Edward Berger left the Vatican secret corridor in the “Conclave” of Macau’s flashy world in his latest film, “Ballad of a Small Player.”
In the film, Colin Farrell’s character Doyle plays a gambler who can’t beat his addiction and loses his streak. With Lord Doyle sitting at Baccarat’s table and aiming to win to pay off his debts, Tilda Swinton’s Cynthia Bliss is on his tail, and along the way, the mysterious ghost benefactor (Farrah Chen) bets his claim on him.
Netflix is planning the film for its prime release. It opened in US theatres on October 15th, arrives at British and Ireland cinemas on October 17th, and will debut on streamer on October 29th.
Speaking to Variety ahead of the film’s Telluride screening, Berger explained that he worked closely with cinematographer James Friend to ensure that viewers were firmly at the heart of the characters. “This story is a first person perspective. I want to go all the steps with Colin Farrell. I want to sweat, laugh, cry with them.”
To achieve that, Burger and his friends spent time discussing the camera. But even before filming and during scouting, Burger said, “Macau is such an overload. It’s on top. There’s an overload of humidity, colour, music, fountains, sensations. I wanted to create a pop opera full of humor, drama and contradictions. It prompted a conversation with James.
Here, the two focus their cameras on Colin’s performance and create Macau as characters.
That opening sequence drops us in this flashy world of Macau. How did you prime as a character?
James Friend: I didn’t know what to expect when the script landed on my desk. I read it and tried to capture what “How far can I go down Colonel Kurtz River? Can I go to this environment? How crazy is he becoming a product of his environment? It was only when Edward and I first went there. Doyle responded to the environment, and on top of that, everything is gambling. Lord Doyle’s personality was more challenging to me, and on one level it felt like a documentary, and on the other level it felt like a big deal and on the other level it felt like a big deal.
How did you want to showcase how Lord Doyle introduces himself and how he frams him? Early on, he literally descends on the escalator. What do you want to show?
Edward Berger: I love filming it very much. It’s like a twist from the side and his descent into this hell. All the lights are dancing, James plays with this wonderful, crazy mind he has, full of visual ideas, trying to find the expression of that descent. A lot of it comes from long conversations, putting shots after shot, and really trying to understand the best way to express what Lord Doyle is going through.
Friend: I watched this film a bit like Dante’s Inferno. Do you really go to these different levels of hell, and deep into that river? Go to some of these very crude gambling nests. As Ed says, he’s going down to hell and trying to put it up naturally. “What would it be like if you put the camera sideways at the moment and rotate it? Is it too much? But considering the nature of the scene and where Colin’s character is at that point in the story, it looked kind of perfect movement.
In another scene, Lord Doyle stuffs his room with lobster and chocolate cake in his face. Meanwhile, there is the spiritual aspect through his heart. What did you want to tell the audience?
Berger: He turns very much into what Dao Min predicted, a vision of hell and a hunger ghost. He eats and eats. I tried to find that expression. Very often we start with a wide shot to get an impression of the place. But in this case, choline had to eat that much so, so we started with a close-up. The scene consists of many shots. I remember standing with Danny Bishop (camera operator) but I didn’t rehearse because I didn’t want to rehearse. We asked Colin: “What are you going to do? He said, ‘Well, he’s probably going to sit in his chair. I’m going to go to this lobster here. I’m going to go to the cake and drink some champagne. Are you okay?” Danny said, “Yeah, let’s take a picture.”
How did the music have an impact on the scene?
Berger: Bach Cantata was sitting with James, so I kept listening to this music. “Who the heck is listening to music?” I realized that it was Colin and that he was listening to this music. I went to him and asked. He said, “I’m trying to get into the mood.” And it simply shows how Colin is in harmony in the film. He knows exactly what kind of film this is, and he listened to it to touch the mood and delivered this music for the scene.
James, I’ll talk about how you captured this scene.
Friend: A man has never complained. He never said, “I’m full” or “I don’t like that.” He was hooked on it. So we chose this handheld approach and took the whole picture with a 12mm lens. This is a fisheye lens that distorts the perspective of viewers around the world. And in that example, since we were looking at the whole room, it really works beautifully to the point where we had to use completely natural light in the scene. We wanted to be completely free and release to react to what Colin was trying to do.
This interview was compiled and condensed.
