He’s worldly; he’s visionary. He’s indie; he’s mainstream. He’s foreign; he’s American. And he’s one of the most lauded talents to spring from the continent.
Acclaimed, veteran Brazilian director Walter Salles has been admired and revered for bringing lyrical works to the screen; his impressive rostar of films includes the Golden Globe winning Central Station, and most recently, the critics’ darling, The Motorcycle Diaries, which picked up an Oscar along its stellar ‘road trip’ to success.
His films have tapped into magnetic, soulful performances, wherein, often, the location plays as much of a character as the actors themselves, who are struggling through their transformative journeys. Salles‘ adroit direction and sensitivity enables him to tap into an ethereal world with ease. He does so, once again, this time dabbling in a genre and setting, different than the terrain we’ve become used to seeing his works unfold. His latest, the psychological thriller Dark Water, takes place on the desolate Roosevelt Island on the outskirts of New York City.
They say, “You are the company you keep,” so it’s only logical that Salles would be teamed up with a bevy of collaborators whose acclaim runs parallel to his own. In Dark Water, Salles has assembled a fine team of actors: Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, and Pete Postlethwaite–and not to be over-looked is a fine young actress, Ariel Gade, who plays Connelly‘s daughter.
The water-logged horror, an English-language remake of helmer Hideo Nakata‘s 2002 Japanese thriller, was adapted by veteran screenwriter Rafael Yglesias to speak to Western sensibilities. We caught up with the Yglesias and Connelly about their experiences working on the Oscar-caliber ghost story.
How’d you prep for the job?
Rafael Yglesias: The producers called me up and ask me if I would do it–before a director and a cast were attached… I watched the movie, I read his [Koji Suzuki’s] novella and then I told them how I would change it. I changed it in two ways-one having to do with character, and the other having to do with theme… Suzuki’s novella and Hideo‘s film were both, sort of, half in the Japanese ghost story tradition, and half in the western tradition–in the sense that in the Japanese tradition, it is often that the element drives the demon or the problem–but in the western tradition, it’s the ghost’s psychological needs driving the story… So I pulled the foot out of the Japanese tradition and put it completely in the western tradition. Now, it’s about the ghost having this need to have a mother, and yet, using the water as a way of communicating and traveling throughout the building.
Any other significant changes to the original Japanese work?
Rafael Yglesias: The other big one, that involved a lot of plot changes, had to do with the difference in characters Japanese characters to New York characters. For example, in the Japanese original, even though her ceiling is practically caving-in from a leek, she doesn’t go upstairs to investigate it for nearly two weeks-but in New York City [he laughs], anybody would show up in five minutes. So that changed the plot right away-and a number of other things!
What drew you to this work?
Rafael Yglesias: I felt very strongly when I read Suzuki’s novella, that he was influenced by [Roman] Polanski‘s Rosemary’s Baby–or maybe I should say [screenwriter] Ira Levin‘s [Rosemary’s Baby], and that’s why I really wanted to do it actually-I wanted to do that tale again, in a different way. Both [works] are about motherhood, and they’re both set in buildings, and the buildings are very important to the character of the story-and they both use ordinary, realistic and slightly comic depictions of people-that just kind of turn on you and become horrifying.
What’s your strange fascination with Roosevelt Island?
Rafael Yglesias: Roosevelt Island, to me, is a physical metaphor to the characters, in a sense that all of the characters in the movie are living in isolation; they’re in a big city-but they’re alone. I mean, Roosevelt Island, is right next to Manhattan, but it’s really isolated from it. The Dakota, in Rosemary’s Baby, is a 19th century, very historical, very beautiful building. What I wanted to do was provide as big a contrast to that–so those pre-planned buildings on Roosevelt Island are as different as I could find. They’re not pretty, but they’re modern-and plumbing is a big issue; it is decaying and old. Those types of buildings are brutalist-style architecture-meaning they’re of that raw-concrete look.
Is there anywhere, really, that it rains that much, as it did in the film?
Rafael Yglesias: That’s a convention of the film. Although, when I was writing it, actually, New York had one of its longest stretches of rain in June ever. It rained almost every day as I was writing the script, so it was kind of spooky.
What about the desperation behind Jennifer Connelly’s (Dahlia) character to move to Roosevelt Island-particularly because it has a good school for her daughter?
Rafael Yglesias: I felt that I needed to give some [psychological] motivation to her… Because Dahlia was abandoned by her mother, she has no image of herself as a mother, so it must be very frightening for her to be a one-especially under stress, at a time where she’s separating, and that’s a tough time for her kid. So I wanted to emphasize to the audience that she’s trying super-hard to be as good a mother as she can, so she’s willing to forego all kinds of inconveniences to get her daughter into a good school.
One wonders if Dahlia’s plight is real or not, or she’s imagining it? Is it purposeful?
Rafael Yglesias: Most of the work that Walter [Salles] did in post-prod, was in trying to toe the balance between those two threads in the films. It was a debate from the beginning. We wanted it very much to be a POV film from the beginning, so you’re not sure about the reality. She’s healing her inner-ghost-to put it in a ‘Dr. Phil’ way. And you can look at the film, if you want to, as though it’s not a literal ghost story at all–that the ghost is a projection of her abandonment; of course, that’s not true but you could look at it that way. The real notion, thematically-psychologically–is that she can only be a good mother by healing the ghost’s internal need for a good mother. That it is only then, can she-even to her own child-be a mother.
Did you watch things like The Ring and The Grudge?
Rafael Yglesias: Suzuki wrote both…This [tale] is almost a reversal of The Ring, in it, you think that she is a lost abandoned child whom they’re trying to help–and it turns out to be that she’s a demon; in this, you think it’s a demon and it turns out to be a lost abandoned child-like a lot of writers he [Suzuki] is using the same theme and looking at it in a different way.
Is it uncommon for screenwriters to be on-set?
Rafael Yglesias: I’ve made five films-been around in rehearsals, on-the-set, and in post-production on all of them. I hear it’s unusual, but I’ve never had any other experience… I don’t know if it’s true, but it seems as if the Brazilian tradition is to be very collaborative-with everybody-to have everybody around. Walter showed me cuts quite often… I think if a director is really secure, and that they’re in control, then they don’t really care-if what you say is useful, then good-if not, then they ignore it.
What about your own interest to direct?
Rafael Yglesias: You know I learned a lot, but there’s an aspect of writing which is not very attractive to a writer-which is that you’re around a lot of people.
Speaking of your writing, your next projects?
Rafael Yglesias: There’s a novel I’m going to write next, so I’ll probably not write scripts for a while. I wouldn’t mind doing this one, though, as a movie, eventually; but it’s a long process to get through the novel, so I have to take that part seriously… I’m going to fictionalize the life of Robert Todd Lincoln, [President] Abraham Lincoln’s oldest son, who lived until 1926. He was seventeen when Abe was a political flop-when he lost the Senate twice–and I always think that a late teen having a father who’s a flop is a particularly interesting psychological frame. By the time Abe dies, Robert is present at the Lincoln Memorial, so emotionally he goes from thinking of his father a flop–to a god.
Fully developing your characters in your writing is very serious to you–did the story change at all when Jennifer Connelly was cast?
Rafael Yglesias: Walter and I went to her beautiful house in Brooklyn, and Jennifer, like Walter had to make a balancing act throughout the film of how crazy is she? And that’s really up to her in the end, but she, clearly, nailed it-a tough role w/ broad emotional range.
Why Jennifer?
Rafael Yglesias: Jennifer has a kind of vulnerability that is not annoying that the character would have to have-she has it automatically. She also listens very well, which is of real demand in this kind of way. She’s not vulnerable in a way that’s not cloying, as opposed to being actually wounded… Jennifer is easy to cast-there are really no negatives-she’s extraordinarily talented as an actress and extraordinarily beautiful.
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On that note, in walks Connelly, striking and ethereal wearing an antique-white, lace dress-she’s in stark contrast from the halo of darkness and grunge that surrounds her in the hauntingly murky, dark film. Brooklyn-born Connelly, married to respected actor, Paul Bettany, (A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander), resides in New York City where she’s made a home for her family.
A former single-mom, Connelly empathizes with her conflicted character, Dahlia, and the choices she makes as a mother, vulnerable, yet struggling to find strength as she tries to make her way in the big city. She praises Salles for bringing his complicated artistry to the set–so necessary to development of her character and the creation of such an atmospheric and haunted tale.
First off–like the Dahlia’s character, do you also suffer from migraines?
Jennifer Connelly: Me, no… But–did I do okay? [laughs] I talked to people about their experiences, and learned about sensitivity to light, and sound, and took a little poll of people I came across when I talked to a doctor.
Is this your first horror film since D’Ario Argento?
Jennifer Connelly: Yes it is, but I’m reluctant to call it a horror film. It’s more a psychological thriller. It’s more a ghost story-to me I associate ‘horror film’ w/ sort of more gory, slasher films-there’s no blood here. You get through lots of the film and no one’s died.
Are you a person easily scared?
Jennifer Connelly: I think I have your ‘average fear,’ except for when it comes to things like the first ten minutes of an airplane ride–for that, I’m downright neurotic. I don’t do anything; I basically just grin and bare it. Actually I kiss the plane [insert smooch noise], and I just wait for the explosion, and then ten minutes later I’m fine and I enjoy the flight [laughs].
How did you properly prepare for the film?
Jennifer Connelly: I watched lots of scary films, because we had no vocabulary in the genre to speak of–so I thought I should acquire one. Some of my favorites were Rosemary’s Baby, Don’t Look Now, The Shining… And then I approached it as I would any drama I might be working on–which is to say, I thought about, “Who is this woman?” I’d ask myself tons of questions: “Why was the father abusive? What does that voice say, that mother’s voice that has now become internalized? What does that voice now say to her? What did she see in her husband? What did that mean–that break-up?” I would just go through the gamut and try to make it as specific as possible, “What color is her toothbrush?” and make those choices, so that you can start building it out. And so, how she moves starts to take shape…
Does it get under your skin to play such a draining roles?
Jennifer Connelly: It’s nice to live with someone else’s baggage. You know what really gets under my skin–it’s if I’m working on a project that I’m not happy with–that’s torture to me. Unfortunately, I must admit–I then make it torture for everyone around me. Cause it makes me miserable. And I was really happy to work on this film; it was one of my favorite films to work on–because it was just a great working relationship, when I’m with Walter the director.
What do you think about this character? Is she disturbed?
Jennifer Connelly: I think she’s really broken, but is amazingly resilient and strong–given that she’s never been mothered. And she’s set-up to mother, so that she can look after herself. I think that parents the world over, struggle with the ghost of their own childhood, and how that–despite their best intentions–affects how they are with their children, in turn.
And what did you most appreciate about the story?
Jennifer Connelly: I think it’s a really a moving and sophisticated story about a woman who has to separate her love from her fear, so that ultimately she comes to embody pure maternal love–and it’s quite an astounding journey for one to take.
Can you relate to some of the feelings Dahlia experienced around motherhood, safety and relationships?
Jennifer Connelly: My relationship with my first son was complicated, because I was alone–I was a single mom for a long time; and more than that, he was also my safety, and my anchor for a period of time. And I quickly had to learn to let him go, and look at my own fears of letting him go. So it was a complicated relationship. By the birth of my second son [Kai], I think I had a home, and had already found my place to be–if that makes any sense. I think people look for a safety–a niche in the world–a place to be; it’s just to say [back then], I was still looking for what that place would be…
Didn’t you have a baby right before you filmed this?
Jennifer Connelly: Yeah, I was still nursing him [Stellan]. He was on set everyday. But I’ve gotten quite used to that, because you know, when my older one was little, he was on the set of Requiem for a Dream, which wasn’t really a family film either.
Other hardships during filming?
Jennifer Connelly: That bathroom sequence, toward the end of the film–that took a little while; and it was cold! You know it’s hard to keep a sound stage warm, in between takes. It gets really cold with those soggy pajamas on. So they were very nice–they brought a hot tub on to the set, actually. The tortured me, but they were very sweet.
Give us a window into what it’s like to work with Salles? Was it somehow ‘different’ collaborating with a Brazilian director?
Jennifer Connelly: I think it goes beyond his nationality. Walter is one of the most worldly people I’ve ever met. I don’t even want to take a guess on how many languages he can speak fluently. He’s singular. He is extraordinary. I think he’s a huge talent. I thought so before working with him. And after working with him, I can’t tell you what a blessing it was–just a privilege to work with him everyday. He’s so elegant in his choices as a filmmaker; so passionate, full of curiosity–and not at all jaded. That’s a rare combination.
Would you do another thriller/horror-type film?
Jennifer Connelly: Yeah, well maybe not next stop, but somewhere down the road–if it was with another fantastic director.
Before exiting, Jennifer shared with us that her next project happens to be Little Children, a suburban dramedy, directed by Todd Field (In the Bedroom). On her way out, a burst of reporters surrounds the intelligent and gracious actress, as she proceeds forward with an obvious sense of confidence, excitement and satisfaction for this anticipated Salles outing.
From the imaginative source material, to the sophisticated filmmakers, to the haunting setting, Dark Water is truly a trans-continental, U.N. effort, bringing together a curiously high-brow, collaborative team. And so, its inherent appeal should prove to be inviting to wide array of audiences, across international borders.
