The baffling movie, which has earned a lowest-possible grade of F with audiences (via CinemaScore) and is set to flop at the box office, sees Jennifer Lawrence in the title role.
Javier Bardem stars as Him, a famous poet with writers’ block – a character supposed to represent God, to Lawrence’s Mother Earth.
Wiig plays Him’s publicist; and with the character’s name listed as Herald, it seems she could symbolise a prophet enlisted to spread news. That certainly lines up with her leading a load of reporters to the couple’s house.
Aronofsky told Vanity Fair: “There were actors we were talking to, but when I heard Kristen was available, I said, ‘Sure’.
“You’re not expecting [her], and it kind of throws audiences.”
Herald sees Wiig in her usually goofy form at first, but things quickly turn dark.
“Seeing her character take all these surprise turns you would never expect of her… It was fun, and about giving audiences a little gift in the middle of the film,” Aronofsky explained.
The movie is so intense that Lawrence herself even joked that she worried they’d gone “too far”.
Speaking with Jimmy Fallon on US TV, she said: “When I saw it with an audience, I felt really shook afterwards.
“I pulled Darren aside, I was like ‘this was a mistake, we took it to far’. And he was like, ‘what?’
“And then thirty minutes later, I was like, ‘ah [relief]’.”
Mother! is out now.
Daily Express :: Entertainment Feed
