Interview with Lynne Ramsay, director of “Die My Love”
I don’t know. I was speaking to my friend Jonathan Glazer (Oscar winner, Zone of Interest) about that. Everyone says to him, “Why don’t you make many films?” It was 10 years between Under the Skin and Zone of Interest.
We’re not getting any younger. We’ve got to hurry up. But it’s not by design. It’s just life takes over. I have a daughter, there was COVID, it’s just tough industry. If you’re going to stick with a project for years, you want know that you’re doing the right one. You don’t want to be down the line with it and think, ‘I wish I hadn’t started this.’
Upcoming Projects?
There was one I was just about to shoot called “Stone Mattress,” based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, short story in a novella. But the producers were pushing for Iceland as location — it’s meant to be in the Arctic, and I wanted Greenland. Julianne Moore would do a couple of lines in one location, fly four hours and do the rest of the scene. I just don’t work like that. I can’t do it all broken up in pieces, and it’s not good for the actors either. But I’ve written a lot, I’ve got three scripts, one that’s totally ready, one that’s almost ready and then another that’s in development.
It was funny, she said she wanted to work with me. She was talking about this particular book “Die My Love,” by Ariana Harwicz and I was like: Look, I’ve just done “Kevin.” I don’t want to do more postpartum things. And then I was doing “Stone Mattress” for a while. But then I had an idea. If it’s a love story — a bonkers, crazy love story — if it’s got many layers to it, I’ll do it as experiment. And then it kind of worked.
Vampire Movie?
I’m making a vampire movie. I can’t tell you much, except it’s with Ezra Miller who was in “Kevin.” He’s the main character, and it’s in development. I’ve got to do it quicker than that. That’s what Glazer said. We need to speed up. He’s one of my favorite filmmakers, and Paul Thomas Anderson as well.
Being at Cannes again?
This time I feel quite relaxed. The first time I came (with “Ratcatcher”), I got nervous. You get really wound up. My husband was a musician and I squeezed his hand so hard that he said, “You’re going to break my guitar hand.” It was a real Cannes audience — they’re pretty hardcore.
Sometimes you’re super self-critical. I was watching it in that big theater and thinking ‘change that, change that.’ We’ve only been editing for 4 months and that’s not long. We’re still tweaking it.
Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence
They were very willing participants. I try to create atmosphere of trust and I just threw them into the fire. I did the sex scene on the first day. I thought it’s a risk. It’s either going to work, or it’s going to be disaster. But I could see there was chemistry. And when they arrived, I got them dancing. They were dancing together, synchronized. Robert was nervous, but then something just kind of broke the ice.
Doing sex scene on first day
The first day I was scared. But it actually was a good idea. Sometimes I’ve left those scenes for later and then it builds up so everyone’s gotten all nervous. You start this scene and they’re all overthinking it. So I just chucked them in the deep end.
There was a different, longer scene, and there was loads of dialogue and we only had few hours — the light was going with maybe an hour-and-a-half left. I saw the DP Seamus McGarvey lying in the grass. We looked at each other, and said, ‘There’s no way we’re going to finish this scene. So I go, “Well, what if they’re like cats in the grass? Why don’t we just do it here?” I’m running back to the actors and say, “We’re changing the whole scene, taking all the dialogue out. You’re both cats. And they’re both like, what the f—?
Because we didn’t have the time, but they were so trusting. Robert was like, “That was a good scene.” Then Jen went, “Yeah, I can see it.” It was at breakneck speed, we shot it in one hour.
A film’s a film, it’s a different beast than script. You’ve got to throw things out if they don’t work, or you don’t have time. You go to think of something and often that’s better. But after that first day, they thought, ‘Oh, God, what are we in for?’
Jennifer Lawrence’s real pregnancy
I didn’t know that until four weeks before the shoot. She was nervous about telling me. I was like, “You OK about this?” I was worried. But she was glowing and happy to play crazy. She was excited by the ideas; she’s a punk.
Vision of America
I wouldn’t want to live there right now, but I always loved America. I lived in New York for quite a long time when I was making “You Were Never Really Here,” and when I was making “Kevin.” I’ve always loved New York. It’s got crazy, wild energy. L.A. I find more difficult, it’s like “Mulholland Drive.” But there’s a beauty to it as well. the light is amazing.
Locale of “Die, My Love” is unique
We actually shot in Calgary, but Montana’s just down. My backstory was that they lived in New York — he was trying to get in a band, but it didn’t really happen, he was kind of a slacker. She’s written a couple of things that got published. Now there’s this idea that they’ll have a new life, because the house is free and a lot of young couples, if they get something like that, they’re like: I moved because New York’s expensive. And then the house becomes its own entity. We shot the beginning inside the house, not from the outside, for a reason: The house is looking at them.
Sissy Spacek and Nick Nolte’s gravity
I went to them because they both meant a lot to me growing up. My dad loved Nick. Since “Badlands,” I’ve loved Sissy Spacek. In the book, the mother-in-law’s kind of gone crazy, but Sissy played it more realistically, as one who saw exactly what was happening.
Movie Ending?
I had a writer’s block for a while and I was like Jack Torrance in “The Shining” writing the same sentence again, then recutting it. You get stuck in things and then when you’ve got a baby, it’s much harder to do anything. Your life completely turns upside down. The couple in the movie, they’ve got all these aspirations, it’s going to be great. And then she feels isolated and she’s stuck with a baby. She’s bored and she’s just gone nuts. I thought about “A Women Under the Influence,” a tragedy where they love each other but don’t understand each other.
“Die, My Love” is explicitly about motherhood
My mother taught me how to be a filmmaker, how to be honest, she taught me how to sit. I watched the best films when I was a kid and they thought I was deaf for long time because I just ignored everybody else. It was a big noisy family. She just showed me these cool films. She loved “Imitation of Life,” she watched that a million times. “Mildred Pierce,” “Vertigo.”
She loved movies and so did my dad. But my dad would be more annoying because he’d tell you the end. And I’d be like, Dad! I wouldn’t watch it. But she was a really interesting smart woman. They were working-class, blue-collar people, but they loved images, they loved cinema.
Glasgow is a place of blue-collar intelligentsia, it’s a good education system there. My dad was so bright, and my mom as well. They used to say, “Let’s go to the pictures.” My mom had photographic memory, she would be like, “This film is from 1940, and his actor’s in it, she’d know all these obscure actors. They were excited and it made me excited.
Mother’s death
I’m feeling a bit more at peace. It was quick and it wasn’t expected. And funnily enough, the music supervisor’s mom died one week later. I didn’t know it was coming. So we’re all a bit in shock. My mom was 88, so she had a life.
Appropriate age for daughter to see your movies?
I don’t know, 18. She’s 10. Maybe “Ratcatcher.” Maybe about 16. I don’t know. My movies are all kind of hardcore. My daughter’s really bright child. I was watching “The Shining” one night and she was glued to it. I said, “I don’t think you should watch this, you’re too young.” But there’s only one killing in “The Shining,” and there’s not a lot of horror. She loved it and watch ‘The Shining’ again.” She’s super artistic.
Where is home?
London, actually. I have a place in Scotland too, but my mom passed away only a couple of weeks ago. I had the funeral as well as filming and it’s been quite a challenge.
