'Wedding Doll' Is a Delicate Story of Finding Love and Independence
Writer/Director Nitzan Gilady's charming film Wedding Doll won audiences over at the Jerusalem Film Festival and the Ophir Awards (Israeli Oscars), taking home the top honors of 'Best Actress' and 'Best Film', respectively, among others. Today, the festival favorite will hit screens stateside and is sure to attract American audiences with rising star Moran Rosenblatt's phenomenal performance of a mildly handicapped woman who wants to fall in love.
25-year-old Hagit (Rosenblatt) dreams of her wedding day, anticipating the moment she will put on the iconic white dress that she's become obsessed with- magazine cutouts of gowns and brides cover her bedroom walls like boy band posters from the 90's. However, Hagit doesn't realize her fairy tale romance may never come to fruition because of her mild mental handicap, making her dependent on her mother's help for many everyday tasks. When she is not under constant supervision of her mother Sara (Assi Levy), Hagit works in a small factory manufacturing and assembling toilet paper packages and makes little wedding dolls out of toilet paper to pass the time. She has become infatuated with her boss's son Omri (Roy Assaf), who happens to be the only other person working at the factory. They strike up a friendship, but she perceives it is much more. When the factory realizes it needs to shut it's doors for good, Hagit's desire for independence and quest to find true love is pushed further than she may be capable of understanding.
Rosenblatt embodies Hagit with such detail, nailing every quirky trait no matter how small. Her reactions to being called 'weirdo' and 'goofy' are understated, but we see the sharp pangs of pain etched on her face. But this isn't just Hagit's story, it is as much that of her mother, Sara, as we see her struggle to keep a job as a hotel housekeeper, as well as the relentless responsibility of being Hagit's sole parental guardian while trying to also have a love life. Sara attempts to do all three, but as a result of biting off more than she can chew, does none of them well. Assi Levy plays Sara with the necessary confidence to allow audiences to trust her choices, yet with a strain of vulnerability that evokes sympathy for her.
Not only does Wedding Doll nail the performances, the cinematography is just as engaging. Set in the desert on the outskirts of the city, the aesthetic is rich in color and incorporates various textures as well; the abundance of stone, tile, water, and paper make for a pallet any artist would envy.
Wedding Doll runs at a swift 80 minutes and thankfully, never feels rushed. Every scene is engaging and there is purpose and value in every moment. Gilady has managed to trim the fat and delivers a sleek and concise coming-of-age love story that is far more unique than others of recent production.
Wedding Doll is now playing at Laemmle's Music Hall 3 and Town Center 5.
Jean-Luc Godard's 'A Married Woman' Returns to the Big Screen
The Cohen Film Collection, together with the Nuart Theatre, is hosting a very special theatrical engagement of Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 film, A Married Woman (Une Femme Mariée). For those who have not seen this classic film, now is the perfect opportunity to dip your toe into one of French New Wave's most memorable films. For those who have seen , it is definitely worth revisiting on the big screen. This retrospective runs from Friday, April 15th until Thursday, April 21st.
A Married Woman is an intimate portrait of one woman's marital and extramarital relationships and her wavering emotions surrounding a complicated love triangle. Describing herself as the verb "To follow," Charlotte (Macha Méril) is a naive, confused woman who finds herself torn between indulging in exciting morning affairs with her actor-lover Robert (Bernard Noël) and consistent mundane evenings with her son and pilot husband Pierre (Philippe Leroy). Her aimlessness doesn't last long, however, when Charlotte discovers she is pregnant and without knowing who the father is, she is forced her to confront her illicit behavior once and for all.
Jean-Luc Godard was truly a master filmmaker as A Married Woman is the type of film that can tell the story purely by images, no words are even necessary to express the emotion and passion onscreen. Despite its racy subject, the characters come across as very modest. The seduction is in the camerawork, moments when a steady shot holds on Charlotte's bare legs in bed or her collarbone are provocative without overindulging in sexual exploitation.
A Married Woman is a refreshing walk down memory lane, cinematically speaking, and while the techniques of fading to black between practically every shot may seem redundant and may push the average moviegoer out of their comfort zone of fast moving, high-intensity pacing, it is refreshing to see how far film, in general, has grown and pushed technical boundaries. The subject matter and story line are still very much relevant today, just ask any guest on Maury or daytime talk show.
Sacrificial Torture and Secret Worlds in 'Colonia'
Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" accompanies archiva
While enjoying their time together, Daniel receives a phone call that shifts the political tide and changes everything. This results in chaos erupting in the streets, leading to their capture by the Chilean soldiers. Daniel gets abducted and taken to a hidden cult in a rural area called Colonia Dignidad, run by ex-Nazi Paul Schäfer (Michael Nyqvist). Left with no other choice, Lena willfully joins the Colonia as a desperate, last-ditch effort to find her boyfriend, risking her own life to bring him home as she discovers that those who enter the cult never leave.
Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl play Lena and Daniel with an innocence about them that has you rooting for their success. Watson is unquestionably beautiful and smart, her outspokenness gets her into trouble. Brühl takes a more unconventional risk with his character by playing the role of a mentally challenged person in an effort to trick his captors into thinking he is not a threat. Watson and Brühl are crucial to the film's success, but individually speaking, these roles won't likely result in a significant boost to their careers.
Colonia can't escape the comparisons to Eli Roth's The Sacrament or the documentary Kidnapped for Christ (if you haven't seen it, it's available to stream on Netflix, and is a MUST-watch), which may hurt Colonia's overall success because it is not as riveting by comparison. Audiences know what they are getting with an Eli Roth film, and a documentary has its own sense of wonderment, but Colonia tends to jump from the political thriller to love story to religious brainwashing in a patchwork way that feels a bit all over the place, and it is this "clumpy" genre blending that may be the film's weakest point. Plus, Daniel and Lena's relationship is never fully established in the beginning of the film, so we are left to wonder why she would risk her life to save this person.
At its core, Colonia is an interesting story, but not a very memorable film. It doesn't provide enough tension to overshadow The Sacrament, nor does it have the foundation to be a solid romance. The fact that it is based on a true story is what keeps the film afloat and the inclusion the smuggled archival photos of the real Colonia Dignidad at the end is a much-needed gem. Yet, even with cinema-savvy actors Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl, Colonia can't quite seem to gain the traction needed to be a standout film.
Colonia is not rated, opens at the Laemmle NoHo on Friday, April 15th.
'Louder Than Bombs' Director Joachim Trier on the Hardest Part of Pitching His Film [LISTEN]
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In 2007, Joachim Trier was named one of Variety's "10 Directors to Watch" with his release of "Reprise" and this Friday, fans of the Norwegian-born director will be greeted with his first English-language feature film, "Louder Than Bombs" (Read our full review, here). A melancholic drama that includes multi-layered narratives, "Louder Than Bombs" tells the story of one family's struggle to process and then move on from the death of their loved one. "Louder Than Bombs" has a strong narrative storyline with a stunning and unique cinematic style that will resonate with audiences long after the film ends. Trier's directorial risks pay off as the juxtaposition between external reality and personal feelings are the film's selling point. I had the opportunity to sit down with Trier last week, and we talk skateboarding, being in the moment, and the hardest part about pitching his film. We begin:
I read that you had grown up skateboarding; I know the mentality of a skater is when you fall you get right back up and keep going. Has that mentality affected you as a director?
There is this identity test called Big 5, and I guess I score as a "high-risk taker," haha. I've broken both of my arms and my ribs three times and had concussions and kept skating. I think when I do a film, more in a mental way, it's like a slam. I'm terribly grateful to be allowed to do movies but it takes something out of you every time. I think I get satisfied with taking risks. I used to make skateboarding videos, filming my friends jump down staircases. It was like setting up a stunt. With "Louder Than Bombs," there were certain scenes I was unsure of how would turn out. You don't know until you film it and cut it if it'll work, and every time it's a bit of a risk.
What drew you to the subject of a woman war photographer?
I was interested in the fact that it presented the character of the mother, who had such a strong absence in the film, with a virtuous and admirable profession. So for the family, it's hard to grieve someone that you couldn't even criticize for their importance in the world if you see what I mean. The other thing is the dichotomy in life between work and family becomes so poignant with that job. The third thing is dealing with the idea of how to convey portraits of human beings in the world today with a massive, rapid imagery, which, in the world of journalism, seems to be geared toward immediacy.
Your film sidesteps clichés when dealing with the character's grief, can you talk about that?
Grief is a universal theme that I was trying to be specific about and in this case, I was very curious about the modern family dynamic. Coming from Scandinavia my mom was a feminist in the 70s, and that allowed me to explore different forms of father characters who are not necessarily the "authoritarian", rather he smothers them with love in the more "traditional" mother sense. And avoiding clichés, well that's the name of the game. We're trying to do our thing and I'm glad it resonates.
What were some of the biggest challenges of making your first English-language film?
I think getting this level of a budget ($11,000,000) is tricky in the beginning because it's not the most commercial premise... I make un-pitchable films. I don't know if you've tried yet to describe them, but it's not so easy! But actually getting on set, getting the actors, all of that was fine! The team was amazing. We shot it all in New York, American film teams are the best in the world. Jesse Eisenberg was shooting "Batman v Superman" at the same time, but was very eager to do this film, which I'm very grateful for, so he got Warner Brothers to release him for 5 weeks or something to shoot this in the middle of it. He went from Lex Luther to Jonah and back!
"Jesse Eisenberg was shooting "Batman v Superman" at the same time, but was very eager to do this film–which I'm very grateful for–so he got Warner Brothers to release him for five weeks or something to shoot this in the middle of it. He went from Lex Luther to Jonah and back!"
The surreal moments in the film are some of my favorite, where did you draw your inspiration from?
Since this is a film that tries to portray the minds of the characters as much as the events around them, [I wanted to show that] their interior thoughts and dreams matter. I like to try to find ways of telling stories that bring you into their minds. How do I come up with them? I try to be intuitive when I work. I have a tendency to plan a lot, and there are moments for that, but there are also moments to just let go and realize that something came up for a reason.
Is there something the actors brought out that you didn't see during the writing process?
Oh, all of them. I think Devin had great authority on being a 15-year-old in a much more nuanced way; he fought for that character to be complex and not simple. Jesse was very funny and sometimes almost made the character cynical with a touch of heart. With Isabelle, you don't know what you're going to get but it's always remarkable, she's amazing. Gabriel came in and was very supportive of everyone on set, it was a very natural role for him. 
What is the one thing you are the proudest of?
Days like this, when people come in and talk about different elements and interpretations of the film. Just today I've had people come in and talk about how they've related to the 15-year-old who needed to create the space in the world to speak his voice. Someone else comes in and talks about how difficult it is to be a working mother and still be a good mother and wife at home while someone else talks about modern fatherhood. If people can take all that stuff out of this film, that's great.
"Louder Than Bombs" is rated R for language, some sexual content, nudity and violent images, 109 minutes. Opens this Friday 4/8 at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre and Sundance Sunset Cinema.
'Louder Than Bombs' Boils With Intensity
Director Joachim Trier makes his English-language debut with the drama Louder Than Bombs, an intimate portrayal of one family's relationship and the struggles they must overcome in the face of death. The film made its debut at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and, coupled with Trier's reputation as an acclaimed filmmaker and visionary, is sure to make waves in the indie/art house film scene.
Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert) a famed photographer who felt most comfortable in war and conflict-ridden areas, was the center of her husband Gene (Gabriel Byrne) and two sons', Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg) and teenager Conrad (Devin Druid), world. No one could have predicted that she would leave behind a familial conflict of her own doing after her untimely and suspicious death. Three years after the accident, Isabelle's works are being thrust into the spotlight when a museum in New York City asks to use her photographs for a retrospective gallery installation. Her husband accepts, as he is slowly moving on with his life and sees this as a great opportunity to honor her. However, he discovers that an accompanying New York Times article speculating Isabelle's actual cause of death is set to run simultaneously with the gallery opening, and threatens to expose the devastating truth that Gene was intent on hiding from his youngest son in order to protect him. He has no choice but to enlist his oldest son Jonah to help him get through another painful confrontation.
Louder Than Bombs is an unwavering, head-on look at the human desire for connection and the need to be understood. It's obvious in Conrad's behavior by acting out and alienating himself from his father's attempt to reconnect, as well as in his brother Jonah's promiscuity, even when he has a wife and newborn baby at home. Gene's attempt to bond with his two sons is affected by his own flaws. This humanistic condition for connection is at the forefront of the film and engages the audience into contemplating how and why we act the way we do, focusing on the relationships within our own family.
What sets Louder Than Bombs apart from other films of recent memory are the surreal moments Trier infuses within the story. Disregarding the traditional method of linear storytelling by shifting between the past and the present, these added moments put visuals to feelings that have a hard time being expressed otherwise. They are not the character's dreams, rather, they are daydreams- or what one wonders about without limitations. These moments are hauntingly beautiful and stand out as works of art on their own.
On the acting front, the assembled cast could not have been better. Jesse Eisenberg is fantastic in the role of Jonah, his trademark quick-witted clamor is controlled and even understated, serving as the voice of reason in the film. Gabriel Byrne plays the widowed Gene with sensitivity as a conflicted father trying to navigate his own direction in life, who is not without his own flaws. Devin Druid embodies the angsty, brooding teenager Conrad to such a believable degree while still holding onto the innocence of being a misunderstood child. These, plus the stellar performances from Isabella Huppert, David Strathairn, and Amy Ryan, truly give the film its footing.
The title- Louder Than Bombs- suggests an epic, grandiose drama, but instead, what Trier creates is a meditative and restrained film that is not at all loud or brash. It is a psychological trip that leads back to the celebration of one's own uniqueness coming together to fulfill the family dynamic. There is no doubt that Joachim Trier took a risk with Louder Than Bombs, but I believe his creative vision has the potential to pay off tenfold.
Louder Than Bombs is rated R for language, some sexual content, nudity, and violent images, 109 minutes. Opens this Friday 4/8 at Laemmle's Royal Theatre and Sundance Sunset Cinema.
'Take Me to the River' Director Matt Sobel Talks the Nightmare That Inspired the Film
On the day of the theatrical release of his debut film, "Take Me to the River," director Matt Sobel took a few minutes to chat with us about the 2015 Sundance darling. The film stars Logan Miller as Ryder, a gay teenager from LA who is none too pleased when his parents decide to drag him to rural Nebraska for a family reunion. The ensuing collision of value systems causes tensions to rise -- eventually threatening to expose a painful family secret. We talk about how a nightmare inspired the film's story, his likeness to the protagonist, Ryder, and dissecting what his family's saying "If it don't scare the horses" means to him. We begin:
Was the idea for "Take Me to the River" something you've been holding onto for awhile?
Yeah, I wrote it my senior year of school. I didn't go to film school [Sobel studied fine arts at UCLA] but I always knew how I wanted the film to feel. I was figuring out the logistics and the industry on my own, so it was a bumpy ride to say the least.
This film felt and looked exactly like my family reunion in Idaho a few years ago. Eerily similar. How personal was this film for you?
The farm in the film is my family’s actual farm in Nebraska, and I grew up going to that family reunion. The location and set up is entirely real. [Like Ryder] I was the only cousin not from Nebraska. For example, the scene where his cousins ask him to draw them all pictures, that was me. Another similarity about my family [and the family in TMTTR], which has maybe been heightened from heritage, is the inability to speak about interpersonal issues. That is a very midwestern mentality. My family has a saying, "If it don't scare the horses." What they mean by that is if it doesn't disturb business on the farm, then there's no business in talking about it.
Is it fair to say you purposefully pushed audiences to the brink of their comfort zone?
Definitely, I wanted to push viewers in the writing of the script, but especially in the editing. I was always looking for opportunities to not allow the audience a traditional moment of relief. In many films, there is a balance of mounting tension followed by relief. It is a little unorthodox to cut out all of the moments of relief, but that's what we did here. An obvious example of this is the scene with Ryder (Logan Miller), his Uncle Keith (Josh Hamilton), and the loaded gun. The result we wanted was the slow broiling, ratcheting up of tension.
This being your debut feature film, what are you most proud of?
I feel like capturing the uncanny dreamlike tone was the hardest part. The idea for the film came from a nightmare and I wanted it to feel that way in the movie. It's hard to recreate the feeling of a dream in a film because usually they feel overworked. While you're dreaming, the events taking place don't seem so strange, just a little off, but you can't understand why. I would say Take Me to the River is closer to uncanny than surreal because it is simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar. I realized the creepiest thing would be to shoot it like an awkward scene out of a comedy. We wanted to send the audience mixed signals about how they should feel in a certain scene, and I feel like we achieved that. That was the most rewarding because we spoke about achieving that visceral aesthetic the most out of everything.
What were you looking for in casting your actors?
Robin Weigert has an incredible mind, she is an intelligent, brilliant person. When she came on the project, we spoke regularly about elaborating the backstory in different drafts of the script. The draft that she read when we began was markedly different than the one that we ended up shooting. She had quite a lot to say about the topics of childhood sexuality, the role that shame plays in adults chastising children for what is a natural exploration of our bodies. Her input was really invaluable. With Logan, I was looking for someone who seemed to be completely at ease in this world of extreme awkwardness, someone who was able to bounce back and forth between wanting to scream and wanting to laugh. While he maybe wasn't the most obvious, he was the right choice. His intuition would always be in the right emotional space. With Josh Hamilton, I was looking for someone who would surprise us, who wasn't instantly readable as "the villain". He would rise out of the ensemble and unnerve us with deadpan motivation.
Rivers usually symbolize rebirth or baptism, but in this film, it doesn't seem so pure.
Yes, we had extensive conversations about symbolic nature of the river. I feel like it does represent a sort of baptism, a coming-of-age. However, Ryder's coming of age doesn't end with him finding his path in life, he's actually less sure about life than before. He began overly confident in himself but ends up feeling like the world's more gray. Because of this, I like to describe Take Me To The River as an inverted coming-of-age story. This is more what ‘real life’ coming-of-age is like—the moment when you realize you don’t know as much as you thought you did. I’m also interested in equating growing up with a type of baptism, or more specifically, a reverse baptism. Becoming an adult, as I see it, is more of a muddying than a cleansing. That's also why we chose the image for the poster- the symbolism of Ryder lying on the river bank with mud on his body.
What was it like showcasing the film at Sundance in 2015?
The first time I went to Sundance was on a family trip when I was 13, and the first movie I ever saw was Memento. We had tickets for another movie later that day but we decided to skip it and just go to dinner and talk about what we just watched. For me, that became the mark of a film's success or not- if you want to keep talking about it after the movie's over. We actually screened Take Me to the River in the same room [the Library Theater] that I saw that first film, Memento, in, so it's been very special.
What's next for you?
I'm attached to direct the screen adaptation of Maggie Stiefvater's New York Times bestselling young adult novel, The Scorpio Races, which couldn't be more different. This film taps into another part of me. Growing up my favorite film was Jurassic Park, and this film falls in the same vein as that. The chance to make young audiences feel like I how I felt about Jurassic Park, I couldn't pass that up. I'm also writing a science-fiction film that's set in China about 2 orphan sisters who are recruited by a Chinese sports camp to be trained as Olympic synchronized high-divers.
'Take Me to the River' Will Push Viewers to the Brink of Their Comfort Zone
Director Matt Sobel has quite the impressive debut at hand in Take Me to the River, a film whose quietly commanding presence captivated audiences at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and is now making its way to theaters this Friday.
"Mom, have you told the Nebraskan family I'm gay?"
This is how the film begins, as 17-year-old Ryder (Logan Miller) asks his mother (Robin Weigert) from the backseat of the car on their way from California to their annual family reunion in Nebraska. His father (Richard Schiff) struggles to find the words, finally settling on telling him that "he shouldn't make this event all about him." So, no, they didn't tell the extended family.
Enduring the stereotypical family reunion activities like group pictures and big barbecues, Ryder's approach to the experience is cautious, guarded even. He has a hard time fitting in with his male cousins who are quick to judge him on his "short" shorts and attire, so he befriends his younger female cousins who are infatuated with their cool "Californian" big cousin. 9-year-old Molly (Ursula Parker), with the confidence of a woman four times her age, asks Ryder to go out to the barn with her. He obliges, and they leave the house for the barn about one hundred feet away.
This is where the monotony of the reunion gets turned upside down. What happens isn't immediately clear, but Molly, obviously traumatized, comes screaming from the barn, her dress blood-stained near her upper thighs. Ryder follows after, confused and quiet. The way this scene plays out makes for a very uncomfortable watch for the viewer, so much so that it gave me a knot in my stomach. We believe in Ryder's innocence, but the situation is odd; he is openly gay to his immediately family but closeted to his extended one, his mother begging him not to come out even thought it would clear his name from any wrongdoing because "her family isn't very accepting and it would just be one more thing."
Sobel captures the claustrophobic, yet well-intentioned environment of the family reunion so perfectly, it's as if we're transported amongst the alfalfa fields and Nebraskan humidity. Take Me to the River's authenticity shines through the saturated visuals, as Ryder follows the tension-ridden string of truth to uncover his darkly disturbing family history. While shot like a slice of life narrative, the film pushes the comfort-zone of the viewer to the edge like not many films, let alone small budget independent ones, can.
Major recognition goes to 24-year-old Logan Miller, whose previous film experience includes The Stanford Prison Experiment and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. No other actor could have done a better job than Miller, his innocence and angelic portrayal of Ryder makes him the perfect unsuspecting target and sympathetic hero.
Take Me to the River will have viewers on edge for its entire 84-minute runtime. Sobel has managed to mix the beauty of the Nebraskan, small town farm life with the scandal and mystery of a thriller, minus the genre cliches and tropes. Many times, a river is a symbol of rebirth, symbolic of baptisms to cleanse one's sins. Here, this river is the devil's playground.
Take Me To The River opens this Friday at Landmark's Nuart with a theatrical rollout to follow
Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen, and Director Marc Abraham On 'I Saw the Light'
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Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen, and director/writer/producer Marc Abraham take their seats at The London Hotel in West Hollywood, where we are all about to begin the long-awaited press conference for the new Hank Williams biopic, "I Saw The Light." The film, which was originally set to release in November of last year, is finally making its way to a limited theatrical release this Friday, with a nationwide roll-out April 1st. Hiddleston, the tall, handsome British actor, best known for his role as 'Loki' in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, talks about transforming into an American-folk icon, while Olsen talks about leaving her own Marvel characters behind to "bleed into" the role of 'Audrey Williams'. We begin:
Would you say "I Saw The Light" changed your perspective of country music in America?
Tom Hiddleston: Yes it has. What I find interesting about American country music is that it's an expression of the authentic soul of the country. When you get under the skin of a country's folk music, you start to understand their instinctive rhythm. When I went to Nashville and spent some time preparing for this I started to understand that country music is America's folk music that comes from the blues. That gave me a whole new appreciation for it, which has been really thrilling.
What was the most difficult song for you to perform?
TH: Probably 'Lovesick Blues'. Of all the songs Hank sang, he probably sang that the most. It's a very technically difficult song with all the yodeling and jumping octaves and to be on-pitch with every note was really challenging. We had to pre-record certain tracks because of the way we were going to shoot the film. They each had to have a certain atmosphere because some of them were radio station tracks, some were in-studio and others were live performances. Some came very quickly and easily to me, and others didn't. I recorded 'Why Don't You Love Me' in an hour. It took me about 10 days to record 'Lovesick Blues'.
Marc Abraham: From the moment I wrote the script and decided to make the movie, I was intent that we would not be lip-synching [to Hank Williams] in the film. Whoever would play the part would have to sing it. Tom and I both knew from the very beginning that he would never sound exactly like Hank Williams, but what Tom was able to do was inhabit the character so that in the end, it didn't matter that he didn't sound exactly like Hank Williams. What we wanted was for you to feel like he was Hank Williams.
Audrey obviously craved the spotlight herself, can you talk about getting into that character?
Elizabeth Olsen: The thing I kept trying to fight Marc on was all of her lines wanting to sing with him, I was like, 'It just makes her sound so awful.' The truth is after Hank passed away, she still worked at it. She put her kids and herself onstage and there are videos of her on YouTube still singing, so I had to just embrace it even though it's an unlikeable characteristic.
How did you bring authenticity to the roles of Hank and Audrey?
EO: It's two-fold playing someone who really existed; you have a lot of responsibility and you're also trying to create more of a three-dimensional person than what the legacy or stories have. You also have the gift of a lot of additional source material. [As an actor], you start there, with the photographs, the personal belongings, books, documentaries. Then there comes a point where you've done all your work and it's time to bleed into the character.
TH: The most fascinating thing about acting is finding the common ground between yourself and the character, and that becomes even more fascinating when the character is so far away from you as Hank was for me. I made all the physical changes- like how I looked and the way I sounded- but at a certain point, the challenge is to commit yourself to experiencing the intensity of his emotional life. That is the actor's duty, and the fun part.
MA: For me, what's authentic is who the people really are, and what that requires is finding someone, in this case, Tom and Lizzie. You have to believe that inside them is the ability to actually become that person. They're never going to become the exact person, they're going to become the version of the person that they best believe in. I didn't want to make a movie about when he was born or where he learned how to play the guitar, I wanted to get to the human condition and that's what Elizabeth and Tom brought.
If you could each take home a costume piece or a prop, what would it be?
EO: I had a blue and brown dress I really liked, there is no significance behind it aside from I thought it looked good on me, haha!
TH: I played some beautiful guitars. And also (points to poster) these boots are the real deal. They were made especially for me and every time I wore them I was like 'These are shit kickers' these things, they were great.
(Laughter)
MA: Actually the costumes will be shown at the Autry Museum soon, they loved the costumes so much they asked to exhibit the costumes at their grand opening.
As much as Hank Williams and his music are a part of Americana history, so are the clothes. How important were the costumes and their authenticity to the film?
MA: What we tried to do with Elizabeth and Tom, and this was really important to me in the movie, is that these people weren't the same people when they were not on stage. When we didn't see Audrey or Tom on stage, we saw them how they normally dressed, and that they weren't a bunch of hillbillies. They were real people who didn't wear a ton of different clothes. Hank always had a hat on, Audrey had a good sense of style. The subtlety of if was really important. So, yes, those costumes that we put on stage were really important to get completely right, but when they were offstage in their real lives, it was just as important that they weren't always dressed up.
TH: When you put those costumes on you just feel different. It's just like what Marc was talking about- the difference between the public persona of the performer and the private identity of the man.
Tom, is it true you met with Hank Williams' family?
TH: On the set I met Jett Williams who is the daughter of Hank and Bobbie Jett. There is a scene in the film where Bobbie tells Hank she's pregnant with his child and Jett was born four days after Hank died. Jett never met her father. She had a complicated history where she never knew she was Hank's daughter until she was quite older. The day she came on set, I was able to spend an extended lunch with Jett and she said it was like looking at a ghost. It was a couple of hours of accelerated intimacy because I had spent months immersing myself into the life of her father.
Tom and Lizzie, you both have experience doing blockbuster Marvel films. Do you find it refreshing to play a role that's based on a true story?
EO: There's a lot of original source material in the Marvel land!
(Laughter)
TH: The interesting thing about this question is that I think for the audience, the difference is greater than for actors. Our job, our obligation and our duty is to step into characters and play them truthfully, whether that's a Norse god of mischief or a real-life American icon. In terms of that commitment of empathy and psychological excavation, to me there is actually no difference - I'm flexing the same dramatic muscle. Of course, it's different in process. We were able to inhabit locations without any sort of green screen or special effects, so in that regard it's different.
EO: I agree that the way you approach characters is different, but for me it is a breath of fresh air to be on an intimate set and have momentum and to not wait around in a trailer for six hours and then you have 30 seconds to save the world in one look. That's a lot of pressure!
