- 8 hours ago
Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon and director Clint Bentley chat to Melissa Nathoo about new film Train Dreams, if Joel is the perfect husband and how practical they all are. Report by Nathoom. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Do you feel like the perfect totem?
00:01Am I the perfect totem?
00:02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:03We'll get Christine on the phone.
00:04I never saw the movie in that way.
00:06I had a break into a car with a tennis ball.
00:08I'm too practical.
00:09I'm like, I got it.
00:11I'm just imagining the roof of the house that I built caving in, and I'm like,
00:15I should have put those screws in there.
00:17Or am I going to turn this into a biology lesson?
00:19Well, what happens is...
00:20Guys, it's lovely to see you.
00:22How are you?
00:23Very well, thank you.
00:24Congratulations on such a beautiful film.
00:27Really moving, stunning, all of the good things which you want from a film.
00:34Thank you very much.
00:35I actually watched it with a male friend of mine, and he got so emotional.
00:38Oh, great.
00:39And I've never seen him like that before.
00:41So it was really nice to see how it touches different people.
00:44Yes, yeah.
00:45Joel, correct me if I'm wrong, had you originally wanted to direct it yourself?
00:49Well, I wanted to get the rights to the book when I first read the novella,
00:54which was back in like 2017, 18.
00:56Yeah.
00:57And they were taken, and I'm happy they were taken, because then a few years later,
01:01Clint reached out to me and I was like, does he know that I'm obsessed with this book?
01:06But his adaptation was extraordinary for a novella if anyone's read it.
01:11It's not the easiest thing to imagine turning into a film.
01:15Did you realise how moving it was going to be, like just from having read the script?
01:20I did.
01:21I read it and I cried twice reading it.
01:23I was on a plane.
01:24Yeah.
01:25And I was exhausted.
01:26It's a place of heightened everything.
01:28Exactly.
01:29But it was very, there was, it wasn't necessarily the sad moments that I cried at.
01:35It was actually kind of beautiful moments that really moved me.
01:39Was there anything like you personally like connected with about it?
01:42I think you have to connect with something personally on quite a few levels.
01:47You know, not just the character and the story, but also where is it going to be shot?
01:51You know, what am I going to be doing for those next few months?
01:56And with this, it was, it was both the script and the story and how tender it was, but also kind of cut through with this emotional violence in some ways.
02:10So on that level, it was, it was really appealing.
02:14But then the idea of going out and shooting in the Pacific Northwest and, and being in that environment, you know, I live in London and a very urban environment.
02:24So I was sort of, I was quite, I was quite excited about the thought of just being in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.
02:30I heard you say, Joel, that you, from when you read the novella to actually making the film, you became a dad.
02:37So did that change how you connected with it when it came to making the film?
02:41Yeah, big time.
02:42I mean, I became a double dad.
02:43A double dad.
02:44Congratulations.
02:45Yeah, thanks a lot.
02:47I had twins.
02:49My partner had twins and I was the, I'm the dad.
02:53You were there.
02:54I'm the dad.
02:55You were there.
02:56You were actually there.
02:57Suddenly I'm going to turn this into a biology lesson.
02:59Well, what happened these years.
03:01And, you know, I know I'd really connected with the character in the novella, you know, years earlier.
03:07And obviously, you know, I think this film for me has a lot of personal experience for me to identify with.
03:17You know, I'm a husband and I'm a father and, you know, and when you're a parent, I'm assuming everyone would agree with me, your greatest fear stops being mundane, selfish things and becomes about the safety of the people that you cherish.
03:33And in the lead up to having kids, the fears were so rich that those thoughts almost marked me that what if they didn't make it into the world.
03:42And so when Clint asked me to do this, I was like, all right, this is going to be stuff I'm not happy to think about, but will be relatively accessible to me that I don't have to try and imagine too much.
03:57Because all these thoughts and feelings live inside of me.
04:00So I felt, in a way, you know, it's a weird thing to talk about with the character, but more appropriate.
04:07And that this was very exposing for me.
04:10Yeah.
04:11And I'm happy to do that.
04:13I mean, it came out on screen, because, like, that performance was incredible.
04:16Oh, thank you.
04:17Yeah, it really, really was.
04:18This film, obviously, is set at a time, what's at the turn of, like, the 20th century, and there's so much change.
04:24Do you think we're going to look back on this time and be like, and find the beauty?
04:29Because right now, it feels really hard to find the beauty in the now.
04:33But, like, do you think we will look back on this time and be like, oh, we can make something similar about now?
04:39If there's a beautiful filmmaker.
04:42Right?
04:43Yeah, I think that's what so much of this film is about, is about us going, even though it's set in the past,
04:49is going, we have to recognize the now and the moment, and what is it that makes it beautiful?
04:57As you say, I think we're in times of seismic change that we're all kind of reckoning with.
05:02Yeah.
05:03And somehow the film is dealing with that.
05:06It's going, well, what is important in life?
05:08What are the things that are really meaningful for us?
05:12Was it a rough shoot, I think, for both filming and for doing, like, I don't know how much of the manual labor they physically got you to do,
05:20but it seemed rough.
05:21I was like, oh, my God, this guy is...
05:23I mean, he's trudging through the snow.
05:24He's trudging through the snow.
05:25Right?
05:26And laying in the mud and all of that.
05:28Yeah.
05:29Well, luckily for me, I mean, unlike the actual kind of real Roberts of the world back then,
05:34someone yells, cut, and that means you can stop cutting.
05:39He just put the axe down and thought, I'm okay with this.
05:43But look, I feel strangely more comfortable laying down in mud with rain pouring down on me
05:50than I would wearing a neat suit pretending I was some corporate guy.
05:55Yeah, take me out and shoot in those environments any day.
05:58And obviously we see Joel's character, he's such a practical person.
06:02He's building that house.
06:04He's cutting those locks.
06:05He's doing everything which I could ever hope to find in a guy, honestly.
06:10How practical are you when it comes to doing things like that?
06:14Because I aspire to be, like, be able to fit.
06:16Like, honestly, I've got to a point where I'm, like, watching YouTube videos
06:19so I can, like, even just hang something on my wall or something like that.
06:22Are you good practical people yourselves
06:25or are you better just, like, sitting back and letting someone else do that?
06:28I'm too practical.
06:29I'm like, I got it.
06:31You know, like, yeah, I carry my own luggage.
06:34I can't stand people fussing over me, yeah.
06:37I'm just imagining the roof of the house that I built caving in
06:40and I'm going, ah, I should have put those screws in there.
06:43I just built a volcano for my kids yesterday.
06:48It erupted it this morning and I forgot to put a key part of it in,
06:53which is the tube where the thing goes in so that it can erupt.
06:57So I got my drill set out and I had to slowly drill a small, bigger, bigger, bigger
07:01until I built the hole back in.
07:03I was like, and then I found the piece under the couch that should have gone in there.
07:07So I love using my hands.
07:09I love building things.
07:10But you're not...
07:11Success rate.
07:12Yeah.
07:13My dad and my nickname when we build things is Mike Neely and Sons.
07:18My dad's name's Michael.
07:19Right.
07:20Because we nearly get it right.
07:21We nearly get it at a right angle.
07:23It nearly sits in there just so.
07:26I love building, I'm just not great at it.
07:29How about you, Clint?
07:30I'm in the same place.
07:31Like, I'll do like...
07:32I don't...
07:33My wife doesn't let me do much anymore,
07:34but like doing plumbing projects around the house and stuff like that
07:36when something needs doing and it always takes ten times longer
07:39and it's half as good.
07:40But it's fun though, isn't it?
07:41It is nice.
07:42The sense of accomplishment when you actually don't call somebody in to fix something.
07:47It is nice.
07:48Ten days later when you finally get it done.
07:50I felt like that repressurizing my boiler.
07:53Like I come home and I had no hot water.
07:55I was like, right, get on YouTube.
07:57Work out to do this.
07:58And I felt like there's no sense of accomplishment.
08:00That's right.
08:01The world in industry is built for other people to do things,
08:04for other people to fix things.
08:06I mean, the great thing about the technology of YouTube is it's there for people.
08:11You can use it to have people show you...
08:13How to build a volcano.
08:14How to break into a car with a tennis ball.
08:16Can you do that?
08:17I love it.
08:18Yeah, look it up.
08:19Yeah.
08:20Half a tennis ball.
08:21Oh, okay.
08:22Only if you're trying to get your own keys out of your own car.
08:24That's something I need to look at.
08:25You're not going to steal a car.
08:27No, I promise not to steal any cars, but I will be looking that one up.
08:30We were saying, like, various women who've watched the film saying just how Joel's character is the perfect man.
08:37I know.
08:38He's a pin-up.
08:39That's crazy.
08:40I never saw the movie in that way.
08:43I know a few people have said, wow, he's really...
08:46I mean, I kind of felt like that.
08:47But not really, because I feel like you were the one who built the home.
08:51Yeah.
08:52Like, he kind of provided the money, but you...
08:54Well, she didn't make it the home.
08:55I think, yeah.
08:56Well, I think it's the two of them.
08:58You know, they're both struggling with the circumstances they're in.
09:04You know, they have limited means.
09:06It's tough.
09:07They don't have a lot of money.
09:09They're trying to figure it out.
09:10And they're like, how do we survive as a family in these conditions?
09:15And I was talking to Felicity and Kerry about the kind of guy that Robert is.
09:20And they were saying, you know, a lot of people said it, and I kind of felt it as well,
09:23that he is almost like the perfect husband.
09:25Did you feel like...
09:27Do you, having played him, feel like he is?
09:29Do you feel like the perfect husband?
09:30Am I the perfect husband?
09:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:32We'll get Christine on the phone.
09:35Sometimes.
09:36I was really trying to make sure that I wasn't doing my usual thing,
09:39which is if I've played a character that I think is good,
09:42I'm always looking for a reason why they're not just too ickly morally perfect.
09:47But this story felt suitable that there was no reason to find any reason to dislike
09:52or mistrust Robert's decency, his capabilities, reliability.
09:58Because I think the world needs more people like him.
10:00And if anything, the deficit is you wish Robert had the ability to express himself a little more,
10:10or understand that he was able to take the reins of his own life.
10:14Because I think most of us feel like we're more like Robert than the typical hero of a movie.
10:19Yeah.
10:20You know?
10:21Well, I'm looking for my own Robert.
10:22And we'll build the volcano right the first time.
10:25That's right, the first time.
10:26Absolutely, I will find him.
10:27I think it's one of those films that's really gonna just hit people in different ways.
10:31Hopefully.
10:32Yeah, it's really beautiful.
10:33It's a really beautiful movie.
10:34That's something you can't control is how it affects each person.
10:38Yeah.
10:39Each person probably takes something quite different from it.
10:41Yeah.
10:42Hey, that's a great thing to be able to do, right?
10:43In a movie.
10:44So, congratulations.
10:46Good luck with it.
10:47Lovely to see you both.
10:48Thank you very much.
10:49Wonderful, wonderful film.
10:51Lovely to see you.
10:52Thank you very much.
10:53Great to meet you.
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