Kelly Reichardt’s latest film, “Wendy and Lucy,” comes out this Friday, December 12th in select theaters in New York and L.A. Reichardt and star, Michelle Williams sat down to talk about downcast subject matter, Williams brilliant performance and the frustration that drove Reichardt to make the film.
“It’s a gift to be able to work in the exact way that you have always wanted to. I feel really lucky,” Williams said about the working environment with Reichardt. Reichardt also talked about the environment she strives to set up for her actors, “I like having some space to fill up. It gives actors room to be able to take their time and bring things to a scene and it leaves you room to work in the environment where you are shooting.”
The team went on to discuss the depressing nature of the story, and what it means to be poverty stricken in today’s economic crisis, which makes the film all the more relevant now. While Reichardt admitted the film was “depressing,” Williams contends that the kinds of film like “Wendy and Lucy” uplifting. “I find them comforting because they make me feel less alone.”
Reichardt discussed her discontent with the policies of the current president and “The conversation that’s very much in the air during (President George W. Bush’s) administration that if you have spunk and ideas and initiative, that’s all you need to improve your lot in life, and if you aren’t able to pull yourself out of poverty it’s clearly because you are lazy.”
We caught the minimalistic film, “Wendy and Lucy” at this years New York Film Festival, and our full review is here. It is being released in select theaters this Friday in New York and L.A.
