Is there any of those moments that got captured in the film that you were glad, once you saw it, that it made the cut?
You know, we did lots of stuff that didn’t make it in. That’s what you remember more. Maybe me I’m a, what is it, a half full kind of guy? Half empty?
Half empty, yeah.
Half empty guy. But it’s a little thing but it’s kind of sweet and it adds some nice texture, but the thing with the birds for example.
Yeah, yeah.
I come out and I shoo them away.
Was that just something also you were just standing around and all these birds …?
No, [Sean] said, “The birds are here.” And the birds had kept on coming up but we couldn’t touch them because they’re protected. hey came. And they were in the shot, in another shot and we thought, “Well let’s deal with this.” So, I shoo them away.
The other thing I really want to talk about is you have two scenes with Caleb Landry Jones that are actually, very short.
They’re quite short yeah.
But they communicate so much.
I agree and Sean invented those. I mean he wrote them after the fact. When he knew, just as we started shooting, he didn’t want to give a back story to Bobby, but he wanted to give a little flavor. And there was something in the script that ended up being cut or kind of traded out where you saw me go away for a couple days. And that was dropped. That was supposed to place me outside of motel.
Right. And all the drama that was going on.
Yeah. Yeah. And then I come back and things are a mess, and there’s the problem where someone gets hit by a car.
Oh right, that’s a quick shot from Halley’s perspective.
But that got reduced. And I think he wanted something that would give just a feeling of who Bobby is outside of the job. And I think it did accomplish a lot because it shows that he’s no stranger to disappointment and you also get the sense that yeah, he’s made his mistakes. And that doesn’t explain his motives but it just gives a texture. It humanizes him and puts him more with them.
I actually thought it was masterful, because it’s just so subtle.
They’re beautiful simple scenes.
Especially the moment in the elevator where Bobby’s so flustered, he forgets to hit the button to go to another floor.
That was an accident.
Oh that was an accident too? But it works in context ’cause you’re thinking …
That thing was so heavy that we were doing, like a prop thing. And we were hustling with it and I smashed my hand really hard. There was a lot going on. And we’re in a hurry and we finally got it. And yeah I forgot to touch it. The other beautiful scene that I loved and this a purely written thing, I don’t know whether Chris did it or Sean, but when Nate says, “I told mom happy birthday.” And Bobby’s like, “What did you do that for?” Beautiful. That expresses volumes to me. And he gets unreasonably upset about that.
Angry, yeah.
That in one line, in one moment, you got a whole picture of something. That doesn’t explain away something but gives you a taste.
That’s why I think it’s so good. It’s funny, seeing the movie a second time, I so appreciated. You pick up all this stuff, you’re like, “Oh it’s not just kids running around and it’s so much deeper than that.” I’m curious when you finally saw the picture. How long did you guys, less than that?
It was short. I don’t remember.
Do you remember when you just screened it, what sort of resonated with you most the first time you saw it?
I’m going to give you a very disappointing answer. It’s like watching a home movie. You’re thinking, “Oh really? It looked like that? I didn’t think it would look like that.” Or, “They cut that. Oh that’s much better than I thought.” “Really? I thought that was great and it looks like shit.” You’re going back to the memory of doing it. I’ve got no objectivity and while broadly you say, “Oh I like this,” or “This works,” things like that. But I do really have the insight? No.
“The Florida Project” opens in limited release on Oct. 6.
