Derek Cianfrance is in downtown Manhattan, looking at the Hudson River.
I jumped in there once, he says.
The acclaimed director ofBlue ValentineandThe Place Beyond the Pinestells the story of his spontaneous New York City waterway swim.
Credit: Davi Russo
And I was losing my fing mind on that boat.
But I turned around to see my girlfriend in the water and screaming my name.
She was holding onto the bow of the boat, because she cant swim.
Davi Russo
And I knew that was the girl for me.
I actually just found my wife.
He swam to the shore and scrambled up the rocks.
Dreamworks
And anyway, he says, that night my son was conceived.
Eleven years later, Cianfrance took another crazy leap.
Stedmans novelThe Light Between Oceans(in theaters Sept. 2).
One day, a rowboat washes ashore their island with a newborn baby inside.
And the decisions that both of them make regarding the child will have devastating consequences.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You filmed the movie in New Zealand more than two years ago.
Can you talk about the long post-production process?
DEREK CIANFRANCE:Well, I relate to the tortoise.
He wins the race.
A typical editing time for a movie is 10 weeks and then the jig is up.
And where the story stops and life begins.
Is it annoying that some people act skeptical of a movies quality if theres a long wait?
The whole time, of course, as Im editing, I see blogs.
You just let the movie speak for itself.
How much footage did you shoot?
Was the first cut like a miniseries?
No, the first cut was maybe two hours and 20 minutes.
Its about two hours and 10 minutes now.
So Im using 1 percent of what was shot.
Editing is murder I hate murdering.
So I basically torture my footage and it dies slow deaths.
The visual look of the movie is so magnificent, all these gorgeous sunsets on the island.
How much of that was achieved with special effects?
Hardly any at all.
I fought tooth and nail to shoot in real locations.
We used effects only to paint out things every now and again.
The suns always near the horizon and it has a certain glow to it.
You cant not take a good picture of it.
And that wind seems very real.
Oh, it was.
We were at what felt like one of the windiest places in the world.
So we were in the middle of this pure, rugged, primal landscape.
I mean, I dont want to control the weather.
I dont want to control the actors either.
I want to put them in a place where they can have an experience.
It emotionally, psychologically drives you crazy.
But look closer and its right in your wheelhouse.
Yeah, it is.
When I read the book I thought this was all about family, which Ive focused on before.
What were some of your first thoughts after reading the book?
Well, when I was a kid, I used to think that people lived on islands.
Because in my house when we had company come over I noticed that we changed our behavior.
And we the company left we became the truth again.
I was thinking, everyone lives on an island.
Its universal in life.
Ill be in an apartment building and Ill think that there are fifty islands in that apartment building.
Ive always thought that relationships were like islands too.
There were secrets that happened on those islands.
Ive made it my quest to try and capture the truth of love.
And thats what drew me to M.L.
Its about a literal island and this great secret on the island.
So you know youre a bit of a matchmaker as a director?
[Laughs] Ill let you say it.
Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are still a couple after meeting onThe Place Beyond the Pines.
And Fassbender and Vikander still seem happy together, two years later.
Do you think that the romance of the story takes some credit?
Well, we were real out there, thats all I can say.
Filmmaking can be the worst.
We were doing none of that.
Michael and Alicia werent acting on green screens with Jar Jar Binks here.
And then I was seeing this great respect that they had for each other.
And, yes, the movie witnessed love.
And that was a gift.
Did you shoot in sequence?
No, I dont really care about that.
One of the earliest scenes we shot was their love scene.
Yeah, Ive done that onBlue ValentineandPlace Beyond the Pines.
The very first scenes were love scenes.
Two actors completely naked on set lets not get all nervous and build up to it.
Its like jumping in to the deep end.
