Some of the locations are something you’ve never done before. Did you shoot in Antarctica?
Yeah, we shot all over. Our schedule wasn’t working for us, actually, when we were shooting the bulk of the movie we couldn’t do Antarctica, so I shot a bunch of clips there as a backdrop — so for certain scenes, like the Penguins, that was Antarctica. We shot in four different places: Seattle, Pittsburgh, Antarctica, and Greenland. We got caught up in this huge Antarctic storm, they call it a hurricane over there, as we were taking shelter in this huge cold war-era spy vessel we were on.
I presume that was your first time there.
Yeah and not the last time. I go to all these places and think, “oh, it would be great to come here when I am not working.” I tend to look beyond the camera and appreciate where I am at that very moment. Like we were on this little Zodiac boat and then, all of a sudden, a whale pops up behind us, and you can’t help but appreciate those kinds of moments. When you are there, you are there.
Did you have a chance to rehearse with the cast? I know you’re big on doing that before every movie you embark on.
If you want human behavior in a scene then, I guess, you can improvise, but if you’re going to tell a story with substance, ideas and spot trajectory, then you can’t improvise on the spot. In my thirty years of filmmaking, I tried to create the concept of spontaneity and realism, so rehearsing is key. It’s a construct with the result being that the audience believes it’s improvisation.
For the longest time, especially when thinking about the ‘Before’ trilogy, I felt that improvisation must have played a crucial part in the realist dialogue depicted on-screen, but I was shocked when I learned that was all rehearsal.
I was just with Julie [Delpy]. We did mention that it’s been seven years since “Before Midnight,” but a great idea has not emerged so I wouldn’t hold your breath, unfortunately. A trilogy is great as it is, but, I don’t know, if it ever becomes a quadrology I am just not sure anymore if it’s a possibility. Again, a great idea has not emerged, it might, but I wouldn’t bank on it.
As you mentioned, we still have that indisputably great trilogy.
Yeah, well, it’s a long life, so you never know, but we would need to have a big idea worth exploring, to make it worth a while.
Are you working on anything right now?
Yeah, I just finished a couple of scripts, I have a couple of things I’m trying to get off the ground. ‘Bernadette’ was a long journey.
Yeah, it does look like a movie that took a lot of time to get released in theaters finally.
I think we only shot it for about 40 days. The problem is that it was a very long post, finding the story. You know, I came in under-budget, so I could kind of stay in post-production without a lot of pressure from the studio—we got there eventually.
I know you’ve mentioned in the past that you and your wife like my work, have you seen “Me and Orson Welles“?
Of course. A highly underrated gem from, I believe, 2009. Christian McKay as Orson Welles is absolutely brilliant.
It hardly got out there when it was released, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s a very special movie for me.