00:18even in trauma you know seeing these kids just party and have a good time is such an important
00:24thing but that's a balance of tone because you can't get rid of the you know the heaviness of
00:29it and i think both you as the director but as an actor talking to other actors it's very important
00:36to find that balance you know whether it be with bella whether it be with neil can you talk about
00:41that and then neil playing that balance as well yeah that's so kind thank you i think for me it's
00:46about never letting the lightness become weightlessness you know like i always wanted
00:50it to feel even in the lighter moments you know we were we were still making a film about cancer
00:56but
00:56i think we sort of let that go at some points you know we were like making a film as
00:59much about
01:00cancer as we were about joy and i did a lot of work in the prep with we cast young
01:05survivors we spoke
01:06to lots of charities we worked with leading doctors in that field and i felt really like we were able
01:12to do it authentically and that felt really important to me so then it was just about going
01:16right now let's make this film about a group of mates that find each other and have the best time
01:20of their life at this summer camp and and that felt really exciting because then it was like you know
01:25you had a groundedness but then it was just like right let's let them go crazy and there was intention
01:30to not have it be a film set in a hospital not having um you know people with iv you
01:38know drip lines in
01:39their arms right so this whole this whole movie is about like the remission journey and so these people
01:46are at camp to do everything talk about everything but their diagnoses and so it was very easy for us
01:55to
01:55play that because that's a human thing everyone there's all kinds of camps for all kinds of
01:59different um people and uh and this just happens to be the circumstances of this particular camp yeah
02:06for those of you who have not had the pleasure to meet me yet i am the camp president aka
02:12patrick
02:15sub so i see we have some returning campers hello welcome back there's also some new faces hello over
02:23there i see one hey let's have all the new faces come forward new faces initiation time come on don't
02:30be nervous we're all weird here but in the good way i promise that but also playing the scene uh
02:37desk
02:37you first kneel then i'll go back to you george is like say you have the scene with bella in
02:41in the
02:42office where it does get heavy and yet you have the enthusiasm in front of all the kids and seeing
02:47that reaction it's interesting because there's such an irony in it there's such a interesting ironic
02:52dichotomy in the idea of it can you talk about you know floor flowing with that because the energy
02:58is very much a dance i think throughout the entire film one of my favorite things about watching sunny
03:04dancer is how emotional i get um just as a as a viewer and i think it's because you're you're
03:15rooting for
03:15these people as as humans you're not really you you forget because that they that they have are
03:22struggling with cancer and so you just are rooting for them to fall in love and for them to you
03:30know
03:32find their tribe and so playing patrick i'm the disciplinarian i'm the boss i'm the guy that
03:40keeps you from escaping and tells you to go back to your bunk right
03:48see that one in the middle little boy yellow shirt
03:54that's oscar he was nine and he had non-hodgkin's lymphoma
04:02and he didn't lose his battle he won every day for three years
04:11for three years my little boy suffered
04:18and i can assure you that there is nothing harder than watching your child's heart stop
04:25while yours gets to carry on
04:28this camp is not just about surviving it is about giving people who have lost the ability to a shot
04:35at truly living
04:39so yeah that's what i do ivy that's my petty existence
04:48and so i think in in times like that you're referencing
04:53it's another opportunity for kind of an emotional gut punch when you realize oh no he's not just some
04:59guy that's being paid to be here he has you know he has his own story and he
05:06really wants to remind ivy that that she should appreciate the time that she spent here because not
05:13everyone has a happy ending what in the the cancer journey story and so i think
05:21becoming laser focused real and like telling it like it really is is a nice like splash of water a
05:29wake-up call
05:30for um for her to realize oh maybe i should look at things from a different perspective and i think
05:37that tonal shift is really important um dramaturgically
05:43you can go
05:45uh
05:46activities will resume for you all tomorrow
05:53i'm really sorry about oscar
05:59they're all the ones who didn't make it
06:06i hate to burst your bubble ivy but some kids aren't as lucky as you
06:13and you might have forgotten but you were sick once
06:17and there was a time when you would have wanted to be this girl
06:20at this camp more than anything in the world
06:31and george you had my last question could you talk about you know
06:34finding sort of that rhythm with the cast with that core group because i mean
06:40bella is such a different actress uh from the person playing you know archie from um
06:46to ruby you know everybody has their own different things and it's sort of like they're a band
06:52and they're finding their rhythm could you sort of talk about that finding that because
06:56the stuff out in say the uh i think when they're out on their picnic it feels so organic
07:02and yet it was very scripted yeah i think it's you know i think what i always say about working
07:07with
07:07actors is everyone takes notes so differently and they're such different people like you pointed out
07:12you know like neil is a very different actor to bella who's a very different actor to jasmine
07:16elcock who plays maisie whose first job it is and so my job then is to really change how i
07:22deliver a
07:23note and what they need in a scene and where to push them and i really know my actors quite
07:26well
07:26and i think that's where i pride myself as a director is i know when neil's getting tired and i
07:30know
07:31when to push further i know when to pull back and i know when to save that for the close
07:34-up and i think
07:35you end up being totally in rhythm with them you sort of end up like knowing when they need to
07:41sort
07:41of like when you can push when you should give notes and i believe that actors can only hear three
07:45notes at a time and out of three of them they might only go he's sleeping um they might only
07:51go he knows
07:52i'm getting tired they might only go for like two of the notes and i think that's so exciting so
07:57i just
07:57try and do that i stay really in close with them and have good relationships with them and i cast
08:01people i want to hang out with so it's that makes a big difference
08:04you
