Interview with Rufus Sewell - 25th September, 2009

Promoting: Vinyan
Venue: Revolver Office, Notting Hill
Interview type: One-on-one


ViewLondon (VL): I thought Vinyan was extremely disturbing, and unlike anything I’ve seen for quite some time. I can't think of anything that's comparable to how disturbing it is, although obviously it's thematically similar to films like Don't Look Now, with a couple losing a child and then descending into madness.

Rufus Sewell (RS): Absolutely, in a way there is an homage in there, it’s not accidental. I asked Fabrice (director Fabrice Du Welz) because that is a favourite film of mine. When I read the script it reminded me of so many different things that shouldn’t go together. It reminded me a little of Jacob's Ladder; I’m talking about films I really love – movies that fuck with your head. One of the frustrating things for me, which I knew, was they would have trouble marketing Vinyan. One of the reasons certain people react against this film is due to the marketing. In some areas they tried to market it as pure unadulterated horror – it’s not! I wouldn’t even call it a horror film. When I read the script, that's not what I read - I read a very painfully truthful psychological thriller that I found very moving. Put that along the side the fact that Fabrice believes he is making a ghost movie at the same time; which I think that contrast is extraordinary, in that it's a genre shifting film. To start off with, the film has a sort of John Cassavetes style to it. Very rough and hand held camera - close up, psychological drama. Which proceeds to get weirder, and weirder; and that is a very difficult thing to sell. It’s a very difficult film to even describe, in a way that doesn’t confuse people.

VL: What was it like, working with Emmanuelle Beart?

RS: Working with Emmanuelle was very easy, she is a very easy person to connect with. We just immediately felt like a couple. We were very relaxed and trusting of each other. I loved working with her. It was one of the easiest, automatic relationships I’ve ever had on screen. To use an American expression, we had each other's back; which is something that I never had to worry about, because it was just there.

VL: Your character is obviously in a very dark place, psychologically. How do you prepare for something like that?

RS: Well I don’t know if it’s about preparation really. Being a father, when I read it just hit me with a wallop. I didn’t need to sit and – you know, I had a natural reaction to the material. In terms of preparation, no it’s just the matter of being in the situation and letting it affect and infect you. I tried to just be as open and honest with each situation. The situation itself was so affecting, and oppressive you just had to struggle through it. I never had to search for it, it was there waiting for me. It’s such a powerful and horrible idea; there was no reason to be ghoulish during the preparation. It just happened that I had a natural and visceral reaction to it.

VL: I was more thinking along the lines of the preparing for a character who loses their mind and dealing with that element?

RS: Well, for a start, it’s always interesting, the moment you discover, as you go into the jungle that your directors’ hero is Werner Herzog (laughs). That was what was fantastic about working with Fabrice. I knew that, and loved that about him – I don't mean in any deranged way! That is what we were all excited about, the idea of going there. Fabrice arranged it in such a way that shooting was pretty much chronological. The beginning was the beginning, the middle was the middle and the end was very definitely the end. We did kind of unravel, which you know a lot of it is pretending. My relationship with Emmanuelle remained fantastic, it’s just that we spent less time giggling around the poly-styrofoam cups towards the end, because we were just exhausted.

VL: Since you shot it chronologically, the last scene in the film being pretty horrendous, how did Emmanuelle prepare for that, and were you around for the filming?

RS: Yes, I was around. A lot of the film had a very tight script, but a lot of things were forced because of the elements. The script really came together as we were doing it, if a scene didn’t turn out to be practical or if we had other ideas – like, there was massive rainstorm that we incorporated into the film – the incredible scene of us on the jetty, that was real rain. It just started raining, and Fabrice thought, “Fuck it, let's use this”. He an idea for a scene right then, which wound up being filmed. It was wonderful because he was so open to whatever the elements threw at us, because that is what the film is about. At the end I think they ended up with a crane shot they decided didn't work, and then it started raining and the children started going this way and this thing just happened and it was very much something they directed but it was spontaneous. I wasn’t there, but I remember talking to them all about it afterwards, and how excited they were.

VL: Do you know if the sound design was planned from the beginning?

RS: Oh absolutely, it was a very, very strong part of it. The sound guy, the sound team we had to work with was there right from the beginning; it wasn't something that was tacked as an afterthought.

VL: Had you seen Calvaire (Fabrice's previous film)?

RS: Yes, I had. When I read the script I knew I already wanted to do it. Then I saw Calvaire, and it was doubly exciting. For a start, in this country, it’s a role I often don't become aware of until I’m in Blockbusters to be honest; they don’t send them to me. It is something that is changing though. The fact that this is a French film with a Belgian director, that's no coincidence; otherwise it wouldn't have come to me. I thought to myself, thank God finally a normal guy in extraordinary circumstances, not some twat on a horse. I was very excited about that, because I thought it was such a great script; and you know an English bloke who has that kind of cultural frustration and blocked anger which he's emotionally ill-equipped as he finds himself in this terrible bind – and I wanted to play it and I pretty much told them that and then I saw Calvaire and then I was like, 'Oh Jesus, this guy is nuts' - in the best way! He's got this extraordinary imagination.

VL: You’d never worked with Emmanuelle before, had you even met each other?

RS: No, never. I didn’t know what to expect, and I had seen some of her work before. It wasn’t until I went over to France for an early read-through, that we immediately hit it off – it was easy. Talking about it sounds weird, like people are expecting to see signs of it on screen. If the chemistry is there, it's all pretty straight-forward. If it's not there, it's amazingly complex to fake. But if it's there, it's amazingly work-a-day – it's just a couple and you believe them. It’s something you see on the street every day. It’s not like, “Oh my GOD, look at their chemistry!” - we were just naturally relaxed with each other, and you buy it on screen. You see couples all the time, and you don’t need to read their biography. It's something that you can work out for yourself, because you believe the basic silhouette.

VL: What was the hardest scene to film?

RS: The underwater scene was quite difficult, because when she fights, she really fights. I really couldn’t point out one. As we got further and further into filming, it became more and more zombiefied .

VL: I had read a review that suggested the red shirt on the child in the video was a reference to Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Was that a conscious thing?

RS: What, from a Belgian director? Yeah, well that’s the internet for you, isn't it? No.

VL: It was Sight and Sound!

RS: Really? Well, there you go. No, there is nothing behind that. People have their jobs to do; I’ve found that people in writing can be a little disingenuous. They say things they might not necessarily believe, but there is a certain copy.

VL: I suppose the red top also calls back to Don't Look Now again.

RS: Absolutely. And if you're talking about that, then also Schindler's List and anything from Michael Powell to Raging Bull. Red is a really good colour! (laughs) But thematically or media-wise, these things are British flashpoints, but these are French and Belgian film-makers, and these things vary by country.

VL: A French film-maker with a British actor, one can make the connection?

RS: Yes, but what I mean is the person who wrote the script comes from a culture where that red top doesn’t have the same implications.

VL: What are you doing next?

RS: Right now I am working on a thing in Budapest called Pillars of the Earth, which is being produced by Scott Free Productions (owned by Ridley and Tony Scott). I believe it’s going to be 4 part two hour mini-series. There is money coming in from all different cultures, which means there is isn’t one conglomerate making all the artistic decisions. The director, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, who was Steven Spielberg’s First AD for a very long time. The story is based on the novel by Ken Follet, and has been really well adapted. And the cast is great, it's got Donald Sutherland, Ian McShane, Eddie Redmayne, Haley Atwell and Matthew Macfadyen – a really good cast. I play a builder named Tom. It's why I've got this big butch beard.

VL: You're not on a horse, then?

RS: Ha, no, not on a horse! For me, the caricature I’m not interested in playing, it's not so much about period drama, it’s the specific type of one-dimensional baddie. And in fact, if I want to play another one, I fucking will, actually. It's just as long as there is a choice involved. For me, playing a working man and a father is no different from playing anything else but difficult for me to be cast in those roles. So I'm really enjoying playing somebody who can move a fridge.

VL: You say Vinyan is a departure for you, was that part of the appeal as well?

RS: Yes, but you say departure, but for me it is more a departure from the kind of role I can get. The biggest departure I’ve ever made was to play a baddie actually, because the truth is I’m a comic actor. The biggest departure I’ve ever done is any job I ever do. The problem is I live in the real world where it is actually a question of convincing pen-pushers and secretaries to give me the opportunity to do what I do easiest. For me, it was a chance to do something I felt comfortable with, but not something people were comfortable in casting me in. That is why I’m so pleased to be playing a father now because a lot of the characters I’ve played are people you wouldn’t let near your children. I don’t like the word departure, because that would suggest that for me, it is; for me it's not. It's just an opportunity.

END

Interview with Georgia King - 24th September, 2009

Promoting: DVD release of Tormented
Venue: Premier PR Office, London
Interview type: One-on-one


ViewLondon (VL): I see you're a recent convert to Twitter. How did that happen?

Georgia King (GK): I had absolutely no idea what it was. And I actually like the old-school Judi Dench-types who believe their private lives are their own and keep them to themselves and I feel like it's getting a bit too like, celebrities, let's know every detail about everyone and it's kind of all sort of mashing into one, so I actually didn't want to be a part of Twitter, was going to go off Facebook, you know, the whole works – I was going to start a revolution, with no followers (laughs). But Jon Wright, the director of Tormented said, 'It's really important you go on it, because it's just the way things are nowadays and actually, doing Tormented and doing all the press and doing all the DVD extras, with the flip-video cameras and things, it really is about that – people are really interested to know what the person is like. And I actually wanted to differentiate myself from the characters that I've been playing, because I think people can look at you and go, 'Oh, you're a real mean cow' or 'You must be so gentle and soft because you only ever do period dramas' – someone said that about me, which is very, very far from true. So I went on Twitter, but I literally only just discovered the 'Replies' button the other day and there were all these messages I hadn't responded to! But it's important, because I think the positive side of the public is a very good side to hold on to, because obviously, the negative is huge, to everyone, not just me. So I am slightly, reluctantly, converted.

VL: You are all over the Tormented extras. How was it doing all the behind-the-scenes stuff?

GK: I love doing behind-the-scenes. I have no qualms about appearing in front of a camera, it's just watching the end product! They gave us so much stuff – I was immediately so impressed, on the set, when they came in and told us about all the extras. They rigged up a fake toilet cubicle and I think a couple of people were like, 'No, I will not go in there, it's too personal', but I loved the place (laughs). It's brilliant! It's an interview, but I get to choose the questions, which is amazing and also a real privilege. It's lovely to have people invest their time and energy in very inventive ways of getting extras from us. And then, the flip-video cameras, when we're in character, which a lot of people didn't get on YouTube, originally. So they were watching me going, like, 'Oh, I hate this girl, she's so vain, she's so shallow' and I was kind of tempted to write back under some fake name like George, George Kingdom and reply, saying, 'It's not really Georgia King!' But I think people have cottoned on now, which is great. But yes, the behind-the-scenes stuff was great, we had Alex Tanner, who directed all the extras, he got so much footage and it's a shame he couldn't put more on the DVD, because he had some cracking stuff.

VL: What's the reaction to the film been like? Have you been recognised from it?

GK: I have been. I actually had my hair dyed very dark brown for a role, which made me look so different that no-one recognised me, although someone actually hit me on the head as they ran past and went, 'You're from Wild Child!' (laughs) and just kept running and I was like, 'Yeah! Bye, buddy!' It was a very weird moment, the other day. But now I'm back to blonde, people do give me little comments here and there. With Tormented, I think for those that got it – because it's actually very, very clever and very funny – they loved it. It's amazing – if you understand what it's saying and what it's doing, it's brilliant. It's not meant to be the scariest thing you've ever seen – I think a few people were under the impression that it was just a horror film and it's a slasher-horror, it's a comedy horror. And I'd like to think it's very unique – the cast and the look and the feel of it are unlike a lot of horror films that are made. And I think they took bold choices with their casting that paid off, like with Tuppence, who'd never made a film before. And also, I'm not the skinniest girl and I have that scene in my knickers and I've definitely got hips and a bum, I think we all learned that, watching that film (laughs). And, FYI, the camera adds at least 25 pounds, to me personally. So I'm definitely aware of not being skinny, but that's great, I think that's really important, again, that people aren't just looking for one type of girl, which is tiny, petite, very thin. I'm hoping that more normal women are being accepted in the film industry, which I think they are. And curves are good! Guys like curves! They are under-rated in the film industry. I think film stars have always looked after themselves and been very thin, but I think as a generation we're much bigger now, so the contrast between those size zero actors-slash-models and normal people is that much more extreme. And I'm not saying 'Be obese' but I do think being healthy should be the priority.

VL: What else have you got coming up?

GK: I'm in St Trinians 2, briefly, I just did a small role in that. And then I've got Tanner Hall, which I was downloading my lesbian bath scene from, for my showreel the other day – it's actually one of my best scenes! Also, weirdly, I was in Wild Child, but I just auditioned for another film called Wild Child too. Very strange. But Tanner Hall was my first American film, the first audition I did when I got to L.A. It's about four girls at a very old, run-down boarding school in New England and everything's very still and beautiful. And these girls are at that weird, big gear-change in their teenage years, so one's having an affair with another man, another's not sure about her sexuality and is terrified about it and the other one is so sure of her sexuality that she abuses it. And then my character, Victoria, is the new girl who goes in and destroys them all! But it's quite cool – it's got a kind of Virgin Suicides, dream-like quality to it. And it's directed by two women and if you knew them, it is absolutely a product of these two women – they're the most dream-like, ethereal creatures and I've never met two people like them.

END

Interview with writer-director Rémi Bezançon - 23rd June, 2009

Promoting: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Venue: The Edinburgh Film Festival

Interview type: One-on-one

ViewLondon (VL): Where did the idea for the film come from?

Rémi Bezançon (RB): The film is about how time is spent. I wanted to pose that question and talk about time, so I thought the best way to do this would be through the depiction of a family. I was thinking about Italian family comedies and the dramas that result through the different generations in the family. The idea then was to tell this story in an original way, so I chose five different days within the family and had a large amount of time pass between these five different days, to highlight the idea of time.

VL: Was the structure of the film something that came through the writing or something you had in mind before?

RB: That was my idea from the beginning. I deliberately left so much time between the five days to allow the audience member to fill in the gaps between them, using their own memories and reflecting on their own experiences. It's interactive, in a way. I wasn't so sure that it would work, at first. In order for it to work, the family needed to experience or live things that every day-to-day family could live, not things that were out of this world. Things that people could identify with.

VL: How much of the film was drawn from your own family and experiences?

RB: A little. Very, very little. For example, for the Super-8 film sequences, I was inspired by some home movies that my grandfather made with my mother when she was a girl. But there are also a few little things and some lines of dialogue. When my family saw the film, they didn't recognise any of it, which is a good thing.

VL: Do you have a similar family unit?

RB: I have two big brothers and one little sister, so it's like I've stepped outside and am looking in at my own family. I can put myself into every different member of the family.

VL: Can you tell me about the casting? How long was the casting process and did you know which actors you wanted from the start?

RB: Not very long. I cast the parents first and the first person that I cast was Jacques Gamblin. I chose him because he has a special air about him and I very much like him, as an actor. After that I cast Zabou Breitman as the mother. I liked her very much, because she has a huge range – she can play comedy, she can play drama and I was very much drawn to the tragi-comedy that she brings to the role. But in France, these actors aren't particularly bankable. So it was quite difficult to get the go-ahead to make the film with them, but I really wanted both of them for these roles. When I cast the children I really wanted to find a family that could hold the comedy that I wanted, so I was trying to find a family atmosphere when I was casting.

VL: The younger son, Marc-André Grondin was the lead in a film called C.R.A.Z.Y. Had you seen that?

RB: Yes. When I was writing the script for the film, the casting director told me to see C.R.A.Z.Y. And Marc-André Grondin was very good in C.R.A.Z.Y., so I cast him from that. And C.R.A.Z.Y. was cool too – there are a lot of similarities between C.R.A.Z.Y. and The First Day.

VL: Where did the title come from?

RB: From American Beauty – Kevin Spacey says something similar in the film. Also there's a song with the same title, by Etienne Daho, which comes on at the end of the film.

VL: Do you have a particular favourite scene in the film?

RB: I like the scene with the cushion at the end, when the mother lets the air out of it. That was actually the first scene that I wrote.

VL: Did you cut out anything that you really hated to lose?

RB: I didn't really cut a lot, maybe one or two scenes I had to readjust. You often have to choose scenes like that, but I didn't cut too much.

VL: You mentioned Italian family comedies earlier. Are there any specific directors that have influenced you in the same way?

RB: Yes, definitely. Wes Anderson, for example – I love both The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. I also like Sam Mendes. There are a lot of influences from American cinema, but also from French cinema, particularly the films of Claude Sautet. There are so many other things. I love the six hour Italian mini-series, The Best of Youth – that was very, very good. That was a big reference for me. And the American series, Six Feet Under – that was a big reference for me too. I love it. Psychologically, that was a fantastic series.

VL: What's your next project?

RB: My next project is an adaptation of a book called The Happy Event, by Eliette Abécassis. It's about a pregnant lady. It's a very good book and I hope my movie will be very good too. I have finished the script and I hope to start shooting in March.

END

Interview with RJ Cutler, director of The September Issue - June 23rd, 2009

Promoting: The September Issue

Venue: The Scotsman Hotel, Edinburgh Film Festival

Interview type: One-on-one

ViewLondon (VL): How did the project come about?

RJ Cutler (RJC): Somebody had given me an article about Anna [Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue], and I read it and thought she would make a fascinating subject for film. I met with her, and it was actually she who suggested the September Issue as a kind of structure for the shoot and I embraced that because it meant we would have access to them for close to nine months. All you need to make these movies, other then story-telling ability is access and money. Anna was offering nine months of access and that is music to a filmmaker’s ears.

VL: I read that you originally approached her first, and then she came back.

RJC: Yeah, I really didn’t know. The article I had read was about a big party that she (Wintour) throws every year. A costume institute gala-ball that she hosts and you know it’s such a big deal, raising over 5 million dollars in one night. The guest list is really a who’s who in the worlds of entertainment, fashion, business, media and society. They say every year; it is the party of the year. I think now looking back it would have been a terrible idea for a movie, just a terrible idea. Parties are you know, there is no pay-off to a party. Everyone goes to the party and then they come home. Who cares? The September Issue is a great idea for a structuring device. Once again, Anna was right!

VL: That seems to be a reoccurring theme.

RJC: Maybe

VL: Obviously the most wonderful discovery in the film is the relationship between Anna and Grace [Coddington]. Can you talk about how that came about?

RJC: Well, it’s not a discovery. I didn’t have to dig very deep. If you are at Vogue you know that if you spend any time there, that you can’t help but recognize the most fiery relationship at the magazine is between Anna and Grace. Here you have two of the most significant figures in the fashion world in the last thirty years-if not the last century. As I say it is almost impossible not to recognize that this is the key relationship. The challenge was persuading Grace to let us film with her. That was the biggest challenge, because part of the conflict in their dynamic meant that once Anna invited us in, Grace hated the idea that we were there. We were just another battlefield, and over time we were able to win her over. This was shocking to almost everyone at Vogue. Andre couldn’t believe it, Tom Floreo couldn't believe it, Patrick who is Anna’s director of communications couldn’t believe it. Anna herself couldn’t even believe it. Anna would tease Grace, refer to her as the movie star.

VL: And she is the movie star!

RJC: And she is the movie star, she absolutely is.

VL: When did you kind of realize that she was going to let you in to that extent? Because, as you said, her first words to you were “go away” and she repeated those words several times.

RJC: Yes she did, several times with increasing forcefulness. Go away was the nice thing she said to me. About four months in, I kind of couldn’t take it anymore. I was trying to figure out what the film was about. I had been shooting for four months, which is a lot of time. I couldn’t see a way to make this movie that wasn’t about their relationship. That was the movie, that was the movie. The movie tells you what it is, you don’t tell it. So much media that I see, so many documentaries that I see, somebody has decided what they want to say. Once you decide what you want to say, I am so uninterested. I couldn’t care less, don’t make a movie if you decide what you want to say ahead of time. Write it down send it off to someone and blog it…put it online. If you know what you want to say upfront don’t waste your time, don’t waste your subject's time, don’t waste everybody’s money- and for god's sake don’t waste your audiences’ time because it is boring. The whole point in making these movies is to go into these foreign lands, and they reveal themselves to you, and then you get to relate to the world. Really in a way the movie is a conduit of like what it was and what it is at Vogue in 2007 – Anna and Grace. That is what it is and there is no way around it. I couldn’t take it anymore. I went to Grace, I didn’t fall to my knees but I might as well have. I just said I can’t make this film without you, and here we are and we are good people and you are going to be happy that you gave us a chance – but you have to start by giving us a chance, and she gave us a chance.

VL: Clearly she had a pretty great relationship with the crew and you by the end of the movie. She was joking with you all the time.

RJC: Of course, of course – but everybody does. Our relationship with Anna was wonderful by the end of the film. We are there for nine months, and all we want to do is see what they do. It’s like if someone followed you for nine months, and all they wanted to do was tell the story of what you do, and how you do it and why you do it and who you are. You’d think they were awesome, I think.

VL: So how did the day-to-day filming break down. You say nine months, but it’s not like it is 9-5 for nine months?

RJC: No, it is always different and there is no way to kind of even describe it. You are in the flow of the situation. At the beginning you kind of very consciously say you are going to be there this day, and then work out when we're going to come back tomorrow. Not going to be here the next day, but will be here for two days after that. Now were going to go off to Paris with you. Next weekend we’d like to come over to your house for the day. But, that is just at the beginning. 'Oh you have that meeting, can we come?' Within a month or two I went to Anna and said: 'Now what we need to do is come and go as we will.' You do come and go as you will, because you need to be able to see anything. Second of all, you want them to miss you when you are gone. You don’t just show up everyday. Some days you don’t come in. You know you are doing well when you take a few days off, and somebody gets in touch with you, asking where have you guys been? That is what you want. You want them to want to do what you are there to do, which is to open up, which is how you get them to do it.

VL: Speaking of opening up, were you ever worried that people would be very guarded around you because obviously if Anna sees them badmouthing her or a decision that has been made, then there'd be repercussions from that.

RJC: Yes, but not with any kind of urgency and certainly not after Grace got on board. Once Grace was on board, it was like, 'We can say anything we want because god knows Grace is saying anything she wants.'

VL: You said you shot over 320 hours of footage. Clearly within that you’ve had to lose an awful lot of material. Was there anything in particular that you hated to lose?

RJC: No, I didn’t hate to lose anything because everything we took out was making the movie not as good as the movie is. There are wonderful scenes that will be on the DVD. Wonderful scenes of Andre, great scenes of the party, the ball. They are great scenes but everything I took out that really didn’t service the film that we ended up with.

VL: Are you promising us 319 hours of deleted scenes?

RJC: Ha ha! We’ll see, we’ll see.

VL: What does Anna think of the film?

RJC: You know, she thinks its my movie. She thinks if she were the director it would be a completely different movie. She thinks, 'Wow it’s awesome that everybody loves it, and good for me'. As I say, she had plenty of notes, but I had final cut. I listened to her, but I made the movie I wanted to make.

END

Interview with Alex Reid - August 21, 2009

Promoting: Jetsam

Venue: The Soho Hotel, London

Interview type: One-on-one

ViewLondon (VL): What's Jetsam about and who do you play?

Alex Reid (AR): I play someone called Grace. Basically, it's kind of ambiguous what the film's about. It's kind of about obsession and feeling lost or isolated. It's more of a theme, like that, because basically the film starts in the middle of the story and then goes back again. But I'm kind of tracking a couple because they've stolen something. I have to be careful what I say, but basically they've stolen something and it's a matter of security that I need to get back, but somewhere I kind of get lost and entangled within their relationship and become slightly obsessed with their relationship.

VL: What attracted you to the film and how did you get involved?

AR: I got involved because I met [writer-director Simon Welsford] about another project, which never came to fruition and he approached me at around Christmas time and said he wanted to make a feature film the following year and that he was going to shoot it in 14 days and would I be interested, because he wanted the central character to be female. So I said yes and he went away and wrote the script and as soon as I read it – I thought it was original and also he's so passionate about what he does and I thought it was such a challenge. And it was lovely for me too, because he let me be involved with the casting, so we went to actors that I knew.

VL: Is that how [Descent co-star Shauna MacDonald] got involved then?

AR: Yes and Jamie Draven and Cal Macaninch (pron Mac-in-idge). So we all got thrown together for two weeks.

VL: Was it difficult to play someone with either no memory or an unreliable memory? Did you do any research?

AR: We shot chronologically as much as we could and at the time it wasn't that difficult – it was more about having the trust in Simon to always pull me in or keep me on track, but I think probably because of the way in which we shot it and the timescale in which we shot it, everything was so immediate and I think that actually helped that. Although, every now and again I'd be like, 'I've no idea where I am. Help!'

VL: Do you end up taking characters home with you and find them hard to get rid of afterwards?

AR: Erm, yeah, I think it's a little bit both ways. I think that, as well, there's always a little bit of you within the character, you know, obviously the characters look like you, to a degree, unless you're doing something completely off the wall. But yes, as far as taking them home with you, because you're doing that every day, it probably brings out that side of you more and so, for instance, Grace was very isolated, so yeah, I didn't – I wasn't on the phone a lot, I didn't watch TV or whatever. You do find yourself sat within that mood and I think you take that home with you.

VL: What was the hardest scene to film?

AR: Probably anything to do with the elements, when we were outside. I think there's a scene where [Jamie Draven's character] and I have a face-off and it was at the top of a cliff and the wind was blowing, so technically, things like that and making it heard and getting the depth right. But we were really lucky with the elements on some occasions. We had a flash of lightning that you'd probably pay thousands of pounds for in special effects. I don't know how that happened.

VL: I read a review that said that it was almost as if the weather itself was directed.

AR: We were very lucky. And also the way [cinematographer] Zac Nicholson shot it, it was so beautiful. I couldn't believe it when I first saw it.

VL: How does Simon compare to other directors you've worked with?

AR: I've been very lucky, I think. I always like working with writer-directors. I think it makes a difference, because it's their story and so it's their whole vision and you've got them on hand, whereas if the writer's not there and you want to talk about the script or the character in depth and maybe the director has their own ideas and so on. But I think I've been lucky to do that. And also, smaller budget things are probably my favourite thing to work on for that reason, although obviously I'd like to get paid more! (laughs) But Simon was great for a first-time director. He had a clear vision of what he wanted and he worked very closely with Zac – it wasn't the first time they'd worked together. So between the two of them, for a fourteen day shoot, there was very little stress, everything was dealt with, he's very approachable and there's nothing intimidating about him at all. It was a really, really lovely experience and I'd work with him again in an instant.

VL: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?

AR: I don't think I do. What I really love about watching it – and, weirdly enough, when you're shooting guerilla-style like that, through London - is when you're watching stuff on the tube or at, say Liverpool St station – because you're not supposed to do that, but, anyway, we did – and all the street scenes, we were in Paddington and it just looks really real. Because no matter how many extras and things you have in the background, you never get it looking like that. And so whenever I see anything like that, I think there's a point of following through Liverpool Street station, where it's just like, 'Yeah, that's great'. And also I remember being in a phone box in Paddington with Adam up in Burger King and we're just all trying to co-ordinate via mobile phones - 'Right, go! Now! Now!' (laughs) – and it was, you know, looking back at the time, it was fun. So to see those scenes, I think, were maybe my favourites. It was like a big spy game.

VL: What's your next project?

AR: I've done a film called One Hundred Mornings and I'm briefly in The Descent 2, which is the closing night film at FrightFest and I'm also currently shooting a drama for E4 called Misfits, which is a lot of fun. And with The Descent 2, it's just video-camera footage that they find, but we shot with Neil [Marshall]. He came in specially for the day and did all the video-camera footage, which was really nice.

END

Interview with Nitin Ganatra - June 22nd, 2009

Promoting: Mad, Sad & Bad

Venue: 13/1 Cornwall St, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Film Festival

Interview type: One-on-one

ViewLondon (VL): What's Mad, Sad & Bad about and who do you play?

Nitin Ganatra (NG): I play Atul, who's a writer, a sitcom writer that's suffering from a dignity crisis. That's the first time I've ever said that, that's actually great, he's in dignity crisis and he's decided that – the catalyst is having a crush on his best friend's wife and trying to get into bed with her and then finding out that she's shagging his boss has left him kind of challenging his own dignity, so he wants to give up writing crappy sitcoms and go into something more noble like writing an opera.

VL: About cheese?

NG: About cheese. And he gets to fulfil that desire. So Mad, Bad & Sad is about dysfunctional characters generally. I know [writer-director] Avie's an academic and a shrink and is very highbrow in his way of looking at things but basically it's the Three Billy Goats Gruff and they're crossing the bridge to get to the greener grass. It's a fable about people wanting their lives to be better. But it's about looking for that and discovering what that is. Heh. He's going to be so pissed off that I said that. But really, he's just ripped off Three Billy Goats Gruff (laughs). And it just happens to be centred around an Asian family because that's Avie's point of contact. A lot of these characters are based on – he's a prolific writer so a lot of them are his psyche. I mean, playing the writer in a movie where your director has written it, you just have to watch him a little bit. You start observing things about him and then you realise, 'Oh God, I am playing him'. Because he's a manipulator – Atul – I play a manipulator who's always got his own agenda and of course a writer-director has got to be a manipulator. So the whole thing, maybe because it's set around an Asian family, because it's a family and because it's dysfunctional, is what's making the whole thing quite universal.

VL: Was the cheese song a large part of what attracted you to the script or was there something else?

NG: The cheese song is one of those things where you – I can't play guitar and I can't dance and I can't sing and yet I'm doing all of those in the film. And being asked to improvise them as well. So imagine, you learn a few chords and I was improvising this cheese song and it was getting quite rude. And I think because of copyright, Avie was actually quite clever and said, 'Actually, I don't want you to improvise, I'll give you some lyrics' and wrote them. Which is a very crafty thing to do, just in case I get some money. But improvising a cheese song is not an easy thing, especially if you can't play or sing.

VL: Did you draw on Flight of the Conchords?

NG: (laughs) I wish I had, actually, but mine's certainly not as good as that. But yeah, it's quite a nice quirky thing. Having seen the film, I think it could have been a bigger number, the whole cheese opera – it would have been nice to have really made it an opera. Had it gone that way, I think it would have been spectacular.

VL: Was there anything cut out that you really hated to lose?

NG: Yeah, there was lots of stuff, mainly to do with me (laughs). There was a scene – it's only because it sticks with me slightly because there were some plot devices that were set up. I don't play squash either, but there was a whole squash court scene with Tony Gardner, who I think is the gem of the film. I think he's impeccable in his timing and I really enjoyed working with him. Anyway, we did a whole squash court scene where we set up stuff like 'You should meet the wife, Roxy' and Atul goes, 'Oh, I don't think so' and it's kind of like, 'Well what's your problem?' and stuff like that. So for me there's a kind of editorial, a plot line thing and as an actor, you play that plot line and then you find that then I don't get it, why I'm suddenly behaving like that.

VL: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?

NG: I love watching Tony and what he does on screen. The way he sets up – the funniest moment is during the burial, where he talks about the make-up and what he does. And his timing, it's very underplayed but so typically English. That gave me a big laugh and I think I enjoyed working with Ayesha (Dharker) a lot. There's a scene with Ayesher and I where we were really just bouncing off each other. Actors, we all have to kind of negotiate each other's egos all the time and everyone's different methods. And everyone's got different ways of approaching their work. Some people can take up a lot of time on set and then produce something that doesn't really warrant taking that much time. If it means taking an hour talking about how to walk across the room, you just kind of go [makes a face]. I'm of the school that you don't waste people's time on the day, you do your homework. And also you get some actors that give to a scene, some actors take away from a scene, they suck the life out of you, whereas Ayesha, there was a scene with Ayesha and I where she comes round and I describe what happens in this opera and the timing was working beautifully and Ayesha was catching that ball and throwing it back and we could overlap and we could play – but still keeping to the script, you know – and that, to me, is one of those moments when you do a job where you kind of go, 'I remember that', I remember that giving, in a film, where you really are bouncing off each other and that's one of my most memorable moments of the whole shoot, other than Tony.

VL: You were briefly in Shifty. Do you have any other film projects coming up, EastEnders schedule permitting?

NG: Well, Shifty was before I was on EastEnders, so after that, I joined EastEnders and then did Mad, Sad & Bad and then I did a show called Mumbai Calling, which is on at the moment. But no, I'm writing now. I've got another couple of projects that I've pitched and treatments that I'm writing so fingers crossed.

END

Interview with Andrea Riseborough - June 22nd, 2009

Promoting: Mad, Sad & Bad

Venue: 13/1 Cornwall St, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Film Festival

Interview type: One-on-one

ViewLondon (VL): What's the film about and who do you play?

Andrea Riseborough (AR): I play a manic depressive, Shoreditch-type clay sculptor. I'm not sure that's a very good description but Julia is a very fragile, very loving, very naturally artistic soul who happens to be in a relationship with a guy who – they're like yin and yang and I think when you watch the film you think 'How did these two get together?' and one of the things that attracted me to the project was that very fact, because so rarely is it depicted on film how extraordinary couples can be.

VL: Were there any other elements that attracted you to the film and how did you get involved?

AR: Firstly what I was saying before about their relationship being so unique. But I suppose what attracted me to it initially was just reading it and then closing it and thinking 'That is a lovely film'. You know, like, it's incredibly uplifting. It's quite an extraordinary thing because I don't really know where to – what I like about it is that you can't really pigeon-hole it. It's this real independent film but it's like super-uplifting. And it's also really accessible – in a brilliant way, it's accessible to a big audience, but you also can't pin it down.

VL: Was the part written for you?

AR: No, no, no. It was already written and then I think [writer-director] Avie was just really open to finding out who this Julia would be and then I went and met him, we talked about it, we did a bit of work and he offered me the part. And she really grew, or rather, we excavated what he'd already laid down, just as much as possible, to see exactly where all of that came from. And I really liked the fact that Avie wasn't scared to take Julia to this other place. We met so well, I think, in terms of how we perceived Julia. After, we went through a series of improvisations which we did through psychoanalysis, because he's a psychiatrist, so he put us all in therapy as our characters, which was brilliant and then we had group sessions and couple guidance sessions.

VL: What was Avie like as a director?

AR: My relationship with Avie throughout the shoot – and beforehand, in pre-production, when we were improvising – was such a great one. I felt thoroughly supported by him and challenged, you know. Because he has a very good way of noting you, you know, giving you notes, because he's a psychiatrist. So he kind of just cuts to the bone.

VL: Were there any scenes that were cut that you hated to lose?

AR: When you make a film, there are always so many scenes that you do and then they might not get in. Originally, my character ended up with Zubin's character. Or there was a spark, some kind of strange spark, like this repulsion, but ... So there were scenes that we shot, but they didn't work. It works much better this way. But Zubin and I found it hard to let go of this, because we were like, 'But that's what happens!' It's like when you say goodbye to a character - and you don't generally get much time to do it at all because you're straight into the fray with the next thing – and you have to be very good at letting someone very close to your heart just completely go. And you leave them in a certain place and then I saw Zubin somewhere and he was like, 'You know we don't get together in the end?' and we were both like, 'Oh my God!'. Even though we'd finished the film - and actually, in terms of the film, all we want is what's best for the film and we completely trust Avie – it was a strange thing to find out because you just think that that's what's happened to that character and you kind of play out their post-film fantasy in your mind a bit. So we had to reassess our post-film fantasy, but that's fine.

VL: Speaking of the post-film fantasy, how attached do you get to your characters generally?

AR: Like I said, I think you have to really be good at putting them down. I would never say disposing of them, because I think that would be too harsh. And impossible, because so much of yourself is in them – you are essentially your own tool. But there are certain times where I've wanted to have some sort of like mass exorcism, where we all burn them on something like, I don't know, Hampstead Heath, and all the possessions they had and all the thoughts they had. But other times you can learn so much from them. I know it's strange, because I'm talking about them like they're real, but they're so real to you. Some of my characters have introduced me to different things that I never thought that I would like. I've found sympathy or empathy in things that before were completely alien to me.

VL: Like Thatcher? [Andrea played Margaret Thatcher in The Long Road to Finchley]

AR: (laughs) Or I've made a journey to somewhere else in my mind that I would just never have got the chance to go on had I not been an actor. Because it's very specific, particularly being an actor, that you read something and then you become so – it's such second nature to you, to go there, emotionally, to completely surround yourself with it and your mind instantly makes a picture, you know?

VL: Did you take pottery classes and stuff for preparation?

AR: Oh, my flatmate was just at her wit's end – there was clay everywhere. There was clay in the tea, there was clay on the kitchen table, there was clay in the living room. She'd be taking a book out of the library and she'd be like, 'There's clay in the book', I'm like, 'I'm really sorry!' And then I made this little succession of little creatures, clay creatures, that I then proceeded to -when I needed some anger or whatever- these lovingly crafted creatures that I'd then smash up on set with a mallet. But also, with Julia, a lot of music was very helpful, especially the Velvet Underground. And Tracey Emin's Strange Land was a really, really useful book. It changed so many things in my life, that book. It really helped me with the character.

VL: What's your next project?

AR: My next project that I'm doing currently, doesn't have an official name. It's called We Want Sex but it's also called Dagenham Girls. It's me, Sally Hawkins, Miranda Richardson, Bob Hoskins, Rosamund Pike, John Sessions and Danny Mays. And it's about the 1968 petitions for equal pay at the Ford Dagenham factory.

END

Interview with Roxanne McKee - December 13th, 2010

Promoting: F

Venue: My house

Interview type: One-on-one (phone)

ViewLondon (VL): What attracted you to F and how did you get involved?

Roxanne McKee (RM): Well, I like horror films – I always have done. I've been keen on them since I was little – I actually used to love, like, all the Freddie films. I don't know – there's something about them, sitting on the edge of your seat and having a shock and feeling the adrenaline rush that's exciting, so to be a part of something like that, I thought would be fun. And it was, it was really interesting to get involved and have all the prosthetics applied. And yeah, it was just nice and it was just a small cameo role so I wasn't ... what's the word? It wasn't going to impinge on my time or anything like that. And it was just – yeah, it was lovely to be a part of it. And I thought it was a good script and that was it. And there were great actors involved as well, like David Scofield and Ruth Gemmell, you know – it's a privilege to be a part of anything like that.

VL: Had you been looking for something like that?

RM: No, I hadn't specifically been looking for horror. I had made a concerted effort to try and look for stuff that was just different when I came out of Hollyoaks, just because that was my reason for leaving Hollyoaks. Because I had a fantastic time there but I wanted to try new things and open up the path a bit for me and see what else was out there and play different sorts of characters. So when this came along it was just something interesting and different.

VL: How did the experience of working on F compare to working on Hollyoaks and other stuff you've worked on?

RM: It's - I mean it's totally different, because when you work on a soap you can do up to like twelve scenes a day, whereas when you work on a film you do like one scene. People don't realise how hard soap work is, so you've really got to give credit where credit's due – soap actors are learning twelve, thirteen, fourteen scenes of an evening and then going in the next day and doing them and then that carries on each day. Whereas with a film you work, say, over a two week period and you might be in three days. You know and obviously for me, with this, I wasn't – you know, it's a cameo role so I'm only in it a small amount, so the filming schedule's a lot lighter. But the nice thing and the thing that's similar is the meeting different crews and making friends with different people and, yeah, establishing friendships. The other thing is, with a soap you establish friendships and then you keep your friendships because you're there a couple of years. But when you're doing jobs sporadically, it's not quite the same – you establish these friendships and then you kind of don't necessarily see people so much again. You maybe see the actors but not always the crew or maybe you go on another job and they're there, which has happened with me recently, which was nice. But obviously you don't have that long-term friendship in quite the same way.

VL: You play the character in the gym, is that right? That prosthetic that you had to wear was pretty hideous. What was that like?

RM: Yeah, it was crazy. It was amazing. That was so enjoyable, because it was so different to anything I've ever had – I mean, I've had bruises applied (laughs) and arm bandages and things like that but never a full-on ripped-off jaw. So I had a whole head-cast applied and that was weird, sitting underneath that and not being able to breathe properly. It was amazing – it was an exciting, really exciting experience and I still have the jaw. But the bloody annoying thing was that when we were all finished up for the night after we'd filmed that scene, it took them a good few hours to remove everything off of me, because I had cuts all over my body, you know, this fake skin that had been applied. I mean it looked amazing – even for me to look at it, I was like, “Jesus!”

VL: It looked really nasty in the film, I agree.

RM: Yeah, well, you know that scene where I die at the end? I couldn't breathe. So I'm crying – because you have to keep your mouth closed, because otherwise you'd see my mouth. And then obviously that wouldn't work, for the fact that the bottom half of the jaw is hanging right down. So I had to keep my mouth closed and then cry and so I couldn't breathe! So I'm not breathing in that last scene. I don't think I've told anyone that yet. I'm not actually breathing. (laughs) So if everyone could really feel for me, that would be great!

VL: I was going to ask what was the hardest scene to film, but I assume that was?

RM: Yeah, the not breathing. And then also when I was crawling along the floor it was really bloody painful, because that was a – you know one of those sticky floors that you can polish? I call it a sticky floor – you know what I mean though. Sort of that shiny floor that you can polish. And I'm crawling along with obviously shorts on – so I've got bare legs and the blood is sticky and sweet, as well, actually – not that I was eating it, but it was obviously in my mouth. So when you're crawling along, you're sticking to the floor and your skin is almost ripping along the floor. So as I'm moving along, that genuinely is painful.

VL: Obviously, the scenes you did are one thing but do you have a favourite scene in the film otherwise?

RM: I do love Finlay Robertson – I just think he's hilarious. I think they all are – they were such a nice bunch of people. I was quite excited when I saw David Scofield and Ruth Gemmell as well, I knew. Let me think. I like the scene where Finlay is on the front desk and he won't let Eliza use the phone – or he lets her use the phone and then he's a bit weird and pervy with her. I find that really funny. I just find all his facial expressions really funny. So any scene with him. NOT the scene where the guy is in the wheelie bin and on fire – that's horrific! That's absolutely horrendous. What else do I like? There's another one with David Scofield that I thought was really good. Oh and I liked the one – you know the other one, the Scottish actor? I worked with him on Lip Service – I didn't actually work directly with him but he was on something else that I did. And I liked the scene with him walking through and shouting. Again, that comic element appeals to me.

VL: I thought it was really interesting that none of the deaths actually happen onscreen.

RM: It was an important part of the film as well. I think that was Johannes's intention. I don't know, actually – I think at the beginning, maybe he wanted that to happen and then he kind of realised, maybe when he was editing it, that it didn't need to happen.

VL: So did they film more of a death scene with you that didn't get used?

RM: No, they didn't. I think there was more – no, I remember Johannes saying that there was more – he didn't want to show the deaths but there was more violence. But certainly not with mine – I mean, with the jaw thing, I don't think you needed any violence. You could see the result. But I think there were more gratuitous moments than were shown, originally, but he chose to keep them out when he edited it because he felt it wasn't necessary and I don't think it was necessary. I mean it was good the way it was – he did a really good job.

VL: How long were you on the film for?

RM: Not very long. It was filmed over night shoots so – I don't know – you film over – you're booked for a certain period of time, say a couple of weeks and then you go in the odd couple of days over those weeks but I don't strictly know how many times I went. A few times, you know, whatever it takes to film a couple of scenes – it's not a huge amount of time.

VL: You don't really interact with anyone else in the cast, do you?

RM: No, I don't. No. Just Ruth and David. Ruth, to me, is one of those faces – she's a jobbing actress and she's somebody that pops up in lots of things and I think she's great. She was really, really nice as well – they all were. A lovely, lovely bunch of actors.

VL: What are you working on at the moment?

RM: I'm working on an HBO drama called Game of Thrones. I'm Doria, the kind of ex-courtesan hand-maiden – actually still kind of working as a courtesan, but you know.

VL: There's a lot of excitement around that. Is that the George R. R. Martin thing?

RM: Yes, it is and I've met him and he's lovely. And it's so exciting. It's so exciting to be a part of such a huge project. And the sets – oh my God, you've got to watch it. It's incredible. It's out of this world. It's amazing, so watch it.

VL: Have you got anything else coming up?

RM: So...no, because that's what I've been contracted to so I will hopefully have other things coming up. Maybe it would be nice to film something in hotter climates next year - that would be good. So I'll keep my fingers crossed and if you could say a little prayer for me, that would be great.

VL: Well, we'll put it in the interview and see if anyone has any Sahara Desert-based projects or something.

RM: Maybe the desert would be a bit too warm, but Morocco, maybe?

END

Interview with Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna - June 21st, 2009

Promoting: Rudo & Cursi
Venue: The Caledonian Hotel, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Film Festival
Interview type: One-on-one (one-on-two)


ViewLondon (VL): What's the film about, first of all?

Diego Luna (DL): The film is about these two brothers that come from a little town in Mexico, called Tlachatlan, that is in the Pacific Coast. And one wants to be a football player, he's a goal-keeper, my character, who is nick-named Rudo or “Tough”. And Gael's character, who's nick-named Cursi, which means “Corny” or “Cheesy”, he wants to be a singer. And it's the journey of these two guys and the story of their relationship and the love between these two brothers and how life changes for them. It's a really fun film to watch.

VL: What attracted you to the project?

Gael Garcia Bernal (GGB): The prospect of working with Diego again was very exciting and also working with the people who introduced us to cinema (director Carlos Cuaron and producer Alphonso Cuaron). Alphonso and Carlos are responsible for us being able to do what we like. We worked with them and they included us on Y Tu Mama Tambien, in a way that we felt part of the project, more than we had ever felt before. And they're still our very good friends. And the story was great too, the idea of playing football players. So I guess little by little everything started to add up and every reason to be in the film was the correct one.

DL: Also, you know Carlos wrote Y Tu Mama Tambien and he was always there for us, so in a way it made a lot of sense to be part of his first film [as director] and to be there as he was when we started.

VL: Was it easy to get back into the groove of the four of you working together again?

DL: Yeah. It was really easy, in fact, because it was a necessity. We so wanted to act together again and to work with the two brothers. We also really wanted to shoot in Mexico again. We'd shot a lot of amazing things out of Mexico, but the idea of returning to shoot in your own country with the same team that you'd enjoyed working with so many years ago was pretty hard to resist.

VL: The film is quite broad in places. Were you worried about slipping into caricature with the characters?

GGB: Yes, definitely. We constantly wanted to have a good barometer that allowed us to stop falling into that and that's what the director is for. I like those movies in general, there's nothing wrong with them, but then it would have been like a Ben Stiller or Jack Black movie, where the caricature is intentionally ridiculous and it's like a commentary on the comedy, where you have to be in on the joke. We wanted to do something where the characters existed for real and they're not conscious of the joke. So that was very difficult, but it's a great challenge for actors to be able to do that.

VL: The film's also about sibling rivalry. Is there any rivalry between the two of you?

DL: No rivalry, no. There is kind of a legal competition, you know? Sometimes, either when we play football or, when we were younger, if there was a cute girl at a party, probably we would compete for her, a little bit. But normally what we do is we complement each other really well and I think that's a lesson that comes from acting and shooting film, where it's not a race you achieve yourself. You have to be around people who want the same thing and are aiming for the same goal and there's room for everyone. So I think it's because there's no rivalry between us that our characters can be so much in competition and we can talk about it. And we also used a lot of our experiences with the Cuaron brothers – these guys compete a lot, so we looked at them and took from them. Because we're not brothers, we're friends, so we choose to be friends every day. You know, you don't have to have breakfast at the same table every day – you either call each other or not.

VL: Are you both football fans?

GGB: We're both football fans and we like good football a lot. And I think we're going through a stage in our lives where football has become very important, intellectually as well. It's really become a very strong intellectual necessity, football – more than the physical activity, because we hardly ever get time to play. And if you're not fit, football can be one of the most dangerous sports that exists. For me especially, I can say that every time I play football without having played for a while, I get hurt, big-time. But intellectually, it's part of our discussions and we like talking about the problems in football as if they were incredibly important. So it definitely plays a big part on our consciousness, to metaphorise about life, with football.

VL: Which of you is the better player?

DL: Okay, you got to the point.

GGB: Yeah, this is where the competition starts.

DL: I have to say that we're not allowed to answer that, because we've always played in the same team and it's not about who scores, it's about the team.

GGB: I've got to say that at the moment I'm really terrible and even Diego can beat me right now.

DL: “Even” Diego! Ha ha!

VL: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?

DL: My favourite scene is Gael's music video. When he sings, it's unbelievable. It's amazing. That's a real piece of art.

GGB: I like the first penalty kick scene a lot. It's really well written and full of...something. Nitty gritty?

VL: Were you always going to play the characters that way round, with Diego as Rudo and Gael as Cursi?

DL: Yes, but the smart thing Carlos did was he went for the opposite to our characters in Y Tu Mama Tambien. Not because one is rough and the other is corny, but also the opposite in reality – Gael is a year older than I am, so giving me the role of the older brother would definitely change the dynamics of our relationship. And that also allowed us to really come up with these characters that are so different from us.

VL: How does Carlos' directing style compare to other directors you've both worked with?

GGB: Well, it was his first feature and yet he was incredibly experienced – in a way, it didn't feel like it was his first film. But one thing he has is that he's a very good writer. So the parts that come from being a writer differentiated him from other more visual directors.

DL: He knew exactly what he wanted to do and he also surrounded himself with interesting and talented collaborators so he always had someone interesting to talk to. And even though he knew the kind of film he wanted to do, he allowed everyone to say what they were thinking. And in the beginning I was scared because I thought he'd just be manipulated by all these talented people, but no, he was strong enough to say no when he wanted to say no and to stay firm on that. And that takes a lot of maturity that normally a first-time director wouldn't have.

Interview with Carlos Cuaron (director of Rudo & Cursi) - June 21st, 2009

Promoting: Rudo & Cursi
Venue: The Caledonian Hotel, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Film Festival
Interview type: One-on-one


Interview with Carlos Cuaron (writer-director of Rudo & Cursi)
Venue: The Caledonian Hotel, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Film Festival
Interview type: One-on-one

ViewLondon: What's the film about, first of all?

Carlos Cuaron (CC): It's a sibling rivalry story between two brothers who work in a banana plantation in the Pacific coast in Mexico. The older brother, Rudo, played by Diego Luna, has the dream of becoming a football player. And his younger brother, Cursi, played by Gael Garcia Bernal has the dream of becoming a singer. So it's a rivalry story between these two guys in the context of football in Mexico.

VL: Where did the story come from?

CC: Well, my original idea was that I wanted to make a mockumentary about a footballer who came from a humble background and made it big and when he was at the peak of his success, he mysteriously disappeared. So I told this concept to Diego and Gael separately, during the Y Tu Mama Tambien publicity tour and they both said, “I want to be that guy”. So I was honoured, obviously, but I had the problem of having two actors and only one character. So I realised that what I really wanted to do was to work with both of them again, so I created a brother with his own conflicts with the other one that I already had and that's how it all started.

VL: Did the actors play the parts that you wrote for them?

CC: When I brought the original idea to them - when it was going to be a sibling rivalry story and not a mockumentary at all - Gael's original reaction was to say that he should play Rudo and Diego said, 'Yeah, yeah and I should play Cursi'. But I told them that I didn't want to repeat myself, that I wanted to do something original and to do that I needed to start from scratch and I needed to cast them against their natural types. They immediately got it and started to throw in ideas, because they are great, creative, imaginative actors.

VL: Was it easy to get back into the swing of working together again?

CC: Oh yeah, it was automatic. Because we wanted to work together again. During the publicity tour for Y Tu Mama Tambien, we would just make up stories and we were thinking that they would both be acting and Alphonso would be directing and I'd be writing or maybe that I would direct whatever I wrote. And so it was automatic – when I got the idea and told them they said yes and when I told Alphonso [Cuaron, Carlos' brother and producer] he said, 'Okay, man, whenever the script is ready I'm going to help you set up this movie'.

VL: Do you have plans for the four of you to work together again in the future?

CC: Yeah, why not? Though my intuition says that it's not going to be soon. And probably the director is going to be Jonas, Alphonso's son, the writer-director, and that probably Alphonso and I are going to help him produce it. But I would very gladly work with both of them again or separately.

VL: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?

CC: I like the first penalty kick in the small village. I like the way it's written, but I also think that we all did a great job in that scene. Diego, Gael and Guillermo Francella are just amazing in that scene. I also think the photography in that scene is beautiful.

VL: It's interesting that there's hardly any football action in the film – it all happens with audience reactions and so on. How did that come about?

CC: Well, the problem was that while I was writing the script, I felt that football was getting in the way of the drama, of the rivalry between these two guys. And I didn't know how to deal with it because it was the background, the context. And then one day I saw Michael Haneke's Funny Games, which is probably the most violent film I've ever seen in my life and yet all the violence is offscreen. And when I finished watching that movie, I said, 'That's what I've got to do'. That's where I got the idea. So we actually understand what is happening on the field in the stadium from the human emotion, from the people's reactions on the stands and the sports-casters narrating the game. We only go down on the pitch in the climactic parts of the rivalry between these two guys, so it's not important if it's a yellow card or a disallowed goal or anything – what is important is what's happening between the two of them.

VL: What's your next project?

CC: I don't know yet.



Interview-based anecdote: This was actually quite frustrating. I'd been booked in to do the same interviews twice - once on camera for MovieBeat and once for print only for ViewLondon. The problem was, it seemed ridiculous to all of us that I was basically asking them the same questions twice, with the result that Alphonso Cuaron bailed on the second interview and Diego and Gael spent the second pissing about more than they did in the first. Ah well.

Interview with Brian Geraghty - June 20th, 2009

Promoting: The Hurt Locker and Easier With Practice
Venue: Delegate Centre, Edinburgh Film Festival
Interview type: One-on-one


ViewLondon (VL): What's the film about and who do you play?

Brian Geraghty (BG): The film's about three guys who are doing a job and they happen to be in a war. I play Specialist Owen Eldridge, who's kind of like a regular young guy, going through extraordinary circumstances in war.

VL: Can you explain the title?

BG: It's called The Hurt Locker, which is like the ultimate place of pain. It's not explained in the film, but I think it's a literary reference from somewhere. It's basically like, we'd joke and say, “Ah, I'm in the hurt locker” after a rough day of working, you know, being out in the sun.

VL: What attracted you to the part and how did you get involved in the film?

BG: I went to [director Kathryn Bigelow]'s house and just had an audition with [co-star Jeremy Renner], who was already cast, and we read and whatever. It didn't go great, I didn't think, but they'd liked me and thought I was right for it. And then I really read the script and I was like, 'I gotta do this, it's an amazing role'. It's an action film but it is at war and there's only really three central characters. It was very attractive.

VL: You said you didn't think the audition went very well. Had they seen you in Jarhead?

BG: I think they might have seen some things. I don't know if that was a help or, you know, was a problem or whatever, but I think they thought I approached work with integrity.

VL: What was it like working with Kathryn?

BG: I mean, she's just incredible, you know, to see her vision. I had no idea it was going to be that intense. She's doing a thousand things at once, talking to us, making us feel comfortable. Never sleeps, she looks beautiful all the time.

VL: How did her directing style compare to other directors you've worked with?

BG: For this particular movie, it was very different because she kind of just let us go. We had two to four cameras going the whole time so it was kind of like, 'Don't worry about the cameras, just do your thing and we'll find you', so it was kind of like a documentary style. It was freeing, for us, as actors.

VL: But you had to stick to the script, presumably?

BG: Yeah, we stuck to the script. I mean, there was a moment here or there that came out that's in the film but we stuck to the script. They were great words, so...

VL: So she didn't exactly encourage improvisation but she didn't mind...?

BG: Well, spontaneity, not just taking something and putting it in there to improvise. It comes out of the moment of what we're doing and little moments would happen but it wasn't like she would do multiple takes and encourage us to do something different each time, no. The scenes were well put together and crafted.

VL: The film has a fantastic cast. What was it like working with Jeremy Renner?

BG: I was a big fan of his. I love Dahmer – he's incredible in that. He's the nicest, greatest guy. And Anthony Mackie, who I know – we did We Are Marshall, we played best friends – so it was really, just easy.

VL: Did Kathryn see something in you and Anthony already knowing each other?

BG: I don't know, again. I mean, yeah, they kind of took that into consideration but you know, we're actors, we can act like we're best friends. I think it was more about finding the right people in her mind.

VL: Without giving too much away, there are some big-name cameos in the film. Was that a deliberate thing? Did Kathryn go after those actors deliberately?

BG: I think for the initial one, she set it up that way. And it's kind of genius, because it's like, 'Wow, the lead actor just died – no-one's safe'. But her and Ralph [Fiennes] obviously are friends from when they made Strange Days so she was like, 'Can you come out and play?' And David Morse, she wanted someone commanding and he was terrific.

VL: It seems to be a received wisdom, rightly or wrongly, that people don't go and see Iraq movies. Was that a concern for the film?

BG: Yeah, I think it always was. They've positioned it differently, because I think it's not an Iraq war movie – that's the backdrop. It's really an action movie about three guys and this one guy and how he's dealing with his job.

VL: How did that affect the film getting made in the first place?

BG: I think it was a smaller budget than usual but it was really about trusting Kathryn. I mean, she had all the power – I can't get any money for a movie. But to not have to cast big stars – not that Jeremy's not on his way – but to not have big movie stars that are going to put people in seats, that's a tough aim for that size movie.

VL: What was the shoot like? Was it tough shooting in the desert?

BG: Well, it was as tough as making a fun movie and one of the best jobs you've ever had in your life can be, but yeah it was very hot and strenuous but ultimately it was pretty incredible. We were in Amman, Jordan and we shot for three months.

VL: What was the hardest scene to film?

BG: The U.N. building for me, because I had a lot of running to do and it was continuous takes. But it was fun, it was more like doing a play with action. And the sniper scene was hot and sandy, but I think that was one of the most beautiful scenes in the film.

VL: What research did you do?

BG: I trained with the E.O.D (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) down in Fort Irwin and we basically just learned about the bomb suit, how to put it on, blasting caps, the bombs, 155s, all of that. And then we did weapons training and had to simulate how we'd go into a building and so on. And we had advisors out there to help us too, plus we talked to people who actually did the job and got some personal insight from them.

VL: Did they cut anything out that you hated to lose?

BG: It's been so long, we shot it about two years ago, but I don't think so, no.

VL: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?

BG: The sniper scene is my favourite, for sure. I think it's just beautiful, I love all the characters going through real moments and the guys coming in. It was such a fun thing, it could be its own little movie in a way.

VL: What's your next project?

BG: I'm supposed to start this movie called Open House, it's kind of a horror, thriller, genre film where I play a sociopathic killer. So I'm trying to work that out. And I'm also in this movie called Easier With Practice, which is sort of a phone-sex road-trip movie – that's how we're selling it. It's a completely different character from The Hurt Locker for me. It's been exciting – it's at Edinburgh and people are liking it and it also just won the Grand Jury prize at CineVegas.

Interview with Justin Long - May 25th, 2009

Promoting: Drag Me To Hell
Venue: The Soho Hotel
Interview type (one-on-two, with Alison Lohman - see below)

Note: This interview was conducted on behalf of FilmStar Magazine (now sadly deceased), where a version of it first appeared.


Filmstar: Justin, this is your first horror film since the Jeepers Creepers movies. How did it feel to come back to horror after so many comedy roles?

Justin Long (JL): I love the genre, so I'm glad to be a part of another horror movie but it didn't feel like doing a horror movie, certainly not like my experience on Jeepers Creepers. My part is much more of a passive role – it was more like doing a romantic movie for me, so it didn't feel like doing a horror movie. But then I did one after this, where I was much more of an active participant in the horror. I'd forgotten how exhausting it is, just how physically demanding it is. And also seeing [co-star Alison Lohman] go through that, it reminded me a lot of that experience, to maintain that level of fear throughout a couple of months and long takes and several takes, it just gets to be really physically exhausting.

But I do love the genre and I had wanted to do more horror movies after Jeepers Creepers. It wasn't for lack of trying, I was always throwing my name in the hat and I auditioned for all the Halloween 12 and Freddy versus Jason versus Alien versus Predator. But then it got to the point where I was starting to be able to be more selective of roles and the truth is that those parts in those movies are a lot more stock and not as interesting as other roles so I just stopped trying out.

Filmstar: What was it like working with Sam Raimi?

JL: He's incredibly giving as a director. He's very patient and incredibly kind and he's funny, he's very funny. He's by far my favourite director I've ever worked with, more for how he treats people and how he conducts himself than for his body of work, which everyone knows is great. So you'd think there would be some element of him that would be tyrannical or officious but he's anything but, he's just so collaborative and warm and a really kind guy, a really great guy.

Filmstar: How does he approach the more effects-heavy scenes?

JL: Off-camera, I think it was really important, because a lot of [acting] is like impulsive and natural and you can't deconstruct it and get heady about it and so Sam would give Alison a lot to respond to. I mean maybe not as much as you'd like ideally, because there's a lot of stuff you just can't do because of the green screen and post stuff, so Sam would be there getting really passionate off-camera, doing the sounds for, like, the Lamia [the film's evil spirit] chasing you up the stairs, anything that you had to be reacting to, he'd be like [puts on monster voice], “And I'm WALKING UP THE STAIRS and I'm BANGING ON THE DOOR” and he got very into it, really passionate, like he was a part of the movie. Much more directly than most directors are.

Filmstar: What are your thoughts on horror generally? Were you a fan?

JL: I realise I'm not as big a fan as other people. I think it might belie how I really feel to say I'm a big fan, like it might be disrespectful to actual big fans. But I really enjoy horror movies. I don't know how big of a fan I am anymore, but I do love them.

Filmstar: Have you seen Night of the Demon?

JL: No, but I know that was a heavy influence for this movie and I'm really curious to see it. And now I'm glad that I redefined how big of a horror fan I am, before you asked that question.

Filmstar: Did you feel left out of the gory special effects scenes?

JL: Oh, absolutely, yes. I mean, at the time there was an element of relief, because Alison was working so hard and I got to go home early and I got my sleep. I even got to shoot another film – I had so much time off that I shot another movie in the middle of this movie. But of course, you just want to play. You feel like a kid and Sam was acting like a kid with the purity and the love of it and I just wanted to get in there and get my hands dirty. And certainly watching, of course, you want to do the fun horror movie stuff. But it was so nice just to be a part of it and to be involved.

Filmstar: What's your next project?

JL: I'm doing a movie this summer called Going The Distance, it's a romantic comedy about two people who are trying to figure out a long-distance relationship. It's a pretty simple, straightforward story, but hopefully done in a kind of raw, much more real kind of like Apatow-ian way. I hate using that, but it applies.