Robin Tunney - Days to remember

By GRAHAM REID

Robin Tunney doesn't get to say much at the Sydney press conference for her first big action flick, End of Days. The man whose name is writ long and large is asked most of the questions.

But standing beside Arnold Schwarzenegger, the diminutive Tunney is a more than adequate foil in the brief banter between them.

She makes one observation which seems true, despite her substantial screen credits which include the teen-cult thriller The Craft and picking up a best actress award at the Venice Film Festival in 97 for her role in the indie film Niagara, Niagara.

"He gave me my start," she says, gesturing to Arnie.

But the questions move back to the star - and discussion of that is left hanging.

"Yeah, he did," she says later sitting in a suite set aside for a day of media interviews.

Tunney is relaxed and enjoying the attention on this, her first major role in the Hollywood combine. Just having flown in from New Zealand where she's filming Martin Campbell's mountain climbing epic, Vertical Limits, she is enthusiastic in her praise for the country and the professionalism of those she's working with.

"There's a reason people don't make mountain movies," she laughs. "It's uncomfortable and cold - and thank God for the Kiwi crew, they are so hard-working. The industry is so new there, but they are making their mark and the industry is going to grow."

Coming from Tunney, this doesn't sound patronising. She's still low enough on the totem pole of fame to not be arrogant, and grateful for the breaks she's had.

What she's learned from Schwarzenegger during the five-month End of Days shoot is that even in Hollywood where egos are fragile, stars often mistake their paycheque for their talent (as Marlon Brando once apparently informed Val Kilmer) and surly behaviour is endemic, it's actually possible to be a good person, enjoy the work, be polite and not be insecure.

"Just for your own sanity. That's an easier way to go about it."

After Vertical Limits she's keen on a project being produced by Harvey Keitel. But if that doesn't come through she'll take a few months off and go to India and Africa for a holiday. She doesn't feel the need to find a new movie and take advantage of her high profile.

If you do that, she says, your work or well-being will suffer, so it is necessary to keep your youth in perspective. "Life and the quality of it is the most important thing. Meryl Streep didn't do her first film until she was 30. You've got lots of time. Everyone thinks, 'If I don't do it now it'll go away,' but also nobody wants to be saturated by your face.

"You try to pick things that are going to be great rather than just work of out of fear."

For one so smart, however, she adopts an odd coquettishness and kittenish quality during the interview and at the press conference. She does it later at the premiere, so much so that Arnie mimics her before the assembled throng.

Yet as she discusses End of Days she seems savvy, certainly about where her career has been and might take her.

But was it the script or Schwarzenegger that drew her to this project?

"I did a million-dollar movie, Niagara, Niagara, that I was proud of and was getting offered small movies, roles that went to really ugly places. But I like Hollywood action - and it was the appeal of him. If you're going to do an action movie, do one with the biggest action star who is classy. He has a following, has worked with good people like [Terminator and Titanic director] James Cameron and he's earned that.

"So yeah, it was him and the idea they wanted me to be in it. I never saw myself in that role," she says, noting that her previous parts had been "pure character, lots of hubris" and that her role in End of Days is that of an innocent pure girl "and I haven't done that. I also thought it really important to do a film that gets you out there."

She received the script for Vertical Limits as she was finishing End of Days. It appealed to her because it was a compelling human drama where "the bad guy is Nature, it's bigger than us - and it's an ensemble piece and visually spectacular."

But it's also physically arduous, she laughs, so she's told her agent she doesn't want to see one more script that has more description on the page than dialogue.

Whatever comes her way, it's likely we'll be hearing more of Robin Tunney.

Who: Robin Tunney

What: End of Days
Where and when: Cinemas nationwide, Boxing Day