Actress Camille Rutherford and Writer/Director Laura Plani talk to The Inside Reel about tone, personify awkwardness and the context of approach in regards to their new film: "Jane Austen Wrecked My Life" from Sony Pictures Classics.
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00:00The
00:15literature is like an ambulance speeding through tonight to save someone.
00:30In a film like this, its tone is understanding the different levels of which Agatha sees
00:50herself, but then how all the other characters see themselves as well.
00:53And that's why I think, you know, even with the mother, the father, Olympia, all this
00:58works.
01:00Could you first talk about tone as the director and how to find that?
01:04And then bringing in and talking to Camille about how to build that within the character,
01:08because she's the anchor.
01:11Right.
01:12Thank you so much for mentioning the tone, because I do feel that it's the most difficult
01:16thing to grab when you write or when you make a film, and especially with comedy, because
01:21comedy doesn't mean anything.
01:23It's about the tone.
01:25It can be so many things, right?
01:27So it took me a while to understand because sometimes you also you write, you do something,
01:32and then you understand after you're searching.
01:34It's not, you know, that you are very clear when you start doing it, you search.
01:39And I realized after a while that what I wanted to do was a melancholic comedy and a romantic
01:46comedy somehow.
01:47You know, I wanted to be on the edge of like a pure slapstick and pure depression.
01:52You know, and tears and love and absurdity.
01:57And I think what interests me the most in terms of comedy is to work on the character's shame.
02:05You know, shameful things that we think or we do, and we're trying to hide from the world.
02:11But that's how we are, we become relatable as characters.
02:15You know, it's because this shame is universal.
02:18And so I was, I think that was at the core of what I was trying to do.
02:24You know, okay, we will love her the weirdest, the clumsiest, the more pathetic sometimes
02:32and the more touching sometimes, but that's how we will, you know, so you need to think
02:37about the audience journey also by doing so, which is, I think, always a good sign.
02:42Because I don't believe in movies that we express for ourselves.
02:46You want to offer something, you want to create something to be, you know, in contact with other people.
03:01It's me.
03:06Agathe, Robinson, it's me.
03:08Sorry, I thought you'd be much older.
03:10I'm, I was asked to collect an elderly lady.
03:13I'm Oliver Lowe.
03:16I'll be driving you.
03:19Is that your car?
03:21Yes.
03:22Right.
03:23I must warn you about something.
03:25I'm really not comfortable when it comes to cars.
03:28It panics me to be in a car.
03:30It's, sorry, my head is kind of spinning all of a sudden.
03:36Are you all right?
03:39It's those great situations that you built for Camille that allow her
03:42to do that.
03:43I mean, whether it be, you know, when she walks into the room with him when she's naked.
03:47But, even more so, that first shot when she's singing in the store by herself.
03:54That's such a beautiful, almost adorable.
03:57And yet, if she knew somebody was watching, would get, you know, completely upset.
04:01Yes.
04:02Yes.
04:03Exactly.
04:04Yeah.
04:05This, this scene is, is, is crucial because it's there from the very first draft.
04:10And I wanted her to be able to dance because she was surrounded by books and not by humans.
04:16So it's exactly what we were saying, you know, she would be outraged.
04:20She would never dare moving or even singing if she was seen, of course.
04:25And it's the whole journey of this character is to be actually able to dance in the ball scene,
04:29with two men at the same time.
04:37There you go.
04:38That's Sense and Sensibility.
04:40Okay, thank you.
04:41My favorite.
04:43I think it's a good way to start with Jane Austen.
04:46You're welcome.
04:47Don't hesitate if you've got any more questions.
04:49All right.
04:50You've got a book in Jane Austen with all the circumstances?
04:53Yeah.
04:54You're welcome.
04:55You're welcome to what?
04:57Men's Field Park.
05:00Henry Crawford, it's you.
05:02Why?
05:03A mentee and a inductee.
05:05A Casanova who ends up with his own game when he's in love.
05:10Okay.
05:11And you?
05:12Who are you?
05:13Ann Elliot, Tempest Rasion.
05:15Ann Elliot, Ann Elliot, why?
05:18Because it's a young girl who is fan of a flower who wouldn't have received water.
05:25Camille, can you talk about getting in, considering what she said about getting into the skin of her, of Agatha?
05:31Because...
05:32I...
05:35I think...
05:37When I read the script, I remember, it felt like she was very relatable.
05:42Yeah.
05:43Because she's so...
05:44She doubts so much.
05:45She's insecure and she feels like an imposter.
05:48And I think we can all relate to that.
05:51We all have to deal with moments in our lives where we're shameful, yeah?
05:56And we feel like we're not talented and not intelligent enough to do anything.
06:00And whenever I start a new job, I think it's common to most of us, whether it's a play or a movie,
06:06it's common not just to access to everybody on earth.
06:09I mean, I always feel like I'm not gonna be able to make it work.
06:13I'm not gonna...
06:14I'm gonna screw it up.
06:15So it felt...
06:16I felt like I understood Agatha because she never finishes a book and she always thinks she's not
06:21cultivated enough, not intellectual enough to finish a book.
06:24But that's what I liked about the script.
06:26It demystifies the process of writing.
06:30It really shows writing like it is.
06:33Like most of the time when you're writing, you're not inspired and writing in your tower on your own,
06:39like Mozart-inspired and super intellectual.
06:42It's mostly just being on your computer and looking at your phone and trying to...
06:47Everything pushes you not to write.
06:49And I...
06:50And it's so not...
06:51It's not natural to write.
06:52And I think the film shows it well.
06:54And I...
06:55And to get into Agatha's character, I think I was really inspired by my own sister, actually,
06:59because my sister wrote a novel that came out two years ago.
07:04And I...
07:05For a few years, I saw her writing.
07:07I saw her writing process.
07:08I saw her in front of her computer, just looking outside a window.
07:15Yeah, I saw her struggling.
07:17I saw her getting annoyed and aggressive because she hated what she was writing.
07:21And I was...
07:22Like in the movie, I guess, she has a big sister and I was the big sister trying to push her to finish the book.
07:28So I think I was trying to imitate my sister.
07:34Welcome to the Jane Austen residency.
07:36And we're delighted to count amongst us this year a new recruit.
07:39Welcome.
07:40Welcome.
07:41We hope you will be inspired and we look forward to reading your work.
07:45I believe that some books become part of our lives.
07:49Because they reveal to us our true nature.
07:54I'm a very, very, very good friend of mine.
07:56I will tell you my best friend.
07:59What are you waiting for, actually?
08:00Mark Darcy?
08:01I'll talk about it.
08:24We'll see.