Brie Larson On ‘Room’: “I Just Cried At So Many Points”

While Brie Larson has long been recognized as a very strong talent–by those who saw Short Term 12 in particular–Room really allows her to show the true extent of her acting chops. Not only did Larson have the physical challenges of portraying a woman abducted and held captive in a confined space for many years (and filming in that tiny space), but she also had to make the then eight year-old Jacob Tremblay into her right-hand man. Tremblay plays Jack, the son of Larson’s character Ma, and somehow the duo created an incredible on-screen connection that caries this film into potential Best Picture territory. With director Lenny Abrahamson crouched in the bathtub of ‘room’ or in a hole in the floor, Larson brought something extraordinary to life. “I didn’t know that I could do what I could do until making this movie,” she says. Currently working on Kong: Skull Island, co-starring Samuel L. Jackson, Larson talks about what went into doing Room.

How’s the Kong: Skull Island shoot going?

Oh, it’s been amazing. It’s been so much fun. We’re shooting in gorgeous locations, and it’s all outside–just so different from most things that I have done. And it’s very physical, so it’s less cerebral and more about physicality and movement, and I find it really exciting to try and learn more about this medium. I think that with movies that are bigger like this, it gives you a great opportunity to tell the same old stories, but retell them in an accessible way so that they reach more people. I think that we’re doing that. It feels really special.