STANGE, MAYA: GARAGE DAYS
MY-OH-MAYA
The usually cerebral philosophy student and actor Maya Stange discovers her foxy side in Garage Days, she admits to Andrew L. Urban, and also finds herself less obsessive about her work, as she heads for Los Angeles.
It’s early afternoon and Maya Stange is nibbling sushi in a deserted Sydney restaurant. We’re using the place as an oasis of peace for our interview, to talk about her latest role as Kate, the girlfriend on the edge of a wanna be band, in Garage Days, from director Alex Proyas.
“I remember going into it feeling nervous about being the girl,” she says. “I didn’t feel qualified. I always thought of myself as being more serious … like my character in Bill Bennett’s In A Savage Land, playing an academic, or playing a boy… you know, playing somebody crazy, never as the babe.”
Garage Days is the comedic story of a typical garage band. Freddy (Kick Gurry) dreams of being a rock star, and together with his bass player girlfriend Tanya (Pia Miranda), mohawk brandishing, drug-loving drummer Lucy (Chris Sadrinna) and brooding guitarist Joe (Brett Stiller) are keen to get a break with the help of their well-meaning but clunky manager Bruno (Russell Dykstra). Joe’s dad Kevin (Andy Anderson) is an old rocker from the 70s, and although Joe is going out with Kate (Maya Stange), he is bewitched by the dark and death-obsessed Angie (Yvette Duncan). When Freddy gets to meet the edgy Manager of the Year, Shad Kern (Marton Csokas), he is convinced that this is their big chance.
"dip my toes into comedy"
This is all far removed from the real Maya Stange. “I tend to be pretty serious [laughs]…I’m a literature and philosophy student (completing the degree by correspondence online) and coming from a long line of academics [her dad teaches South East Asian studies] I tend to be more cerebral. I’ve never been into fashion and feminine things…but I’m learning you see, Kate’s taught me a lot!” She laughs as we give her clothes a once over. We examine her cute little top….she doesn’t know what it is… “a singlet, tank top thing…an Italian camisole basically, now that we can wear our underwear on the outside. [laughs] So thanks to Kate, I did get more in touch with my foxy, feminine side. [The role] did seriously change me in that regard a bit…I think I’ve been scared of that; I think I was afraid of becoming a bimbo or something. Playing Kate did loosen me up a bit….and even though she’s the most serious character in the film, it’s still very much a comedy and I really wanted to lighten up and dip my toes into comedy.”
And she couldn’t wait to see the finished film. “I felt there was one movie on the page and the one Alex Proyas created from it. I loved what he’s done with it…he’s a visual genius. He managed to keep the characters and the story working and introduce this whole
wacky, twisted visual style that totally lifts what we were doing to a new level.”
But while Maya Stange gets to play foxy, she doesn’t ever get to play in the band. Even at the huge real live gig shot at Homebake, where the movie band actually played on stage, Maya’s Kate just got to watch from the wings.
“I was terribly jealous of all the band members …I used to go along to all their band practice at rehearsals. They’d let me play the tambourines or sing back up vocals…and I was so impressed by what they did at Homebake. It was hard being in the love story but not being included in the rock and roll dream.”
"a movie star or a rock star"
Not that she ever seriously dreamt of being a rock superstar. “When I was about eight I toyed with the idea. There were two options: you were either going to be a movie star or a rock star. And in the beginning a rock star was more appealing, but it became clear that wasn’t where my talents lay.”
She got into theatre, through a performing arts high school and “just fell in love with that. I grew up in a place where you wouldn’t think being a movie star was a possibility, because they don’t make many films in WA… I got my first role in a film at 16 and started working, never got around to drama school.”
Just before making Garage Days, Maya Stange got to co-star in a film called XX XY: “It was one of those freaky things. I’ve got agents and managers and lawyers in Los Angeles, and I go there on trips…. Team Maya [laughs]….and a very frightening thing. But this one came about when I was actually in Sydney; the casting director of XX XY somehow got hold of this short film I did, The Bridge, directed by Jo Kennedy, in which I co-star with Kick Gurry, strangely enough. It was Kick’s first speaking role. The casting director really liked the film and she showed it to Austin Chick, the director of XX XY, and he said yeah, great, but we don’t have the money to fly her out from Sydney. But he still had trouble casting it, so we talked on the phone, and then I did some scenes on tape and sent that over….and I was cast in it. And as I was going to L.A anyway, I saved them a bit of the airfare.”
The film is a love drama, “about two girls and a guy get into a threesome, but it’s a fizzer; two become dysfunctional lovers and the film follows their relationship over a 10 year period. It’s pretty raw…”
Now (at the end of 2002) Maya is going to hang out in Los Angeles for a while. “It’s a really good time for me to go…I’m not tied down. I came to Sydney for my work, so going to LA for work is just a greater distance, not a great adjustment. I’m going to rent a house on the beach on the internet, and I have a few friends there.”
"less defined by my work these days"
With her newfound, loosened up self and a sense of achievement, Maya plans to be in Los Angeles for a few months, coinciding with the release of both XX XY and Garage Days. And she feels more relaxed than ever. “I’m less defined by my work these days. When I started, I was so driven, so obsessive…I’m getting less intense about it, but the opportunities are coming easier. It’s not the only thing in my life – yet, ironically, it’s going well at the moment.”
Published October 3, 2002
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Maya Stange
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