does Robin Wright see and dream of in his future?
I want to become a good director: it’s my dream today.
Robin, you give the impression of having great inner strength and a good dose of optimism: where do they come from?
Maybe from my difficult childhood (her parents separated early and she had to move with her mother from Dallas to San Diego, ed.), or maybe it’s my nature. I admire those who are open and optimistic, rather than bigoted and hypercritical. “Here, I want to be like this – I tell myself – and put a stone over negativity”. I can’t say that I always succeed, but I try. If you had a childhood in which you suffered – as happens to many – you then have the perseverance and strength to come out of the darkness and seek the light.
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