In her new film, Roads Unselected, Sally Potter tells the story of a day in the life of Leo (Javier Bardem) and his daughter Molly (Elle Fanning), who is trying to make sense of her father's chaotic mind. During an ordinary trip to New York, Leo is mentally transported to another life, and Molly is forced to be torn between her father's past and her own future. On April 28, 2020, the drama can already be watched in online cinemas. This is a film from the official competition program of the Berlinale 2020. According to the plot, the day that promised him (Javier Bardem) only a routine becomes the intersection point of many destinies. Today all this seems to be happening again ... Find out all about the filming of the film "Unselected Roads" (2020), working with actors and filming locations.
Details about the film
About working on the film
Start
Sally Potter doesn't like to be in any kind of box. With her new project, she crosses several borders at once - not only state borders, but also borders of nepotism and career. The crossing of these boundaries takes place in the mind of one person: Leo, played by Javier Bardem.
We learn that in Leo's mind he also exists in the role of a struggling writer and a grieving father. But these "alter egos" exist only in the imagination of the real Leo - a middle-aged man living alone in the Spartan setting of a small apartment in Brooklyn. Leo, who is over 50 years old, has a complex mental disorder, a form of dementia. The symptoms of the disease cause confusion and anxiety among others. But as the storyline unfolds, viewers will realize that, despite the apparent isolation, Leo lives several lives in parallel realities. Each of them is associated with the choice made by the character, with one of the paths of life, along which he himself decided not to go.
While in Brooklyn under the care of his daughter Molly (Elle Fanning), Leo lives in parallel in provincial Mexico in a happy marriage with his beloved wife Dolores (Salma Hayek). However, in all roles, one can feel that a certain pressure is exerted on the hero, as if a piece of the puzzle of his life is missing. In the 24 hours that he will spend in different parts of the planet, the audience, and the hero himself, will understand what is really happening to him.
For Potter, the theme of this story was very personal - her younger brother Nick was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 20102. The director and her relatives took care of the patient for more than two years, but the disease progressed and the young man died. For Potter, tragedy was also a source of inspiration.
"At some point, my understanding of mental health changed dramatically," Potter admits. “I understood how the psyche affects physiology, what a person with mental disabilities is capable of and, most importantly, what happiness it is to be a healthy person.” Listening to the words of her brother, Potter at some point realized that the seeming nonsense resembles poetry: “It made me wonder what exactly happens to a person when he, as they say, falls out of reality, be it symptoms of depression, schizophrenia, autism or some form of dementia. "
The idea began to form by itself around the main character, who suffers from frontotemporal dementia - exactly the same form that was once found on Nick Potter. Leo, like Nick, was diagnosed with the disease in his youth, although Sally Potter claims that she did not copy the character from her brother. “What if I stayed with that person and didn't leave him? What if I emigrated? What if I had chosen a different path at the fork - where would it lead me now? ”- reflects the director and screenwriter. Overnight, both themes came together in Leo's character. "The theme of the film is the assumption: when we make a fateful decision, then some part of us, perhaps, continues on a different path that we did not choose," - explains Potter.
It's no surprise that working on such an ambitious scenario took time. During these five years, she managed to shoot another full-length film - the comedy drama Party. The script for the painting "Unselected Roads" was repeatedly reworked, new ideas and plot twists appeared, so that the whole action would fit in 24 hours (Potter set herself such a task - the whole story should be limited to one day).
“It wasn't easy,” she recalls. - It is difficult to tell a story about a person who travels great distances and comes back, and then asks the question: "Who am I?" And all this had to be done somehow in 24 hours. "
Brooklyn
The filming period of the film lasted only 26 days. The interior scenes were filmed primarily at 3 Mills Studios in East London, and the exterior scenes were filmed on location in the Spanish city of Almeria (filmmakers passed it off as Mexico and Greece) and in New York.
Given the tight deadlines for such an ambitious project, the coherence of the offscreen team proved to be extremely important. It was the first time Potter worked with some specialists - they offered new creative solutions. With others, such as production designer Carlos Conti, the director has worked many times. There were also those with whom Potter worked only once, such as the famous cameraman Robbie Ryan, who in 2012 filmed the drama "Bomb".
His innovative approach to filming made Roads Unselected even more unusual.
“I really enjoy working with Robbie,” Potter admits. We see history in the same way, and when I get the chance to work with professionals like Carlos and Robbie, their talent helps make the story even more interesting. "
Viewers should have no doubt that each of Leo's lives is as real as the others. However, these lives fit into a small one-bedroom apartment in a Brooklyn house next to the subway.
Caring for Leo is a hectic business that requires a lot of emotional commitment. This job falls on the shoulders of his daughter Molly (Elle Fanning), who is forced to overshadow her career as a journalist in order to take care of her father. However, as the storyline develops, the heroine realizes that her father is literally hovering somewhere. She feels that she must help him return and find himself.
“The father-daughter relationship is central to this film,” Bardem said. Besides, only she is able to somehow keep in touch with him. "
Casting an actress for the role of Molly was just as important to Untitled Roads as the casting of the male lead, and Potter knew it. The director had not worked with Bardem before, but she managed to choose the ideal Molly from the actresses she had met before. Elle Fanning starred in Bomb when she was always 13 years old. Many critics called this role crucial in the career of an actress.
“By that time Elle was already in the movies, but I think she found the ground under her feet on the set of the movie BOMB,” says Potter. - Fanning has an unquenchable creative hunger, and she very subtly feels the connection that is being established between the actor and the director on the set - a kind of symbiosis. El and I have worked very well and we are well aware of the importance of this creativity. "
Fanning returns the compliment, stating that Potter was her inspiration. She knows how to extract from the actors such characteristic features, the existence of which they themselves did not know ”.
Fanning admires Potter so much that she is ready to agree to almost any role that the director suggests to her. In addition, she really liked the script and her character. The actress pays tribute to the girls who are torn between work, personal life and caring for loved ones, existing without any outside help. “It's easy to see that Molly herself understands that caring for her father will become a big part of her life,” says Fanning.
The role in the film "Unselected Roads" opened up new professional horizons for the actress. “Personally, I've never played anything like this before,” admits Fanning. After all, the real Leo has not gone anywhere, he just sees what everyone else does not see. "
Although it's been seven years since the filming of Bomb, Potter and Fanning quickly re-established the rapport they had found. For example, she can open just before the start of shooting a scene, and then she closes with the same ease, laughs and enjoys life. There is a monstrous scene in the film, after which El, as if nothing had happened, declared: "Well, this invigorates!"
Bardem also noted Fanning's professionalism. “Elle was ready to support me in everything, and it helped me a lot, because the main symptom of frontotemporal dementia is the unpredictable behavior of the patient,” explains Bardem. El treated my request with respect, which, of course, characterizes her from the best side. "
According to Fanning, the most important thing in building the relationship between their characters was the right balance. “Javier and I deliberately didn't discuss the scenes in advance,” Fanning recalls. We didn't want to rehearse a lot, as we probably would have done on the set of any other picture, because the reaction of my heroine to Leo's behavior should have been natural. For me, Javier's behavior should have come as a complete surprise and evoke corresponding emotions. "
Fanning adds that the only thing to remember was to never step out of character. “It was not easy because Javier played his part so skillfully that my hair stood on end!” - the actress admits.
Three Oscar-nominated Laura Linney played the memorable role of Rita, Leo's ex-wife and Molly's mother. At first, Leo mistakenly calls her by the name of his former lover - Dolores.
This misunderstanding, no doubt, upsets Rita. The two-time Golden Globe award-winning actress needed only a few tense scenes to fully reveal the essence of her character, to show the full range of feelings that she has for Leo, and to highlight the difficulties that destroyed their marriage.
Mexico
"Unselected Roads" is an international film, because Leo's soul knows no boundaries or frames. We understand that he and his wife Dolores (Salma Hayek) have lived for many years and, as before, they are attached to each other. And yet we feel some kind of invisible barrier between them, some kind of mystery and, perhaps, even drama.
“I would not like to reveal all the cards, - says Hayek, - but Dolores and Leo's marriage cannot be called happy. Perhaps this was the reason for the crack in their marriage. "
Hayek admits that for some time she thought about whether to take on this role, but not at all because of distrust of the director. She was embarrassed by the tight schedule of filming - all scenes with Bardem had to be filmed as soon as possible. I just wasn't completely sure that in three days of shooting I would have time to create an image of a real person. "
In part, her doubts were dispelled by Potter, who confessed to the actress that she did not see anyone else in this role.
"In Sally's imagination, I have always played the role of Dolores!" Hayek notes with a smile. The actress and director talked a lot about the heroine, and those many hours that were spent on the road allowed Hayek to rehearse his scenes with Bardem under the direction of Potter. “I ended up filming for only three days,” the actress says, “but those three days were preceded by months of preparatory work.”
Hayek and Bardem it was not difficult to play the married couple, since the actors have known each other for over 20 years.
"We are really good friends in life, because he is married to my best friend!" Hayek smiles. However, this is why there was some risk.
“In all these years, we have never worked together, so of course I was worried,” continues the actress. "I wanted to believe that such a tense story would not spoil our friendship."
The actors quickly found a way out of an ambiguous situation.
“We decided to work like we weren't friends,” says Hayek. “We treated filming like two professional actors.”
Improvisation on the set in Spain, which was passed off as Mexico, Potter only encouraged.
“It was a very creative process,” says Hayek. It's great because sometimes something special comes to mind at the very end of a scene! "
For the 21st century, a story in which all national boundaries and differences have been leveled is especially relevant. “It dawned on me when Javier agreed to play Leo,” Potter says. - So the Mexican story of Leo, living in America, sparkled with new colors. Javier's casting for this role was a kind of demonstration of what America has become today. "
“You could say that the film is about many crossroads,” says the director. - About the lines of our destinies and state borders crossing them, about the boundaries in the relationship between father and daughter, between man and woman, about the boundaries that separate people of different nationalities. All these lines and boundaries converge and intersect in the life of one person. "
Bardem is convinced that the theme of the film “Unselected Roads” will be relevant at all times, but especially in the 21st century. “I am made up of flaws,” the actor laughs, “but this picture helped me understand the main thing - no matter what they tell you, we are all the same. You can build the highest wall, but if a person is starving, if his family is in danger, he will climb this wall. "
Greece
Despite the fact that most of the time we see Leo in the company of other characters, there are times when he is alone with himself. One of the most difficult for the crew was the scene in which Leo goes out to the Mediterranean in a flimsy boat.
For Potter and her colleagues, filming a TV star on the high seas was a real adventure, but for her personally, very enjoyable. Any work has its own complexities and nuances, be it chilly New York, the Spanish heat, or a London film studio. The main thing is not to stop and keep up with the film - then everything will work out. "
The logistics of Unselected Roads were indeed challenging. "But these are not three disparate stories, they are all woven into a single plot."
Potter's creative approach to work was appreciated by all the actors and other team members. If Fanning had already worked with the director prior to filming Roads Unselected, Bardem only had to find rapport with Potter. In addition, Sally is well aware of what the actor goes through, getting used to the role - doubt, fear, defenselessness, pleasure, time to prepare, entering the character. She knows all this firsthand, respects all this and protects it as if she was playing herself. Sally is immensely demanding, but in a good way. Because if you can imagine a significant role for an actor's career, then I got just such a role. "
The final
For Bardem, the work on the painting was very intense emotionally. - If it seems to us that a person is lost somewhere in his consciousness, it is extremely important for him where he is lost. Even if you and I cannot imagine it. "
Potter began work on the script based on her own experience, but the director believes that the topic may interest many viewers.
“Many of us have parents, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters or friends who periodically float in the clouds that are beyond our reach,” she explains. But none of this should and has no right to serve as a reason for ignoring this state. "
“When I started the script, the thought occurred to me: what if somewhere out there, in oblivion, there is a door to another world? Potter continues. “What if it's some kind of superhuman ability? I hope the viewers of our film will also be puzzled by these questions and think about those worlds in which they themselves could have found themselves, having made a different choice in due time. "
Watch footage from the set, read all about making the movie "Unselected Roads" (2020). The start of the release of the film in Russia was postponed from April 23 to April 28, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the closing of cinemas across the country.
