Boxoffice - July 2019

PHOTO © JON PACK
PARENTAL GUIDANCE
Peter Edgar (Tim Roth)
and Amy Edgar (Naomi
Watts) in Luce
way. There’s no blood, there’s no guts, there’s no
war—none of the things that are typical staples of a
thriller. Luce is this kid who comes from a background
of violence, growing up in a conflict zone
and witnessing death and brutality and all these
things that are not typical for a child, yet he moves
from one war zone to another one. And that’s the
psychological war zone of identity in America.”
And here’s where race and status come into play.
“Though we all are dealing with the multitudes that
we can tame, there are some of us who have more
privileges and more power in how we get to define
ourselves, how we get to wield our identities, versus
those who haven’t. That’s another part of the big
conversation we’re having in this moment: How do
we create the kind of environment where no matter
who you are, you get to have that complex and
complicated and messy inner life and not necessarily
be punished for it? Regardless of what everyone’s
politics are, there are those who get to lead a complicated,
messy lifestyle and maybe one day become
president, and there are those who don’t. And that’s
just objective truth. That’s not political slant.”
Aside from Luce, played brilliantly by the
charismatic Kelvin Harrison Jr. (It Comes at Night),
“complicated” also describes the other main characters
in the film: Amy (Naomi Watts), the compassionate
adoptive mother who is torn apart by the
accusations against her son; Peter (Tim Roth), the
father who harbors a surprising amount of regret
and bitterness; and Harriet Wilson (Oscar winner
Octavia Spencer), the teacher whose views on race
and responsibility clash with Luce’s.
“All these actors had to have a really complex
understanding of who they were and use that as
a foundation,” Onah notes, “so that even though
different sides of them were revealed in different
scenes, it still felt like it was coming from a consistent
core. You have to have this macro-level view
of your character but also be in touch with some of
the contradictions of that character when you make
a turn and do something unexpected or surprising.
It was a lot of work, and we spent about a week and
a half, which is unusual for a movie this small, but
it speaks to the commitment of the actors, who all
came in early. We went through the script and we
talked through the characters and their relationships
and their perspectives and their politics, and
really tried to have a firm grasp of where they were
coming from.”
44 JULY 2019