The Oscar-nominated actress discusses tech and games in this exclusive interview.
What role did technology play in bringing the video game-like Battle School to life?
Technology was everything in this movie. It was everything because it’s a game. When you come into the movie, you have to believe that you are inside of a game and all of the attractions that come with the game. I’m sure a lot of gamers feel that way too for two, three hours, however long you play in the game that you are being transported into this world, until it’s not a game anymore. So that was the challenge as I knew. I feel like we were successful in doing that. We’ll see how it goes.
How do you feel that video games have affected kids nowadays in terms of hand-eye coordination and how they think and deal with the world?
I’m not sure. I don’t want to say that gaming is the reason that so many people have been very, very violent, that’s it’s been kind of the basis for a lot of the mass shootings and everything, but I do think there’s a part of it that is so violent some of them and I don’t know. I can never separate that in myself, even if I’m playing a game. So I’m wondering what happens when people are gaming, how do they separate it? Do they then in turn compartmentalize? And then if you’re playing a game for five, six, seven hours a day, how then do you just turn it off and go eat dinner? I’m wondering about that. But I can’t make any judgments.
