- 13 hours ago
The writer-director sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss her film, pulling from personal experience, working with the cast and more.
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00:03Hey everyone, thanks for joining us in studio today. We have the writer and director of State
00:09Like Sleep, Meredith Danluck. Thank you for being here. I'm very happy to be here. Okay,
00:15so this film is, how would you describe it? Because I, as I was watching, it's very,
00:21it's a mystery, it's sort of modern noir, I might, dare I say. People have said it. Yeah,
00:27how would you describe it? I think that those words are appropriate, but I think that the,
00:34you know, to use those words in, you know, and only those words would be misleading because I
00:39think it's a much deeper drama and it's a much more compelling story that's packaged in those
00:47genre elements. So it's really about this woman who's going through the process of grieving and
00:52it's using the kind of architecture of a mystery or the architecture of a thriller to ultimately
01:01service those much more, you know, those much deeper emotional aspects of her arc throughout
01:09the movie. Yes, sort of like a character study. I mean, Katherine Waterston is almost in every
01:15frame, practically, of the movie. What was your inspiration when you, where did this idea come
01:22from originally for you when you were writing? Well, I mean, there's, you know, there's a couple
01:26different things going on in the movie. You know, one of the elements of the movie is the mother
01:30character. There's, it takes place in Brussels and then there's the husband's suicide. So all of those
01:37things were really pulled from my life. Not that my, you know, not husband, but I had a friend who
01:45took their own life and that was really a traumatic experience and, and reverberated in this way where
01:56I saw not only myself, but a lot of other people in that kind of friend group searching for some
02:05kind
02:05of answers or kind of creating different narratives to explain the situation. And, and then in reading
02:13Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking, she describes the same process after her husband's passing
02:19away. And it dawned on me that, that those feelings really lined up with this idea of like the mystery
02:28and the, the, there was, you know, I'd seen in, in writing the script, there was, you know, I, I
02:33pulled
02:34from a lot of different films. I watched a lot of different films. One of, one of them being Kieslowski's
02:40blue and where Juliette Vinoche is grieving her husband, um, after a car accident. And it's
02:46such a beautiful movie. But one thing that, and I was really inspired by that, but one
02:51thing that I didn't really feel was that kind of urgency and the, the sense of like, I need
02:56to figure this out now, I need to get answers. And although ultimately there are no answers
03:02that are going to resolve anything, like nothing is going to be reversed. It's just going to kind
03:07of satisfy some, something that is, um, you know, it's an unanswerable question. Um, so
03:16I felt like the genre of like, of the thriller, of the mystery kind of, it just suited the emotional
03:22complexity of that situation.
03:24Gotcha. Um, and then the visual, you know, I'm curious how the, how you, um, sort of came
03:33with the DP, did you, or previously know, uh, is it Christopher?
03:38Chris Blauvelt, yeah.
03:38Chris Blauvelt, I want to say it right.
03:40Yeah.
03:40Did you previously know Chris Blauvelt, the director of photography?
03:44Yes.
03:45Um.
03:46How did he come on board?
03:47What were those conversations, cause it's so visual.
03:49And what were those conversations like?
03:52Chris and I met, um, at our friend TG Firestone's wedding, where we camped in a, like a, like a,
04:00a children's camp, camp, like a children's camp, like bunk beds. And, and, um, so we spent
04:07like a full weekend. Uh, I'd heard about him. Like he, you know, he's a, he's a great DP.
04:13I'd heard about him for a long time.
04:14He's been working. He's, if you haven't seen, uh, his list of credits, I mean,
04:17it's very, a lot of operating, but also he just did mid nineties, which came out, um, Jonah
04:22Hills movie. Yeah. Um, yeah, he's, he's great with Kelly Reichardt all the time.
04:26And those movies are so stunning. Um, so, so we started talking about the movie, um, around
04:33then and, uh, and you know, as indie movies do, they come together, they fall apart, they
04:38come together again, you know? And so we, we spent a lot of time. I think he lived with
04:44the script for a really long time and, um, and we traded books back and forth. Um, uh,
04:50and so we really developed the, the kind of the palette and, um, the, the, you know, every
04:57movie has a kind of camera logic. Why does the camera move? When does the camera move?
05:02What is the frame? What are the lenses? You know? So these are all conversations that,
05:07um, you know, with a great DP, you can really dig deep and create a whole system of logic.
05:12So in the moment, you know exactly what to do and, and how, how to, how to frame it up.
05:17So, so you knew from the beginning, so you knew each other personally and you kind of
05:19knew from the, sounds like the beginning that he was going to, he was going to be the DP
05:23for this. Yeah. The only, the other, and he knows this and also Peter knows this. The
05:28other DP that I was really, uh, really going for was Peter Deming. So, um, who I developed
05:34a whole friendship with in the meantime, but you know, he's like, uh, I just think he's
05:39a genius. And so the, the two of them, um, they have a funny little like competition.
05:46Now that I've completely created. Um, okay. So I just kind of also wanted to talk about
05:54the cast. Everyone is just, they're so great. I mean, I know I already mentioned it, but
05:59Catherine Watterson, um, how did she come on board? Cause she's like I said, in almost
06:05every, you know, scene, definitely every scene, almost every frame of the movie. So how did she
06:10come on board? Um, and what do you like about working with her also?
06:14Well, she's like now like a super close friend. So I can't say a bad thing about Catherine.
06:20She's so funny, so smart, so kind and caring. And just like, I, I love spending time with
06:28her. Um, so I love, I love working with her. I love every aspect of working with her. I
06:33think her, um, I was really drawn to her because I felt like in, in the things that I had
06:39seen
06:40her in there was this, you could tell that she had this kind of deep interior life, this
06:45kind of intelligence, almost like, like Francis McDormand watching, watching like blood simple.
06:51You know, you can see that there's so much going on and it's so legible on her face. And, um,
06:58and you're just tracking with her, you know, exactly what she's thinking and how she's feeling.
07:01And, um, and I think that that's, that's really something that this character needed because
07:06there's so much going on and there's, it's very, it's a very emotionally complex story.
07:12And she's not, this character isn't very forthright with dialogue. You know, you don't always know
07:17what she's thinking or what she's going to say, or you, you rely so much on, um, that performance
07:25from her. So I was going to ask, you know, if that, if that was something that she really brought
07:28to that role that you were, you know, absolutely. Yeah. Just that kind of that, you know, being
07:34able to, being able to look at her and, and know where she's at, even if she's saying, she's saying
07:41one thing, but knowing that she's kind of thinking or feeling or motivated by something else.
07:46Yeah. And she's so subtle. She's so good. I could gush about her for hours, but the other one,
07:49I love Mary Kay Place. She's amazing. Um, you know, she's one of the supporting characters.
07:56I was also pleasantly surprised to see Michael Shannon in such a, I mean, relatively speaking,
08:02normal role. Yeah. Because he always plays the bad, you know, like the villain, the bad guy,
08:06General Zod, you know, that kind of thing. And, um, he is so talented and, um, I love seeing him
08:13because it's not a very, he's sort of, he's this kind of like sexy, like love interest guy.
08:18Yeah. And I bought it. I loved it. They have such good chemistry. Um, did they read together
08:24beforehand or how did you, how did he come on board with this also?
08:28Um, well, you know, I was watching some kind of, I forgot what it was. It was some late show
08:35and Michael Shannon was on and he was wearing a suit and he like, it was really charming and
08:41funny. And, and all of a sudden I was like, huh, Michael Shannon is really attractive.
08:48Like weird. And, um, and I remember talking to my casting agent, Mark Bennett, and he was like,
08:55Oh, all about it. Like totally into it. And, um, luckily Michael Shannon's agent, Jack Wiggum
09:01was also into it, read the script and was like, Oh yeah, I can see this. And so it was,
09:07even though it
09:07was really against type, everyone who knew him was, knew that he, he had that quality. I mean,
09:15he's, he's an actor and he's a, I mean, he can do anything, but he's also, he's one of those
09:21people
09:21that's incredibly powerful. Like his, his energy is very powerful.
09:26Yes. He's tall. He's very tall. He's very tall. He's physically, he's, yeah, he's yeah.
09:30He walks into a room and, and he can channel that energy into being very scary, which is
09:37what a lot of people hire him to do. Um, but he can also channel that energy into being
09:43extremely funny and charming. And when he turns that on, it is like magical.
09:49So did they read together the two? No, they just sort of showed up and that's, that's really
09:54lucky that they had such good, uh, chemistry cause you never know sometimes and that, um,
09:58he's a pretty, uh, important part of the story for her. So, um, so that's, that's great that
10:04they, that they worked out, um, together so well. They really did. They had a really great chemistry
10:09and, um, you know, I think that it was, uh, yeah, it was very lucky. Um, so, you know, this
10:17is an indie film, indie filmmaking can be kind of, you know, tough at times. To put it lightly.
10:26Um, what was a part of the process that you maybe weren't, cause I know you've, um, you've
10:32made short films, you've directed documentaries, uh, you have a lot of experience under your
10:36belt, but what was a part of this particular process that maybe you weren't expecting?
10:42That other filmmakers maybe who are, or, you know, up and coming, anyone who, who is looking
10:46to make their, you know, a film sort of? Yeah, I think that's a really good question. I think,
10:50um, I think that, uh, you know, getting it off the ground, getting a film, an indie film,
10:58um, produced and financed, I think that, you know, I have this, you know, I'm going to be
11:05really honest, um, you know, come, I went to the Sundance Labs and coming out of the Sundance
11:09Labs, it, you feel like you've, like, won the golden ticket. Like, I came out of Sundance Labs,
11:14like, this movie is getting made, like, I am good. And then it was, like, three years later,
11:21I had, I made the movie, you know, like, I, and I think that there's, you know, this kind
11:25of exercise in humility, like, faith and humility. Those are the two things where it's, like,
11:33you have to have faith in, in the movie and really believe that it is going to get made,
11:38but also an amount of humility knowing that, um, that you have, that your ego will, will
11:45get kind of crushed in the process. And that's not a bad thing because ultimately it's not
11:50about, it's not about, you know, me, Meredith Danluck and my ego. It's about, like, it's
11:56about getting the movie made. And, you know, that's the most important thing is kind of worshiping
12:00at that temple. And, um, and so I'd say, I'd say that it's, it's a brutal process and so
12:09much rejection and so many, you know, like, there's a lot of judgment and a lot of rejection,
12:15but it's, it's, you have to be in love with the movie and know that it's, it's going to
12:21get made. Yeah. And you have to also, I guess once the train gets going, once it, like, leaves
12:24the station, you have to just commit to the process also. Yeah. And be happy with the process. Yeah.
12:28Um, and not think about maybe, you know, what else, what else is going to come. Um, so when
12:33you're in filming, uh, when you're in production, what was there a scene or a sequence or a shoot
12:39day that kind of kept you up at night the night before? Nothing kept me up at night. I was
12:46so exhausted that nothing kept me up at night. Yeah. Um, what's your favorite scene in the movie?
12:52Like after you see it all come together, what's maybe one of your favorite scenes or shots?
12:55What, what really, um, what, what kind of, it really changes, but I, I always, I really
13:02love the hair washing scene. Yeah. I was like, is he, he's okay. Yeah. It's funny because we
13:10had, um, I think, yeah, we had a, we had on set that day, we had a, um, a substitute
13:17DIT.
13:18So nor, you know, we had like the woman who was normally our DIT, uh, was sick. And so
13:23this new guy came in and at some point he was like, Hmm, what, what, what, what is this movie?
13:32But I'd say that that was, it was so much fun to shoot. Was that his only day? It was
13:36his
13:37only day. Once you watch the movie, you'll, you'll understand why this is hilarious. Um, but yeah,
13:43I'd say that that's, it's also, it's one of those scenes that like throughout the, the
13:48process there was, you know, talk about cutting it because it doesn't like, it doesn't serve
13:53the plot or, you know, but it, it serves like her, it serves her journey and it serves a
14:00much bigger, um, a much bigger idea, which is like life is weird and people do weird things
14:08and you don't know, you had, you don't know people. Yeah. Well, she was also, I, I, it's
14:14not really clear if she's sort of met anyone since her husband, you know, um, died in the
14:21beginning of the movie. And so it's presumably been a while and she doesn't really, you know,
14:25that happens with that guy. And then when she does meet Michael Shannon and that, that
14:29happens, I don't know. I, I thought it served for that. Yeah. I, I, yeah. One of those things.
14:34It's a failed one night stand that, that paves the way for something better.
14:40Okay. Last question for you. Um, I'm just curious who are some of your favorite directors
14:45who, um, or movies or I just always love hearing if it can be an inspiration for this film
14:51or, um, yeah, I think, you know, I get interested in different, in different movies for different,
14:58um, for different projects or different, you know, I, I kind of go down the rabbit hole of,
15:03of, of, um, of different filmmakers, you know, like I just went down like a Dardenne brothers
15:08rabbit hole recently for, but it was, you know, kind of because I was thinking about these other
15:12things, I was thinking about camera movement and, and kind of composed naturalistic, uh,
15:18camera movement. Um, but for this film, um, you know, I really went, I went into the kind
15:24of like noir thriller, um, you know, like I said, Kieslowski, but, uh, like Polanski's, uh,
15:32Frantic was a huge touchstone, touch, touchstone movie for this film, um, as was Terms of Endearment,
15:38you know? I thought in that, there's a scene where she goes to the nurses' station and that
15:43tours the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. The first thing I thought was, that's Shirley MacLaine.
15:46Shirley MacLaine. That, that scene. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, got you. That's amazing. Um, well, thank you so much for
15:53being here.
15:53Thank you for having me. Um, congrats on the movie. Everyone go see it. It is in theaters now.
15:58It is called State Like Sleep and, um, I don't think you'll be disappointed. So, thanks for watching.
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