Match Point

SGVN

Dec. 23, 2005

By Kyra Kirkwood

I knew a girl in high school who always had the coin flip in her favor. You know, one of the lucky ones. If there was a test she didn't study for, she'd still ace it. An election? She would win. Any sort of contest was hers for the taking. I hated her lucky streak (especially when I was the other vice presidential candidate who became the losing contestant in those student-body campaigns) and couldn't understand why she never pulled the short straw out of the pile.

When I grow up, I can counter luck with hard work, I figured. Then, I did grow up, and I understood something few people ever admit to: hard work is vital, determination is crucial, and luck plays a bigger part in life than anyone will admit.

Sometimes, we deserve a lucky streak. Other times, even the best of folks can't quite get a break (George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life" anyone? For the longest time, that poor man couldn't catch a break if he wore a mitt and stood behind home plate). And then there are those who receive all the smiles of the fortune gods, yet are only deserving of coal in their stockings.

Luck. Does so much really ride on it? Can we have razor-sharp skill and admirable drive, yet only get what we long for because of something as intangible and uncontrollable as luck?

In "Match Point," the new, critically lauded suspense drama by Woody Allen (yes, the Woody Allen. Trust me, this film is not even recognizable as his work, and I say that as a compliment. I'm not a big Mr. Allen fan, but after this movie, I may re-evaluate that opinion. Four Golden Globe nods and I say that's not enough), luck is as much a character as those played by "Woody's Muse" Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Allen was quoted as saying, "We think if we work hard, we succeed, and yes, hard work is important. But people are afraid to admit how contingent their lives are on chance and luck."

"Match Point" begins with a one-time tennis pro, Chris (Rhys Meyers), in London who marries the sister of his rich friend while secretly, then not so secretly, having a torrid affair with the friend's fiancÈe, Nola (Johansson). Whereas Chris could have settled for the fat life with his sweet, rich wife, he instead kept testing his luck, hungry for more, turning it into an obsession with dire consequences. Early on, Chris makes a quip about how so often in tennis, weather or not you win or lose the match all depends if the ball hits the net or goes over. It's all about luck. As the movie progresses, we see how so much of life also depends on luckãwill the ball go over, or get snagged up and cost us the game?

But is luck the only reason we succeed in anything we do, either good or bad?

That's what I asked both Johansson and Rhys Meyers one surprisingly smoglesss, crystal-clear December afternoon in Los Angeles. We settled into the plush sofas and cushy armchairs in a penthouse suite at the Century Plaza Hotel, immediately relaxing, thanks to the comfortable setting. The lights were low and the air hazy due to Rhys Meyer's smoking. He leaned back on the sofa, nearly lying down, his gray t-shirt, jeans and black biker boots making this Irish import look like he just walked of the pages of the J. Crew catalog. Johansson, clad in navy Capri pants, a gray cashmere cardigan and a neon-emblazoned t-shirt, sat perched on the edge of the sofa, her petite stature preventing her from leaning back without becoming fully reclined.

Rhys Meyer stared across the room out the window and blew perfect smoke rings into the air as he pondered my question about luck. He turned his intense, thickly lashed eyes toward me and answered in his slight brogue.

"It's a marriage of both. Certainly, luck has something to do with [success]. It's also taking that opportunity and pushing it as far as it will go."

But some people get all the breaks, even if they don't have the first clue as to how to utilize them to the maximum or even understand what's happening to them. It's like they just sit back and let the universe do all the work. Does it help bring on the luck wagon if we are always alert to how each moment can be molded and learned from?

"We all have lucky things happen to us," said Rhys Meyers. "But what we do with that luck is vastly more important than the luck itself. To be able to recognize the opportunity and take it as far as it can go."

Even Allen claims luck was on his side, helping to make "Match Point" as successful as it is: he got lucky with the cast, he got lucky with the supporting actors, he got just plain lucky. Working with this famed director was an amazing experience, said the stars, because of the way he lets them portray their parts. Some actors say Woody is great to talk with, so long as you're not chatting about your character.

"Woody is very hands-off," said Johansson. "He's not going to come in and spend an hour with you every morning on character development. He feels it interferes with an actor's natural instincts."

Since he is also an actor, Allen understand the plight and path of those starring in his films, and he often leaves them alone to sort out their own laundry.

"From an actor's point of view, Woody understands all of our problems," said Rhys Meyers. "

This requires a huge heap of trust in his cast, and those who are on the credit list for an Allen film don't miss the importance of that.

"If you are on a Woody Allen set, you deserve to be there," said Rhys Meyers. "There's a great honor in being cast."

But at the end of the day, it's still a movie set, complete with 12-hour days and 50 minutes of actual work time. So what do the actors do with the other 11 hours and 10 minutes of the day?

Talk about sex, of course.

"You have to have a great imagination on a film set," joked Rhys Meyers.

"[We] try to figure out who's having sex with who on the set and talk about it for two hours," chimed in Johansson, wearing her hair in an elaborate set of tiny pincurls and coils all over her head. She'd often pick at her nails or bounce one foot clad in turquoise flats that perfectly matched the stones dangling from her earlobes. "[We talk about] where's the weirdest place you've ever had sex. The conversation with people always turns to sex. It's what people love to talk about. They can't get enough of it. They love to hear people's fetishes and their weird stories. It's true. äEven Woody would sayãnot that you would spend lots of time talking about sex with Woodyãhe was always interested. Sex and relationships ≠ it's like the main event in every group of people."

So, was it luck or hard work that landed Johansson a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress, or Allen one for best director, or was it talent? Was it luck I was lounging on a couch with these hotter-than-hot actors and talking about sex? Or was it hard work? Should we all become like superstitious baseball players and devise little good-luck rituals to bring us blessings and thus success?

In the end, maybe Rhys Meyers was right. It's a marriage of both luck and talent. There are certain things none of us can control. We don't need good-luck charms to bring the fortune our way. But we can stack the odds in our favor if we set the stage through hard work and are open enough to look around each day and see what doors certain opportunities open. Then we decide if we're going to walk through them.