Gugino quotes from Sucker Punch (2011)

While we already sort of know the character you play, could you talk about who you play in the film?

Yes, so I play Dr. Gorsky and Madame Gorsky, as her alternate personality is. So you know there are sort of dual worlds going on, right? So in the real world, it’s 1960’s Lennox House psychiatric institute, and I’m a psychiatrist who is very Freudian in her ways. Not a big fan of the lobotomy. She’s Polish, so…as I was doing some research into the character, I found out that, in Russia, lobotomies were made illegal in 1950, so I think that, in her perspective, that she’s come over to sort of do the more, kind of progressive therapy with music and regression and dealing with kind of probably for better or worse, Freud, what he kind of discovered in the later years has been updated and she’s not there yet. And I work with Oscar’s character who is sort of the…what do you consider your incarnation in that world? Because he’s more than…he’s kind of become something different since you…

Yeah, for me, I do see it as…the character I’m playing is Blue Jones, who is an orderly at this asylum. And I think he’s someone who’s generally been pretty powerless in his life. And so he uses this position at this kind of unorganized, slightly chaotic old asylum to have a position of power. And so I think he kind of hordes information and he collects things and he has a slightly OCD thing about him. And he becomes like the don of the institution to a certain extent, and I think that, we’ve talked about that perhaps even he may have helped Dr. Gorsky get a position there.

Or some sort of…yeah.

Maybe like a visa thing or…

She’s an immigrant. There are so many levels of this story that we’re discovering, but also that, when audiences see it, I’m sure there will be many different interpretations, but it definitely seems as if there’s been…they’ve worked together for a period of time and there’s some sort of a…you know, they come from very different places, but there’s been some sort of…

So then in the fantasy world, I know literally, I guess, it’s Baby Doll’s imagination creating this world, but for me, I kind of imagined it as what the orderly imagines or wishes he was, which is this respected charismatic, you know…

And Madame Gorsky definitely also is, again, it seems as if what is in Baby Doll’s fantasy is a heightened version of what she observes initially. Interestingly enough, in both worlds I use music, as a psychiatrist and also as a dominatrix/choreographer, slash Madame. [laughs] Never thought I’d say that! That that’s what I’m playing. In the brothel. So yeah, I’ve never done anything like this so it’s fascinating. It’s been really, it’s sort of endlessly…which I know we talked about somewhat with Watchmen as well, but it’s endlessly…you can keep digging deeper and deeper and finding more and more stuff.

We were kind of talking about this at lunch today. The design of these characters and your character, the dominatrix kind of thing. We’ve heard ‘empowerment’ mentioned in terms of these characters, but they look a little more like ideals…

Male fantasies.

Male fantasies. Have you talked about that at all? Have you thought about that at all?

I think there’s no doubt that we’re paying homage to all sorts of genres, including the girls looking sweaty in tight outfits. I think you can’t deny that…and there is a playful nature to that.

As actors, I would assume that you have some freedom to sort of explore and dig into your real world characters. But when you cross over into this other world, do you have to be careful to sort of do your preparation through the prism of how Baby Doll would see or imagine you? Does it force you to understand her character more, as well as your own?

I didn’t approach it that way. Because even in a fantasy, it’s very specific. A lot of the time, when you fantasize someone, that should be a fully formed human being. So I didn’t kind of limit myself to well, what would Baby Doll see or what did she not see. You know, I just tried to make it as specific as possible. Who is this guy? He’s running a business. He’s a small business man. What does he have to do to remain in control with these girls and what tactics can he use? I just kind of went from that standpoint.

Yeah, you know, I actually had for myself, initially, a similar question that you’re asking for myself, which is, in which way do I enter into that world? And I also realized for me, it had to be…I have to think of myself as real. Do you know what I mean? Because, again, otherwise you’re…but it was, for me…and again, that’s what’s always so cool about working with other actors, is that you, you know, I sort of did end up having her…she really is two different people, really. Sort of like the flip of a coin. But we have a lot more in the brothel than we do in the real world in a way. At least what we’ve been devoting ourselves to of late. So actually, it’s more interesting that we’ve had more time to explore that world then there has been to explore the other. Like, we’re about to shoot in the next couple of weeks, a couple of really important scenes in the real world, and it’s going to be interesting to go back to those with the information that we have from the alternate thing. But I have learned more about her character in doing it anyway, because you end up sort of going, ‘Oh, right, this is why…’ You know, it does end up being insightful into her psyche in a lot of those things. Even some things that the wise man said, and that we were acting out. They do start to really tie in.