A Sit Down With Benh Zeitlin About His New Film, Wendy

Automatically transcribed; may contain errors.

what's going on guys - ma stop I'm afflicted here with oscar-nominated director Ben's I went on his new film Wendy how you doing sir I'm great happy to be here nice well first of all why I say we were just talking off camera how I loved your visual style of the film it felt very grounded but the same time I have these very fantastical elements talk about how you went to gain the visual style of Wendy altogether you know a big sort of principle going into the movie was to make everything real sort of to take this story that's always been about escapism and sort of going somewhere larger than life but then to actually do all the things that happen in the adventure and so we never wanted to make a film that was sort of created in a computer we wanted to really be on an active volcano we want to really be on the ocean really be on moving trains with these wild children and so we sort of set out to really have the adventure that the characters in the film do so you were you were actually an active volcano as the entire time yeah on the island of Montserrat you are a madman to say the least oh my god because I saw that was like that had to have been CG but the fact they actually were there no wonder it looked that good oh my god so it has been about eight years since beasts of the southern wild what what took so long to make Wendy in the first place you know it was it was really how long the film took it didn't I didn't do anything else no for the last seven years and it was just an incredible sort of the process that we set out to accomplish was pretty unprecedented we shot the film in places where a film should never be shot work only never been shot before you know and it was long exploration finding these kids who were so young and able to perform at this level took years and then developing their acting took time and you know it you know we we had an incredible opportunity to really make a film in a way that probably no film has ever been made before and we didn't set ourselves up saying well we've got to finish it at this time the mission was to create this very special film and we took the amount of time it needed right no rush into deadlines or anything like just taking all the time possibly I have to make it as good as you possibly can yeah and like letting the adventure guide the process right so there have been many and I mean many adaptations at the Peter Pan capturing this the storyline what was it about Peter Pan that made you say okay this is what I want to do for my second movie um you know I think that you know the film the film uses the framework of Peter Pan but it's really a completely different story yeah you know and it's certainly unlike anything that's ever been probably unlike any other Peter Pan version or unlike any other film and and it it was really this a way to sort of start with a framework of these themes about growing up which is what I really wanted to make a film about but not sort of like how to escape from growing up but to look at sort of the ways that things that caused us to grow in in bad ways you know like tragedies and compromises and things that we sort of as we grow up we start to believe that we can only reach do certain things and that certain things are impossible and so I wanted to make a film about how to kind of look towards growing up but not be afraid of that and learn how to conquer those things and so setting out to make an impossible movie was sort of my way of kind of attacking everything in the world that was telling me that I had to grow up and do things practically since you just wanted to pretty myself okay this is the impossible no I'm gonna make this possible essentially yeah that was that was part of mission and then you know for hopefully for people to watch it you know it's it's inspiring in that way you know not just the process of the film but the film is about how do you how to get older and not compromise and not sort of give up on on your faith your dreams or joy like how do you hold on to those things so talk about Devon France because I thought she was excellent as Wendy so white cast think someone like her over casting someone that probably has a bit more acting experience even though she was incredible in this film well no one actually no one in the film has any acting oh no one except for some of them that were in my previous films basically so it's all nine actors and you know I think that for me the you know the key thing in casting we want to see it the same way we try to find reality in every element you know we wanted to find kids really would the Peter Pan showed up at their window they would jump out that window you know any and and you know that generally isn't a kid who's got a sort of career and is on a path to try to be a Hollywood star you know we want her to find kids that that were real and and you know we we look for people that had this sort of wildness and his imagination and this fire to them that also had incredible acting talent even though they never you know had access to an acting class or anything like that and so you know that was the principle that we that we work based on and and in part of why the film took a long time was you know you you find these incredible kids and you yeah it's like you find them in the world you know we saw Devon and and we knew that's Wendy she isn't what she doesn't look like we thought she would look she's not the person we thought she was but we know that's her and now we need to take the time to get her ready to play this part and so that sort of that was throughout the cast you know we met them when they're very young Peter was five the Joshua who plays Peter was five Devon who plays Wendy was seven and we had to sort of make the film at the exact right time when they were already and and the right age to to do this so talked about the editing stage of the film now there are so many beautiful shots the cinematography in this film is outstanding I can only imagine how much you two probably cut off for time sakes like what was what was the time between like the rough cut the director's cut that doctor will cut like how much like how much the film matched the the cut that you or they're gonna be showing very soon well the post was long you know it was we shot the film in 2017 and we were cutting it you know for about two years but cutting it as well as writing the music doing the ADR you know still picking up shots you know along the way a lot of a lot of element photography went into this and the funny thing is you know the final film flows and the shape of it is is the film that we wrote but the path there is always different you know when you make a film with this many chaotic elements you don't get exactly what you envisioned and that's part of the joy of it is you you rediscover the film and every phase now one more question before I leave today so congratulations on getting the Sundance on this film what is the what was the feeling like when you're introducing a film like this to a very prestigious Film Festival like Sundance um it was I mean it was amazing because you know we showed it at the same theater the beasts of the southern wild premiered at you know on the same day of the festival and it was interesting to sort of you know that moment totally changed my life eight years ago and then to sort of end the journey of Wendy in the same place was really surreal it was almost like I stepped out of time to Neverland and then came back to the same exact place where it all began and it was really beautiful just because you know honestly the coolest thing about it was all these kids here you know they're all from South Louisiana Joshua is from Antigua most of them I've never seen snow before Oh or mountains on that scale so kind of bringing these kids together letting them see what they've done and and be celebrated for their work and have them sort of like experience a part of the world they'd never seen before was really special can I imagine look on their faces when they saw snow for the first time Ben thank you so much congratulations on the film I hope it really does well and seriously you have an amazing visual style I can't wait to see what you do next thank you so much