00:00 (screaming)
00:02 - You want to get separated from your mom?
00:14 We're committing a crime.
00:15 This is a crime scene.
00:16 (speaking in foreign language)
00:22 - Mom, they're back.
00:23 They're at the gate.
00:24 (speaking in foreign language)
00:29 (speaking in foreign language)
00:33 - From both the characters,
00:36 it comes from the basis of being mothers
00:39 and taking that psyche into effect
00:42 as far as survival and how you make each step.
00:46 Could you each talk about each of the characters
00:49 in that way?
00:49 'Cause they each have to approach it
00:50 in a very different way.
00:52 Miranda, if you want to start and then Vanessa.
00:57 - I think Marianne just feels this huge compassion
01:02 for Anna and Nico and wants to try and help them.
01:08 It's like a split second decision really for her.
01:12 But she doesn't really know very much
01:15 about their situation.
01:17 I don't think she's really gotten to know Anna at all
01:20 while she's been there.
01:24 But she feels compelled to sort of help.
01:27 She wants to.
01:28 I mean, and then with some of them,
01:31 I think it's kind of like an adventure to her as well,
01:34 which is like a sort of unsettling thing to say.
01:37 But she is excited by the prospect of being able to help.
01:42 But I think she doesn't really totally fully understand
01:48 the situation that she's walking into.
01:51 And then she does get extremely protective of her family.
01:53 I think that Anna is,
01:58 she's faced a lot of hardship, a lot of adversity.
02:06 I think that's,
02:08 she's used to fighting for her and her son
02:16 at a level that,
02:20 you know,
02:21 many can't understand.
02:25 We are fighting for our lives,
02:28 not just our livelihoods, for our lives.
02:30 And so I think that makes her
02:33 inspiring.
02:38 I think that makes her a very strong woman.
02:43 I think,
02:47 I think,
02:47 yeah, it's that instinct, you know,
02:54 that you get as a mother to protect your child
02:58 against everything and anything.
03:00 And it's one of the things that really
03:02 attracts me the most about this movie,
03:07 her fight, her instinct.
03:12 And I think we are used to seeing,
03:16 you know, the types of Anna,
03:20 or Annas in the world as vulnerable and as weak.
03:25 And it's the complete opposite, right?
03:32 And so I feel that's the part that really inspires me
03:35 and fills me with a sense of justice, to do them justice.
03:40 (dramatic music)
03:43 - Nico, thank you for helping today.
03:53 I'm Marianne Barrett.
03:55 - Thanks for letting me come work here.
03:57 - Have you explained the rules?
03:59 Peter doesn't want anyone going into his office.
04:02 - Yes, he won't be any trouble.
04:03 - Dining window open.
04:07 Audio door.
04:10 Audio door open.
04:11 (phone ringing)
04:14 - Anna, why don't you and your son
04:16 just go in the guest bedroom?
04:18 The officers that came to the gate worked for immigration.
04:26 If you were to try to leave,
04:28 they're likely waiting for you out on the street.
04:30 We have a space in the basement,
04:32 but we need your cell phones to make sure they stay off.
04:39 (speaking in foreign language)
04:42 - Directing is a personal thing,
04:44 but there's an aspect between technique and instinct,
04:47 and especially with a film like this,
04:49 that's very specific in how people are reacting.
04:52 It comes down to how you talk to each actor.
04:55 Can you talk about your approach?
04:56 Maybe that was the approach, but, or using environment.
04:59 Can you talk about that a little bit?
05:01 - I really like to have the actors bring
05:07 their personal lives to their characters.
05:10 And one way I like to do that is through improv.
05:13 So we have the scene written,
05:16 and we have the dialogue written,
05:18 but then I would love for them to try the scene
05:22 exactly how the scene plays, but with their own dialogue
05:25 and their own instinct of how to play these characters.
05:29 And I think that helped bring a lot of realism
05:32 and nuance to this movie.
05:34 - It's all about space.
05:35 It's all about using the space in a scene.
05:37 And because the film takes place primarily in that house,
05:42 it's an interesting use of space,
05:44 especially when it's in the kitchen,
05:46 like you two in the kitchen, you two in the bedroom.
05:49 It's all about how you make the scene work in that moment.
05:52 Can you talk about that?
05:53 Because there's so much going on behind the eyes,
05:56 if you could speak to that.
05:59 - Yeah, it's very important.
06:00 I think all the blocking was very important
06:02 that we are in a small space.
06:05 So we're also trying to film in a small space,
06:09 which is difficult because usually when you film in houses,
06:12 you build the set on a stage or whatever, not always,
06:15 but when you're doing an indie movie like this
06:17 and you don't have a lot of time to take walls out
06:19 and things like that, you gotta make it work.
06:21 But also I think that work to our advantage
06:23 because this movie is so intimate
06:25 and that smallness kind of added to the suspense
06:30 and to the fear and to the distrust.
06:35 Like there's the scene of me and Nico in the kitchen
06:37 and we have the island between us.
06:39 That's very intentional, that separation.
06:41 And then when does that separation end?
06:43 Things like that, that really add to the tones.
06:46 - What happened?
06:48 - Hey, what's going on?
06:49 - Can you go back up to your room?
06:50 Your mom will be up in a second.
06:53 - Okay.
07:02 - So the officers that came to the gate
07:04 work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement
07:07 and they know about both of your immigration statuses.
07:10 They claim to even know where you live.
07:12 You live at 1532 Coringa Street?
07:14 You do?
07:18 Well, they have an officer go into your apartment.
07:20 This is what they gave me if you wanna take a look.
07:23 - Each of these men, obviously Nico's becoming a man too,
07:27 is based in their psyche of their experience,
07:30 but also in their circumstances.
07:32 And that machismo is sort of interesting,
07:34 the way you two play it against each other
07:37 and then with others.
07:38 Could you each talk about that in the approach?
07:41 Whoever, Ezequiel, if you'd like to start with Nico,
07:44 because he has a very specific point of view,
07:46 and then Noah.
07:47 - Yeah, throughout the movie,
07:49 you see Nico learning that his mind
07:51 has to be stronger in his feelings
07:52 and he has to take that mantle of being a man.
07:55 And in the movie, it's just him and his mother.
07:58 So when another man is in the house,
08:02 it's almost like a competitive nature naturally.
08:04 So having Peter kinda, you know,
08:09 son him a little bit and teach him a little bit,
08:12 it's not so easy for him because he's not used to it.
08:14 He never had a dad.
08:15 His dad died when he was one.
08:16 So he's just learning that he has to be a man
08:19 for his mom the whole time.
08:21 - One of the things I like best about making this movie
08:24 was the rehearsal process,
08:26 which we usually don't get at all.
08:27 But Augustus scheduled some really wonderful rehearsal days
08:31 for Miranda and I to come in
08:33 and do a lot of improvisation work with each other,
08:36 which he then would record and pull nuggets and lines
08:40 and vibes out of to sort of shape those scenes.
08:44 So we were working really close to the bone.
08:46 We were working a lot with our own experience of marriage
08:49 and parenting and all those things.
08:51 But I think the work is really textured
08:56 because we gave it the time and the thoughtfulness
08:58 to sort of find those other levels.
09:00 And when you're making a very small movie
09:02 that's very self-contained,
09:03 you almost, you have to dig deeper through the well.
09:06 You're not going out wide, you're going down deep.
09:08 And Augustus, for his first film,
09:10 was incredibly sophisticated about the way
09:12 that he created an environment to curate that
09:16 and bring it out in us.
09:18 It was really impressive.
09:19 - They're targeting this neighborhood
09:22 because they feel that this is a hotbed
09:24 of undocumented workers and the research they've done
09:26 is very thorough.
09:27 They heard from employers and employees at other houses
09:31 that Anna works for our family.
09:33 And they claim to have checkpoints set up
09:36 at all the exits in the neighborhood,
09:37 on the street corners, at bus stops.
09:39 They're checking everybody going in and coming out.
09:43 - What would you say about me and my mom?
09:45 - I said that Anna didn't show up for work this week
09:49 and I didn't know where she was.
09:52 I also told them I'd never met you before in my life
09:54 and I didn't know where you were.
09:55 - Well, I mean, this movie is,
09:58 and I talked to Miranda and Vess about it Friday,
10:01 is the aspect of perspective and perception,
10:04 both inwardly, outwardly, inside the house,
10:06 outside the house.
10:07 There's so many different facets of that.
10:10 Can you talk about that in terms of the writing
10:12 and how you wanted to sort of build that sort of structure,
10:15 integrating what you were talking about
10:17 with these sort of improv moments
10:19 that help sort of make the material breathe?
10:22 - You know, this movie is a mystery
10:27 that the audience is trying to figure out.
10:30 A lot of this film is what we don't see.
10:32 What we don't see ends up creating suspicion in our head.
10:37 We don't see that police have come to the gate.
10:40 So the main character starts to be suspicious
10:44 that maybe he can't trust who's telling him to hide.
10:50 For Miranda Otto's character,
10:51 we wanted her, she doesn't see a romance building
10:56 between her daughter and this employee of hers.
10:59 And that creates suspicion towards who this young man is
11:04 and what he's capable of.
11:07 So in terms of perspective,
11:10 we were really using characters
11:16 who don't see other characters do something
11:19 and how that creates a tension between them.
11:24 (speaking in foreign language)
11:28 - Hey, were you and your former housekeeper close?
11:34 - She lived with us.
11:35 - What happened?
11:36 - My mom could be pretty demanding.
11:38 She'd end up quitting.
11:39 - You never saw her again?
11:41 - No.
11:42 - What are you doing?
11:44 You could not come into my office.
11:46 - Nico, you can't just be up here like this.
11:49 - It's important that children see
11:50 when you treat people like you with respect.
11:52 (screaming)
11:54 (dramatic music)
11:58 (dramatic music)
12:01 (upbeat music)
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