One of my favorite films at this years Sundance Film Festival was writer-directorWhit StillmansLove & Friendship.
Shortly before the world premiere at Sundance, I sat down with Stillman for an exclusive interview.
you could alsoread Matt’s review here.
Collider: Starting with the most basic thing, when did you know you were getting into Sundance?
WHIT STILLMAN: They saw it the Monday after Halloween.
And it was really quick.
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A week or two into November.
It was real fast.
STILLMAN: Real fast, it seemed to me.
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I apologize for not knowing, but how many of your other films have played Sundance?
STILLMAN: This is my second film here.
So, I hadMetropolitanpremiered here 26 years ago exactly today and now, this film.
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What do you remember about premiering back then?
STILLMAN: I remember everything.
Sundance had only established itself as a big thing the year before withSex, Lies and Videotape.
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So there was a really good session in 1989.
We were the year after the cool class.Metropolitandid really well in the festival that year.
What everyone said was, Its notSex, Lies and Videotape.
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I think I only sold Canada out of here.
Its sort of radical to think about Sundance then and now.
STILLMAN: Well, I had a few other stops between then and now.
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I was here in 95 on the jury, and Tom DeCillosLiving in Oblivionplayed here.
There were other good films we gave awards to.
Then I came back withMetropolitanas a retrospective in 2010 with all the actors, which was very fun.
So Id seen the evolution.
It was quite surprised about how much it had grown between 90 and 95.
The indie film boom, a little bit.
And Im not really sure that happens in quite the same way, small films getting big releases.
Maybe it still does, I dont know.
For example,Sleeping with Other People.
STILLMAN: But that must be a pretty expensive film.
Its a Will Ferrell production, no?
Maybe it was 5 or 10 million, I dont really know.
The point is though, big hit out of Sundance, and doesnt do anything at the box office.
Another film that really performed wasBrooklyn, which is now up for best picture.
But I suppose were getting off here.
I want to talk about your film.
Youve been working on this project for a very long time.
STILLMAN: Its the off and on project.
This is my back pocket project, the thing that gave me a lot of pleasure.
Cannes 2013, that was where I really presented it.
So something Ive felt Ive learned withThe Cosmopolitansshoot is using some agility and changing things quickly.
Thats something I found really useful on this shoot too.
The gestation ofThe Cosmopolitansand this are slightly different from my other films.
The script would be done and Id be cutting it, but I wasnt always writing new material.
For people who dont know much about the movie and the story, can you give a log line?
STILLMAN: I can.
Its derived from something Jane Austen wrote when she was quite young, when she was about 18.
This is really comic and kind of immoral in a lot of aspects, in the original material.
Chloe and I have some Connecticut background.
The prosperous Americans who sided with the crown, they were essentially exiled back to England.
Some went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Carribbean, and some went back to London.
All those elements going towards the conclusion.
I have not read the novel.
STILLMAN: Nor should you, because I am going to save you that trouble.
Because Im writing the novel of our movie.
Its tons of what she wrote.
I love Jane Austen.
Theres tons of Jane Austen material, but I had to add some extra characters.
How long was your first cut versus what people are going to see?
It was always very short.
It was a really tight, short shoot and a really tight film.
If youve got a light comedy, you dont want to go too long.
Talk about landing funding for this film.
Was it an easy financing thing or a constant struggle?
STILLMAN: It seemed deceptively easy at the start.
But all these things that seem frustrating at the time turn out to be silver lining land.
I saw her forThe Cosmopolitanscasting and then asked if she could read forLove & Friendship.
The enthusiasm from the Irish Film Board - they were incredibly helpful.
Also, there were great crews who are always doing these period films, know how to work economically.
I think the film looks massively more expensive than the budget.
We pieced it together using both the European Artistic film co-production model and the American indie film model.
And then I called up myMetropolitaninvestors.
And myMetropolitaninvestors came to the rescue; it was really heroic.
They all came in with substantial investments.
I think that people working on the production were amazed to see the money just flow right in.
This is not the norm.
STILLMAN: It was really inspiring.
That money flowing in was friend money from the states and some from Europe.
Hard is the non-friend money from these other entities.
Right now, does someone have the American rights?
STILLMAN: Yes, so its a combo deal.
Ted Hope came to Cannes and saw the promo there and we started negotiating with them.
We had a lot of offers in Cannes; they wanted to buy it from the promo.
And Amazon kind of just wanted to take it off the table.
I wanted to work with Amazon, thats a good thing.
Ive been slow onThe Cosmopolitansscripts because of [Love & Friendship].
Roadside really wants to make it a big deal theatrical release.
And they could recycle all that Love &.
Having a partner like Amazon is not a bad thing.
[Amazon is] giving much more theatrical space.
Im not sure thats true with Netflix in every case.
They love Roadside Attractions.
So I get that word from above and from the ground.
What’s up withThe Cosmopolitans?
STILLMAN: I explained to Amazon that I dont like outlining or projecting what somethings going to be.
I like to allow a story to arise as Im writing scripts.
I was really resistant to do the mini-bible.
So I gave them something, but I really didnt want to do it that way.
So in ten days, well be full on with that.
Its not exactly Paris, its a European idea.
So it will be Chloe and Adam Brody.
I have to ask.
If I remember correctly, there was some talk in the pilot of issues.
STILLMAN: There really isnt that much.
The dilemma would be: do we insert things in the pilot?
I prefer thinking of the pilot as its own Saturday afternoon/Saturday evening piece.
There are a shitload of people in Paris doing exactly what youre portraying in that show.
STILLMAN: Yeah, seven days, 24/7.
But in this case, it was Saturday.
So give me a break if theyre not in their offices.
That never entered into my thought process?
STILLMAN: Thats because youre a rational person with a sense humor.
I have to talk to you about the Criterion news.
STILLMAN: Well, Ive always really wanted them to doBarcelonaand I dreamed of having a box set.
Were both so thrilled that Warners let it through.
How much is there new assets that people have never seen?
How much is it that will be released on Blu-Ray?
STILLMAN: Im not sure how many rabbits they can pull out of a hat.
Im not sure if its a Warners edition or New Line Edition.
How long ago did you know the box set was coming before it was announced to the public?
STILLMAN: Youre questioning my Twitter discipline.
Almost a year or nine months?
People were whining and complaining about it so I let a few things go.
I thought they would be announcing it in November.
I got the email about a week ago, and they said it was coming out in April.
STILLMAN: Yeah, that was really tight.
They must have been waiting on those drawings.
STILLMAN: I definitely have other projects I want to do.
We have to assemble all the people.
But I do have my projects so Ive got plenty of stuff to do.
Love & Friendshipis expected to see release through Amazon and Roadside Attractions later in 2016.
