On Monday 10 December we were treated to a fantastic member screening of You Were Never Really Here, followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Lynne Ramsay.
Ramsay was joined by producer Jim Wilson and moderator Danny Leigh to discuss working with Joaquin Phoenix, adapting from the source material and shooting the whole thing in just 27 days. Catch up with all the live-tweets below.
We’re at Dolby tonight for an exciting member screening of You Were Never Really Here, followed by a Q&A with the amazing Lynne Ramsay! Follow #DUKRamsay for the live tweets after the film. pic.twitter.com/cOgqCyaYfp
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Well we’ve just watched and been blown away by You Were Never Really Here, and now it’s time for the Q&A with the director Lynne Ramsay and producer Jim Wilson. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Lynne: Me and Jonathan Ames (upon whose work the book is based) sort of became pen friends, and we agreed we needed to keep the lean, stripped back style of the novella. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) in this film is a kind of anti James Bond character with a gut, there was something that spoke to me about him and what he suggested about violence. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Pretty early on in the film I’ll think about sound and music - this was a 27 day shoot so we had to be really tightly organised. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Jim adds that the brothel CCTV sequence is one example of necessity being the mother of invention. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Lynne: And that meant that the violence starts off cold and becomes more personal as the film goes along. I’ve never had time to do additional photography so that sequence really had to work! #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
#DUKRamsay pic.twitter.com/dD3Mh5qkbT
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Jim: I knew Joaquin from previous films I’d worked on. He told me that cinematographer Darius Khondji identified Lynne as someone he had to work with. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Lynne: I think he understood about 50% of what I said overall! #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
I based the character of Joe’s mum a bit on mine - watching horror movies and hard boiled films with the volume up way too loud. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
There was an energy you could feel on set - there was a kind of beautiful craziness, even the edit ended up being like that. Maybe it wouldn’t have been the same if we had more time and money! #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Jim: There were only about 4 weeks between Joaquin saying yes and starting shooting. At that point we only had a script, director and lead. There was very little prep time. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
#DUKRamsay pic.twitter.com/5ic45Ja9EA
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
An audience member asks how they raised all the money in just four weeks! #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Jim: We had great partners from the UK and France - and Why Not? productions helped with cash flow. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
An audience member asks about the character of Governor Williams - how it changed in the edit. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Lynne: I didn’t want to end with him having a big face off scene, I didn’t want that catharsis for the character. It never felt right, and that was a decision we made part way through shooting. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
A member of the audience asks about Lynne’s approach to directing Joaquin (Phoenix) #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
Lynne: He totally works on instinct and he doesn’t like kicking around on set and going through the motions - and I found that really inspiring because I think I’m a bit like that too. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
That’s one of the best things about directing. If you’re alive to what’s happening on set and using that you’ll end up with something better than the best case scenario from your script. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
And that’s a wrap! Thanks so much to Lynne and Jim for an amazing Q&A and thanks so much to @dannytheleigh for moderating! #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
You Were Never Really Here is a knockout and if you’ve not seen it yet correct that immediately. #DUKRamsay
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 10, 2018
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