Natasha Richardson: A Doctor Talks About Head Trauma; Plus Newsmakers Q+A

As bits of information emerge about Natasha Richardson's very serious condition, post-skiing accident, NEWSWEEK reporter Dina Fine Maron talks to a Columbia neurology professor about how devastating brain injuries may not appear as such at first. The discussion is hitched to reports that Richardson was laughing and talking immediately after her fall, before being taken to a hospital. Check out that chat here.

Also of note: Because Richardson has been in the news so much over the past few days, we thought we'd revisit her most recent Q+A with NEWSWEEK. Her December 2006 chat with Ramin Setoodeh touches on why she doesn't read Harry Potter, how she thinks Christopher Nolan fared with the Batman films and what most people don't know about her husband, Liam Neeson. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Earlier this year, I saw you on-stage in "A Streetcar Named Desire." What's the difference between acting for an audience intead of for the camera.
Natasha Richardson: It's like two entirely different animals. Theater is the actor's medium. You're very much in control. It's just you and the words and the audience. You're at the helm of the ship, so to speak. Film is the director's medium, always. It still surprises me to this day that you can working on a film and you think in your head you can imagine what the film is going to be like, and it's never what you imagine.

What is more challenging?
Theater can be very difficult. You're doing eight performances a week. One night can be magic. The next night it can not be so great. It's also certainly tough in New York, with it being a one newspaper town. It doesn't matter what 400 people say, if the Times doesn't like you you're in trouble. A bad review can destroy your confidence.

Are there better parts for women in theater?
There are so many great parts. I suppose that's why I gravitate to the theater. Hollywood is becoming more geared toward big event movies, which don't feature interesting parts for women. I've always taken a choice of playing a great part in a film five people see, than be the decorative one in something 400 million see.

Your Russian accent in "The White Countess" is very convincing. But your performance went beyond that. I felt like you were Russian.
It was important to me--without sounding silly--that she had a Russian soul. I've heard many Russian people complain that when English actors play Chekov, they don't have a Russian soul. And I thought: What is a Russian soul? I've got to find out what it is, I've got to have one for Sofia. I talked to a lot of Russians who knew that period of history, the 1930s. There are all sorts of things I found out about: their private sense of religion, their emotions are very close to the surface and very changeable, a sense of homesickness, longing for their homeland, a sense of endurance. I tried to immerse myself in all that.

But let's go back to the accent for a moment. How do you perfect that?
I worked with a dialect coach. I didn't want it to be cliched Russian or generalized Contintental or could-be Italian. I got my iPod and listened to myself on tape and other Russian people.

Was the set of the movie like a family reunion? You co-star with your mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and your aunt Lynn Redgrave.
It was a gift to me, really. I've never worked with my aunt before. My mom, when I look in her face, she just makes me want to cry. It was a very difficult shoot--a huge scale film on a such a small budget, being in China for three months. A lot of communication problems, language barriers. It wasn't comfortable conditions we were working in.

Were you recgonized in China?
I don't think I was much at first. But because we were filming there, I became known as (in a Chinese accent) Natasha. I picked up a few Chinese words--"Come quickly please," which I had to use to call my driver, because he was never there; "I'm so sorry;" 'Thank you."

Ralph Fiennes plays a blind man in the film. How does that tilt your performance?
It seemed strange at first because we weren't looking in each other's eyes. That's how you connect. It made me feel a lonely, isolated. But I think it helps--there's a mutual attraction between them, but he's so guarded.

Did you see his performance as Lord Voldemort in the last "Harry Potter?"
Yes! Isn't he brilliant? He's so scary, really. And that moving thing that he does (gets up and stomps around the room, whispering "Swish, swish.")

Are you a fan of the book?
I'm not. It's not my taste. They are too many other books I want to read--give me an Anna Karina or a big romantic epic novel. I like the classics.

One of my co-workers, who's British, says she's in love with your husband Liam Neeson.
She has very good taste. How can I talk about my husband--he's just a kind, good, special man. What most people don't know about him is that he's funny.

Is it easier or more difficult being a relationship with another actor?
I think it's easier because on the one hand, you understand the demands of the job. I would know immediately if he calls and says "we're on splits"--it means you're working on a movie and you're starting work in the middle of the day and through the night, which I think it is the worst. I'd know where his head is, working those 16 hour days. So we understand the demands, but it can be very difficult because of the long periods spent apart.

The two of you both appeared in "Nell." Would you ever act together again?
Yeah. Sure. If we find the right movie. I don't think I'll ever be asked to be in "Batman." I'm not a "Batman" girl, am I?

But the last "Batman" film was at least artistic.
I loved it. I thought it was a genius movie. I thought it was one of the best movies of the year. I've never liked that genre. But [director] Chris Nolan made the absbolutely unbelievable believable. I cried. I laughed. I thought it was brilliant.