CANNES — She’s coming off some of the most glowing (if not slightly overrated) reviews of her career, but Lynne Ramsay is keeping all her options open after the debut of “You Were Never Really Here” at the 70th Festival de Cannes this weekend.
The film, starring Joaquin Phoenix at the peak of his acting powers, is a genre thriller through a cinematic auteur’s eyes, but halfway through watching it you realize it features some of the most “commercial” sequences of Ramsay’s career. Granted, it’s still much more of an artistic endeavor than one of those slick flicks an indie director uses to get Hollywood’s attention. That being said, the results are transcendently broad enough that you can imagine a number of studio executives reaching out to the celebrated Scottish filmmaker. Perhaps that’s one reason why during a press conference for ‘Really Here,’ Ramsay was asked if she’d be interested in directing a superhero movie. Her answer was quick and decisive.
“I would love to do a superhero movie,” Ramsay says. “I love comic books. I read them as a kid. They don’t ask me to do things like that.”
Having just finished this incarnation of ‘Really Here’ last week (she plans to go back in the editing room to add more original music from Radiohead‘s Johnny Greenwood) Ramsay is hardly thinking about what’s next. Her current endeavor came together quickly last summer, so much so, that Ramsay was still writing into the wee hours of production.
“This came together really, really quickly. I was meant to do something else and it didn’t happen,” Phoenix says. “And Lynne and I had spoken already and I said ‘Do you think you could make it this summer?’ which was two months away. She said, ‘Yeah.’ And I thought, ‘Can you really get a movie together that quickly?’ and somehow she did.”
In ‘Really Here’ Phoenix plays Joe, a vigilante for hire who focuses on cases where he can potentially rescue youngsters kidnapped or recruited into underground sex rings. Joe is suffering his own significant emotional stress which is one reason why the movie transcends strict genre fare.
“I think all filmmakers or the filmmakers I really like you are chasing the human condition,” Ramsay says. “And I think trauma is part of that and it’s sort of a traumatizing time at the moment. I like to explore characters and their flaws, their beauty and all of those different aspects. And this was a really good opportunity to do so.”
The role finds Phoenix once again physically transforming his body for a part. In this case he bulked up so that Joe became a more imposing physical force. Beyond that, however, Phoenix really wasn’t keen on explaining how he pulls off such remarkable performances.
“I am whatever is called for that particular movie. I don’t really have a set process,” Phoenix says. “All that is important is that you don’t feel so conscious when you’re working so whatever might get there me. You usually feel or I feel really embarrassed. Sometimes it’s good to act with other people on set and that makes me more comfortable and other times I can’t look people in the eye so it’s more a solitary experience. It just depends upon the mood and what you feel. On this one we just joked around constantly. She would just come in my trailer and sing karaoke.”
“You Were Never Really Here” was co-financed by Amazon Studios and should be released later this year.
