Michelle Williams Talks About Being Glinda #DisneyOzEvent

After being at the premiere of Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful, having the opportunity to get to interview those that lit up the screen so magically. It was a treat when the first one to grace us with her presence happened to be Michelle Williams who plays Glinda, the good witch. She is truly gorgeous. She walked into the room and easily took our breath away. Her tiny body with a gorgeous, flawless face and her perfectly short blonde hair completing the girl next store, movie star balance.

With 25 mommy bloggers and her PR crew the interview begins.

Are you prepared to have legions of little girls flocking around you?

In all truthfulness, it was maybe the most exciting thing for me. I would walk by them (children on the set) in full costume, you would just hear, awww, ohhh, and they were like really shy, like waving, and that way I was like, wow, I hadn’t entertained this possibility at all, -that I would delight young children. I was thinking about delighting one young child (referring to her 7 year old daughter Matilda), and I didn’t realize there would be more than one. And really what feels better in this whole world than making a kid smile? So, that’s fine with me.

How do you balance your career with motherhood?

I was afraid you might ask something like that. I mean, how do you (do it)? How does anybody do it? It is like an Olympian undertaking. Okay, what have I figured out? What have I really learned? They’re all such hard lessons, too. I find like, when you really arrive at something that’s like true and honest, it’s taken you so long to get there, and you had to work so hard for it.

She continues on sharing, very candid. She is super cute trying to find the right words –
Because it’s just not what you think it’s gonna be (being a mom), and nobody really prepares you for it, and nobody really tells you the truth. Which is that it’s not possible to do both things well at the same time, especially not if you are exacting, and maybe a Virgo, and like, really critical, and like ask a lot of yourself. But I think every mother that I know asks a lot of themselves.

With very animated hands she continues to try to help us moms see she is really just like us –

What I’m trying to wrap my head around is – get comfortable with the moments, to get comfortable with the fact that it’s gonna feel like a scale, I’m never gonna arrive at a perfect balance, and it’s always gonna be a give and take. Something’s always gonna feel like it’s suffering, like it’s under-served. And that’s really hard on your heart, to feel like you’re not being the best parent that you could be, or you’re not being the best at your job that you could be. That’s what I’m really trying to get peaceful with the fact that I’m always going to feel like that and that is the equation. For as long as I choose to or have to stay in this position where I work and where I parent. It’s so hard.

How can you not love this woman – She and I are so similar – she’s a mom, struggling to be herself and be the best at everything she does –
It’s just so hard, [LAUGHS]. It’s really overwhelming. Uh, yeah! I mean, I’d be more apt to ask you guys, like, one of you figure it out. What works for you? What doesn’t? What are the tricks, what are the hints? What do you give up?

And then she shares her epiphany – that is just, so great!

This is, like, a big epiphany for me recently. I was like, I am not gonna wash my dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. I find it so hard to make some time for myself. I am not gonna spend fifteen minutes pre-washing. Why would I do that? I’m looking for time everywhere, in every corner, every day, and here I am, pre-washing my dishes. Not any more. Silverware, going in there. Knives, going in there. Wood is not going in there – but, so, uh, yeah, so that’s (it). I try and buy back time where I can- try and like figure out how to buy time.

Best line of the interview – she shares this thought a friend shared with her and she passed the thought on to us – I love this!

A friend of mine said something recently that really stuck with me. He said, everybody thinks that you should spend your time making money, but I think you should spend your money making time. I’m like, yeah.

You were amazing. What was your inspiration?

Thank you. I thought a lot about her, and I watched (the original movie). I’ve watched that movie passively for years, and watched it with my daughter and I thought a lot about her. Sam (Raimi the Director of OZ the Great and Powerful) said something really interesting to me in the beginning. He said there’s a reason that Glinda, the Good Witch, doesn’t go down the Yellow Brick Road, and that she’s not on the journe because she’s one dimensional. She needs to learn about herself, and thus she’s like the least relatable character. And I thought, right, that’s a good point. We don’t wanna do that, you know. We want people to feel like they’re on a journey with Glinda, too, and that she isn’t this sort of crystalized version who knew it all along and we want her to have struggle, we want her to be human. But does she have to struggle because she doesn’t have a split nature? She’s not struggling with what is she allowed, or how can she still be good and innocent, and believe the best in people, but still have a struggle? And obviously, she’s struggling for the freedom of these people, and she’s struggling, a little bit with her own self doubt. I thought a lot about transformation. She’s not somebody who’s had a perfectly easy ride. She lost her father. She’s in charge of these sort of refugees, but she doesn’t really know how to protect them and how to make them see. I can’t say that those aren’t things that I’ve weighed in my life. I thought a lot about transformation and how Glinda transforms these dark and dire situations. I thought about her as somebody who transforms tears into bubbles, that she makes the best out of a rotten situation because of a way that she chooses to look at it. That takes a lot of energy and it’s not entirely human.

She then agreed to take a photo with the group –

Would they? [LAUGHS] (regarding us requesting her take a photo with the group)

As we thank her she responds so graciously –

No, you guys, thank you. I mean, really, I feel like your blogs are like definitely (so important). I never really posted anything on a blog because I don’t really know how to, but I think that every mother has the same question that we were all asking. Like, how do you do it? How do you be a mom, and be a parent, and maybe even try and be in a relationship, and the end, also be, be yourself? It’s not mom, or a worker, or a something- how do you make all of that work and have-(blogs) providing this kind of conversation about it? This kind of access to it is awesome. So thank you guys for doing it. You guys, thank you.

She mentioned to her PR rep to please get a list of our blogs…Michelle, if you so happen to be reading my blog – thanks for the incredible interview. Thanks for sharing your normality of being a mom, needing time like we do, struggling to balance life and parenting…and most of all, thanks for being the good witch that captivates us on the screen.

Watch for yourself the magic of Glinda in her bubble in this newly released clip of the film!

“Like” OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Facebook

“Follow” OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Twitter

Visit the website OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL lands in theaters on March 8, 2013!

*This event and trip was sponsored by Disney. All opinions are my own.

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Trippin with Tara

Tara began her blog in 2012 and quickly became an Online Influencer in Travel and Entertainment. Trippin' with Tara is a lifestyle blog covering all things entertainment and travel, but don't be surprised by some great food and product reviews in the mix.
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