JULIANNE MOORE STEPHEN DILLANE EDDIE REDMAYNE ELENA ANAYA Directed By Tom Kalin UNAX UGALDE Screenplay by Howard A. Rodman Based on the book by Natalie Robins & Steven M. L. Aronson BELÉN RUEDA HUGH DANCY Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne Elena Anaya, Unax Ugalde, Belén Rueda, Hugh Dancy CANNES 2007 Directed by Tom Kalin Screenplay Howard A. Rodman Based on the book by Natalie Robins & Steven M.L Aronson FRENCH / INTERNATIONAL PRESS DREAMACHINE CANNES 4th Floor Villa Royale 41 la Croisette (1st door N° 29) T: + 33 (0) 4 93 38 88 35 WORLD SALES F: + 33 (0) 4 93 38 88 70 DREAMACHINE CANNES Magali Montet 2, La Croisette, 3rd floor M : + 33 (0) 6 71 63 36 16 T : + 33 (0) 4 93 38 64 58 E: [email protected] F : + 33 (0) 4 93 38 62 26 Gordon Spragg M : + 33 (0) 6 75 25 97 91 LONDON E: [email protected] 24 Hanway Street London W1T 1UH US PRESS T : + 44 (0) 207 290 0750 INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PUBLICITY F : + 44 (0) 207 290 0751 info@hanwayfilms.com CANNES Jeff Hill PARIS M: + 33 (0)6 74 04 7063 2 rue Turgot email: [email protected] 75009 Paris, France T : + 33 (0) 1 4970 0370 Jessica Uzzan F : + 33 (0) 1 4970 0371 M: + 33 (0)6 76 19 2669 [email protected] email: [email protected] www.dreamachinefilms.com Résidence All Suites – 12, rue Latour Maubourg T : + 33 (0) 4 93 94 90 00 SYNOPSIS “Savage Grace”, based on the award winning book, tells the incredible true story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland, the dashing heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Beautiful, red-headed and charismatic, Barbara is still no match for her well-bred husband. The birth of the couple’s only child,Tony, rocks the uneasy balance in this marriage of extremes. Tony is a failure in his father’s eyes. As he matures and becomes increasingly close to his lonely mother, the seeds for a tragedy of spectacular decadence are sown. Spanning 1946 to 1972, the film unfolds in six acts. The Baekelands’ pursuit of social distinction and the glittering “good life” propels them across the globe. We follow their heady rise and tragic fall against the backdrop of New York, Paris, Cadaques, Mallorca and London. INTERVIEW WITH TOM KALIN What do you think it was that initially attracted you to ‘Savage Grace’? As in SWOON you have again chosen a ‘taboo’ love story that culminates in murder, why? Christine Vachon gave me ‘Savage Grace’ by Natalie Robins and Steven ML Aronson to read many years ago. I was riveted by the sensational truth at the core the Baekeland story, but even more by the echoes of classical tragedy. The sad beauty of the material drew me to it, the collision between elegance and violence. But the film’s terrible climax, Barbara’s death, is only part of her story. The originality of her uniquely American character (self-made woman of the 1940s with a born gambler’s instinct) and her glittering rise and devastating fall contained the elements of what I believed would be an amazing drama. After researching SWOON, I was intrigued by the central ambiguities of that case, particularly the riddle of which (if either) partner was dominant in that relationship. Though in the end, I believe Richard Loeb physically committed the murder of Bobby Franks, I also believe that Leopold and Loeb’s shared chemistry was particularly combustible. So too, with SAVAGE GRACE, I wondered about the central question: did Tony murder his mother or did in fact Barbara cultivate Tony, in a complicated form of narcissism, as the tool with which to kill herself? Finally, and most importantly, I was drawn to these deeply flawed characters, and in the end, feel a complicated loyalty and empathy for them. (Orson Welles, “Judge not lest ye bore the audience”). Tragedy, of course, is one of the inevitable human stories. To paraphrase a review of the book Savage Grace, the tale of the Baekelands is one of ‘profound failure in the simplest duties of love.’ The film has an epic sweep over periods when atmosphere and attitudes were constantly changing. What sort of artistic licence did you have to take in the adaptation? And do you think that this particular type of structuring distances you from the original story? I had an amazing collaboration with the writer of the film, Howard Rodman. We both knew the book was too sprawling in its scope for a simple adaptation. (Savage Grace consists primarily of first-person accounts of witnesses and participants in the Baekeland saga, spanning nearly a century.) Howard and I began by separately identifying what we considered the five key moments of Barbara’s story. When we compared results, most of them were the same. In large part, our question was what to leave off screen and how to construct a story around the significant turning points of these lives. Howard was brilliant at imagining scenes – the Cadogan Square sequence, for instance, that had been merely hinted at by photographs included in the book and by others I uncovered. Everything I needed to know about what happened between Barbara and Tony seemed hidden in a 1971 photograph of Tony -- exquisitely slouched posture, cradling a cigarette -- sitting next to Barbara, armoured in her Chanel and pearls, on a perfectly proper sofa. The bathtub scene in Paris 1959 is also based on a rather startling photograph of an angelic twelve year old Tony lounging in the tub, his gaze directed at the camera. Surely snapped by Barbara. The picture is both tender and chilling and captures a moment of behaviour that hints at the iceberg below the surface. These photographs were an invaluable resource for my later collaborators : Director of Photography Juanmi Azpiroz, Production Designer Victor Molero and Costume Designer Gabriela Salaverri as well as an army of others. Juanmi has remarkable skill at using light to express the evolution of atmosphere and stillness to amplify growing tensions. Both Victor and Gabriela created a believable world for the actors to occupy, with a subtle and exacting approach to period. For instance, the easy style of Tony and his friends in mid-Sixties Cadaques was surprisingly timeless – no white go-go boots and miniskirts required. This orchestration of a constantly changing mise-en-scène was remarkable, even more when you realise the film was shot entirely in and around Barcelona. The experience of making a film in Spain has been one of the highlights of my career. In any story of this complexity there are inevitable simplifications, omissions and even modifications of characters. Howard and I tried to capture what we believed to be emotionally truthful while maintaining a healthy scepticism about the slippery nature of what becomes known as official history. What drew you to Julianne Moore for the role of Barbara? I met Julianne briefly when Todd Haynes made SAFE and then again later on the set of FAR FROM HEAVEN. Julianne is one of the most gifted actors working today and she brings an astonishing range and complexity to her work. I knew she would be unforgettable as Barbara and would instinctively know how to convey the humanity and emotional depth the role demanded. I sent her the script and we met for lunch shortly after. I chattered nervously, while she looked at a binder of photographs of Barbara, Tony and Brooks I had brought. There was no denying her strong physical similarity to Barbara. Though this was an added bonus, it is Julianne’s ability to reveal emotion through the smallest moment of behaviour that brings Barbara to life. It was exciting too, to follow this character over an extended period of time, to watch Julianne convey the arc of a life through both triumph and failure. The characters in SAVAGE GRACE are complex. Could you give us a quick overview from your point of view of the three main characters of Barbara, Brooks, and Tony? BARBARA DALY BAEKELAND Barbara Daly was born near Boston in 1920. When she was a teenager, her father committed suicide and his body discovered by her brother, who later died in a car crash (perhaps not accidental). Like many beautiful young women of her generation with little money, she was urged by her mother to make a successful marriage. Courted by John Jacob Astor, she was declared one of the ten most beautiful women in New York. She went to Hollywood briefly in the early Forties and did a screen test with Dana Andrews. She possessed a reckless charisma rare among women in her social circle and this volatility made her a magnet for Brooks. Her fatal flaw lay in her narcissism (rooted in deep insecurity) and her obsession with an unachievable notion of “society” and appearances. To those around her, she seems both brave and foolish, and her acts of self-invention display great strength of imagination but also reveal her fear of discovery and unmasking. But “society” alone is not enough for her and her need for love (from Brooks, from Tony, from Sam) is both deeply vulnerable and, at times, all consuming. BROOKS BAEKELAND From ‘Savage Grace’ by Natalie Robins,Steven ML Aronson : “ He [Brooks’ father George] also had dash, or what the French call panache. It was show. He was always, metaphorically speaking, standing at a mirror. ...But finally, his arrogance and his misanthropy were ego saving rationalizations for a deep shyness and sense of his social incapacities. I know this because I am his son and have inherited many of the same disabilities.