Actress Vicky Krieps and Writer/Director/Composer/Actor Viggo Mortensen talk to The Inside Reel about approach, silence, humor, trust and play in regards to their new film, the western "The Dead Don't Hurt" from Shout Studios.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 I shouldn't have left.
00:15 I never wanted to be saved.
00:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:21 [GUNSHOTS]
00:24 It's existential, his life.
00:37 But it's also a life of consequence
00:39 in how he represents himself to Vivienne.
00:43 Where did you need to look at as a director for performance
00:47 from both you and Vicky, but also
00:49 as a composer and an actor to truly sort of get
00:54 what you were trying to get to in the writing on screen?
00:58 Well, the writing goes on from the first image
01:01 you have until the end, until you show the movie, really.
01:04 Writing music, which we made almost all of way
01:09 before we started shooting, which sounds a little backwards,
01:12 but it was helpful.
01:13 It was a good guide to how certain scenes should be,
01:16 how long they should last, what the rhythm should be,
01:19 and all that.
01:20 And then in the editing, it made life easier.
01:24 But all these things are part of writing.
01:28 The music, composing music is I'm
01:31 thinking about the scenes, where they would go.
01:34 And then someone like Vicky reads a script,
01:36 and they have a reaction to the scenes or to the dialogue.
01:39 And maybe when you hear them say certain lines,
01:42 or you see the way they're portraying the character,
01:45 you realize, eh, we could take a couple of words out.
01:47 We don't need to say all of that.
01:49 Or maybe the way she's saying it is better.
01:51 I hadn't thought of that.
01:53 So it's a constant evolving form of writing.
01:59 And editing is also--
02:01 editing is the last chance to write, really.
02:04 Well, the last chance is the sound mix and all that.
02:07 So yeah, I just enjoy the whole process,
02:11 which involves lots of people.
02:13 You can see in our credits.
02:14 Sometimes in movies, they usually
02:17 don't put all the people that were there,
02:18 all the assistants, all that.
02:20 And when I showed them, I said, I
02:21 want to have all these people.
02:22 And they said, why?
02:23 So I did it on my first movie.
02:25 And the people that get left out,
02:27 the assistant of the assistant, the guy who
02:32 peels the onions or something, they're
02:34 the ones that need that credit the most.
02:36 Because if they say, yeah, no, I've worked on the movies
02:38 before.
02:38 It's on IMDb.
02:39 I'm in the credits.
02:40 And then someone looks, and they go, no, you're not.
02:42 Because those people get left out.
02:44 Anyway, you can see there's a lot of people involved
02:47 in telling a story like this.
02:49 And yeah, I enjoy that.
02:51 I enjoy that collaborative aspect.
02:52 No, Weston!
02:53 [SCREAMING]
02:55 [GUNSHOTS]
02:56 [GUN COCKING]
02:58 [GASPING]
03:01 Damn you, Weston!
03:04 God damn it!
03:05 [GUNSHOT]
03:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:09 So where are you from?
03:13 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
03:15 It's a very long story.
03:17 I have plenty of time.
03:18 Why did you go to San Francisco?
03:26 To see the end of the world.
03:28 This is it?
03:29 The place you chose of all the places you have seen.
03:33 No flowers, no garden at all.
03:35 You live like a dog.
03:37 A happy dog.
03:38 Igo is saying reaction.
03:40 And yet, this character is very active.
03:42 She's very active in what she does.
03:44 Can you talk about working with Vigo that way?
03:47 In terms of-- at times, even when she's
03:49 on the bed towards the end, it's about less about what she says
03:53 and more about how you show her feeling.
03:56 Could you talk about that and sort of that volley
03:59 between you and Vigo as also?
04:02 Well, I'm a great believer of silence.
04:05 I think you've seen that in other of my roles.
04:08 And reading the script, I understood
04:10 that Vigo has the same understanding maybe.
04:13 Or I could read the silence from the start.
04:17 And this is something where we connected.
04:19 I don't really like to talk a lot about the work
04:23 when I'm in the work, unless there's a problem.
04:26 Or someone comes to me and says, you have to change it.
04:30 I'm going to change.
04:32 Other than that, I really--
04:34 to me, a set is like a church.
04:37 And all these things that you describe in her on the bed,
04:42 it's a little bit magic.
04:44 And I can't describe it.
04:46 No one can describe it, what happens in a human being
04:49 when we become silent.
04:51 And we let other things speak through us.
04:55 And I think I was just trying to be really honestly silent,
05:00 listening to what's around me, and trying
05:02 to connect, as far as I can understand,
05:04 to someone who would go through similar things.
05:08 And what helped me most was that Vigo trusted me.
05:14 And in trusting me, I was able to be very personal
05:17 and tell, through Vivian, my personal story of resistance,
05:23 of fighting.
05:25 I've had a lot of really bad experiences in life
05:29 so far already.
05:30 And I'm not even living in a Western town.
05:32 Life is not easy.
05:33 And I feel that there's a lot of fighting,
05:37 especially as a woman, I have to say.
05:39 I'm not saying that because I'm particularly
05:41 interesting in identifying with the victim.
05:46 That's not the point.
05:46 The point is that when you're a woman,
05:48 you have to always explain yourself.
05:51 You know, why am I doing this, even though I am a mother?
05:54 Why am I doing this, even though I'm an actress?
05:56 Why did I even become an actress?
05:57 Where are my children now?
05:59 Why am I sitting here without my children?
06:01 You always have to explain yourself a little bit.
06:03 And that is no one's fault. It's just
06:05 the way society has been building itself over the years.
06:09 So I think if we speak of the way we work together,
06:13 there was a lot of Vigo trusting me,
06:15 and me, with that trust, being allowed to go
06:18 really deep into my soul.
06:20 You have to tell me where you want me to plant your trees.
06:25 You're still a dog.
06:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:32 Can I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen?
06:34 I am Sergeant Webb of the California Regiment.
06:37 We need volunteers who want to fight to save the Union.
06:40 We're looking for men of honor.
06:42 Thinking about enlisting.
06:44 This is not your problem.
06:45 This is not your country.
06:46 It's the right thing to do, fighting against slavery.
06:50 We have a life together now.
06:52 It is only beginning.
06:54 Be my wife.
06:55 You cannot make things right with a consolation prize.
06:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:01 Vigo on the reverse.
07:04 How do you-- because there's those moments,
07:06 either like the flirting in the beginning in San Francisco,
07:09 or even you pulling her into the trench
07:12 when you bring the manure back to make her trees.
07:15 Those things-- could you talk about the reverse,
07:18 working with Vicky in that way, and how it allowed
07:20 you to be that man, be Olsen?
07:24 Well, those kinds of scenes, which
07:26 involve a certain vulnerability, like when they first meet,
07:31 there's a certain awkwardness, which if you're honest about it
07:37 can be attractive, can be erotic, can be passionate,
07:42 can be interesting to watch and to imagine,
07:48 for an audience, I think.
07:49 And then the scene you talk about,
07:50 pulling her into the trench, it's kind of clumsy
07:54 and a bit silly.
07:57 But if you resist that, then it's going to be stiff
08:00 and it's not going to work.
08:01 And what's great about Vicky is she loves to play.
08:03 That scene could have been terrible, really stupid.
08:06 But we just did it.
08:07 It's like, OK, there's manure, and let's see what happens.
08:12 And we didn't talk too much about it.
08:14 It felt real.
08:15 You can tell that I don't--
08:17 well, you can tell that I don't really know
08:18 how far I'm going to fly.
08:20 I surprised her.
08:22 I changed the timing a little bit.
08:23 Once we-- so let's just shoot it.
08:25 Let's not talk about it.
08:26 You can see that.
08:27 I'm really literally like, phew.
08:28 But if you have someone who's willing to play and have fun,
08:31 then there's no limit.
08:33 You can go places, and then they inspire you to go places.
08:36 So you have to remember that it's a serious business,
08:41 and there's a lot of money at stake, and there's a schedule,
08:44 and it can be stressful.
08:47 But it's good to remember that it's play.
08:51 It's like when you're little kids imagining.
08:53 When I was a little kid imagining I was a gaucho
08:56 or a cowboy or--
08:58 because you don't limit yourself as a kid.
08:59 I imagined I was a Native American warrior,
09:03 like Crazy Horse or something, doing all these things
09:07 and not thinking, well, I'm a little blonde-haired,
09:10 blue-eyed kid.
09:11 I can't do that.
09:12 It's like, why not?
09:14 You can do anything as a kid.
09:15 And the acting and movie storytelling
09:19 works better when the team feels that way.
09:23 Anything's possible.
09:24 We can create this illusion, and we
09:27 can include feeling embarrassed or whatever we feel.
09:34 It can be awkward.
09:35 And I think part of the relationship, why it works,
09:37 you never know when you're working with someone
09:39 if it's going to work on screen or not.
09:41 But one way to hopefully get there is to be honest.
09:46 I'm nervous, or I'm uncomfortable,
09:48 and let's just do it anyway.
09:50 We're in this together, you know?
09:52 And I think that's how we--
09:53 Yeah.
09:54 --work a lot.
09:56 No sense being all alone on a night like this.
09:59 No different than any other.
10:01 I am fine, Mr. Jeffries.
10:02 No, you most certainly are.
10:04 [GRUNTS]
10:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:08 It makes no sense for you to be here now, Weston.
10:17 [GRUNTS]
10:18 [GRUNTS]
10:20 [GUNSHOT]
10:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:24 Is there going to be a problem, Mr. Schiller?
10:27 I don't believe so, Alfred.
10:28 [GRUNTS]
10:29 [SCREAMING]
10:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:34 [GRUNTING]
10:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:41 [BLANK_AUDIO]