We interviewed Debra earlier this year, and she had touched on the survivalist aspect of the film. She said that was pretty intense for you and Thomasin to experience. Can you talk a little about that?
We got set up with terrific teachers of primitive and tribal skills. They taught me the military approach for escape and evading techniques. And the pleasure of that is that the more that one knows the world that you’re playing in, the less you have say it. We could let the behavior take over. If you’re seeing a fire being built, I’m building a fire and it makes my life a lot easier. It makes my work feel less thoughtful and more intuitive if I just know how to do the thing. And with this living off the grid thing, nature becomes legible.
We just go off and have our heads in our phones and don’t look and sense our environment.
When you do a film like this, and you’re immersed in a primitive lifestyle, sacrificing technology, does any of that carry over to your personal life? Do you look at your cell phone differently? Do you look at human communication differently?
Ideally, every film is allowing a finite amount of time to ask specific questions. In anticipation of the birth of my daughter, the question of how do my wife and I see raising our child in the world, in a world that is superficially connected and is losing the tactile, the essential way of being with one another. The film came at a beautiful time to deeply consider these ideas, and I don’t necessarily disagree with Will. In my mind, his philosophies take into consideration a lot that he wants to share with his daughters that I hope in some ways, not to that extreme, but hope to share with our children nature appreciation. Get your head out of the phone. Let’s take a walk, go touch a tree, let a tree touch you back. We are living, breathing, feeling creatures. And this generation’s anxiety and depression levels are skyrocketing which coincide with the use of quote-unquote smartphones – these anxiety leashes. It’s something that I want to be very careful within our home. And that’ll be a day to day thing.
It’s funny that you mentioned that because I just read something where they’re creating devices to help you break away from your devices, which I think is completely nuts.
It’s a sham; I’m sure there are people who are deeply worried when they look at the statistics of what’s happening to our brains. It’s changing the very foundation of our operating system relying on these devices. They ain’t doing it solely out of compassion. That device to get away from the device. It’s like “Here’s cocaine, and add some baking soda, and now you’ve got crack.” It’s just another sell.
Moving onto “Galveston.” You worked with yet another young actress. This time, Elle Fanning. How was that?
Elle’s terrific. She’s a total pro and then the nicest person and a joy to work with. I considered myself to be incredibly lucky to be working with all these amazingly talented women last year. It’s been a thrill.
I wanted to talk about that too because when you watch these two films, there are similarities. Both with female directors, both with strong, but young, female characters, with you being a father figure. Was that something you were conscious of as you’re making them? Or is it just kind of happenstance?
I wasn’t saying I’m only going to work with female directors here. It’s all about the best script and the directors. Male or female, it doesn’t matter. I wanted to work with Melanie [Laurent] because I’ve seen the film “Breathe,” which is extraordinary. Rarely have I seen adolescence, so delicately handled. And Deborah, as I said, I had already been a fan of her previous work, so I just felt lucky to be a part of both of them.
I want to talk about the ending of “Galveston.” Without giving anything away, you have a very emotional scene with Lili Reinhart, which is your only scene working together. Was it difficult working with Elle Fanning and the young actress who plays Tiffany for the entire film, and then working with Lili for just the climax of the movie?
No, Lili’s a pro, you know? When you’re working with people who care about what they do and want to collaborate, that’s the joy. I’m not a musician, but I imagine somebody coming in and, and you just, you’re just jamming with them. Then they’ll send something your way, and it’ll resonate. It’ll come out in another way. And hopefully, the camera’s on and catches it.
One more thing about “Galveston.” Considering this gave you a chance to work with Melanie Laurent, who is a world-renowned actress in her own right, did you get the itch to go behind the camera for your own film?
I’m just going to say, I like making lots of things all the time, and when I have more that’s concrete to talk about, then I’ll talk about it. I’m a superstitious man. [Laughs]
Finally, you’ve done TV with series like “Freaks and Geeks” and “Six Feet Under.” And since we’re in the era of “Peak TV,” do you see yourself going back to TV eventually or just sticking with films right now?
I’ll do theater. I’ll do TV. I’ll do a film. I’d do a damn sock puppet show in the parking lot if I liked the people I’m working with. The only question at this point is signing on to some kind of six-year traditional contract does give me the fear a little bit, right? People really like the job security aspect of it. But the way that my appetite is, I just prefer a shorter bite. But if there was a couple of seasons of something or a mini-series, then story is story. It’s all about story, and I’m game for anything.
“Galveston” and “Leave No Trace” are available on all digital formats, as well as Blu-ray/DVD.