Lynne Ramsay’s filmmaking approach involves quick thinking and fearless actors willing to trust her instincts, even if it means crawling through the grass like animals with only 10 minutes of notice.
Speaking at Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival on Saturday, the Scottish director revealed how he saved the key proposal scene in his latest film, Die My Love, when the lights were out during filming. There was no time to complete a traditional scene, so Ramsay made the decision on the spot.
“I crawled up to him and thought, ‘What are we going to do?'” she recalled consulting cinematographer Seamus McGarvey. “We looked at each other and said, “This is it…He’s reached their level in this area, and that’s how he asked her to marry him.”
Ramsay had to keep up with stars Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence with a radical change. “Can you crawl and roll on the grass like an animal?” she asked them. “They were actually really cool about it. They were like, ‘Are you sure this is okay?'” But they trusted me. ”
The director also opened up about his intense working relationship with Joaquin Phoenix on 2017’s You Were Never Really Here, revealing that the Oscar winner had never worked with firearms before the thriller.
“He had never done anything like this, never used a gun,” Ramsey said of Phoenix, adding that when he first met him, he was “absolutely terrifying.” Despite being nervous, she recalled asking him wild questions like, “Are you left-handed?” — The two formed a great creative partnership.
Phoenix’s efforts also extended to moments of unexpected physical risk. While filming in a seedy location in upstate New York, Ramsay recalled spontaneously falling down a flight of stairs while the cameras were rolling. “He just tried,” she said.
The collaboration proved so strong that on the last night of filming, Phoenix suggested they continue. “Should I just keep going and make another movie with the same crew?” he asked, according to Ramsey.
The director also talked about the challenges of making You Were Never Really Here. Among them was a French financier who repeatedly told her that the film would never be submitted to Cannes and demanded that Ramsay shoot the remaining scenes in just one week. The film won Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay at the festival, but a last-minute sound mixing controversy erupted in which the projectionist declared the sound to be “out of bounds.”
Looking back on his 1999 debut film Ratcatcher, Ramsay revealed that it was an ambitious project that involved building a real canal because the real canal was contaminated. Now, she admitted, “I don’t think I would do that,” but praised the “beauty” in youthful naivety and ambition. Ramsay also revealed that he is working on another film set in Glasgow, returning to the city where his critically acclaimed debut film was set.
Throughout our conversation, Ramsay emphasized the importance of finding meaningful details to convey emotion, citing the scene in “Ratcatcher” where the mother wears tights because she can’t afford new stockings as an example of showing love financially.
“I’m a dreamer,” Ramsay said of his approach to filmmaking. “You have to be tough to be a dreamer.”
