Margaret, you stayed attached to “Stars at Noon” as the rest of the project shifted, over about three and a half years before filming. What made you commit?
Margaret Qualley: I actually first heard about this project in an airport on my way home from Venice Film Festival. Some random guy, in my mind — he turned out to be Des Hamilton, who’s a casting director — came up to me and said, “Claire Denis wants to meet you for her movie.” I was like, “Yeah, okay, buddy.” [laughs] I was a big fan of hers, so I sent my agents an email: “Random man in airport says there’s a new Claire Denis movie and that she’s interested in me for it. Not a trustworthy source?”
But he turned out to be a trustworthy source. Claire and I ended up meeting, and she’s a legend, an absolutely iconic filmmaker. It was an honor to work with her, and I felt like this was such rich source material. I was attracted to what could potentially occur in what ultimately became Panama for Nicaragua.
Tell me about Claire Denis as a filmmaker and as a collaborator. As you say, she’s a legend, and her voice is so singular. What drew you to her work?
MQ: Absolutely. I’ll try to make it more specific by contextualizing it. When I first read the original draft she’d come up with for “Stars at Noon” two years prior, it was pre-pandemic. Claire wouldn’t make that same draft in the world today because she feels like the world is different. It is different. Especially in the landscapes of Nicaragua or Panama, you can very much feel that. And anything that’s present on the day, she won’t deny. It all just becomes a part of the story. I think that’s telling of her as a filmmaker. Anything that anyone is bringing, she won’t try to mold it into something else. She’s trying to take people as they are and best bring to light what she finds interesting.
Despite your lengthy preparation time on “Stars at Noon,” major elements of it came together far closer to or right before filming, such as the choice to film in Panama and the casting of Joe Alwyn. How did that changeability influence your performance?
MQ: Speaking to that, I feel like the best filmmakers are either incredibly adaptive and can use the things that are happening to their advantage and really roll with it — and I think that Claire is a perfect example of that — or they have more money than God and can manipulate everything. It’s one of the two. You’re either rolling with the punches, and the punches are informing the process, and that’s helping to create the movie, which isn’t necessarily what was on the page but is perhaps better — or you can really orchestrate everything and take your time. We didn’t have more money than God, so it was the other way. [laughs] I also don’t think Claire is interested in that other approach. Shooting somewhere like Panama, the weather is constantly changing. Everything was a maybe. And I think you can feel that in the movie, but hopefully in a good way.
Trish starts the film in such a down-and-out state, both physically and emotionally. What helped you to enter Trish’s headspace, and how much did you consider the mood of the film in finding her?
MQ: I rarely go out of my way to try to make things harder on myself. [laughs] I feel like a fish out of water on a set, anyway. You’re just using whatever your circumstances are to your benefit. I’m trying to learn the language, and I’m trying to adapt to my life there, in the same light that Trish is or was. It was definitely important to be immersed in the language, and I was doing my best to speak Spanish with a Nicaraguan accent. I realized only upon reflection that only Nicaraguans will know that I was trying to use a Nicaraguan inflection. [laughs] But I really went hard to get my Nicaraguan audience. Regardless, trying to be specific is ultimately better. Still, I’m not trying to make my life harder by any means. I’m just trying to do my best all of the time. And, I guess, in this instance, it was okay if it wasn’t always working.
I was struck by this hazy sense of dislocation both you and Claire Denis achieve in depicting the interactions between Trish and her atmosphere as she moves through this world, but also the immediacy of her grit and determination.
MQ: That’s so kind of you. Thank you. I’m really glad that’s what you took from the film. That was definitely part of the aim. Hopefully, that feeling comes from an incredible trust of Claire, and from the process of making a movie in Panama. It’s not a movie hiding from being a movie. It’s a movie that says it’s a movie.
Having a stranger approach you at the airport, trying to speak Spanish with a Nicaraguan accent, did those real-life echoes of circumstances Trish finds herself in ever stack up for you while working on the film?
MQ: Totally! A big thing for me that I didn’t mention is that my dad moved to Panama when I was 14 and has lived there ever since. I hadn’t seen him in two years because of the pandemic. But I went to Panama, and my dad came to the set with me every day. It was a special father-daughter time for us. If I woke up at 4 a.m. to go to work, I’d knock on his hotel door, and he’d jump up and come with me. It’s not like he was watching the monitor. I wouldn’t want him to, and he wouldn’t want to. [laughs]
But he was just chilling with part of the crew, and in the same way that it was literally a family affair, the crew felt like family too. And it was really special as well to be working with a first-time crew, because not a lot of movies are made in Panama. It was a group of incredibly talented individuals who’d been making movies in some form, but not the way we were doing it. Everyone was learning on the go, but there was an immense amount of heart present on the set, which undoubtedly informs the movie.
To ask about a specific scene, the slow dance between your character and Joe Alwyn’s character is such a standout moment in “Stars at Noon.” What can you tell me about filming it?
MQ: Claire’s dear friend wrote that track, as I’m sure you know already. That was the first piece of music the movie had, and it was a huge inspiration for her and us all. Filming that sequence was simple. We were given the direction to slow-dance, and we knew this was some piece of the movie’s heart, some turning point. What’s interesting about Trish is that she’s always trying to mask her insecurities, because she is so deeply insecure. She’s trying to seem tough, careless, even mean — anything but to let her guard down. And so the moments when she does let her guard down are ultimately powerful and pretty sweet. That was one of those moments.
That performativity you’re describing, all the identities Trish shifts between to move through this world, reminded me of other great Claire Denis characters, from Isabelle Huppert’s Maria Vial in “White Material” to Denis Lavant’s Galoup in “Beau Travail.” Did you look to past performances by any actors in her films to inform your approach?
MQ: I’ve watched a lot of her movies, and I’m a huge fan. I mean, I think “Beau Travail” is simply one of the best movies ever. I didn’t use anything as specific inspiration for this character other than realizing that I’m not very ironic in life. I take things at face value. I can be very sincere and genuine. And so my first interpretation of this script was genuine. And then I realized pretty quickly that everything, to Trish, was a joke. She never meant what she was saying. A lot of times, if you’re missing the mark, the best place to go for inspiration for the character is the director because, a lot of times, they’re putting themselves into it. And that’s Claire. She’s tongue-in-cheek and funny and ironic, but she has a very sweet heart underneath everything.
Looking back on production, do any specific memories come to mind from your time making this film?
MQ: It was a really wild shoot. During the last week, we were on location, at a harbor. My dad and I would wake up and go on a walk in the morning and see 20 monkeys every morning, which was really amazing. Those were the scenes where she’s in the abandoned church with Joe Alwyn’s character. But by the time we got there, quite literally everything tasted sweeter, because we also had been staying in this terrible hotel, in Cologne, where the food was really, really horrible. And then we got here, I had a sandwich, and I was like, “This is the best thing in the world.” And Jack [Antonoff,] my fiancé, came to visit us, and was like, “I agree… that this is a sandwich.” [laughs]
It was that feeling across the board, in the sense that we were all so tired and beaten down, but every single thing felt special and lucky at the same time. It was hard work that we were all proud to be a part of, around people that were all putting their heart into it every day. That’s not a specific memory, but that’s what I’ve got.
You’ve worked with an impressive array of filmmakers thus far in your career — Denis, Quentin Tarantino, Mimi Leder — and you’ll work next with Yorgos Lanthimos and Coralie Fargeat. What do you consider most in deciding which roles to take?
MQ: It’s what you’re saying. I want the best person possible behind the wheel. I want to feel the safest in the car. And then I want to have the best time on the ride.
“Stars at Noon” is in theaters Oct. 14 via A24 and streaming on Hulu starting Oct. 28.
