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  • 5 months ago
Director Chloé Zhao and stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal share their emotions watching their film 'Hamnet' at THR's TIFF lounge at the 1 Hotel Toronto. The cast delves into the strong connections they felt for this movie and how they conveyed these emotions creatively in their film. While also being able to break into dance breaks to balance the serious tone of making the film!

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Transcript
00:00How has it been talking to people now that they've seen the movie?
00:03Is everyone emotional about the movie?
00:07I feel like generally, yes. People are quite emotional about it.
00:10Yeah.
00:11When was the first time you guys watched it?
00:13Three months ago, eight months pregnant.
00:16And how did you react?
00:19What did you think of yourself?
00:20I was pretty chill about the whole thing.
00:21I was like, yeah, it's good.
00:25No, I was a complete mess.
00:27I was like slobbering.
00:28And it's very embarrassing when you slobber watching your own like film.
00:33But it was many things being pregnant and also, I guess, getting flooded with like all the memories of what it felt like to make this film all together.
00:42And, you know, you're only one part of a bigger thing.
00:47And to see everybody's incredible like heart that culminated in making this film was, yeah, it was emotional.
00:56I wasn't pregnant when I watched it.
00:58But you are now.
01:00I am now.
01:00Here's an exclusive.
01:02Here's an exclusive.
01:04Congratulations.
01:05I'm so happy.
01:08He's calling it happiness.
01:09It's happiness.
01:10You haven't been here for like three years.
01:18But when we were here three years ago, you were here for Aftersand.
01:21I was, yeah.
01:22So I do feel like it's another one where it's just like a tearjerker, emotional.
01:27But how did you find watching Hamnet, especially versus being in other sad stuff?
01:33Yeah, it was that to me.
01:36I did kind of find my initial response to bawling my eyes out after watching it was one of embarrassment, like watching a film, but it's exactly what Jesse said.
01:44It's like the culmination of many moving parts.
01:47Well, actually, the thing that I remember distinctly was when you messaged us on New Year's Day when you just kind of locked the film.
01:55You're in that space when you finish a film where you're like, God, I hope the filmmaker and our friend likes the film.
02:01And I get a crazy voice note from Chloe on New Year's Day, being like a lot.
02:06And it was such a gorgeous thing for a director to send you because you're constantly in that limbo place where you're like, I was so proud of the process of making it.
02:15But then when you feel like your director seems to be happy.
02:19Yeah, what did you say?
02:20Just it's good.
02:21You guys are awesome.
02:23Just an emoji.
02:24A thumbs up emoji.
02:26A penguin emoji.
02:26Yeah.
02:26No, I started editing the last scene on the 31st.
02:32It was a tough winter because no sun and editing the second half of this film through the holidays on my own.
02:41And then started the final scene.
02:44And then on New Year's Day, I finished the last few shots.
02:49Yeah.
02:49And the catharsis that the character felt is exactly what I needed.
02:54And it was about four months into some heartache.
02:59And I felt the catharsis in that little room in Soho.
03:02So I picked up the phone and left, sobbed, and left a really emotional message to the two of them.
03:10I read a cover story where you were talking about dreams during rehearsal and that being a really big part of the initial, I guess, would it be initial conversations or just when you were kind of talking about what to make?
03:23But can you tell me a little bit about why that, is that new to your process or why was that right for this?
03:32I learned that dreams are the language of the psyche, right?
03:38And it speaks in symbols.
03:40And you get to see different perspectives of different characters within yourself.
03:46And how incredible is that to look at within a scene?
03:49You know, so we have been dreaming together.
03:55This film really came out of our dreams.
03:57I confidently say that.
03:59Do you wake up in the middle of the night and write them down or do you remember them easily?
04:03I do have an old book, but I find I like voice memo them.
04:08It's so annoying when you forget a dream that you think, like, especially one, like, in the middle of the night, you're like, oh, this is a goodie.
04:16I've got to remember this.
04:17And then sure enough, you're like, but they also, I kind of, I like let them be.
04:24You've got to let them be.
04:25You can't hold them too tightly.
04:26And even they were, you know, how we worked with them while we were filming, you've got to, you know, lightly.
04:34You've got to hold them lightly and they show up if they want to show up.
04:38But I definitely use them as a way to process Agnes' subconscious in filming and also to kind of give us inspiration to scenes or they're mercurial in the best way.
04:52And they just are like little offerings if you want them.
04:54I think I was kind of scared of the process initially, if I'm being honest, because I was like, I had no control over it.
05:02I think I'm like a little bit of a control freak.
05:04But then there is something like, as Jesse was saying, they're not, there's nothing, there's not really a rationale to them.
05:10So you get to like, you feel very creative when you're working with them because you get to transpose what's important to you from the dream and what's not.
05:17And oftentimes if you have something that's reoccurring in your dreams or I feel like during the process, like certain dreams synced up between me and you, which was a weird thing that happened.
05:28But it was like...
05:29They did?
05:30Yeah.
05:30Yeah.
05:30How, like you would, the next day you'd be like, I dreamt about...
05:34A cow.
05:34A cow.
05:35We had a dream.
05:36Not the same, but like the cows look different, but I think it was like pretty...
05:39But there's art...
05:40One was a Holstein and one was a...
05:42Yeah, exactly.
05:42It's a bit like fairy tales.
05:44There's archetypes sometimes within dreams that can, that...
05:48I mean, each of them might be something completely different to you, but like in fables and fairy tales, sometimes things that appear...
05:57I don't even think we...
05:58We did do one session together when we had this one dream about a cow.
06:02Yeah.
06:02Or no, we started, I didn't know that you dreamt about a cow.
06:05And then when we were doing the drop-in with Kim, I was like, that is mental because I dreamt about a cow that week.
06:10And then we just started mooing around the set, like...
06:14Yeah, that's what we did.
06:15We said, everybody moo.
06:17Milking, otters.
06:21Chloe, do you feel like after...
06:23Sorry.
06:24Like looking...
06:25We're not mental, I promise you.
06:27Going Nomadland, working in the MCU, and then this movie, like did you take any tips?
06:33Like what did you pull from a production as big as like a Marvel production to then something like this?
06:39Because that's a lot more interior, but still a very like vast and intricate movie.
06:47Well, Eternals prepared me for world building.
06:49And the conviction of that and how to collaborate with department heads to help you build certain part of the world they're in charge of.
06:59I definitely learned a lot through that process to prepare for it, because this is such a world building.
07:04It's not just about what looks good and what's interesting.
07:09It's about what's the origin.
07:11Like what is the root of every decision?
07:16What papers, you know, a cut on the leather.
07:19Everything has stories behind it, and everything has to come from the same mother.
07:25It's an ecosystem.
07:27And I've learned from Eternals how to, earlier on, gathering around the mother.
07:35So then when everyone goes off, the ecosystem feels very coherent.
07:40That is the most beautiful way to describe what I would, like, unintelligently call like an Easter egg.
07:48So I'm going to start using that.
07:49I love Easter eggs.
07:50Same.
07:51I love, I used to go on YouTube and watch the Easter eggs of, you know, Easter eggs.
07:57Jesse doesn't know.
07:58I know what an Easter egg is.
08:00Not a real Easter egg.
08:02I was talking about chocolate Easter eggs.
08:03Yeah, so was I.
08:04They're just too cool to know what Easter egg is.
08:06No, it's an Easter egg.
08:07What is an Easter egg?
08:08It's like a little, like, hidden target in a film.
08:12Yeah.
08:12Oh.
08:13Yeah.
08:13We did the Harry Potter people.
08:14Yeah, you had some of those.
08:16We had some eggs.
08:16What did you guys do for fun on this set?
08:21Like, did it feel, like, especially with, like, the heavy material, what did you guys do at the end of the day?
08:27We danced a lot.
08:29Yeah, they were great.
08:30I love them.
08:31They're going to come out.
08:32Are they?
08:32They will, especially the final one.
08:35Oh, yeah, that was gorgeous.
08:36Oh, my God, yeah.
08:37We do something called dance takes.
08:40So once a week, we would spend a lot of time to our 80s dismay.
08:47We would set up the scene, and then we will, the scene would start, and then music would play.
08:53And it would turn into a big dance take where Katz and crew get together and dance.
08:57And the last one had 300 extra.
08:59Oh, we spent, like, three, four hours to set up the shot.
09:01Yeah, yeah.
09:02Yeah.
09:02And then he's, like, all five, I think 500 in total, including the crew, at the Globe Theater.
09:08Incredible.
09:08What was the song?
09:10We found our love in a hopeless place.
09:14Rihanna.
09:15Yeah.
09:17I mean, period appropriate.
09:18That's an Easter egg.
09:18You were dancing.
09:20That is an Easter egg.
09:21No one was expecting Rihanna to show up in Hamlet, but here.
09:24Rihanna can show up anywhere.
09:25Anywhere, exactly.
09:26Okay, super quick before we're out of time.
09:28One question we're asking everyone, which one do I want to do?
09:30I want to ask you guys, is there a movie or a book, since this is an adaptation, that you guys have pretended to have watched or read?
09:37Pretended?
09:38Pretended.
09:39So many.
09:39What does that mean?
09:40Like, in conversation, or, like, you've always been, like, oh, yeah, I've totally seen Citizen Kane.
09:44I was just about to say that.
09:46I watched it recently because I'd spent so much time saying that I'd seen Citizen Kane.
09:50And now you have?
09:51That's weird that you said that.
09:52Okay.
09:52That's, like, an example of the subconscious alignment, synchronicity.
09:57Citizen Kane for me.
09:58I have so many.
10:00I'm so embarrassed.
10:01I don't even know where to start.
10:03Like, I don't think I've seen Star Wars.
10:07Any of them?
10:08No.
10:09I'm going to tell you, Elle Fanning has not seen, she said that yesterday.
10:12So you're in trouble.
10:13They sound cool.
10:13This is a space space.
10:14You show us.
10:15I'm shocked.
10:16I know, I know.
10:17You should see Citizen Kane.
10:18I have.
10:18Well, whatever.
10:20This is the dynamic.
10:22Yeah.
10:24I didn't give you judgment.
10:26No, as a...
10:27She hasn't even seen Harry Potter.
10:28She...
10:29I have seen Harry Potter.
10:31Yeah.
10:31Well, why is everybody getting off of me?
10:33Because she's cool.
10:34It's early.
10:35It's early.
10:36You have time to see it.
10:37You can watch Star Wars on the plane, huh?
10:38Yeah, exactly.
10:39Okay.
10:39I'll give you the order.
10:40Saving for a child.
10:43Probably like, I've never read The Odyssey.
10:48I feel like most people have read The Odyssey.
10:50Have you read The Odyssey?
10:51Just like some of those epics.
10:53I like to say, oh yeah.
10:54You haven't read The Odyssey?
10:55It permeates enough that you can get it.
10:58Yeah.
10:58I like having them on my shelf, all the epics.
11:02But I haven't read any of them.
11:03Simpsons.
11:03Perfect.
11:06We'll be here all day.
11:07Thank you guys.
11:08Okay children, I think it's time to go.
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