Interview: 'The Gambler' Star Brie Larson On 'Game Of Thrones' And Marvel

It would have been easy for Amy to get lost in The Gambler. As Mark Wahlberg's love interest, she's a quiet woman among big, destructive personalities. But she's played by Brie Larson, and that means she's never boring. Larson exudes a wise-beyond-her-years calmness, becoming an oasis of understanding in the desert of Jim's messed-up life.

In person, Larson seemed equally thoughtful as we discussed her latest role. She shared with me her love of mythology and Game of Thrones, her desire to direct, her fear of red shoes (it'll make more sense in context), and next film Room. Oh, and in case you were wondering, she absolutely sounds up for tackling a big Marvel role, should it come her way. Read the full /Film interview with Brie Larson after the jump. 

What attracted you to this role?

I think that she represents the place Jim is trying to get to. It's not the love interest necessarily, it's more of, she holds this space of being an authentic self that we watch him through the movie trying to get to. I thought that was an interesting thing for women to see.

I liked you in it but I wished you were in it more, so I was wondering if there was more in the script we didn't get to see. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part.

No... It's just wishful thinking. There's nothing that got cut.

What do you look for in a script in general?

I really love the stories that have been around since the beginning. I love mythology and folklore and these very typical universal stories. They're the stories that we've been repeating forever, we've been repeating them in movies for so long as well. They're the ones that always — we change the color, we change the costumes, but they're always the same thing and they become these really transformative experiences for the audience. And those are the films that I look for. But they just take different shapes. This time [in The Gambler] the allegory is then put into gambling and it's told with [screenwriter] Bill Monahan's mind, which makes it the same story but abstract and dark and gritty and heady and a little bizarre at times.

So, you talked a little bit about what your character represents to Mark Wahlberg's character. What do you think your character saw in him, what do you think drew her to him?

Jim goes through seven days of letting go of all of these things. I imagine that Amy went through those seven days before the movie began. So there's a sense of recognition and of knowing between the two of them. She sees him as someone on the verge of taking this step, and he sees her as that place that he knows he's to get to, and they recognize each other. She sees through the complications and the weird armors that we put on ourselves. I think we've all had that at least one time in our life, I hope. It's such a great experience when you meet someone and you're like, oh I see through everything that you're doing. And that's what that is. It's not really easily described with words, unfortunately.

Do you have any thoughts on what happened to your character or to those two characters after the end of the movie? 'Cause it kind of ends on your character, so what do you think happened next?

You know, I would hope that it ends well. Usually, in my own experience, when you unite the two halves of the brain — which is, once again, just mythology talk — it leads to good. At least that's what they say.

So you're feeling optimistic about them.

I'm feeling optimistic.

Keep reading for Larson's plans to direct and her thoughts on Game of Thrones and Captain Marvel.I loved you in Short Term 12. Have you guys thought at all about continuing that story?

Like Short Term 13? [Laughs.] No, we haven't.

Do you get recognized a lot, and if so what do you usually get recognized for? You're in so many different things and you look so different in all of them, I think.

It's started happening more, and they're kind of different. It's kind of different, like it depends if you have Netflix if you don't, if you had Showtime at one point or if you didn't, if you live in Toronto it's probably Scott Pilgrim. It just depends.

You've worked with some great directors and I know you've directed a couple shorts of your own. Do you have any plans or aspirations of directing a full-length feature? Is that something you want to pursue more?

Yeah, I do. And I have a few ideas that I've been slowly working on and refining. I hope to direct at some point, but I don't feel the pressure to rush it. I want to really know what it is that I'm doing.

What kind of movies are you looking toward?

Oh, I always tell the same story over and over again, so it's the same sort of basis in mythology but then told in contemporary terms. And I'm interested in, because I am a woman, in female initiation.

Do you have a favorite myth?

Well, I love the myth that's, I believe, from this movie, the Seven Gates of Hell. Anything that's sort of a death and rebirth. The going down to the depths. Persephone, I really love that story. I love the story of Psyche as well. I'm trying to think of which ones I've been reading...

Oh, I just read yesterday, I've been re-reading and meditating on Hans Christian Anderson, the Red Shoes, which is so intense and so bizarre. When I got to this hotel room they had red high heels for me and I was like, I can't put those on! [Laughs.] And that one's really interesting too, because I always knew that it was, I believe it's Suspiria. Dario Argento redid that story as well and I actually think it could also partially be in Black Swan as well.

A little bit, yeah.

Yeah. I've really loved that one, the Red Shoes. It's really intense.

But now you have to stay away from actual red shoes for the time being.

Or whatever. Yeah, in this case I was afraid of the actual red shoes but I've been thinking so much about what are my red shoes? I can't put those on, or deal with the consequences.

On the next page, Larson talks Game of Thrones and Captain Marvel and reveals her favorite movie of 2014.So I've heard that you're a big fan of Game of Thrones. Who do you think should sit on the Iron Throne?

Oh my gosh. [Sighs, thinking.] I'm afraid to say. I'm not gonna say, because George R.R. Martin will kill them. He always does. Any time. He doesn't care about me.

I know, I'm always scared to get attached to any character. I feel like if I like them too much, he'll know.

I can't. I feel like I'm slowly becoming emotionally detached from that show. That's the only way to watch it. Otherwise, I just cry. I cry really hard. My boyfriend thinks it's so funny, because I'll end up throwing things. I'll throw pillows. I'll end up depressed and refuse to watch it anymore. It's painful watching that show for me.

I think that thing you said about feeling detached, I think that's how a lot of the characters end up surviving. If you could recast any of those roles with you in it, which one would you pick?

Who would I be in Game of Thrones? I love Brienne.

You want to be Brienne?

I love Brienne.

Is it because your names are similar?

Well, that's part of it. But I just... I love her. She wears that cool suit of armor. She has such honor. She's like the Joan of Arc of that show.

Yeah. There's a lot of stuff in there about... Like, Jamie's a knight but he's not a good knight, and the Hound hates all knights. But she's a really good knight. Even though she's not really a knight.

She's a great knight.

So you're currently shooting — or did you just wrap — Room?

I'm almost finished with Room.

Can you talk a little bit about that one? It seems like it'd be a really intense experience.

It's been an intense experience, but very satisfying. What do you want to know, the plot?

I've read the book so I know the plot, but I just wanted to hear about the experience of it, where the film is right now.

Well, we're almost completed, we're about two days away from completing it. And we've shot the majority of it in chronological order. Which is a really cool experience. So we start at the beginning and have been working our way through to the very end. And I'm starting to get emotional about it because it's coming to a close.

What's been your biggest challenge on that movie?

It was like a 50-day shoot and I've never worked so closely with any actor as I've worked with Jacob [Tremblay], who's playing Jack, my son. I've had to take on, because we're doing so much together, I've taken on such a role of care. I care so much about this kid that it's in a way been a challenge and the best part about it because I'm not sitting there focusing just on my part and my job. I care so much about what he's doing.

So the Internet has started fantasy-casting you as Captain Marvel from Marvel Studios...

Wonderful! Thank you so much.

I was going to ask what you thought about that.

I am so honored. Thank you! That was my acceptance speech. Thank you very much.

Finally, what was your favorite movie of 2014?Birdman.