When we last saw Shmi Skywalker, she was standing outside in the hot desert sun, bidding a bittersweet farewell to her son, insisting that he leave her to live the free life she couldn't and fulfill his powerful destiny. We were left to wonder what would happen to Shmi, still a slave to a Toydarian and letting go of the connection to the one person she loved most, Anakin.
Now, with the release of Episode II rapidly approaching, August is famous in the U.S. not only for her memorable performance as Shmi but also for her starring role in the acclaimed and top-rated NBC production Mary, Mother of Jesus -- another example of August's status as the preeminent maternal figure onscreen, and her ability to master the nuances of a mother torn between the love of her son and the wisdom of knowing his path goes far beyond that love.
Naturally, August's work in the latest Star Wars prequel is just as emotional as audiences have become accustomed to expect from her, if not more so. But the actress, a real-life mother of three whose career has been shaped by her experience in films and plays directed by the acclaimed Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman, tells the Insider that intense material is part of the territory for her.
"There are big emotions in Episode II," she says, "but I'm not afraid of that. Those big emotions are so close to me, in a way. I've been working with Ingmar Bergman so much, I'm used to it!"
More difficult than summoning up those feelings, August says, was coming up with them so quickly when she got to the Sydney, Australia, set of Episode II last summer and started shooting shortly after reading the script. "It's always challenging," she says. "When you have just a few days and have to jump into big emotions, that's quite tricky, because you have nothing to go from. This was really jumping into it -- and right out."
She also had to adjust to another element -- or, as she puts it, "I had a new son!"
Still, August says that while her time in Sydney was brief, she was far more relaxed than she was shooting The Phantom Menace, since Episode II was her second Star Wars film. "I wasn't so nervous -- I knew all the people around," she recalls. "It's such a professional crew and they take care of you -- it's so calm and nice. I love to be a part of this. I really enjoy working with George Lucas so much, and also Rick McCallum. They've been so sweet to me. They are friends for life."
The comfortable feeling for Episode II was a marked contrast to August's trepidation at taking the role in Episode I -- and acting, for the first time, in English, not her native tongue. She had worked with McCallum before, on two episodes of Lucasfilm's Young
"I was very happy to get the part, but it was the first thing I did in English -- Young
She raised the bar even higher when she was cast in the title role of Mary, Mother of Jesus opposite Christian Bale as Jesus. "It was really a challenge for me to have such a big part and do it in a foreign language," she says. "What I've been doing in Star Wars is small, but to have a big part like this, it was like school."
August laughs at comparisons between the roles of Mary and Shmi. "I don't know if I thought it was ironic," she says, "but what is quite funny is that this is my part -- they will never give me something else!" Doing her best imitation of a movie producer looking for someone to play a virgin mother, August adds, "'Get me that Swedish actress!'"
But August says she was honored to be cast as Mary. "I'm very happy about it," she says. "I enjoyed it very much, and I loved working with Christian Bale."
Yet just because she loved playing the part doesn't mean August has actually seen the finished product. "I have to be honest," she admits. "They've sent me a tape and I haven't seen it. It's just ridiculous. But sometimes, I am like that. The most important thing to me is the work."
The work began early for August, who started in a children's theater when she was 10 and discovered she loved acting. "I remember the moment when I was alone on the stage," she says, "and there was something happening between me and the audience -- and I remember the feeling, because it's exactly the same feeling I have now when I stand on the stage and feel this is something very special that happens right now. It's something with the audience that you do together.
"I remember that experience," she continues, "and it was like I locked it into my heart, because I was very shy when I was a kid and I never talked about beingan actress. I wasn't a kid who said, 'I want to be an actress.' It was more a secret for me, that I had to try this one day."
It didn't take long for August to return to acting. "I had the opportunity to have a small part in a movie [Giliap] when I was 16," she recalls. "The director was Roy Andersson, a Swedish director who's very good, and I think that was when it got into my blood. Then I knew I had to try this again."
Inspired by American actresses Gena Rowlands and Meryl Streep, August, now 43, entered drama school in Stockholm at age 19 and soon landed roles in movies by Swedishdirectors Lasse Hallström (who put Pernilla in Tuppen in 1981 and has since gained fame in the U.S. for Best Picture nominees The Cider House Rules and Chocolat) and the legendary Ingmar Bergman, who cast her in a pivotal role in his final film masterwork Fanny & Alexander when she was 21. She now calls that film "the most important thing I did" in her career.
Yet despite the increased exposure from Fanny & Alexander, August still concentrated on the stage following her graduation from drama school. "When I finished drama school, I went straight to the theater and worked in theater for almost 10 years," she says. "Then I started to do more movies. But theater is my base. That's where I come from."
In fact, August notes that the limited nature of Swedish film production makes theater a must anyway. "In Sweden, it's impossible to just work with films," she says. "No actors can do that -- you can't live on films in Sweden. It's not like in America, where you can just be a film actress."
