Elizabeth Olsen & Alicia Vikander on the Sci-Fi Fertility Story in 'The Assessment' | Variety Studio at TIFF 2024 - video Dailymotion

Variety

Actors Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander & Hamish Patel, along with director Fleur Fortuné break down 'The Assessment' at the Variety Studio at TIFF.

Transcript

00:00Making people feel uncomfortable. Yeah, really gratifying. Yeah, because we should all be uncomfortable

00:06So

00:27Before I wanted to start with you

00:28How did you come across this this project and what inspired you to want to direct the film?

00:34So I I think I was in the process myself where I was trying to have kids like for four years and

00:42I had to go through

00:45IVF lots of tests and it was like to a point where he was kind of absurd and

00:53that's when I

00:54Stephen the producer sent me the script and

00:57And

00:58So what about like the idea of a future where you would test a couple for a week to decide if they?

01:05Can have a kid or not?

01:07And I think I felt pretty deeply into like all the steps of the characters. So

01:14That's that's how I came to into this

01:18and for the cast, can you can you talk a little bit about your own characters for people who haven't seen the film and

01:26Just just what you what you responded to about the the roles that you're playing

01:33Yeah, so so in this near future people need to

01:38Get assessed to get approval to have a child and I play the assessor

01:43who

01:45enter this couple's lives and

01:49When when I personally read the script the first time I had the feeling, you know

01:54that I was I was

01:55deeply intrigued from the get-go and I couldn't really stop reading and I was like what is gonna happen next and I

02:02Guess then the character that I play also is

02:06You know very controlled

02:08But also to the point of unhinged at certain points and her methods

02:13And I guess that was like, you know

02:15It was it was it was definitely something that I knew I could do a lot with or play with that

02:20I was pretty like I told you the first time we zoom that I was super nervous

02:24About how like I don't know how to play this

02:27But that was definitely one of the things that drew me to the project. Yeah

02:35Who is the one partner of the marriage that's being assessed and

02:42Mesh you are I play Ari and who's the other?

02:46party yeah, I said see and

02:49And

02:50Yeah, I this this world is a is a space where there's a lot of control over

02:56how people choose to live in in order to

03:00survive longer

03:03and

03:04Flourish speaks really beautifully to the paradox of this strong desire and want and need

03:10To have a child and why and the questions that come up while also

03:15Trying to live longer and so there is this paradox that

03:21That the film tackles in a really elegant way and as well

03:25and it's also I think the thing that drew me into the film almost the most was the

03:31Absurd like you're saying it already feels absurd in real life when you're dealing with these fertility issues

03:37or

03:39Complications is a better word than issues

03:42But there are these um, there are these absurd situations that that they have to go through and

03:49I think that humor and that tension between the control and the need for freedom

03:56We're all we're all

03:58things I was excited to to participate in

04:03Yeah, and I agree with all of that and

04:06I was excited to play the role of Ari and I

04:10Love the script and I was excited to work with these three brilliant women and

04:17I really loved sort of his place within the dynamic of of the the sort of trio

04:24Within the marriage, but also his his role within the world that we've built. I think is very interesting to me as well

04:31Um, let me see your character does it gets pretty funny how absurd of a turn she takes

04:37Well, what was the most fun part for you in inhabiting that?

04:41Well, I don't want to give too much away

04:44but yeah, obviously it's like she

04:48She had to you know

04:52I

04:53mean

04:54Yeah, like I said, I I had to be quite fearless

04:59Stepping on set. It was several days when I I think one of the first days when my character kind of

05:06You know starts one of her

05:10Well, she tests

05:14Yeah, I you know I felt like we had all read that scene and like I think everyone just felt like how is this gonna

05:21Play out and you know at certain point. I just had to kind of let go

05:27I mean the good thing is that you kind of can connect and

05:32Get inspiration a lot from

05:35your own life

05:37And I felt like I got got to kind of go through a journey of discovering myself

05:45different

05:46You know ages, which was very interesting

05:50Did you guys know each other before filming and the the trio has

05:54Each one has a very unique relation to the other. How did you guys?

05:58go about filming or

06:01Establishing your dynamics with each other. I mean we met through this project. I

06:07We did a zoom early on before going to

06:11Tenerife and then we had that week together

06:15It did feel like we did it felt like we had time yeah, it's a good thing

06:19You know you know it's like you know we knew when we were gonna end up on set

06:24It was gonna be as it is with any smaller independent film not much time

06:28but I felt like we kind of did a deep dive very quickly, and I felt like we created a

06:35Friendship and a way to collaborate that felt very natural very quickly

06:39Yeah, it's all about the prep so I talked to each of them like we talked a lot about the character and how

06:47They arrived you know at the beginning of the film and in at what stage they are in their life

06:53What happened before like their trauma and all that and then we we met like together

07:00like and

07:02zoom with

07:03Alicia and Lizzie and then we had a week before when I met with

07:08Imesh and Lizzie and they had a week to hang out together

07:13So I think it's some so important because otherwise you arrive on set and you don't know

07:18It should there and you don't have time to discuss all those elements. You know

07:23also, there are a lot of films where you shoot in these remote locations and

07:28People on the weekends go off to their their private lives because they're

07:32Exhausted or want that time alone

07:34and we just kept gravitating towards one another and I found that to be a really unique and it doesn't happen all the time and

07:41I felt it was it was incredibly

07:44Comforting and special and so it just it continued to build on itself as the film went because we also had this play time

07:51As well as this work time and it was really it was a really lovely experience

07:56And I know that

07:58Films don't always get the luxury of having a week of prep time. Was that helpful for you guys to have that built-in?

08:08I mean the thing is when you get on set

08:10You don't you don't want to think about what you're doing and you want to be open to what your you know

08:16Colleagues and co-actors give you and like you go down routes that you didn't expect

08:21But it is amazing like if you come well prepared and you have had the conversations that we had we knew where these

08:28Characters came from and their backstories

08:31That you know that makes you kind of be able to you know start with your feet running

08:38Yeah, then I think you can and

08:42Really the performance like it is amazing because I think the time that we spent before then and set you can like have to magic

08:50Happen and the connection that you see it's also because we yeah, we were like going out

08:56Together at the weekend. It was kind of a family like feeling but then on set

09:01It's just like, you know the fun because you know all the backstory, you know, all the rest, you know each other

09:07So you have a safe space to explore and I feel like the three of them they explored like yeah

09:14I

09:15Said it didn't even before I think the script and the story really allowed all of us at different moments to be incredibly uncomfortable

09:24and and push ourselves and push ourselves from a creative place and

09:29What more can you ask for in a job that already like so elegantly is telling a story that it's also you know these

09:36this

09:37What it's need what it needs of you is something that you get to grow with and it's it was it was really a lovely

09:43opportunity

09:45For better or worse. Did this change the way any of you think or feel about parenthood?

09:52No, it just continues the dialogue

09:59I mean, it's like you never learn

10:03Every day

10:08In a certain way, yeah, I think it did I didn't made me questions about like other things

10:15You have to be incredibly intentional. I mean the whole film is about like the intention of of the why

10:21we choose to become parents or choose to grow a family and

10:27And I and I think that is that resonates with all of us in our own ways and it

10:32Resonates so present in the film

10:35And the kind of world you want to build and yeah what you want to bring into that world

10:40Be it through a child or through other means, you know how you want to contribute to the world

10:44Yeah

10:45And and because in the film the state is is kind of controlling who is able to get kids have kids

10:52What did you make of the the modern parallels with with the film?

10:58She's already

11:01Parallels of the film in terms of reproductive rights with the state in this movie kind of having control over who who's able to have

11:09kids

11:10Sorry, you mean like on the political level. Oh, yeah. Okay. I think it's quite interesting because

11:19you see that it's quite close to what we see today in like many countries and

11:25And not only u.s

11:27but like everywhere like the control about like woman's body, but also people's rights and

11:33and also like the the absurdity and the paradox of like

11:38wanting to control that but at the same time being like so selfish about our own existence and you know, like

11:46Because if you want kids you want them to have a great future and we are not working that way, you know

11:52So, I think that is interesting

11:56Did anyone else want to chime in I

11:59Think she gave it

12:02And what are you hoping when audiences see this film, what are you hoping that they they take away I

12:08Think that's always a hard question to answer because I feel like I never enter a project thinking about no

12:14I never know never and I also never leave one with an agenda either

12:18But I do think I think what we all have like agreed upon when talking about that concept of what we want people to feel

12:26It's a continuation of conversation and questions. It's not necessarily an answer

12:33Yeah, I think it's what you want like people to feel to keep thinking about it like days after and if you want them to

12:40Think about it. It means that it keeps questioning them

12:43So you you don't I mean you don't want to give like an answer about that

12:49how she do they should think of feel and I don't want to be judgmental or so like

12:55It's just like we raise question and after you and you do your hands

13:00And also, you know, these are themes that we talk about but I mean when I read it

13:04It was mostly like it it was also a very intense chamber piece

13:09Thriller that I was just, you know engaged and completely, you know compelled by so I hope that people will then have a similar

13:17Experience, you know watching the film that would be great. Yeah, I think that's what it's interesting

13:22So it's like it's definitely a thriller because you're on the edge of your seat like at every moment

13:27You don't know what's gonna happen, but there's a so like absurd you more like dark

13:32There's also a bit of sci-fi and it's and it's like quite dramatic at the same time

13:38And I think it's interesting that nowadays we are allowed to

13:42Explore different genre within the same film

13:45It makes me more. Yeah

13:48Yeah, I definitely went into the film thinking it was a more sci-fi thriller, but there are definitely comedic moments in it

13:55How did you land on that that tone?

13:58It wasn't a script. Yeah

14:01Yeah, I mean it is quite absurd some of the situations that these characters find themselves in

14:07So yeah, it was not in the script at first

14:14No, not me like the writers like yeah, you know, I think it's a

14:19Years ago. It was very straightforward. I

14:23Think the it took years to develop like

14:26Definitely the characters because I thought it was the most important and also that offbeat tone

14:32It's very hard to get and it's like the with the writer

14:37And I was like Neil and Dave and then gender and gender nearly we work together to

14:41Have that specific tone and some scenes that we wanted to have absurd but dark at the same time, too

14:48So that you would feel like a kind of awkward

14:52Yeah

14:53Yeah, awkward is a real or help making people feel uncomfortable. Yeah, really gratifying. Yeah, because

15:00We should all be uncomfortable

15:03Definitely had that on the page and what I actually tried to do more was to

15:08find

15:10sensitivity and like groundness within

15:13That there was a very, you know

15:16Absurd

15:17Moments, I think we can only play the truth of it, you know

15:20Yeah is what it is is absurd what we're going through but we could only focus on being truthful

15:28Okay, well, thank you guys so much it was so great having you here, thank you. Thank you

Elizabeth Olsen & Alicia Vikander on the Sci-Fi Fertility Story in 'The Assessment' | Variety Studio at TIFF 2024

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