While the men of Evening aren’t as famous as the women, they do add a little something special to the proceedings in their own right. After all, there’s got to be someone for Claire Danes to fall in love with, right?
I sat down with the Oscar nominated director (and long time cinematographer) Lajos Koltai, Hugh Dancy, and the screenwriter, Michael Cunningham (known for his work on The Hours).
Lajos, how did you get involved in directing this after being a cinematographer for so long?
Lajos Koltai: An agent in Toronto who loved directing my work on Fateless found me. He gave me a package with a script in it, that was Evening. I read it and he said Focus has bought the film and they want you to direct it. The president of Focus said to me “I like your ideas, but what about casting?” And then I told them. Claire was already there. But for everyone, those exact same names had already come up. I think I did about 130 different casting sessions personally though. One day Mamie Gummer came in and I said “She’s very good!” I talked to the producers and I said “It’s unbelievable, she looks like Meryl Streep.” I didn’t know when I chose her that she was her daughter.
Michael, How much were you on set during filming?
Michael Cunningham: I was on the set the whole time. I can’t believe they let the nappy-ass writer be a part of the production! One of the great joys of writing a screenplay is seeing the actors spin it and turn it into something different, and more than, you had imagined. I suppose everyone is afraid that the writer will get to the set and throw one hissy fit after another, but I’ve never been that kind of writer. And I’ve never been sympathetic to writers who think their words are carved in granite.
Hugh, as a Brit, how did you nail the American accent so well?
What was shooting in Newport, Rhode Island like?
Dancy: The amazing architecture is still there, basically the money. But it’s strange that Newport is actually a very poor area in some respects, but the gulf (of income classes) still exists. You can sense the lifestyle. There’s a local paper I used to recall reading, it recounted all of the local stories such as “oh, so and so got drunk in a bar and hit a policeman!” as if it was entertainment. It was a kind of Paris Hilton sort of quality to the place.
Koltai: The house was so special. Like an Edward Hopper picture. I’m always looking for the lighting in a film because I have the background. So I loved the placed.
What’s the difficulty in adapting something like this?
Cunningham: Well, I suppose it’s better to adapt a mediocre novel. The classic example is The Godfather, forgive me spirit of Mario Puzo, but it was a pulpy novel and it made a great movie. As opposed to various attempts at The Great Gatsby which have never really succeeded. So I called Susan (Minot, the writer of the book), because my first loyalty is always to the novelist, and said “Look, I could take a shot at this. But I’m going to have to make big changes, and if that’s a problem, tell me now and I won’t do it.” Susan, to her credit, said “Well that’s why they called you!”
This project took quite a while to develop didn’t it?
Cunningham: Like so many movies without a superhero it takes years to get it made. And there were so many times where you thought “this isn’t going to happen.”
Koltai: I was the third director to try this, but before they only got as far as a read through.
Was it hard to play a drunk in this Hugh?
Dancy:It’s difficult, worrying, certainly. He goes to the excesses and then you add in the factor of the drink. You have to work double hard to remember who the guy in the middle of it is.
How much did the personal bonds, like Claire and Hugh dating, and the two mother-daughter relationships affect the movie?
Cunningham: The set was an ongoing lovefest. We just had a great time.
Dancy: This movie is intimate, a lot of the relationships are very close. And when you don’t have a lot of time to shoot you sort of just have to get on with each other. I’ve worked on movies where that wasn’t so strong, usually where there’s a much bigger cast.
Koltai: You just have to be together. You talk about love, you talk about politics. We just listened to music together. Chopin! I didn’t know about Hugh and Claire, I’m not a matchmaker. But it just happened naturally. You know, I was always headed back to my room to get ready for the next day, so I never knew what anyone was doing (chuckles).
And with that our time was over. Evening opens wide this weekend! For more on the film including pics, clips and trailers click here.
