IR Z Direct Interview: Stephen Moyer & Anna Paquin For “A Bit Of Light” [Quiver] - Part I - video Dailymotion

The Inside Reel

Director/Producer Stephen Moyer & Star/Producer Anna Paquin talk to The Inside Reel about approach, context, technique and intent in regards to their new dramatic film: "A Bit Of Light" from Quiver Distribution.

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:11 It's all such a mess, isn't it?

00:16 It really will be alright.

00:27 [Music]

00:33 A piece of material has to speak to you.

00:36 And obviously, Stephen, you knew Rebecca before,

00:38 and I'm not sure if you did.

00:40 But can you talk about how this thematic and this story,

00:44 in all its varying layers, sort of appealed to you guys?

00:47 This piece of material that we did not currently have ownership over

00:52 because she was setting it up elsewhere.

00:56 That I would absolutely kill to be in,

01:02 but he's not allowed to show me stuff I can't have.

01:05 She was like, "Why are you talking about a play that you've written

01:09 that's amazing that we don't have the rights to?"

01:11 That you read.

01:12 So anyway, I had read it and just thought it was extraordinary.

01:16 I was very proud of Rebecca.

01:17 She'd won an award for it.

01:24 But I'd immediately thought, "Wow, I think this is a really interesting

01:27 cinematic world and window into a very difficult subject."

01:33 And the first person that I think of whenever I read anything is Anna.

01:39 And I just thought it would be an incredible piece of material

01:45 for her to explore as a mother, as a human, as somebody who has,

01:51 like all of us, been through so many different experiences.

01:55 True that.

01:56 Ella, she'd done lots of bad things.

02:00 A lot of people can't forgive her.

02:07 Hey, Ellis.

02:11 So where'd you get to?

02:13 You didn't answer in that part.

02:16 No.

02:17 Really?

02:18 No.

02:20 I have two daughters, but I don't live with them anymore.

02:24 The thing is, is that working with a child, having been a child actor

02:28 yourself, but understanding the instinct versus the technique

02:31 and experience you've created, that dichotomy with the young actor

02:36 who plays Neil is very dynamic in that way.

02:39 And then with you and Ray, because it's sort of like the continuation

02:42 of child, children, mother, father.

02:46 Could you talk about that dynamic and that psyche too?

02:49 Well, where would you like me to start?

02:53 Well, whatever, wherever you want to start, Anna.

02:57 I mean, I know you--

02:59 I mean, I obviously, because I spent a lot of my childhood

03:04 and all of my adolescence on set, I'm pretty fiercely protective

03:09 of any kids that come anywhere or set that I'm in any way involved on

03:15 or with.

03:16 And also, I don't-- because of the way I was sort of introduced

03:24 to the industry, which was other people who were vastly more experienced

03:29 than me, treating me like just another creative partner

03:35 and just the scene partner that you have and working with you

03:39 in a way that wasn't anything to do with you being a child.

03:43 And I mean that in the right way.

03:46 That's how I approach working with other younger cast members,

03:53 is that they're young.

03:56 They might not be as experienced yet, but that is only just a matter

04:02 of time and logistics.

04:04 And I just really adore Luca, and he's so good.

04:11 He was so obviously the pick for Neil.

04:17 We saw many, many, many people.

04:19 As you do when you're casting children.

04:21 You look at many, many people.

04:23 But then working with Ray, sometimes it's really nice

04:27 not to be the grown-up.

04:30 I've been doing this quite a while now.

04:34 And sometimes it's nice to be the person who does not have seniority

04:39 on set and to have somebody else who you feel like is able to anchor

04:47 the moments and the scenes so that you can play and bounce off them

04:54 and you know that they are rock solid.

04:56 And it's just two different dynamics.

05:00 [Cast talking]

05:09 Hello.

05:12 Hi.

05:16 Your hands are so small.

05:17 You should really be wearing gloves.

05:23 Hello.

05:24 I'm Neil.

05:26 Are you going to shake my hand?

05:32 Oh, cheese puffs.

05:34 Sorry.

05:35 Should have wiped.

05:36 Too late now.

05:39 I don't.

05:40 I don't either.

05:41 Do I look like trouble?

05:43 You sometimes stay until six.

05:45 What did she say?

05:46 Yeah, yeah.

05:48 Five or six.

05:50 What?

05:51 Ray too was--

05:53 It hasn't occurred to me actually until you mentioned this, Tim.

05:57 But Ray had started out as a young man who was discovered when he was 16

06:02 or 17, you know, and did this extraordinary film called Scum with

06:07 Alan Clarke, who discovered Tim Roth and Gary Oldman, you know.

06:12 And he's so amazing in it.

06:16 And it's so raw.

06:19 And Ray is kind of so up for the play element of work.

06:26 He also fell in love with Luca, and he was very protective of Luca,

06:30 wasn't he?

06:31 And so, yeah, I think as a director who's worked with kids and--

06:39 Has a bunch.

06:40 Has a bunch.

06:42 But also, we were very sort of keen on making--

06:49 I love sets to be a welcoming place.

06:52 I love my films and my TV, whatever I'm doing, to be a place where it's

06:56 a creative hub, where everybody feels free to do whatever they want,

07:00 including the crew, you know, to come up with ideas.

07:03 Best idea wins.

07:04 Best idea wins.

07:06 And so-- And it really did feel like just, you know,

07:13 a warm, comfortable set.

07:15 And Luca has certainly sort of expressed that many times since,

07:18 hasn't he?

07:19 Yeah.

07:20 But then you have the module.

07:23 To have agency, you know, to encouraging him to actually--

07:28 He actually came up with ideas a lot, didn't he?

07:30 No, it was great.

07:31 Like, it's fantastic.

07:34 Fantastic.

07:35 Well, you stay until all the mums have gone.

07:39 I sat next to you before, but you didn't see me.

07:43 And it didn't feel right to talk to you then.

07:45 It does now.

07:48 It does now.

07:51 I--

07:52 I'm not a nut.

07:53 I could walk you home.

07:54 What? No.

07:56 Actually, I suppose that would seem a bit nutty to you,

08:00 offering to walk you home.

08:02 Look--

08:03 I'm not going to punch you in the head.

08:04 What?

08:05 I saw on the news the other day,

08:06 this man just punched a woman in the back of the head.

08:08 They ran off.

08:09 They say there's a one-armed pedo hanging around here.

08:12 Just a heads up.

08:16 You look really sad.

08:18 I want to help.

08:21 But for you with the idea-- because the thing is,

08:23 is that-- I mean, for example, that scene in the bedroom

08:27 between you and Ray when you're curled up, I mean,

08:30 that's so primal and so raw.

08:32 And yet you almost, I would think, Stephen,

08:34 can't direct that too much.

08:36 You sort of have to set it up.

08:38 Can you talk about those kinds of scenes?

08:40 Because those-- or even one in the kitchen when,

08:43 Ann, you finally break down.

08:45 And then-- sorry, but like-- and then people ask me why I wanted to do

08:50 this job.

08:51 Because there's so many of those meaty,

08:53 like just throw it all at the wall.

08:57 Yeah.

08:58 See what--

08:59 There's three or four scenes.

09:00 Raw scenes.

09:01 I love that.

09:02 That's my-- that's my jam.

09:04 That scene--

09:06 I sound old.

09:07 That scene when he comes in, you know,

09:11 she has walked away from him.

09:13 She's left him at that moment in that specific scene that you're

09:15 talking about.

09:16 She's walked away and she's gone back to the sort of the Heidi

09:19 Hole of her room.

09:20 And she's closed the door.

09:22 And we have not seen him broach that door.

09:25 Without--

09:26 Without knocking.

09:27 Invitation.

09:28 Or, you know, we've seen him go to the door and be left outside it

09:31 and not choose to go through it.

09:33 And so she goes in there and she closes the door and she knows she's

09:37 safe.

09:38 She knows he's not going to break into that--

09:40 Except this time he does.

09:41 Into that space.

09:42 But in this occasion he does.

09:44 And just for viewers watching, you know,

09:46 listening and watching, you know,

09:49 Ella, the character, has lost the custody of her children.

09:53 And she is living with her father in his two-bedroom house.

09:58 In the room that he has for the children.

10:00 Yeah.

10:01 She's sleeping in their sleeping--

10:03 In their bunk beds.

10:04 And when that scene happened, we'd blocked it a couple of times.

10:11 And Anna had not gone to the emotional place that we had a feeling

10:16 that it would get to.

10:17 But I didn't know where it was going to get to.

10:20 Because we hadn't really--

10:22 You know, it's a 17-day indie.

10:24 You don't really have a chance to rehearse.

10:26 We had got to the blocking of it.

10:30 And when Anna had come to me before we started shooting and said to me,

10:35 you know, "What do you think this is?"

10:38 I had expressed in a way a sort of direction that I thought that it would get to.

10:48 And without telling her what I was thinking.

10:52 And I had actually told Ray to do something that she wasn't expecting.

10:56 And so it happened in the moment.

11:01 You know, what's extraordinary about that scene is we did like two takes.

11:06 And it's so--

11:08 Even now when I have had to sort of check color grades or something,

11:12 I go and look at that scene and it breaks me.

11:15 It kills me, that scene.

11:19 And they're two very, very seasoned actors who go about their trade

11:26 in a slightly different way but absolutely stand toe-to-toe against each other

11:31 in everything that they do together in the film.

11:33 - I'm going to beat you. - No, you're not.

11:38 - Oh, yes, I will. - No, you won't.

11:40 You look like a goldfish chewing out of your mouth.

11:43 What?

11:45 Do you remember what you did?

11:47 Yes.

11:49 You need to fight for them. Get out there and fight for your kids.

11:53 Because one day your life will be over and you can't go back and make it better.

11:57 [SCREAMING]

11:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]

12:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]

12:06 (dramatic music)

12:08 [BLANK_AUDIO]

IR Z Direct Interview: Stephen Moyer & Anna Paquin For “A Bit Of Light” [Quiver] - Part I

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