As you have seen by the abundance of on set interviews that I've just posted, when I got to visit the set of writer-director Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch in late 2009, I got to speak with a lot of people. Thankfully, everyone was incredibly excited to be talking about making such a wild ride of a movie and it was a blast being on set.During the interview I participated in with Jena Malone and Abbie Cornish, they talked about the dance scenes, training for the film, the action, their relationships to Baby Doll, the costumes, and a lot more. Hit the jump to either read or listen to what they had to say, and make sure to read my set report and also watch the recent trailer. Sucker Punch gets released March 25.If you'd like to listen to the interview, click here. Otherwise the full transcript is below.Question: Could you talk a little bit about your dance scene today, Jena?Jena Malone: The dance today is crazy. Each of us girls, except for Emily â because her dance becomes the tipping off of the fantasy worlds â we each have our own burlesque dance. Itâs our persona coming out.; itâs all of the different icons that we represent.  Mineâs sort of the nurse because the first time that Baby Doll sees me, Iâm done up as a nurse.  Itâs a crazy-dead-zombie-robot-nurse dance.  Itâs going be so crazy; itâs going be awesome. What was your training like for the film?Abbie Cornish:  We started off in Los Angeles and spent a month there.  Weâd go out to 87-11 and train in the morning, martial arts â warm up, warm down.  Then weâd have a half-hour break, our protein shakes, our amino acids. Malone:  And then Logan and Dave would take over, our physical trainers, our weight and strength advisers. Cornish:  Theyâd train us like maniacs for an hour and a half. Weâd also do gun work, as well, which was so much fun.  Then when we came to Vancouver, it was pretty much the same schedule, but we were learning more about the moves that weâd use in the film, the choreography for the film.  Everything ramped up. Malone:  On top of the marital arts and weapons, we were doing costumes and walking through the sets and meeting with Zack.  It was really a full-on rehearsal schedule.  The first three months that the three of us girls were training together â Jaime and Vanessa didnât come until August â that was the rehearsal. All three of us girls sweating, crying, figuring out what our pain threshold was.  In a weird way, it was like an asylum.  We had to eat at a specific time.  We had to push ourselves to the limits.  We were wearing these sweat uniforms and being instructed.  Everything was a regiment.  It was a far more interesting style of rehearing.  Getting to know the physical body of the character, the characterâs pain threshold, and how you can work together as a team. Horrible moments, like when Iâm doing my 20th farmerâs carry and Iâm frickinâ sobbing and you want to do it for the other girls.  You all become strong together.  I think that any form of round-the-table, reading-the-scenes, we never would have gotten to that point of closeness and how connected we were in those first three months. Cornish: And it was such an unspoken thing. We did talk about it, but there were so many moments when we were all just going hard and doing this thing. For me, in particular, during those three months, there was this feeling inside me that was almost zen-like.  It was so peaceful because coming in, and doing martial arts, and working out, and learning how to use a gun.  You have to be so careful with a gun; itâs a deadly weapon.  There was something very focused about that process, very disciplined.  Just to be able to exert that much energy and let it out every single day.  It was really fun. What is worse for you between the dancing and fighting?Malone: This was the most terrifying thing of the entire film.  I could shoot Orcs until my fingers fall off.  I could be in the gym doing dead-lifts until my body gives out.  But this dance is totally terrifying me.  You have to get out of your mind, which is what theyâve been training us for â the physical discipline, the mental discipline â and get back into the body â the rhythm, the sex, the breath.  We were doing the fighting sequence in the morning and youâre there and pumped up with your guns, then you have to let it all go and remember the languid curves and the softness of the body, too Cornish:  It really has been like being in an institution of some sort.  Weâre learning so much, but itâs not just one thing weâre learning.  Itâs singing and dancing.  Itâs crazy.  In week two of training, I felt like a stunt personâ¦What are your charactersâ relationships to Baby Doll?Malone:  Itâs all through Baby Doll. I understand my character through Baby Doll; I understand the story through Baby Doll.  Thatâs the eyes that weâre watching the film through; thatâs where the fantasy is taking place.  Thatâs the key, thatâs the truth . Itâs just as simple as the first time Baby Doll saw me, I was in a nurseâs costume. Thereâs something that takes care; thereâs nurturing there.  That becomes the archetype that I fulfill in her mind.  She creates me in a way. Cornish:  Weâre playing these characters, yet youâre seeing these characters through all different dimensions.  Trying to come to some sort of understanding of how you create the one character regardless of the world, or creating the through-line of one journey.  But itâs also a question of what do you show.  I was struggling with that, but then I felt a great sense of freedom.  When I was in the psych ward, I could simply be Sweet Pea in the psych ward; when I was in the action-world, I could be Sweet Pea in the action world.  I could let myself go in those worlds and trust in the character, and trust in the story. I feel like my character is a cube and each day, Iâm turning the cube and looking at a different side. What is the balance like between the characters and the action?Malone: I think thatâs a tribute to Zack and the script.  He was really adamant about finding these characters amongst absolutely crazy feats of strength and confidence and out of this world action.  But in the midst of it being, like, âOkay, yeah, I messed up. Iâm sorry!â  Thereâs still the women that we know in the other worlds.  Itâs not all just action.  Itâs humanistic, realistic.  Also, he allows us to develop things on our feet.  If thereâs a little look that we can give, he allows those moments to happen.  Itâs about adding the characters to the fantasy. Cornish: Just story-wise, for me in WWI, it was very much about Sweet Pea worrying about Rocket.  Sheâs only here for her.  Throughout that whole WWI sequence, everything they did, that was my intention.  Whereâs my sister?  Whatâs she doing?  Itâs kind of fun, too, because even though youâre in this kill-crazy martial arts world, the story still exists. Did the time periods in the film influence your performance?Malone: Itâs really pigeon-holing when you think, âWhat would a girl in 1967 talk like?â Well, they talk the same.  They might not use modern vernacular, or our ghetto slang, but we havenâtâ really changed that much. I always feel that itâs really dangerous when youâre doing a period piece, trying to act the period.  Itâs not tangible; itâs not human, and you just want to see humans up there regardless of the era.  The period will speak for itself because thatâs the confinement â the corsets or the asylum or the hair-doâs or the make-up.  Itâs all part of the elements that bring out something new in you. Cornish: The 60âs werenât that long ago, but even if you go back to the 1600âs, you just deal with the characters from a very human level. Why are your characters in the asylum?Malone: Itâs hinted at in the script, but itâs more vague to allow people to fill in what they want. We got ultimate freedom, but Zack does have the final say.  Heâs a collaborator at heart.  Thatâs what so exciting.  Whatever Abbey brings, or I bring, or the moment brings.  Just being in it and finding things from all the trust that the girls have.  Being together really brings out a whole different level of intimacy instead of just talking about the theory.  It becomes way more human and animalistic, the approach of how to find the connection between the girls. Could you talk about the costumes that you wear in the film?Malone: I thought mine wasnât revealing enough.  All the other girls had their thighs out, their legs out, and Iâm covered in fish-nets!  Give me more skin!  Itâs the first time in my whole life that I felt covered up in my underwear. Weâre in nothing but various forms of underwear, but it all goes back to trust.  Obviously, the early fittings were intimidating. And that was before we started training.  So letâs just see what my thighs look like in seven months and hope for the best. Cornish: You get kind of used to it.  This outfit for me is now like a second skin.  Weâve been wearing that stuff for so long. Malone: And everybody is so respectful, which is important.  All the guys are so considerate and gentlemanlike. What was your reaction like when you realized how much action you would be shooting?Malone: We were frothing at the mouth with excitement.  Fear is right there with excitement.  If you donât have both inside your body, what are you doing? If you donât feel like, âOh, my god, Iâm going to die!â but yet also canât wait to be a part of itâ¦Cornish:  We were all so keen and eager and excited to embark on this film and itâs kinda fulfilled everything for all of us.  Itâs really weird to be sitting here in the final leg of it. What are your thoughts on how Zack Synder writes women?Cornish: I think Zack himself is very much in touch with his femininity as much as he is his masculinity.  Heâs very sensitive and caring. Malone:  Also, the script speaks for itself.  If Iâd read the script and felt that he didnât know what he was talking about, I donât think any of us would be here.  Heâs exploring so many different levels of female archetypes and allowing them to break and bend and expose themselves with amazing different forms of strength and insecurity, and allowing these women to really be fully-fleshed characters. I was thinking that they could really be men or women. IN an action movie, weâre so used to seeing these men, but literally we could almost be sexless were it not for the specificity of the world that weâre in. Cornish:  The thing about Zack that Iâve found really fun is that he knows what heâs doing.  Heâs a great filmmaker; heâs super technical.  Heâs had this film in his head from start to finish. Itâs all there, all storyboarded.  But at the same time, heâs constantly exploring it.  Heâs very instinctual.  You donât feel confined or restricted. Every day is that day.  Heâs so in the moment.  Heâs a lot of fun to work with.  Iâve had the most fun on this film than I have on any film. -For more coverage from our Sucker Punch set visit:Sucker Punch set visitCarla Gugino and Oscar Isaac On Set Interview SUCKER PUNCHVanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung On Set Interview SUCKER PUNCHEmily Browning On Set Interview SUCKER PUNCH
Jena Malone and Abbie Cornish On Set Interview SUCKER PUNCH
Jena Malone and Abbie Cornish Interview SUCKER PUNCH. Directed by Zack Snyder, SUCKER PUNCH also stars Emily Browning, Carla Gugino and Jon Hamm.