British director Joe Wright shot right to the top with his first three films. Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley received four Academy Award nominations in 2005. His next, Atonement, starred James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan and received six Oscar nominations, seven Golden Globe nominations and 14 British BAFTA nominations and won Best Film in 2007. The Soloist (2009) with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, was a popular hit with fans.
Now he brings to the screen the exciting Focus Features thriller Hanna, starring Saoirse Ronan as a 16 year-old programmed killer and Cate Blanchett as her creator. We sat down with the young director recently to talk about his films.
LGBT Weekly: As a director, what do you bring to your movies that is different and that would distinguish your movies from somebody else’s?
Joe Wright: It’s impossible for me to say. I think it’s for other people to say.
I make films from a very subjective place. I don’t have a particular kind of critical approach to my work. The stories affect me, and I tell them. I suppose that answer might lead one to possibly believe that my films are quite emotional. My films are part of me. No one else could make films like I make them. That’s not to say they are better or worse, but individual.
Have you always been an emotional man?
Yes. I’m afraid so. I’ve always been quite sensitive.
Are you a violent man?
No, no. In fact, I’ve never hit anyone in my life.
Then why does this reflect in your film, which is so violent and mean-spirited?
Maybe I have a violent imagination. Maybe I’ve suppressed the violence in me. I’ve allowed it to express itself in art better than on the street. It’s safer, too!
What is your goal in making films?
It’s to make something so beautiful that it reaches a point of epiphany! It’s a goal I’m not sure I’ll ever achieve.
How about something more simple as you’d like a big box office hit?
No. The box office matters to the extent that I’ll be allowed to make another film, and I want to keep on making films. It doesn’t have much bearing creatively, actually, and it doesn’t have bearing on the decisions I make whilst making a film.
Young Saoirse Ronan is the star of your new Hanna film. I had interviewed her previously. Compared to what she’s really like in person (sweet and dainty) and the tough, violent character she plays in Hanna, it’s like night and day!
I haven’t thought of her as being a bull dyke lesbian in the film! She has an extraordinarily powerful imagination. That’s where she acts from, not from experience or emotional recall. She can hardly do that because of her age. So she acts from her imagination like a great painter needs a great visual imagination. She has a great ‘dramatic’ imagination. So, she is literally able to drop herself into the life and soul of another human being. It’s an extraordinary triumph of the will.
As her director, you must tell her what to do, like a musical conductor.
Yes, we get on very well. There’s very little ego involved, especially given she’s so young. She’s trusting of my direction, so that’s wonderful for me.
After you directed her in Atonement, she told me that she adored you.
Awww! We had a great time working on Atonement together. I adore Saoirse as well. She’s a great kid.
The other gal in Hanna whom I adore is Cate Blanchett. Can you direct her or is she on her own as a great actress?
I was quite nervous about directing her. Like all actors, they all want direction. They want to be guided, and Cate was no different.
I found her to be a very open and engaged actress. She has a lovely sense of camp humor as well. I really wanted to draw that out in this film.
The thing I like about Cate Blanchett is that she can be terribly evil, but you still like her.
Yes. Bette Davis was a perfect example of that! Cate is so fascinating as a performer as well. If anyone was born to be an actress, it’s Cate Blanchett. She’s extraordinary.
Who will Hanna appeal to today?
I think it’s kind of universal, really. Elements and aspects of it will appeal to teenagers, and deeper things and the humor will appeal to older audiences. I hope it appeals to people with imagination, and I hope it appeals to people who are kind of smart. I never like to underestimate my audience.
I’ve seen two of your films, Atonement and Hanna, so we are sort of getting in on the ground floor of your career. It is interesting to see what you will be doing next and whether it will be like what you’ve done before or whether it will be completely different.
I’m hoping to make an adaptation of Anna Karenina. I’ve got a wonderful screenwriter and guide in the shape of Sir Thomas Stoppard. I’ll be working with the same crew and cast that I’ve worked with previously. We’ll shoot that in September in Russia and a bit in England as well.
