Freida Pinto dances in 'Desert,' talks about Terrence Malick

• Pinto became comfortable making suggestions on-set during the filming of Woody Allen%27s %22You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.%22
• Rehearsing dance scenes for %22Desert Dancer%22 was difficult for her.
• She thinks%2C when rehearsing%2C mirrors are the enemy.

Freida Pinto's career got off to a good start.

Her first movie was "Slumdog Millionaire," which won eight Academy Awards, including best picture.

She followed that with Woody Allen's "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger." Later this year, she will be seen in "Knight of Cups," Terrence Malick's latest movie.

In the meantime, the Indian-born actress stars in "Desert Dancer," in which she plays a dancer who joins Afshin Ghaffarian (Reece Ritchie) in Iran, where they risk the country's ban on dancing to create art.

Pinto, 30, recently talked about the film, about what she looks for in a role and working with Malick, who's a bit off the beaten path.

Question: Were you aware of the real-life story behind "Desert Dancer"?

Answer: No. I actually was quite oblivious. You hear about restrictions on certain forms of art and expression, but I had no idea how serious it was. … The script was a brand-new learning for me.

Q: Do you like roles where you learn something?

A: I only like roles where I learn. I only go for things that are out of my comfort zone and challenging, to say the least. But also things that are very conflicted. I don't like the straightforward, puritanical kind of female characters. For me, it has to be as complex as it gets, because that's human beings in general.

Q: How do you make sure you bring complexity to a character?

A: The great part about this character is from Page 1, she reads complex. There is nothing simple about her. A lot of herself is a mystery to herself. She hasn't been able to understand herself. There's a lot of childhood trauma that she carries on into early adulthood. I feel like the reason I fell in love with this character, to be really honest, to give you the true, true story — I fell in love with the character before I fell in love with the script. … The script was kind of a work in progress. A lot of work had to be done on it. Luckily, the director and the writer were very open to suggestions on how we could develop the script and make it better.

Q: Are you comfortable making suggestions on the set?

A: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, all the time. I was a bit, I guess, nervous to do it at the start of my career, but things changed with time. Actually, after the Woody Allen film. I gained a lot of confidence, actually watching actors like Josh Brolin perform and Lucy Punch, just see them all be so comfortable in asking those questions, which is very important to the development of the character. So I guess I learned from other actors and then tried it myself (laughs).

Q: Now you're in a Terrence Malick film.

A: Yes! Which I haven't seen.

Q: Aren't you curious? The way he makes films, it could be anything.

A: I know. And hence, I'm nervous to watch the film. I actually am kind of really funny watching myself. When you see a film, it's a different mind space. You move on to other projects or other things in life, and there are so many changes that take place in your entire life in that one year, between the time that he shoots the film and the time it's released, which is almost like a year's gap. In Terrence's case, it's been two years. I think there's been such a shift in our own lives, kind of looking back at the part makes you a little nervous. "Oh my God, I know I would have done that differently." But how do I accept the fact that it's now in the can and on the screen? I'm not a big fan of watching myself in playback.

Q: How do you navigate that?

A: You have to start from a place of trust and faith, that he will take it wherever it needs to be taken. In that sense, I also mean you have to make peace with the fact that you might be cut out of the film, because he might just not see the film going to that place with you in it. Luckily for me, I made it to the final cut, so I'm one of the lucky ones. Day 1 and 2 is always a little daunting, because you don't really know where you're going with it. And then you see that, you know what, you're not the only one who's lost. Everyone's lost. And we all go into a state of oblivion, which is much like life. You can never predict the very next thing in your life.

Q: How do you work in that sort of environment?

A: All of a sudden, he might see a tree that he really likes and he wants to shoot it. You bloody well better make that tree your brother, your sister, your friend, I don't know. Learn to play with whatever has thrown itself in front of you.

Q: Back to "Desert Dancer." What's so powerful about dance?

A: I think liberation, to sum it up in one word. To feel liberated.

Q: Is that why it scares people? Does it scare people?

A: I think it scares people … being able to look at yourself and not judge yourself for who you are, the way you move, the body you've been given or for the choices you made. I think the world is all about social media and the Internet and the accessibility of information. Mystery is kind of lost in the bargain. I feel there's something so mystical about dancers and what they're able to produce, because there is no fear about making a mistake or falling down or picking yourself up on your way down. That's what I really wanted to experience, and to be honest, I was very nervous.

Q: What were the challenges?

A: First of all, I think mirrors are damaging (laughs). They should not have mirrors in gyms or dance studios, because you look at yourself and there's this constant judgment, which is an obstacle in wanting to take that next step and discovering something new. Actually, one of the things that my choreographer in London did was close the curtains. You've got to feel it within your body, and only then can you be comfortable about looking at yourself in the mirror and, "Oh, hello, that's me, how are you doing?"

During my dance training, I have cried so many times, just because it was so frighteningly real, and it was revealing things about me that I didn't want to see.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: twitter.com/goodyk.