On the occasion of screening Bulk at TIFF, the latest feature from director Ben Wheatley, we had the occasion to have a conversation with Alexandra Maria Lara and Sam Riley, the two well-known leads of the film, that also happen to be married for more than 15 years. We also got exclusive information about Adriana Răcășan`s debut film, Edelweiss, produced by Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu and Tudor Giurgiu through Libra films, right now in post-production, in which Maria Lara plays one of the central characters.
Can you tell me more about your friendship with Adriana, that ultimately led up to making Edelweiss?
A.M.L.: Adriana and I, we go back 20 years. We have met and became immediate friends when we were both working for Francis Ford Coppola in Bucharest, which, of course, is crazy. We were doing Youth without Youth. And only Adriana and I know how crazy it really was because it was a very intense and unique experience. I knew Adriana studied being a director and we were then with one of the world’s most legendary directors on set, and she was working so closely with me that she saw every emotion an actress would have working with a director like that. And there were many moments where I thought that Adriana would make a great director. It was clear that whenever Adriana would do her first film, she would want me on board, and I also wanted to be directed by her. So we did fulfill this dream to ourselves last year. And it was amazing. I didn’t think it was a very easy job. It was a bit of a chaos in moments, like every indie film. But I admired very much how she supervised 20, 30 things at once. One could still always tell that what’s most important to her, what really matters, is the scene. And what happens in the moment when we say action. So, I loved working with Adriana. She has the right sensitivity and the right understanding. And she has a big love for acting, which is very important. Funnily enough, I don’t think all directors do. Some love film or editing, but don’t necessarily have the right connection with the people working in front of the camera.
Did Coppola have a love for the actors?
A.M.L.: He’s a very curious person. And we did one thing that I enjoyed very much as an actor. He would always let us play several takes differently, which is a very nice exercise. At the end, I was always thinking “Okay, but in the end, he’s going to have to choose one version, but I just played seven completely different things.” For example, I had a dialogue scene with Tim Roth, and then suddenly Coppola came in and said “Now, for the next take, you play the whole scene without words.” Which is fantastic. You’re never fully relaxed as an actor, because you never know what challenge comes next.
Can you tell me more about Edelweiss?
A.M.L.: It’s a children’s film, which is a beautiful genre. David Hockney, my husband’s favorite painter, who died sadly the other day, says that for children names don’t matter, things like whoever the actors or the director are. Either you believe the moment or not. And that’s why I love children’s films, because they want to go and watch and believe what they see.
How was it to have a part written around you?
A.M.L.: I would say it’s a feeling of trust and safety. I knew that it’s something that comes naturally to me. It’s a mother who can’t be as present for her children as she would like to be, because she’s fighting for her existence and for a better life materially, but the sacrifice is that she can’t spend as much time with her children as she would like to. And then she meets her children. After not having seen them for a while. And it’s very touching. It was something that I could connect immediately with.
You’re an actor’s couple, which is very interesting, because usually there is this cliché that actors don’t actually get along. Can you tell me a little about the experience of making Control and how the two of you met?
S.R.: The experience of making Control is still, 20 years later, the most profound filmmaking experience I ever had. Based on several different things. Largely because I’d never had a film experience before. That the film in many ways could have been written for me. It was an opportunity I’ve been daydreaming about since I was a child, to be the lead in a movie, a black and white movie, where I smoke cigarettes… and I play a rock star. And we’ve told this story before, but as soon as Alexandra came in, the boys were still sitting down, and I was already halfway across the room to introduce myself. This film completely changed my life. I became an actor. It came out at the Cannes Film Festival. I went to live in Berlin where I’ve been living ever since. My life before needed changing.
A.M.L.: I saw him and we were both crazy in love immediately. But I don’t think it’s always easy. A couple, both actors… because it’s all quite self-centered. There’s egos as well, you know, and everything. We’re very lucky because the families we’re coming from taught us very similar things. We believe in the same values, we had a good understanding. But we also had to learn in these first years of being together what’s it like when one gets all the attention, what’s it like when one gets jobs and the other one doesn’t. It’s something you learn. If you really love one another and you want to learn it, you learn it together. But it’s not something that comes immediately, it’s a process.
S.R.: (jokingly) Now, luckily, we never went for the same part. And we’ve been doing films together. I think we’ve worked six or seven times. And we love it.
It’s also the case for your latest film, Ben Wheatley‘s Bulk, which is screened at TIFF these days.
S.R.: Which was also written for us. And he’s worked with me more than any other director. I’ve worked with him four times. And he approached the two of us. It’s a raw, a romantic science fiction, neo-noir, fantasy film. You have to come and see it. Incredibly experimental. Filmed using the oldest forms of special effects, model work, back projection. Depth of field tricks. And Alexandra plays multiple characters in the film. It’s really genre busting.
I have a small challenge for you. If both of you could name three favorite parts the other one played, three favorite roles.
S.R.: I saw Alexandra for the first time in Downfall, and I thought she was incredible in the movie because you see the situation through her eyes. She’s so pure and gives so much heart and soul to this compromised character. The film is a masterpiece. It’s an all time great movie. So I choose this one. I would choose Aklima, which is a character in Bulk, because Alex plays the scenes in ways no other actress plays scenes. Her line reads are like nobody else’s. They’re totally original. The third one I choose because we rewatched it recently. Rush. Alex played Nikki Lauda’s wife. With not a lot of screen time she’s the most memorable character in the film and makes Nikki Lauda the lead role in what is actually a two hander.
A.M.L: I love Sam in every film. He’s my favorite actor of all time. But if I had to choose, I would choose Control, Sam as Ian Curtis. It was the beginning of his career and it was so crazy to witness it. And the craziest thing is that I knew it the second I arrived in Nottingham, two, three weeks before we started filming. I saw a rehearsal and I called my father. And I said “Oh, poppy, this young English actor is unbelievable. He’s incredible. He’s so talented.” And I shared that with my father. And I’ve never done it before or after. Him singing touched me so much. And also being the character, being the sensitive Ian Curtis. So, the fact that it was a worldwide success, it was a small arthouse film, but it conquered the world. It was so cool in 2007 when it came out, it was a real hype. And in Cannes, where we had the premiere at Un Certain Regard, we stood on the rooftop and we looked down in the street and the amount of people queuing up to get in the cinema was the most surreal experience. And for me, Sam is the film. We were there, all the others, and it’s beautifully shot, and there’s the music, but Sam is the film. And so that’s where a star was born. You know, it’s an incredible performance, so that’s number one. There’s also a Western by an Austrian director, Andreas Prochaska, The Dark Valley.
S.R.: It’s a schnitzel western.
A.M.L: It’s a revenge story. It’s a superb, very unusual piece of cinema. And Sam doesn’t speak much, but, my God, when he’s on screen, everything else becomes pale around him. It’s fantastic. And then there’s a wonderful film called Islands where Sam is playing a man who could have become a tennis professional, but due to bad choices he’s a tennis teacher in Fuerteventura. And it’s a wonderful film. He’s always real, like a chameleon, someone else.
S.R: Thank you, my darling.
And I think that’s a part of the answer to that question, how does an actor’s couple work… I guess being fans of each other.
S.R.: We share everything. We know what it feels like. Meanwhile, 20 years, we’ve had moments where Alex’s worked more and I’ve worked less, or the other way around, so we understand it. And we both really want the best for the other.
Tell me a little about your relationship with Romania, with Cluj, with TIFF.
A.M.L.: I worked with Coppola in Romania and I did another German production, a film called Offset, written by Cristi Puiu and Răzvan Rădulescu. Around that time, I met Tudor, and it’s a wonderful festival. I think it’s made with a lot of passion. People love coming here, and I’m very happy we’re finally back with Bulk.
S.R.: My family have been Yorkshire based for hundreds of years. But when I met Alex’s parents, I fell in love with their whole attitude and passion for life. And I came to Romania for Easter when we first got together to Bucharest. I’ve always been very moved and fascinated by being here. There’s something very soulful, very pure and passionate about the people. I felt an immediate spiritual connection to being Romanian. Our son is half Romanian.
And does he also want to become an actor?
S.R.: Yeah. It was very obvious from when he was very little.
A.M.L.: I mean, he’s 12 now, but when he was already very little, the way he retold the stories… you look at him and you think “Oh, gosh, it’s an actor.”
S.R.: He’s been on film sets that he’s been fascinated by. He was on the film set of Bulk and helped a little bit around. And he’s fascinated by it. He’s a big Leonardo DiCaprio fan. His favorite film is Catch Me if You Can, which is a great film for a 12-year-old to think is great. And we went to buy What’s Eating Gilbert Grape on DVD. He must have been the only 12-year-old in the world buying Gilbert Grape on DVD. Also, when he was in a little play in school, he immediately, like us, went upstairs to his room, learned the lines.