PERFECT SENSE EEN FILM VAN DAVID MACKENZIE WILD BUNCH HAARLEMMERDIJK 159 - 1013 KH – AMSTERDAM WWW.WILDBUNCH.NL [email protected] WILDBUNCHblx PERFECT SENSE – DAVID MACKENZIE PROJECT SUMMARY EEN PRODUCTIE VAN SIGMA FILMS, ZENTROPA IN SAMENWERKING MET ARROW FILMS, BCC FILMS LAND VAN HERKOMST ENGELAND TAAL ENGELS LENGTE 92 MINUTEN GENRE DRAMA REGISSEUR DAVID MACKENZIE HOOFDROLLEN EWAN MCGREGOR EVA GREEN CONNIE NIELSEN EWEN BREMNER RELEASEDATUM 19 JANUARI 2012 FESTIVALS SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL – WERELDPREMIÈRE KIJKWIJZER SYNOPSIS Susan en Michael hebben beiden weinig geluk in de liefde. Susan lijkt geen relatiewaardige man te kunnen vinden. Michael heeft de ene vluchtige affaire na de andere. Totdat ze elkaar ontmoeten en zich vol overgave in hun gepassioneerde verliefdheid storten. Op hetzelfde moment staat de wereld die ze kennen op het punt dramatisch te veranderen. Er heerst een epidemie die emoties en zintuigen een voor een uitschakelt. Terwijl de wereld steeds minder voelt en waarneemt, wordt de liefde tussen Michael en Susan alleen maar intenser. CAST MICHAEL EWAN MCGREGOR SUSAN EVA GREEN SAMUEL STEPHEN DILLANE JAMES EWEN BREMNER JENNY CONNIE NIELSEN CREW DIRECTOR DAVID MACKENZIE SCREENWRITER KIM FUPZ AAKESON PRODUCERS GILLIAN BERRIE MALTE GRUNERT CO-PRODUCERS TRISTAN LYNCH SISSE GRAUM JØRGENSEN LINE PRODUCER JULIA VALENTINE EDITOR JAKE ROBERTS CINEMATOGRAPHER GILES NUTTGENS SOUND EDITOR DOUGLAS MCDOUGALL MUSIC MAX RICHTER CASTING SHAHEEN BAIG PRODUCTION DESIGN TOM SAYER ART DIRECTOR ANDY THOMSON COSTUME DESIGN TRISHA BIGGAR HAIR AND MAKE-UP DONALD MCINNES 1 PERFECT SENSE – DAVID MACKENZIE ABOUT THE PRODUCTION THE ORIGIN OF THE STORY Perfect Sense is the latest product of the rich and enduring co-production partnership between Sigma films, UK, and Zentropa (Lars Von Trier) in Denmark. Their previous film collaborations have involved the Cannes Jury Prize winning Red Road, and Von Trier’s Dogville and Manderlay. ‘We’ve become great allies over the years,’ says director David Mackenzie. ‘I trust their judgement and sensed it would be something special when theybrought me the script.’ The script landed of David’s desk in 2009. ‘I was hooked after ten pages, I thought it was absolutely fantastic, it had this vast global scale. But at the same time it was quite minimal, intimate and simple, like a fable.’… ‘I found it very life affirming – A film with an emotional well, that makes people want to reach out to their fellow men’. For Scriptwriter Kim Fupz Aakeson - a long time admirer of Mackenzie’s films – the story had also come as a surprise: ‘This is more of a fantasy than my previousfilms. I have done a lot of work in realism with research, trafficking, prostitutes,etc you know, and then in my children’s books I have worked with fairy talesand magic. So this film was like a reaction to both, like working in a new melody, a new tone.’ Aakeson’s script has the simplicity of an allegorical tale but is still utterly modern – a love story framed against a declining world. He feels it is necessary to talk about our modern problems, but to go beyond describing them in the negative. ‘There are a lot of stories right now about anarchy and human beings turning against each other, but the opposite is also true, in the face of disasters, we keep on working and eating and shaving and falling in love. I wanted to tell the story of human love and its power.’ Mackenzie, knew it was a challenge to work in the genre of the love story: ‘It is hard to tell contemporary love stories because we’ve become tired of the clichés. It’s like the pop songs – who wants to hear another pop song about love? The task is – what makes this love special? How is it different from all the other love stories? We have so much cynicism these days that it sometimes takes a shock to the senses to make us see love from a new angle – that’s the beauty of this story set against such extreme circumstances.’ Mackenzie and Aakeson, from the start, shared the common goal of creating an intimate study of a couple finding each other against all odds. For this extraordinary tale to come alive a cast of the highest calibre had to come to the project. 2 PERFECT SENSE – DAVID MACKENZIE HOW THE ACTORS WERE DRAWN TO THE STORY EWAN MCGREGOR Mackenzie had wanted to work with Ewan McGregor again since the award winning Young Adam and saw in the sexy, charismatic, hedonistic character of Michael a perfect role for the 38-year-old star. McGregor had just come from filming in LA: ‘I just loved this script and think David is such a good filmmaker. When I got sent Perfect Sense to read I loved the characters, it was such a really lovely premise – this idea of this relentless love story, this story of these two people falling in love almost against their better judgement. I’m drawn to stories that I like.’ Ewan reflected on why he chose this British Indie film over other mainstream projects: ‘I don’t think of them as mainstream films or indie films. I suppose that’s a kind of luxury. But when it comes to making films that you really love and … you know, the size of it, the budget is irrelevant – why would you not want to be involved in a story of love with a film director you really respect. It doesn’t make sense to pass up on that experience just because it doesn’t have a huge budget.’ ‘I really believe that Independent filmmaking is where you can make comment and make statements. It’s quite a complicated film, in terms of what it’s saying about life and love.’ EVA GREEN Mackenzie picked-up on Eva Green from her outstanding roles in Casino Royale and The Dreamers. She described the script as ‘very intense’ and was drawn to the part of Susan. ‘Susan seems to have spent her life searching for answers, professionally, personally, emotionally. I loved this about her and could relate to an extent.’ ‘Susan starts the film surrounded by boundaries that she has put up. As she faces the loss of her senses, her boundaries are lowered and she allows herself to discover love.’ Eva was also keen to work with director Mackenzie: ‘I’d seen some of David’s work before and in particular I really loved Young Adam. For me the thing that connects his films is a deep sense of character and willingness to take them to unusual places. For an actor, that’s a really attractive starting point. Knowing you’ll have the freedom to explore. He is very trusting of his cast and is always interested in pushing in unexpected directions.’ The task then was to see how the two actors interacted. As Mackenzie says ‘They are two people burned by love in the past and they have to believe in it again. In each other.’ For that to happen the audience had to believe in them as a real couple. The co-stars worked closely together to bring out the complexities of the onscreen relationship, while also doing research and training into the real-life daily work of their characters. In rehearsal and while filming, Mackenzie was impressed by Eva and Ewan’s dynamic and understanding of each others roles. As McGregor says – ‘I loved working with Eva, she’s just fantastic. She played a part that was really challenging. We spent a good week or so working on the scenes …her character is very…she’s been in one too many bad relationships, I guess, she doesn’t trust my character and men, and there’s something really lovely about this reluctance. I really like that element of the story, and the fact that they overcome it. In contrast my character is very optimistic.’ Eva also gained a lot from working with Ewan: ‘I had heard that Ewan is the most generous actor and everything I had been told was true. One of the truest pleasures of making this movie was working with Ewan.’ In support, Connie Nielsen plays Susan’s caring sister - while maverick actor Ewen Bremner is the kitchen comedian who makes the restaurant sequences so realistic. Ewen was keen to work again 3 PERFECT SENSE – DAVID MACKENZIE with David Mackenzie again after his role in Hallam Foe. An actor renowned for his improvisation skills he enjoys the freedom that Mackenzie allows him. ‘Improvisation is a terrifying and exciting position to be put in, by the seat of the pants. …David is quite mischievous, he enjoys that dangerous element. Although a lot of it’s quite composed, he likes a bit of mischief in his scenes. He was encouraging me to really run with it, run with an idea…. A lot of what I enjoy about it, is working with these other people, these great actors, they’re all playing off each other, playing with each other.’ This was also Ewen’s third time working with Ewan McGregor, after first meeting on Trainspotting, then on Black Hawk Down. He admires Ewan’s work and prodigious output. ‘We hung out a lot together On Black Hawk Down in Morocco, and saw a different side of each other. I think, since he’s started making movies, he’s really been so prolific, and he’s done so many different kinds of films, and so many different kinds of parts, and worked with so many great filmmakers and actors, and he’s really right now, at the height of his powers. He’s in a really impressive place now, he’s a really impressive actor.’ Ewan McGregor thinks highly of Ewen Bremner’s abilities.