Writer/Director Augustus Meleo Bernstein and Actors Noah Wyle, Miranda Otto, Vanessa Benavente, Ezekiel Pacheco and Sadie Stanley talk to The Inside Reel about characterization, space, story and structure in regards to their new dramatic film: "At The Gates" from Picturehouse US.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 (screaming)
00:02 - You want to get separated from your mom?
00:14 We're committing a crime.
00:15 This is a crime scene.
00:16 (speaking in foreign language)
00:22 - Mom, they're back.
00:23 They're at the gate.
00:24 (speaking in foreign language)
00:29 (speaking in foreign language)
00:33 - From both the characters,
00:36 it comes from the basis of being mothers
00:39 and taking that psyche into effect
00:42 as far as survival and how you make each step.
00:46 Could you each talk about each of the characters
00:49 in that way?
00:49 'Cause they each have to approach it
00:50 in a very different way.
00:52 Miranda, if you want to start and then Vanessa.
00:57 - I think Marianne just feels this huge compassion
01:02 for Anna and Nico and wants to try and help them.
01:08 It's like a split second decision really for her.
01:12 But she doesn't really know very much
01:15 about their situation.
01:17 I don't think she's really gotten to know Anna at all
01:20 while she's been there.
01:24 But she feels compelled to sort of help.
01:27 She wants to.
01:28 I mean, and then with some of them,
01:31 I think it's kind of like an adventure to her as well,
01:34 which is like a sort of unsettling thing to say.
01:37 But she is excited by the prospect of being able to help.
01:42 But I think she doesn't really totally fully understand
01:48 the situation that she's walking into.
01:51 And then she does get extremely protective of her family.
01:53 I think that Anna is,
01:58 she's faced a lot of hardship, a lot of adversity.
02:06 I think that's,
02:08 she's used to fighting for her and her son
02:16 at a level that,
02:20 you know,
02:21 many can't understand.
02:25 We are fighting for our lives,
02:28 not just our livelihoods, for our lives.
02:30 And so I think that makes her
02:33 inspiring.
02:38 I think that makes her a very strong woman.
02:43 I think,
02:47 I think,
02:47 yeah, it's that instinct, you know,
02:54 that you get as a mother to protect your child
02:58 against everything and anything.
03:00 And it's one of the things that really
03:02 attracts me the most about this movie,
03:07 her fight, her instinct.
03:12 And I think we are used to seeing,
03:16 you know, the types of Anna,
03:20 or Annas in the world as vulnerable and as weak.
03:25 And it's the complete opposite, right?
03:32 And so I feel that's the part that really inspires me
03:35 and fills me with a sense of justice, to do them justice.
03:40 (dramatic music)
03:43 - Nico, thank you for helping today.
03:53 I'm Marianne Barrett.
03:55 - Thanks for letting me come work here.
03:57 - Have you explained the rules?
03:59 Peter doesn't want anyone going into his office.
04:02 - Yes, he won't be any trouble.
04:03 - Dining window open.
04:07 Audio door.
04:10 Audio door open.
04:11 (phone ringing)
04:14 - Anna, why don't you and your son
04:16 just go in the guest bedroom?
04:18 The officers that came to the gate worked for immigration.
04:26 If you were to try to leave,
04:28 they're likely waiting for you out on the street.
04:30 We have a space in the basement,
04:32 but we need your cell phones to make sure they stay off.
04:39 (speaking in foreign language)
04:42 - Directing is a personal thing,
04:44 but there's an aspect between technique and instinct,
04:47 and especially with a film like this,
04:49 that's very specific in how people are reacting.
04:52 It comes down to how you talk to each actor.
04:55 Can you talk about your approach?
04:56 Maybe that was the approach, but, or using environment.
04:59 Can you talk about that a little bit?
05:01 - I really like to have the actors bring
05:07 their personal lives to their characters.
05:10 And one way I like to do that is through improv.
05:13 So we have the scene written,
05:16 and we have the dialogue written,
05:18 but then I would love for them to try the scene
05:22 exactly how the scene plays, but with their own dialogue
05:25 and their own instinct of how to play these characters.
05:29 And I think that helped bring a lot of realism
05:32 and nuance to this movie.
05:34 - It's all about space.
05:35 It's all about using the space in a scene.
05:37 And because the film takes place primarily in that house,
05:42 it's an interesting use of space,
05:44 especially when it's in the kitchen,
05:46 like you two in the kitchen, you two in the bedroom.
05:49 It's all about how you make the scene work in that moment.
05:52 Can you talk about that?
05:53 Because there's so much going on behind the eyes,
05:56 if you could speak to that.
05:59 - Yeah, it's very important.
06:00 I think all the blocking was very important
06:02 that we are in a small space.
06:05 So we're also trying to film in a small space,
06:09 which is difficult because usually when you film in houses,
06:12 you build the set on a stage or whatever, not always,
06:15 but when you're doing an indie movie like this
06:17 and you don't have a lot of time to take walls out
06:19 and things like that, you gotta make it work.
06:21 But also I think that work to our advantage
06:23 because this movie is so intimate
06:25 and that smallness kind of added to the suspense
06:30 and to the fear and to the distrust.
06:35 Like there's the scene of me and Nico in the kitchen
06:37 and we have the island between us.
06:39 That's very intentional, that separation.
06:41 And then when does that separation end?
06:43 Things like that, that really add to the tones.
06:46 - What happened?
06:48 - Hey, what's going on?
06:49 - Can you go back up to your room?
06:50 Your mom will be up in a second.
06:53 - Okay.
07:02 - So the officers that came to the gate
07:04 work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement
07:07 and they know about both of your immigration statuses.
07:10 They claim to even know where you live.
07:12 You live at 1532 Coringa Street?
07:14 You do?
07:18 Well, they have an officer go into your apartment.
07:20 This is what they gave me if you wanna take a look.
07:23 - Each of these men, obviously Nico's becoming a man too,
07:27 is based in their psyche of their experience,
07:30 but also in their circumstances.
07:32 And that machismo is sort of interesting,
07:34 the way you two play it against each other
07:37 and then with others.
07:38 Could you each talk about that in the approach?
07:41 Whoever, Ezequiel, if you'd like to start with Nico,
07:44 because he has a very specific point of view,
07:46 and then Noah.
07:47 - Yeah, throughout the movie,
07:49 you see Nico learning that his mind
07:51 has to be stronger in his feelings
07:52 and he has to take that mantle of being a man.
07:55 And in the movie, it's just him and his mother.
07:58 So when another man is in the house,
08:02 it's almost like a competitive nature naturally.
08:04 So having Peter kinda, you know,
08:09 son him a little bit and teach him a little bit,
08:12 it's not so easy for him because he's not used to it.
08:14 He never had a dad.
08:15 His dad died when he was one.
08:16 So he's just learning that he has to be a man
08:19 for his mom the whole time.
08:21 - One of the things I like best about making this movie
08:24 was the rehearsal process,
08:26 which we usually don't get at all.
08:27 But Augustus scheduled some really wonderful rehearsal days
08:31 for Miranda and I to come in
08:33 and do a lot of improvisation work with each other,
08:36 which he then would record and pull nuggets and lines
08:40 and vibes out of to sort of shape those scenes.
08:44 So we were working really close to the bone.
08:46 We were working a lot with our own experience of marriage
08:49 and parenting and all those things.
08:51 But I think the work is really textured
08:56 because we gave it the time and the thoughtfulness
08:58 to sort of find those other levels.
09:00 And when you're making a very small movie
09:02 that's very self-contained,
09:03 you almost, you have to dig deeper through the well.
09:06 You're not going out wide, you're going down deep.
09:08 And Augustus, for his first film,
09:10 was incredibly sophisticated about the way
09:12 that he created an environment to curate that
09:16 and bring it out in us.
09:18 It was really impressive.
09:19 - They're targeting this neighborhood
09:22 because they feel that this is a hotbed
09:24 of undocumented workers and the research they've done
09:26 is very thorough.
09:27 They heard from employers and employees at other houses
09:31 that Anna works for our family.
09:33 And they claim to have checkpoints set up
09:36 at all the exits in the neighborhood,
09:37 on the street corners, at bus stops.
09:39 They're checking everybody going in and coming out.
09:43 - What would you say about me and my mom?
09:45 - I said that Anna didn't show up for work this week
09:49 and I didn't know where she was.
09:52 I also told them I'd never met you before in my life
09:54 and I didn't know where you were.
09:55 - Well, I mean, this movie is,
09:58 and I talked to Miranda and Vess about it Friday,
10:01 is the aspect of perspective and perception,
10:04 both inwardly, outwardly, inside the house,
10:06 outside the house.
10:07 There's so many different facets of that.
10:10 Can you talk about that in terms of the writing
10:12 and how you wanted to sort of build that sort of structure,
10:15 integrating what you were talking about
10:17 with these sort of improv moments
10:19 that help sort of make the material breathe?
10:22 - You know, this movie is a mystery
10:27 that the audience is trying to figure out.
10:30 A lot of this film is what we don't see.
10:32 What we don't see ends up creating suspicion in our head.
10:37 We don't see that police have come to the gate.
10:40 So the main character starts to be suspicious
10:44 that maybe he can't trust who's telling him to hide.
10:50 For Miranda Otto's character,
10:51 we wanted her, she doesn't see a romance building
10:56 between her daughter and this employee of hers.
10:59 And that creates suspicion towards who this young man is
11:04 and what he's capable of.
11:07 So in terms of perspective,
11:10 we were really using characters
11:16 who don't see other characters do something
11:19 and how that creates a tension between them.
11:24 (speaking in foreign language)
11:28 - Hey, were you and your former housekeeper close?
11:34 - She lived with us.
11:35 - What happened?
11:36 - My mom could be pretty demanding.
11:38 She'd end up quitting.
11:39 - You never saw her again?
11:41 - No.
11:42 - What are you doing?
11:44 You could not come into my office.
11:46 - Nico, you can't just be up here like this.
11:49 - It's important that children see
11:50 when you treat people like you with respect.
11:52 (screaming)
11:54 (dramatic music)
11:58 (dramatic music)
12:01 (upbeat music)