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weclassybouquetfun · 1 year

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As YA cannibal love stories go BONES AND ALL is very accessible.

A sweet story about seeking connection amidst eating people. Wasn't that essentially what NBC's HANNIBAL was about?

I attended the Q&A Sunday night with producer Peter Spears, composers Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, writer David Kajganich, actor Taylor Russell and director Luca Guadagnino on panel.

BITS FROM THE Q&A. NO SPOILERS

What is it about: Taylor Russell (who is sublime in this role) plays Maren a cannibal - excuse me, an eater - who embarks on a road trip where she meets a cast of colourful characters including Lee (Timothee Chalamet).

-Sense the film is set in the Eighties, while waiting for the film to begin they were piping in music of the era and one of the songs they played was The Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way". One of the first things Luca said included, " The possibilities of impossibilities".

The Maestro on crutches.

ON WHY LUCA CAST TAYLOR:

Luca: I was very enamored with her in that movie (the film WAVES). And when I got the script I read the script, I loved the script and I decided to make the movie it took me a few moments to think and then let my unconscious pick the right person (and) it was her.

WHAT WAS TAYLOR'S FIRST REACTION TO THE SCRIPT and TO THE PROJECT

Taylor: I was just excited that Luca knew who I was and asked for a meeting with me which was a FaceTime. As in his words there was a very immediate connection between us. It felt really easy and loving. And then I thought, "Oh, gosh, I get to have a little part in this movie whatever it is it's going to be great - anything to work with him. The exciting thing it was a really big part in one of his movies. So that was my lucky stars. And the vision of Luca. So yeah, from the beginning I was really excited and not scared about the subject matter I just wanted to be in his world.

ON PLAYING AGAINST THE OTHER ACTORS

Taylor: The really exciting thing is at the beginning I started off with Andre (Holland). He was the first ....we didn't shoot chronologically but in terms of my partners throughout the film it was chronological in a sense so I started off with Andre and he kinda eased me in and held my hand, made me feel safe. Then Timmy and then Mark. They're all very different people, of course, but the connective tissue of all of them is that they are very present, spontaneous actors and they're always trying to get the most out of a scene and juice it all out. You never end up feeling like anything is missing at the end; so that's good. I felt like - I mean I'm sitting on this stage now with many wonderful men and I felt at the beginning of shooting that that was how it would feel: I would have all of these supportive totem people near me and that stuck through until today and probably will continue, I hope.

ON FINDING THE SOUND FOR THE SCORE

Trent: We were real excited to work with Luca. When we got the script - first we heard there was interest (in them), we were thrilled. We read a very interesting and tasteful script and we were wondering how Luca would transform that into film. From our very first meeting it was clear that this was a romance - a great and tragic romance and the music needed to support that.

Atticus: (talking about dealing with themes of love and true love and some very untrue, poisonous love and the gore) To do it in a way that felt sinuous and respectful and appropriate.

CHALLENGES WITH MAKING THE FILM

Peter: I'll echo what everyone said here is that when Luca calls and says he's got a project and something exciting brewing you immediately perk up. Him calling me to say he was getting the band back together a bit with working with Timmy again and the chance to get to do that with some new collaborators.

Having read the script and at first thinking, "What is this cannibal love story?", you know, but really being able to dive into it and understanding all the other layers that was there really a testament to work of Theresa Park (producer) who worked on the great script with David who brought this adaptation to a place where we could all jump in and so we did. In the middle of Covid we decided to ...on a dime...go out to the Midwest for too short a time with too little money and on our own, really. We financed it ourselves and putting faith in ourselves to know that we were just going to go make the movie we all believed in and I think that happens so very rarely so we took a chance on ourselves. We battled tornadoes...

David: Cicadas.

Peter: Cicadas. That's right - 17-year cicadas. In making a road movie and having just come off of NOMADLAND we had a fair amount of experience of a road movie but it was a completely new road movie...each one is, I guess, is onto itself with those challenges but it was really an experience of a lifetime to work with this group and see it come to fruition and seeing how people are responding to it. It has been fantastic.

ON WHY LUCA LIKE WORKING WITH THE SAME GROUP OF ACTORS

Luca: Making movies is an opportunity of having a great playground to really play and you meet your friends, then you meet new friends, you invent stories and you create worlds - I think it's great. To really enjoy each other's company...to see great artists come up with ideas and do things is one of the great privileges of my life.

LUCA AS A DIRECTOR

Taylor: I mean this so wholly with my heart...I knew that even if I was going to be terrible in the movie and if I was going to let everyone down that the gift would be that I was on the best film...in the best film school in the world to learn from Luca, to watch him work; to just be directed by him regardless of how...what I turned in. That I would be changed in a way that would change my life internally.

There was so much belief that he had in me and I didn't understand where it was coming from at all. It made me feel really confident. That confidence he instilled in me helped me feel really free when we started working together. Luca is a very strong leader and has a very clear vision but at the same time is really malleable and able to change in every single second of the day and be open to the the ever-evolving flow of life. That's a pretty rare quality because people can get stuck on what they want to do and be very dogmatic and that's not how Luca is. That is why his films are so youthful and wise at the same time. That's the grace of him. That's what I learned.

ON FILMING ON LOCATION in the U.S

Luca: The task that was very important to me was coming from Italy and coming for the first time to shoot a film in America in the Midwest, I was - and we were - ready to immerse ourselves and really see America through a lens that was compassionate and at the same height but not overwhelmed by it...that was my thing because I love this country and I think it's important - in the specifics of this story - we had to find a universe of a balance to involve it.

ON WHAT WAS HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE

Luca: I think there were no difficult scenes for Taylor.

Taylor: (laughing) Nooooo, that's not true. Everything was difficult for me. Everything.

Luca: It doesn't look like it.

Taylor: That's nice. There's that quote - "You only achieve simplicity with enormous effort". I resonate with that very much.

Trent: Ditto for us. Our method is to immerse ourselves as deep as we can into the story and once we pick out what tools we're going to use and what instruments, what cerebral decision-making we need to do then we try to get lost in the emotional core of what the scene needs to say or the film needs to convey through the lens and the guidance of what/how the director wanting to tell that story.

With this one, as I mentioned, a number of things kinda resonated with us: might be the location, might be elements of my own past and relationships but when we finished this film we both realized we crossed the line into an obsession of deeply caring about these characters in a way we haven't experienced in anything else we've worked on. When we finished the film we missed seeing them every day. I just watched the same last hour you did here tonight, but the night before last we saw it for the first time with an audience and we both felt like crying at the end and we have seen it a lot of times. It really struck an emotional core so we try to tap into - the same way as we do when writing a song - how do we emotionally "dress the set" and feel the way we intend for it to. With this film it easy to get into that space...not as easy to get out of it, I found because it's a powerful piece of work.

Peter: I want to add - what's amazing about what Luca does is he calls and says "We're going to make my first movie in America; will you help me?" and sure, you say yes, but what we then said was, "Okay. We'll shoot this in upstate New York and we can just copy all the places out in the Midwest and he says, "Absolutely not. We're going to shoot everywhere that's in the script." He takes us on a trip through our country. He shows us our country in a way I had forgotten about, to be honest. I've seen it over and over again and every time I just...Anyway, thank you for showing us our country, Luca.

David: I remember you (Luca) calling me and saying you were in a Waffle House in West Virginia and I thought, "We're really doing this."

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BOOKS IN THE FILM

David explains that the books were a combo of things in the zeitgeist of the time, but also of books that people would recommend to Maren. All of the titles are intentional.

#bones and all #movie talk #awards season 2022 #luca guadagnino #taylor russell #peter spears #trent reznor #atticus ross #timmy chalamet #timothee chalamet #cmbyn fandom #david kajganich #q and a #bones & all

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