Director/Producer Stephen Moyer & Star/Producer Anna Paquin talk to The Inside Reel about perpective, perception, acting between the lines, communication and textures of magical realism in regards to their new dramatic film: "A Bit Of Light" from Quiver Distribution.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:11 It's all such a mess, isn't it?
00:16 [Music]
00:25 It really will be alright.
00:27 [Music]
00:33 Well, the thing is, unless you wanted to say something else on that,
00:35 and it is the aspect, what's interesting,
00:37 that whole thing we just talked about is about perspective and perception.
00:41 You know, how we perceive ourselves, how we perceive the world,
00:44 you know, but the perspective we keep just because of the lives we live.
00:48 Could you talk about that?
00:50 Because that goes completely into what Neil,
00:53 and you look at it as Neil is, you know,
00:55 he's that beacon of hope, that bit of light.
00:58 And that's the beautiful thing about this.
01:00 Because you don't see, many films are trying to be anti-hero and everything like that.
01:03 This is about hopefulness, you know, in many ways.
01:06 Could you talk about that and the importance of that in making what you did?
01:10 Yeah, I think that what's beautiful is that it is both about hopefulness,
01:19 but also about raw, authentic brokenness that comes before,
01:27 that, you know, we earn that bit of hope and that bit of light
01:31 by watching her go through this sort of strange transformation,
01:37 because this kid just won't leave her alone.
01:41 And you just can't quite help but love him, you know.
01:48 And he doesn't seem to have parents around,
01:52 and it brings out a sort of maternal, the maternal side of her,
01:55 that she is trying to punish herself for having failed as.
02:01 And it just, I guess it's that, you know, he sees her for who she really is,
02:11 as opposed to just the mistakes she's made.
02:18 Hello, Bethan.
02:20 Yes, sorry, hello.
02:23 I think we probably should have just earned.
02:25 He said you want to take the girls for all of Half Term, but you can't.
02:28 That's not what we agreed.
02:33 I'll make the soup, Brooke.
02:34 No, Dad, don't pretend.
02:36 Oh, here it comes.
02:37 No, it doesn't come. I don't see my children.
02:39 That's not our fault.
02:41 I'm sorry, but it's not.
02:44 You know, I think, considering you've seen them more than enough.
02:48 Do you?
02:49 Yes.
02:50 You can't just have my kids and pretend I'm not here.
02:52 And you can't decide to be a mother when it's super easy.
02:54 Is it the same for you, Stephen, or is it more, you know,
02:57 because you can be esoteric within the idea of something,
03:00 but it's, you know, the fact that he can look at Alan and say,
03:03 Alan, I got you a tea, and there's something so much unsaid
03:07 in so many of these things.
03:09 I mean, that's the gift of being actors, but also actors directing actors
03:13 is the aspect you can see between the lines.
03:15 He, you know, let's put some credit Luca's way.
03:19 He brings an otherness to the role that I was really wanting.
03:27 And maturity.
03:28 And maturity.
03:31 The character is almost the audience's conscience.
03:34 The character is everything that everybody in the film needs him to be
03:39 without them realizing they need it.
03:42 Right?
03:43 So he, in that park, where she thinks that she's invisible
03:50 and nobody can see her, where she's watching other parents parent
03:54 and other kids be kids, and she's going there to punish herself
03:57 for being a disaster as a mother.
04:03 She is seen by this 13-year-old boy, and he decides to put her back together.
04:09 And in so doing, he also puts everybody else back together too.
04:16 He mends Joseph's view of who she is.
04:19 He mends Alan's view of who she is.
04:22 Bethan, like the evil step monster who isn't that at all,
04:25 is just this wonderful woman who's trying to do a good job.
04:29 And he also questions her side.
04:33 She's this sort of very successful sort of what, what, businesswoman in some way.
04:41 And yet when she turns up in that last scene with Alan,
04:46 she's completely raw.
04:50 But that's all been the catalyst for it all is Neil.
04:53 We want to take the girls to the lakes for half-term.
04:56 Right, but you said I could have them here for a couple of days.
04:59 No, it doesn't come. I don't see my children.
05:02 That's not our fault.
05:05 I think you should go to me every day.
05:08 I'm not going to get my kids back if I sit around a cafe with alcoholics.
05:15 Hi, I'm new.
05:18 You look really sad.
05:21 I want to help.
05:23 But the idea of there being a,
05:26 and that was what really touched me about the script when I read it when it was a play,
05:30 of this hand, this forgiveness,
05:34 this hand reaching to you and going, I'm here.
05:40 And I'm not a very religious person, Tim.
05:43 I'm quite scientific in my outlook on the world.
05:46 And yet for me, there is magical realism in him.
05:52 There is an otherness in him that he's meant to be there.
05:57 And that when somebody comes up to you in the street and says something nuts,
06:04 it doesn't mean they're nuts.
06:07 A lot of that happens in New York.
06:10 One of those people actually might be Neil.
06:14 And it's finding the moments to--
06:18 It's not dismissing people on their first impression.
06:22 It's not making judgments about who that person is immediately
06:27 and never giving them another chance ever again.
06:30 There's a sort of--
06:32 There's an element of faith in what he brings to her.
06:41 You know, her choosing--
06:45 You said it earlier, limbo, in this kind of limbo,
06:49 where she doesn't believe that she deserves to be saved.
06:53 And yet when she metaphorically reaches her hand up, he's there.
07:01 And I love that.
07:04 This is really nice, Alan.
07:15 Just start, please.
07:17 To your knees.
07:29 How old did you say he was, young man?
07:31 He's 14.
07:32 I'm almost 14.
07:36 Oh, dear.
07:42 And that--I'll go to my last question.
07:45 Because you were talking about faith and religiosity, and that's one thing.
07:49 But it's interesting, if you look at the spiritual and the primal,
07:52 and interestingly enough, I mean, Anna, the piano was all about that,
07:57 about that spirituality and the primal.
07:59 But you had that maturity at that age to do that.
08:02 Could you sort of talk about looking at the spiritual and the primal?
08:06 Because that's--it's about survival, you know, with this character.
08:10 You know, when she sits down at the end, what she does,
08:13 she is realizing how to survive.
08:16 And that's something we all have to go through.
08:18 So I would call it spiritual, you know, in many ways,
08:21 because it's about--a better word is enlightenment.
08:24 Enlightenment comes from that path.
08:26 Could you guys talk about that a little bit?
08:29 Go through this process that does--not to give things away,
08:35 but does sort of involve a kind of a cleansing and a rebirth, if you like,
08:43 and her having to make the decision ultimately to choose life
08:51 and to choose to be there in the way that she actually can be,
08:57 as opposed to just repeating the same cycles over and over and over again.
09:02 And, you know, there's a scene towards the end, obviously,
09:08 no spoilers for people who haven't seen it, but, you know,
09:12 she has visions of her children, and ultimately, you know,
09:18 it's Neil's hand that's actually there for her to grab,
09:21 but it's what that symbolizes is her choosing her children
09:28 and her choosing to put it back together and to mend the fences.
09:33 But we see the horror in your eyes.
09:35 That's what I thought was great.
09:37 When he goes to grab that bottle, you see the horror in her eyes,
09:41 you know, and the maternal element comes out.
09:44 And that's so hard to play.
09:46 Seriously, it is so hard to play.
09:48 But that's the thing is that he, the whole time,
09:51 any time he catches her being maternal, he calls her out on it in a nice way.
09:59 He's like, "See, you're not a bad mum.
10:02 You get defensive about all the right things and all the, you know,
10:08 this is just an unfortunate phase that you are currently going through."
10:15 "And I'm not going to leave you alone until I've helped you."
10:21 Wow.
10:22 "And it's really incredibly profound, actually."
10:25 It is. It is.
10:27 Does your mum and dad know you're out?
10:30 It's not even late, and they wouldn't really mind if it was.
10:35 They don't really notice things, and they're not like other people.
10:40 And you met in the park.
10:46 I mean, you seem to find trouble wherever you go.
10:48 I don't know how you do it.
10:50 I know.
10:51 And you're sitting in parks again.
10:54 We love parks.
10:55 And that connection that ultimately, you know,
10:59 obviously there's been a, there has been a breakdown of the relationship
11:04 between Ray's character and my character that is very definitely mixed
11:11 in with the mother's premature death.
11:14 And they -- she's off repeating the cycles that he has been repeating,
11:23 who were probably cycles that his folks or dad, you know,
11:27 of not talking about things.
11:29 You know, we say at one point, we don't talk about stuff.
11:33 We never, you know, we never actually have these conversations.
11:37 And none of that happens without Neil.
11:41 Because he comes in there and just sort of prods at everyone.
11:47 You have to sit down and just talk.
11:52 And it's really, really beautiful.
11:56 I was picking scenes the other day, too,
11:59 because obviously they were asking me for, you know,
12:03 scenes to be able to choose through, you know, for television and stuff.
12:08 And as I was going through, I was finding these moments, you know,
12:12 where just for example, you know, Neil sitting there with the soup.
12:17 And Ray's made him the soup.
12:21 And he's like, "So you -- where did you meet?"
12:25 "We met in the park."
12:27 And he's like, "Oh, my God."
12:28 And Ray has that moment of like, "You're off sitting in parks again."
12:32 And Neil goes, "We love parks."
12:34 And I just -- it makes me so emotional and happy just to see that moment again.
12:42 Because he's just so free, you know.
12:45 [Music]
12:48 - I'm going to beat you. - No, you're not.
12:50 - Oh, yes, I will. - No, you won't.
12:52 - You look like a goldfish chewing out of your mouth.
12:55 - Yeah.
12:56 - What?
12:57 - Do you remember what you did?
12:59 - Yes.
13:01 - You need to fight for them.
13:02 Get out there and fight for your kids.
13:05 Because one day, your life will be over and you can't go back and make it better.
13:09 [Music]
13:19 (logo whooshes)