The girl who fell to earth
Five minutes into meeting Gemma Ward, even in mid-conversation,
I find myself actively counting the centimetres between her eyes.
It could be five centimetres, it could be seven, but her eyes are
so wide set it’s like being drawn into the twilight zone.
Of course, Ward - who is spectacularly tall in real life - has
parlayed her “alien” look into a multimillion-dollar modelling
career. She is not only famous for appearing on the covers of the
world’s best-known magazines and sashaying down runways, she has
also been linked to some high-profile men, most particularly Heath
Ledger.
Ward, 20, has initially asked that there are no personal
questions during the interview - her grief about Ledger, a fellow
West Australian, is still raw. Instead, Ward wants to talk about
her career shift into films and the early success of the Australian
movie The Black Balloon in which she stars. (The film, which
is released nationally on Thursday, has won the Crystal Bear for
best feature in the Generation 14plus section at the Berlin Film
Festival).
It’s obvious Ledger, an Oscar-nominated star, left a real
impression on Ward about how she should tackle her emerging film
career. Speaking directly about Ledger for the first time since his
death, Ward says: “I think he operated from the heart. He really,
really knew that if he was going to make a decision to be in a
film, then he needed to be really committed to it.
“He wasn’t afraid to fight with people involved, he wasn’t
afraid to perhaps piss people off.
“He told me to always be a punk and ’stand up for yourself’,”
Ward says softly, her deep voice still displaying an Australian
accent.
It’s obvious Ward has relied on family to help pull her through
a tough time. Her older sister, Sophie, has now moved to New York
to share her flat.
It’s not immediately apparent, but across the room from where we
are sitting (inside the club lounge at Sydney’s Hotel
InterContinental) a relaxed family of four - a very tall mum and
dad, both striking in their blonde and brunette looks, and two
teenage boys (with strangely familiar eyes) playing games on a
mobile phone - are sitting waiting for Gemma. It’s the rest of the
Ward family, who have travelled to Sydney with her.
“Yeah, that’s them over there. They’re my brothers [twins]; they
just turned 17,” she says, with a smile. “Through my whole career,
that’s been a major thing, bringing my family with me.”
Ward’s shift into acting is notable for the fact she chose to
play a key character in an Australian-made production - The
Black Balloon, which centres on a family living with autism -
rather than a walk-on role in a Hollywood film.
After appearing in Vanity Fair with George Clooney and
being recognised all over the world as a modelling name, Ward could
have had her pick of the “pretty girlfriend” roles on offer in
LA.
“It’s an incredibly touching film, you can tell it’s from the
heart,” Ward says of the film.
” It’s not only a piece of artwork, it’s a story that needs to
be told. It’s opening up an area in people’s brains about issues
that are not often spoken about.”
It’s surprising to realise how grounded Ward is in person. Since
she was thrust into the world of international fashion at 16, she
has been in a world many of us will never see.
At first, Ward’s famous “alien” look may have come in handy as
she felt as though she was on another planet.
“It was the best and darkest of times, especially in the
beginning,” she says. “The day after my 16th birthday, I left to go
to New York and I ended up staying from then. Especially because I
was younger, it felt very much like I was learning a new way of
being.
“You don’t really question what’s happening because you’re just
soaking it in. So I kind of just accepted it, but it did take a
little while.
“It was hard to be alone at that age, coming from a family that
was very, very, very close.”
Ward’s image has been so wound into the world of fantasy and
fashion, her career so dependent on her appearance, that her warmth
and intelligence is almost unexpected. She might be a supermodel,
but she has a refreshingly balanced view of where she sits in the
overall picture.
“I have felt it,” she says, of the pressure of fame and
recognition.
“But it’s kind of dying now, because I realise you can’t ever
please everyone.”
“Sometimes when people are constantly wanting the fantasy or the
illusion, you have to break it to them that it’s not real, you know
what I mean?” she says, with a giggle.
“It’s hard if you start believing that you should be really that
perfect fantasy ideal, that people start believing because of all
of the retouching . . . you know. There’s a real person behind
that.
“You can delve into that fantasy world and play with it, but
when you walk away, that’s not you. Other people can’t really
differentiate that sometimes - there are a lot of young girls that
I’ll meet on the street, that’ll know me, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, you
don’t seem at all like a famous model’.
“And I’m like, ‘Well, that’s the job and this is me’. We can all
play dress-ups, we can all make ourselves look like that.
“I definitely do feel sometimes that people would like to put
that pressure on me. But at the end of the day, I’d prefer to say,
‘Hate to break it to you, but . . .”
With millions in her bank account, Ward has an air of chic that
suits her globetrotting lifestyle: immaculate skin, white-bright
platinum-blonde hair and a boho outfit centred on jeans and a
tie-dyed T-shirt with a peace symbol and a yellow scarf artfully
wrapped around her neck.
She struggles to define how her wealth has impacted upon her
life, although it’s clear she’s not too worried about counting
dollars.
“I’m not really sure how it has changed me,” she says of her
fortune, estimated to be more than $10 million.
“The first thing might sound a little bit horrible, but I don’t
often ask how much I’m getting paid for certain things. I try not
to make it a deciding factor in my choices, so I often don’t ask -
I know it might come back and slap me in the face when somebody
rips me off or something,” she says, with a laugh.
“I’m very aware of my spending, but I’m not very aware of my
income. There are certain times when I speak to my accountant, or
something will pop up, and I’ll be like, ‘Oh’, but it’s not really
a frontrunner in my head. I know that it definitely helps with, for
example, if I’m really in a place where I need someone, some of my
family, they can come.”
Her success as a model has assisted Ward in making a credible
shift into film, rather than just doing something for the sake of
raising her profile or earning extra cash.
“It helps with making film choices that I’m not just struggling
for the money, that helps a lot as well,” she says.
“I remember doing my first commercials when I was young and, you
know, getting a little bit of money for that and feeling so good
that it was there. I worked at a pizza shop at one point, as well,
while I was doing all these other things.
“So I’ve kind of just learnt to enjoy the work aspect that comes
and, when you receive the money afterwards, I know that I worked
really hard and that’s great.”
It’s hard sometimes for the film elite to take models seriously
when they begin acting, but Ward is hoping to emulate the decisions
- and values - of some of our biggest stars.
“I’ve always admired Cate Blanchett and the roles she chooses,”
Ward says.
“I think she’s got an incredible discipline in a way, with
choosing roles that are going to help her grow and bring something
interesting to the world.” While Ward hasn’t met the Oscar-winner
yet, she says she’d “love to”.
Toni Collette, who stars in The Black Balloon, left a
real impression on Ward - even before they were sharing the film
set.
“I remember Toni Collette as being one of the people who first
made me want to be an actress, because I watched The Sixth
Sense and I was blown away by her performance. I remember it
was one of the first times I watched the Oscars because I was just
desperate for her to win,” Ward says.
“She’s just so gentle and supportive of all of us, she really
did look after us all [on The Black Balloon set].”
Ward says behind the great names and hardworking artists are
people filled with insecurities, just like everyone else.
“I’ve learnt, through modelling as well, that we place a lot of
emphasis on not only celebrities, but designers, and people that we
all admire. How fast you learn when you work with these people that
they can be just as self-conscious or shy or just as normal and
goofy as anyone. I mean, when I met George Clooney, same thing - he
was just such a goofy guy, not at all what you’d think.”
So she wasn’t chatted up by Clooney, then? Does Ward, as a
supermodel, have rich and famous men chasing after her? Shelaughs
uproariously, looking a touch embarrassed by the question.
“In New York, you do have certain guys that are like that. But I
don’t really dress up to that. I don’t often go to many of those
things,” she says.
Ward, who attended the premiere for The Black Balloon in
Sydney last week, will continue to base herself in New York,
although it is clear she has a huge affection for Western
Australia. She will continue to work in the fashion world, but her
long-term goal is a serious acting career. Ward just wants to make
choices that suit her, not other people.
“I definitely have gone through some ups and downs and sometimes
I find the easiest way is not to ever think [about the scrutiny] .
. . you kind of feel embarrassed or ashamed if somebody else is
expecting something or watching you,” she says. “It’s about being
comfortable, however you are.”
The Black Balloon is released nationally on
Thursday.
Source: The Sun-Herald
