Boxoffice - October 2018

characters—within its time frame. And the
characters’ interiority, something you can
glean from Richard Ford’s prose, can present a
challenge when it comes to expressing it visually
in a film. How did you approach that challenge?
The book is interior, it’s future tense looking
back at this experience, and it’s largely internal.
That doesn’t necessarily make a movie. So a lot
of what I was asking while trying to write the
screenplay with Zoe [Kazan, Dano’s long-time
partner] was asking, “I love the feeling that’s
here. How is that an image or an action?” In
small ways, even a kid fixing a toilet is a way to
communicate through an image or an action. This
film is a family portrait, so the language of the
film is largely about images, moments. It doesn’t
lend itself to a lot of camera moves. That was the
part I looked forward to the most when making
it: where to put the camera and why. My director
of photography, Diego Garcia, is a very special
guy. I worked with a wonderful production designer
and costume designer.
What were some of the visual references you
used in creating a period piece like this?
One of the nice things about making a period
film is that you get to control everything. We get
to create every second of the film. Some of the
exteriors you have to find, because we just don’t
have the money. But the interiors—the colors, the
textures, everything—we make that. That’s so fun
and expressive. It’s such an important part of the
audience’s experience, especially just on a level of
unconscious detail. We didn’t have a big budget,
so that was a challenge—one that in pre-production
is driving you crazy. Once you’re there,
it’s great. The most important thing is to get the
feeling of it right, wanting to be period accurate
but also focus on what feels right.
Did you take visual cues from other films
or artists?
Certainly paintings or photography—Stephen
Shore, for example. There’s something there in
the images and in the colors. Of course, Norman
Rockwell and Edward Hopper.
Then just think of family portraits, something
Zoe and I have always collected—have you ever
gone to a thrift store or just somewhere in some
town, there’s a bucket of old photos sometimes?
We always go through those. I just think they’re
beautiful. We usually end up buying a couple. So
even stuff like that, where you’re trying to imbue
a slight sense of myth or nostalgia. Hopefully that
can help express the emotion in the present tense.
As an actor, how did you approach the
performances in the film?
I’m very lucky to have Carey [Mulligan] and
Jake [Gyllenhaal] and Ed [Oxenbould] and Bill
[Camp]. The film relies on them. The way that I
wanted to make the film would not work without
actors who are really giving you not just a piece
of themselves, but a real internal experience. The
space between the lines is just as important as
what they’re saying. That’s part of that duality I’m
interested in. You can look at the world and smile
at somebody, but also have something that you’re
struggling with. I think that’s true for most of us
at some point in our lives. You hope the script
is there to support them as a foundation, and I
think it was.
Working with the actors felt like parenting
a little bit, where you’re just trying to create
an environment for that person to be the best
version of themselves. Be their cheerleader and
push them when you need to. It was very fun to
re-look at acting as a director, appreciate it and
go, “Wow, I am, as a director, living through
Carey or Jake right now. They’re my extension to
the audience.”
I tried to give them the experience I would
want as an actor, which is just the chance to really
go to work. We shot it fairly economically, so we
got to do enough takes. Sometimes on a really
tight schedule you try to clip through things.
That’s an absolute no for me. I really believe that
once you’re there, you only get to do a scene once
on film. You’re not going back the next day to
that location, so you have to take the time to get
it right. I was lucky that they gave me so much
trust, that they went all-in on their characters.
Are you looking forward to getting back
to directing?
Definitely. I can’t wait to make another film.
I don’t know what it will be, but I would guess
and hope that it’s going to be something different
than Wildlife for sure. This was something I’ve
dreamed about for a long time, this type of film
and filmmaking that I love. It would be fun to do
something a little more playful.
FOR AS LONG AS I HAVE WANTED
TO MAKE FILMS, I HAVE KNOWN
I WOULD MAKE FILMS ABOUT
FAMILY.
IN MY HOME GROWING UP, THERE
WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY AMOUNT
OF LOVE. THERE WAS ALSO
INCREDIBLE TURBULENCE. I WAS
CAUGHT OFF-GUARD WHEN I READ
A BOOK THAT OPENED A WINDOW
TO THAT DUALITY: WILDLIFE, BY
RICHARD FORD. I READ IT MANY
TIMES, SPOOKED, UNSETTLED, AND
EXCITED BY THE UNCANNY FEELING
OF SHARING AN INNER LIFE WITH
THIS BOOK.
I SPENT A YEAR DAYDREAMING
ABOUT IT. ONE DAY, A FINAL SCENE
CAME TO ME—THE FINAL IMAGE
OF WHAT WOULD BE MY FILM. THAT
IMAGE GAVE ME THE COURAGE TO
GO FORWARD.
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 47