IR Z Direct Interview: Natalia Cordova-Buckley & Ryan Kwanten For “The Portrait” [Saban] - Part I - video Dailymotion

The Inside Reel

Natalia Cordova-Buckley & Ryan Kwanten talk to The Inside Reel about perspective vs. perception, physicality informing emotionality and the brutality (at times) of intimacy in regards to their new thriller from Saban Films: “The Portrait”.

Transcript

00:00 (dramatic music)

00:02 - We always come back.

00:19 (dramatic music)

00:21 - The thing is the portrait,

00:28 it's a very specific kind of movie.

00:30 You were talking about, it's almost about energy.

00:33 It has to have the right kind of energy.

00:36 Could you guys talk about it?

00:37 'Cause it's a completely different approach

00:39 on either side for each of your characters

00:42 and never the tween shall meet in certain ways.

00:46 Can you talk about approaching almost,

00:48 Natalia, I'd like you to start about, you know,

00:50 seeing the psyche of this woman

00:52 because it's about perspective and perception

00:55 in her own mind in many ways.

00:57 - Of course.

00:58 Yes, you are correct.

01:01 And life is all about perspective, right?

01:03 The more I think we learn other people's points of view

01:07 and whatnot, we realize that multiple things exist

01:11 at the same time and we're living in multiple realities.

01:14 Yeah, that was probably the part that drew me the most

01:18 to Sofia was what you said,

01:20 this complex psychological process

01:25 that she was going through,

01:26 emotional, psychological and everything,

01:28 the complexity of it all,

01:31 the fight between being a loving caregiver

01:38 and sacrificing herself

01:43 to bring her husband back to life,

01:46 but also riddled with grief and guilt for what had happened

01:51 and for not being able to achieve what she wants.

01:55 So yeah, to me, what drew me was definitely

02:00 all those complexities that were dancing all

02:03 at the same time and how to make them,

02:06 how to choreograph them all

02:07 so we could have a congruent dance

02:10 with all of them together.

02:11 - It's been a year.

02:14 The doctor's given up on him.

02:16 It only takes one memory, one memory to get him started.

02:20 (ominous music)

02:23 - You gonna be okay, just you and him?

02:28 - What?

02:29 - You gonna be okay, just you and him?

02:35 - Alex.

02:36 - 1937, Kelvin DeVoe.

02:42 What the?

02:50 - Did it come from, before I go over to Ryan,

02:52 did it come from,

02:53 'cause he would probably have to do it a different way,

02:55 from a very physical sort of reaction

02:58 or a very emotional reaction

03:00 because there seems to be a push and pull between the two

03:04 as the movie progresses.

03:06 - You mean a physical reaction to the script, to the story?

03:09 - No, no, physical reaction to how she is experiencing

03:13 this life and what's going on in the movie

03:16 'cause as it moves forward, it becomes more dire,

03:18 it becomes more wrenching, I think, physically

03:21 and you sort of had to put yourself

03:23 through the wringer in that way.

03:25 - Yeah, as I said in another interview,

03:29 I've realized through self-analysis that I love pain.

03:34 I was a classical dancer.

03:35 I danced with broken toes and stuff.

03:38 I just have that kind of personality

03:42 where the tougher it gets, the more I wanna do it.

03:46 So, I mean, she's going through it psychologically,

03:49 emotionally and physically.

03:51 I can't say that one weighs more than the other

03:53 and it depends on the scene and it depends on the moment

03:56 and it depends on the state of Alex's character,

04:00 where she's going to go,

04:02 but all those things for me were part of the process

04:07 as they are with most any character,

04:12 just being, after doing all your studying

04:17 of the psychology of the character

04:21 and everything you've done in your desk

04:24 or daydreaming outside or taking a walk

04:26 and kind of building them once they yell action,

04:30 I'm not really thinking of which one I'm gonna use or not.

04:34 I just sort of- - Yeah.

04:35 - Is everything all right?

04:39 - Oh, yeah.

04:40 I'm sorry, are we intruding?

04:42 - No, not at all, please.

04:44 - I found a painting in the attic.

04:54 - The self-portrait, you found it.

04:56 - It's Alex.

05:01 - Do you think so?

05:02 - They're identical.

05:05 - Hmm.

05:06 - What can you tell me about Calvin?

05:09 - Calvin?

05:12 - Why do you ask?

05:13 - I mean, they're exactly the same, right?

05:15 - Well, all art is in the eye of the beholder, is it not?

05:18 - I'm not talking about art.

05:23 - Ryan, could you talk in reverse?

05:24 Because your character,

05:25 you have to do something very different and very specific

05:29 and yet not give away too much of what's going on.

05:33 Could you talk about that in terms of just,

05:36 I'm not sure the process that you had to do

05:39 in order to get where you were.

05:41 Could you talk about the character?

05:43 'Cause I don't want you to give too much away,

05:45 but it's a very specific approach

05:47 with what you did with him.

05:49 - Well, it's interesting too,

05:51 because we're used to having trajectory,

05:54 both as an audience,

05:55 we're used to sort of knowing where a story is going

05:58 or at least being able to kind of

06:00 do a pretty good calculated guess.

06:03 And the same with a character.

06:06 I'm used to sort of having a trajectory,

06:08 but it's the classic kind of Emerson quote,

06:11 what lies behind us and what lies before us

06:14 is small matters compared to what lies within us.

06:16 So it was one of those things where if you don't know

06:21 what is happening,

06:22 if he's not able to sort of verbally articulate it,

06:25 you're kind of always left with this sense of,

06:27 well, where do we stand?

06:28 And for Sophia,

06:30 it plays with her own sort of psychosis.

06:36 It's not only the ability to cope with

06:38 this injury,

06:40 which is one of the toughest things

06:41 anyone could ever be asked to do,

06:43 but it's the insidiousness of a head injury

06:46 is that it can be quite difficult

06:47 for someone else to recognize

06:49 and then to be able to sort of articulate it.

06:51 She becomes the sort of the sounding board for him,

06:54 but when she starts to lose the ability to do that,

06:59 when he's sort of showing more and more signs

07:01 of someone that she doesn't recognize,

07:03 that's when our story truly becomes kind of,

07:07 it takes on the real,

07:09 the elements of a psychological kind of horror

07:12 where you, okay, this has really taken a turn here.

07:15 And it's the collision of generational trauma

07:20 with this brain injury

07:22 that I think is what makes this just as potent.

07:26 - Well, of course there are similarities.

07:31 I mean, we're all Dubeaux's after all, aren't we Alex?

07:38 - So why aren't there any photos of Calvin?

07:41 - Because he didn't exist.

07:43 According to some family members anyway.

07:47 - Why?

07:48 - Because,

07:51 oh, oh baby.

07:55 He liked to hurt women.

07:59 He was sick,

08:04 but he was a genius.

08:07 - Well, that's what the whole generational trauma,

08:09 especially with the way Virginia's character comes in

08:12 and sort of upends it a bit.

08:14 You know, those are those elements that, you know,

08:17 how much of that do you have to take into account

08:20 with the story and the mythos that you guys are showing?

08:23 Because this could play as Victorian horror in many ways too

08:27 if you look at it a certain way.

08:30 Did you have to look at it in any specific way

08:32 beyond the aspect of, you know, what the mythology is?

08:36 Did that come into it of what we're basically seeing?

08:40 'Cause I mean, I won't give away the reveal,

08:43 but it sort of plays on that notion of duality.

08:46 Who are we?

08:47 And, you know, have we always been this way?

08:50 Does that make sense?

08:52 - Absolutely.

08:53 You brought up a great point,

08:54 that Victorian sort of horror style,

08:56 which I think Virginia, you could put that character

08:59 in pretty much any one of those sort of Victorian horrors

09:02 and it would totally work.

09:03 And it's what makes that character kind of stand out.

09:06 She's a real odd kind of a presence

09:09 that only continues to add to Sophia's neuroses.

09:15 - That's an interesting sort of path for her to show is like,

09:18 does she believe what she's seeing?

09:20 Does she question it?

09:22 How much did you have to question it as the character?

09:24 - What you see on the screen is the script.

09:31 There's no part of the script that resolves it for us.

09:34 I had to ask David and Simon, but tell me the truth.

09:36 Is there a ghost in the house?

09:38 Like I got, and I was joking in some way,

09:42 'cause it helped never knowing, to be honest with you.

09:44 I just watched my favorite film of this year last night,

09:48 Anatomy of a Fall,

09:49 and you don't really know if she did it or she didn't ever.

09:53 And I watched this interview with the actress and she said,

09:55 "I never knew, the director and writer never told me."

09:58 And I'm grateful that they never really told me

10:00 what out of the three hairs of the braid

10:04 that we were braiding together, which was,

10:07 is she losing her mind?

10:08 Is her husband violating her?

10:09 Or is it a paranormal supernatural activity thing going?

10:14 - He liked to hurt women.

10:18 He loves his wounded birds.

10:26 Loves.

10:28 - Alex!

10:31 - He'll be back.

10:32 That's the thing about our family.

10:35 (woman screaming)

10:39 (dramatic music)

10:42 ♪♪

IR Z Direct Interview: Natalia Cordova-Buckley & Ryan Kwanten For “The Portrait” [Saban] - Part I

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