Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård & Elizabeth Debicki for ‘Wicker’ | Conversations

[music] - It's so nice to have all three of you here. Thank you so much for joining us and congratulations on this wonderful movie. There's nothing like it out there. Um Olivia, I would love to start with you. Um you are you are obviously fisherwoman but also the producer one of the producers of the film. Tell us a little bit about when you first came across the script. What spoke to you about it both as an actor and as a producer? - Um well, it was uh our production company South of the River Pictures with my husband over there. Um - [applause] - Um so he did the hard work and uh I just like the script. Um and [laughter] I um uh so we I think we saw it in about 2023 and I just wanted to be her. So my litmus is um if I if I'd be jealous if someone else played her and I really would have been. So um so uh that's why I loved it. - Thank you. And Alexander, similar question to you about the script. I imagine um the wicker husband isn't necessarily a character you can see very clearly in the script. How detailed was he when you read it? What spoke to you about it? - Um it was definitely a different challenge playing a good guy. Uh - [laughter] - and So uh yeah, outside my wheelhouse. And it it was and it was interesting um it was a little scary. I was a little intimidated. I thought I was I loved the script so much and um I really wanted to do this and I was didn't know how cuz I was um it he had such a purity to him. And that's very foreign to me. Um - [laughter] - So So it was that challenge of Of course that's who he is and that's what his purpose is in the movie as a juxtaposition to um the the villagers and and uh and and all the darkness and and the turmoil and and and the moral um chaos um that that's that's in infested in the village. But I wouldn't really [laughter] - Not you. No, like - Or humans in general. Um So my I I was a bit like intimidated and I was like, "How do I make this uh I want to make sure that it's not flat, obviously, that it's um uh that the character feels alive and that you connect with with her husband and that you're invested in this relationship. Um But that's also what's fun about being an actor. It's like a challenge. It's like a new adventure. - How did you picture him when you were reading the script before you knew what your ultimate look would be? - More like a scarecrow, I think. I [laughter] - That's what I was going to say. - Really? - Yeah, scarecrow. Yeah. - Yeah. Uh I knew that I didn't when obviously when I first read it, I hadn't seen any images of him or I hadn't spoken to Alan and Ella, our wonderful writer directors, about the look. Um But when I heard that Weta Workshop was going to make the character, I was incredibly excited, obviously, cuz they are geniuses and uh and it was a real treat that they So they made Lord of the Rings and Avatar and it's like that level and this is slightly lower budget. - [laughter] - Uh So but they they just look We were extraor- like I was very grateful and thrilled that they responded to the script and they wanted to do it. And it was also fun to do something practical. Like it's not CGI and it felt very in in this day and age, it's quite unique to have um what was it? 30 or 40 artists in New Zealand working on this costume this this character for a year and a half. The craftsmanship was extraordinary. If you see behind-the-scenes footage, it looks exactly the way it does in the movie, which is pretty remarkable. Um but yeah, my my before I saw images of how they Alan envisioned the character, I I thought it'd be more scarecrow-y. And I got - Thank you. Um Elizabeth, tell us a little bit about your experience with the script. What I really love about your character, Taylor's wife, she really has a remarkable journey and transformation going from a very oppressed place to finding her voice. Um how did you interpret it when you first read it? - Uh well, I I like these two fantastic humans here. Just loved the script so much. It was completely unlike anything I had ever read. Uh and I also thought it was so funny. Like it really really made me laugh when I was sat up on my bed with my cup of tea reading it. And I thought, this is just so wonderful. And uh and Olivia and Alex were already attached. So, they were my carrots. I was like, I'll do I'll go anywhere. I'll do anything. I want to do that. And so so that was kind it was really like a no-brainer for me to to want to to be in this film. But then I was kind of so delighted by the character that I found on the page. And um it's it's it's she has this kind of interesting she has a great journey. And that is a rare gift to find as an actor. It's not it's not always on the page. And sometimes you have to fill in um as much as you can to to give a sort of complexity that's interesting to you to play. But that was not the case with her. She she she begins and ends in a in a very different place, and that is just so juicy and enjoyable. Um and I was really intrigued by by her I was really I was really intrigued by her unhappiness and what that might be to to explore it. I was I was I found a very I found her response to someone else's joy very human and interesting to to play. And I know I understood the thread that she needs to sort of weave in the fabric of the story, but I never thought of her as a villain. I sort of Of course, cuz I know that's how actors work. We'll defend ourselves till the end of time. But you know, I I really thought too that that the way, you know, in a in a funny way, her and the women in the village are these expressions of this exploration of patriarchy. And And at times it's kind of like we hit you over the head with it in a really glorious way with a big wedding collar. And then at other times it's a much deeper and sort of more subtle and rich exploration of what that might be. So I thought she was just a container for that, as are the other fantastic village women in their own little journeys, too. So it's just really a joy to do. - Thank you. Um Olivia, I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit more about your approach to Fisherwoman. As Elizabeth was saying, you know, the story's about patriarchy, but she's the only woman in the village who has her own name. She's not someone's wife. She's set in her ways. We think maybe she's okay being alone. Did you imagine a backstory for her? How deep did you go about how she came to be who she is? - Um well, it we do learn a bit that she was uh orphaned quite young. And that's sort of enough for me to go on. I know that she's she's been picked on by everyone in the village her whole life. And we have that lovely scene where we get to walk around and pick berries. And you find out a bit about um and uh Um so I you know it was all quite clear to me and um uh and when lovely um wicker husband says they taught you well, you know, he's saying kind things that you I think she did experience love with her family. Um but it was taken too early. And and then she sort of I felt like she just put up an armor from then on and was fine on her own. She had her own agency. She had her own money. She had her own career. She had her own space. She was actually happier than all of the other women. Um but I think she just got picked on once too often. So then she thought them. I'm going to I'm going to do something alarming and I'm going to get a husband. And uh it just turns out he's amazing. - [laughter] - The bed is broken. He fixes it. Yeah. Um Olivia and Alexander, can you talk maybe a little bit about building the chemistry between this wicker husband and fisherwoman? It's something that, you know, when I first read the description in Sundance, I was like, how does that going to work? But it it works and it's beautiful and it's really romantic. How did you build that so believably together? - We didn't really. - [laughter] - We didn't have to do much. It was beautifully uh written. - Yeah. - The way they that journey goes in the script was very clear. It felt um like from the first time we met that we were kind of wanted to make the same movie. [clears throat] That's always good tonally, especially with a movie like this that is incredibly funny, but it also has a lot of there's a lot of pain there and um you want to make sure that you're guiding the audience through that. So it doesn't feel too if you lean too far into the comedy, it can feel it gets a bit too slapsticky and then you tend to lose the audience when you go into the more kind of um the darker parts of the more the sadness. You want to You want to You want to make sure that they're with you and they feel that. But um I for the very first meeting and when we started playing around with some scenes and talking about it just felt like tonally we spoke the same language. And um and obviously with Alan L as well and that we wanted it to be a strong uh physical connection in the beginning of the relationship. Um and and and then they get to know each other and they really fall in love with each other. - Thank you. Olivia, I'm wondering if you have anything to add. - No, I That's exactly how I remember it as well. We met and You put it very well. He's much more eloquent than me, which is annoying cuz it's not his first language, but just Um But yes, what he said. - [laughter] - What he said. - Um What about the dynamic between you and Elizabeth? Maybe you can weigh in on that. There is obviously this kind of really beneath the surface one-upmanship. You know, women will recognize that dynamic. How did you build that together? Yes, you and Elizabeth. - Well, again, it was clear, really, wasn't it? And And because we had the scenes where we got to find out what it'd been like in our childhoods, although I mean, I'm I'm just I was probably 20 when you were born. I thought it was maybe 10, but I think I'm being kind to myself. I think it was 20. - [laughter] - Um so uh But even as a a little whippersnapper she was taking the piss out of the official woman. And um And I don't know if the official woman really acknowledges or understands that they're all trapped. Um She just thinks they're unkind and uh Yeah, something I've only just thought about, but I don't think she's ever realized that they're they're unkind because they're unhappy. Yeah. - And oh, sorry, go ahead, now. And Alexander, I was wondering if you can tell us a little bit about finding the physicality of the wicker husband. I noticed that your moments in the beginning are a little bit more maybe tentative, and then you kind of soften them as we get to spend more time with him. How did you build that trajectory? - Um yeah, we we we played around a bit with the notion of this brand new wicker basket, and then it's like it's like stiff and creaky, and then after a while it gets a bit softer. And so, we wanted that to you we wanted it the audience to feel that, both in terms of the physicality and also the quality of the voice, the cadence, the staccato rhythm of it. Um it's almost because he's getting to know himself and learning and growing, he's um and and and so, there's like he he gets more comfortable in a way, and he's very and not uncomfortable in the beginning, but again, like figuring these limbs out and what's going on, and like how do I move? How do I talk? And then just like a more natural ease to it in a way. And so, that was a lot of fun. Um obviously, it was very helpful having that damn costume, cuz it was it helped me it was very restricting and and and uh that helped with the rigidity of the character, for sure. - And what about the process of making sure that we can still see your emotions, your your eyes, you know, how did you work with um Weta to make sure that that was still present? - Yeah, they damn, they were good. They're so incredible. Um and they so, they they made sure there were different pieces, so they of of the face mask and and separate pieces for the lips and eyelashes and and and made [clears throat] it in a fabric that would be that would move with my face glued it to my face so that it would move with my facial movements and not just [clears throat] be a flat mask. And so I just had to kind of exaggerate my expressions a little bit or or quite a bit in order because subtleties if wouldn't really read. So Alan L would be like can you give us a real bigger frown? Uh which initially felt really strange working with these fine actors who are very subtle in all they do and I'm like - [laughter] - So I was really hamming it up and if it it it was just I was like I but I obviously trusted Alan L. I was like, are you sure this doesn't look is it too much? They're like, no it reads very subtle. I'm like Um and then also we we had beautifully made contact lenses like wood colored contact lenses uh that we tried on. Um but we did a camera test with them and it just felt that it was um maybe one step too far in concealing the humanity of the characters we we opted out of that. - Thank you. Um Elizabeth and Olivia I want to talk about your costume as well cuz one of the things that's so remarkable about the film is it doesn't really have a defined period, it doesn't have a defined country and the costumes range anywhere from medieval to 19th century. How did you both collaborate with the costume designers to find your character specific look and movement? - I'll take this as the tailor's wife. Um we we have two incredible costume designers on this film Andrea Chillela incredibly talented Hungarian men who were just real artists and geniuses and really collaborated with us. Um I'm not sure if you noticed, but the tailor's wife has four outfits, a summer, spring, and fall, and winter outfit. It's very important. Um and I'm the only person that has like a sort of costume change. Um and I just thought that was so I mean that was not I had nothing to do with that. I just came to the workshop and they had created this amazing kind of these pieces and I loved this sort of fairy tale nature of them. Um I mean it's I had a lot of corsets and that informs how I walked and could breathe and how much I wanted to move around and how frustrated I felt and um you know, and so all of that was just really informative and and I thought my costume was heavy and then one day I put on Olivia's costume and I learned that I should never complain on that set. Um one man was covered in wicker and the other woman was carrying many, many kilos of wool. So um but yeah, they were just a dream to to work with and and everybody even, you know, it's funny because it's such an ensemble piece, but we these two started together and they they shot all the beautiful work inside the fisherwoman's hut. And then I came on and did um that horrible [clears throat] scene where I bring the baby, which was my first scene, which was really fun. Um but uh Actually, it was good icebreaker. I just jump off the deep end, but um but then sort of like day by day a new villager would sort of appear in this amazing look and yeah, it was it was amazing. They were fantastic. - Also, on the costume front, so sorry. Um Andras and Attila thought they'd found some ancient photographs of I can't remember where they were from, which country, of fisherwomen who had long skirts and they had a sort of tie around the bottom. They could pull it up so you look like an onion. And there's there's one bit where you get to see it. It's so And it was all So they found real things, just made up things or you know. Also the wedding, you know the weird sort of wedding hats, they found ancient drawings of Hungarian women with these things on for weddings. So they had a little bit of this, little bit of that. They were brilliant, amazing. - And do I know this correctly, they had specific shoes for you so that you could - Yeah. - you know, tailor your walk - Which cuz they made our job so easy. So they I had a lift in one shoe so that I would remember to limp. And I said, "Thank you so much. That's so thoughtful." They were They were great. - Um Olivia and Alexander, could you talk about collaborating across the intimacy scenes because that's one of the biggest themes of the movie. They're very attracted to each other. How did you navigate the choreography of that? Was there an intimacy coordinator on set? How did that work? - I've spoken lots now. You're going again. - Um - [clears throat] - Yeah, we we um That was kind of the what was it? Day one or two? Something like that. - so, yeah. - Very good way to get to know each other. Yeah, how do you do? Here's the bed. [laughter] But we also weren't alone in bed because Alan and L, who's they're married, uh our wonderful directors, um they would be do this they would be stand-ins for us. So as we were getting ready, they would show us the positions. - They were They were amazing cuz they said they couldn't ask stand-ins to do that stuff. So they they did it. - Yeah. - And so there's there's L with her leg going, "We're thinking the leg should be - [laughter] - Okay. - Uh But they were They were really fun to shoot those scenes and because obviously we wanted them to be uh steamy and sexy because it's like you want the audience to feel what these characters are feeling for each other. That it's like a real physical connection. Um but also a lot of fun. There's a lot of awkwardness in them and obviously a lot of humor with the bed breaking and um now it It it was a Those were really fun to shoot. - Yeah, and we had we had Ita O'Brien who's the best intimacy coordinator ever. And she just she The thing is there's no awkwardness. There was a little bit of embarrassment for me cuz I'm incredibly square, but um it she made it sort of a a routine and a dance routine and there were five of us there and Lol as you say Lol - There was six, yeah. - Yeah, six. Lol was also in bed with us quite often in the bed. - bed straddling us and enjoying. - [laughter] - Um but it it was they made it as comfortable as possible. We all felt completely safe and able to be silly, which was great. - Incredible. Thank you. Maybe each of you could talk a little bit about being a part of this ensemble amazing ensemble. This is an opportunity not to give only each other flowers, but please do so, but also talk about the other cast members like Peter Dinklage. It's a great ensemble and it's a true ensemble work. So I'm wondering what it was like on the set. - Why don't you guys take that cuz I prefer to talk about myself. - [laughter] - Oh god, you see what it was like. Um they well in the village when we had scenes in the village and we got to see everyone. So in the UK there's lots of British comic actors and comedians made up in the and Peter Dinklage. I mean, it was heaven and we'd have dinners together and we'd play games on set and it was so lovely to watch what everybody brought to it. Um Oh, it was just there wasn't a bad egg amongst them, was there? It was so nice. - It was it was It was yeah, it might I think maybe one of my favorite things to do on this film cuz cuz neither of you were there um was the uh No, it was the doctor scene. Was the doctor scene with Richard E. Grant. And like it was We thought we were nearly done with this incredible shoot and then one day we all walked into the bar and Richard E. Grant was there. It was like, how could it how could this be happening? - [laughter] - It's the cherry on top of this extraordinary cake and then that scene was written so it was so funny on the page, but we shot it like a play. So, we never cut. We shot the whole thing through and Gustav, the bottle washer, gave an Academy Award-winning worthy performance of a man in pain with like a bleeding foot and he did it like 50 times and he Everyone was was just amazing and we shot all the I mean, Lol's Lol's extraordinary cinematography. He He's probably one of the most nimble cinematographers I've ever worked with. He's He sort of just gets under things with cameras and then he's on top of things and so that day was just heaven as an actor. It was It was probably the closest thing I've ever come to doing a play in front of a camera with just the most amazing cast and they were just so funny and wonderful human beings. It was a joy. We're lucky. Very lucky to make this film. - Yeah. - Cute. Um What about this wicker baby? I remember jumping off my seat when I first [laughter] saw the movie in a good way. Um what can you tell us about it? I don't have an awfully original question, but it just looks incredible, this wicker baby. - Yeah. I I remember seeing the wicker baby the first time in the um the big warehouse where all the costumes were and um and this beautiful baby was lying on the table. And I went, "Oh." - [laughter] - And then and then somebody went, "Oh, wait. I'll I'll show you." And they pressed some Was it remote control, the eyes? - Yes. - The eyes Yeah, the eyes were. - And then the hand was proper puppetry. Um And so with the stick that you pull in the fingers. Oh god, it's made but they went, "Oh, wait. Wait. Watch this." And the baby went from motionless to - Yeah. - forehead [laughter] swivel. Oh god, I want a wicker baby. It's just amazing. - [laughter] - No one in in those scenes like the end scene, Joe from Weta but old school puppeteer, the wicker baby. So, he would hide hide under a blanket behind us with two sticks like puppeteering it. Um - Yeah, it's cool. - And also, in the reunion scene you are doing the puppeteering. - What? - As you're delivering that emotional scene in the moment, you're also holding Olivia's holding the the baby's head and moving it around. So, you're doing all these like technical stuff as you're like having this like really emotional scene. She's a decent actor, isn't she? - [applause] - I'm I'm wondering if This is a question for all three of you. When you saw the finished film for the first time, were there any choices that Alex and Eleanor made that surprised you? What was it like for you to see your work in the context of their vision for the first time? - What one of the things that delighted me so much was the score. That I just enjoyed so much. I I I remember listening to a little bit of it in ADR, which obviously ADR is usually heinous. I think you just spend the whole time going, "I don't want to say I don't want to say. What do I have to say?" And uh And um that's when I first heard it and I said, "What is that?" And they said, "They're recorders." They're all record like it had this kind of naivety and it but and it felt very foxy, but sort of ominous and magical. I mean, that was That's one of the things that I enjoyed so much. But also I never saw anything that happened inside the fish fisherwoman's hut. So, I got to enjoy that like you just got to enjoy that. And I thought, "Oh god, what have I done?" - [laughter] - And you, Alexandra and Olivia? - Um I agree with this I was uh really surp- That's well surprising. Um I love the score. Uh In terms of the tone of the film, it was what I I mean, I loved it and I think that they captured in the script, and I was so glad to see that it translated and into the film that it was so uh funny and at times heartbreaking, and I I I uh and I love how playful the world was, how they because it's a fable, it's not you talked briefly about it earlier like that you can they could pick and choose from different cultures and different eras, and it was so it just felt so vibrant and so fun, and uh and no, I I was very happy with it. - Yeah, cute. Yeah, I I've definitely done films where you watch it and you go, "Oh, no. That's I wouldn't have picked that. Oh, I did a much better take, I'm sure I did." Um or the music, you think, "Oh, it's made it a bit schmaltzy or you know." But this watching it went, "That's exactly what it should be." Every Every decision they made, they had such good taste. I think. The music and the music going with the moon juddering around like the jud- the judder man, and I I just yeah. Every sort of um version of it I saw just went, "Yeah, great." So I mean, that sounds I didn't mean that to sound, you know, "I'm great." That's what I'm I mean, the film is great. That's [laughter] the choices were great. - Um maybe as a last question, I mean, this is an infinitely quotable movie. Every line of it is pure gold. I'm wondering if you have a favorite line from it. It can be something witty or catty or profound. I mean, I personally will probably use "Pardon my arse" a lot from now. - [laughter] - Well, I clearly like my worm, so I put that on a T-shirt I wore yesterday. - [laughter] - Um what's my favorite? Touch a biggest tit. - [laughter] - Okay, I'm I'll I'll do the I'll do the serious one. Um I really love the line when the basket maker comes to I love that scene when you when we see that you have the wicker baby. I love the way that you sort of go to like throw something at him. It's so beautiful and then and then he's I think I can't remember your line. You say, "Well, well, what would he know about love?" And then and he says, "Well, I imagine he learned it from you." And I sort of feel like that's what the whole film is about and how it's these they they are mirrors of each other's beauty, you know? And they teach each other as they go. Which is how love should be. - I don't think we can end on a better note. Thank you so much Elizabeth Alexander and Olivia. - Thank you guys for coming out and thank you. - Thank you everyone. - [applause] [music]