What I can say about “dot the i” is that it’s a romantic thriller starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Natalia Verbeke, and James D’Arcy. I can also quote the official synopsis and feel fairly safe I’m not giving away anything important: “A sexy love triangle forms on the eve of her wedding when Carmen (Verbeke) recklessly kisses an attractive stranger named Kit (García Bernal). Having recently fled a violent and volatile relationship in Spain, Carmen has found comfort and safety with her adoring fiancé Barnaby (D'Arcy), but her passions are aroused by one kiss from Kit and she is immediately torn between her emotions and her loyalty to the man she is to marry.
Carmen's journey teaches her that things, and people, are never quite what they seem. This thrilling tale toys with illusion and reality, passion and artifice, and takes audiences on a suspenseful race through the streets of London.”
INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW PARKHILL:
”dot the I” is definitely one of the hardest movies to discuss without spoiling the experience for the audience.
I really made my life difficult, didn’t I?
You definitely did. (Laughing) Why did you do that?
The honest answer is a lack of understanding about how movies are sold. That’s the honest answer. Because when I made it – it’s my first movie and everything – you realize why movies are sold, why people make genre movies like a romantic comedy or a horror or a thriller. Because it’s easy to say to people, “This is a horror.” You know what I mean? It’s easy to sell to people. It’s easy to describe to people that kind of thing. So I just wrote it without really thinking about that. But it’s a killer. I’ve had this problem since we took it to Sundance. Ever since then it’s like how do you describe it to people?
I can’t ask you about setting up any particular scene as that would be giving something away…
Someone came up to me after a screening and described it as, “For me, it’s the perfect date movie. You’ve got the first half that the girls are going to love and the second half the guys are going to love.” I thought, "That’s kind of interesting." The idea behind it was to be a playful take on the whole romance genre. So you sort of start the movie and think, “Okay, we’ve been here before. I’ve seen this kind of movie before. A girl has to choose between two guys.” You sort of watch the movie and think there’s some weird s**t going on, but that’s basically the movie they’re in. And then of course you turn everything upside down and it changes direction. It was a tough one.
I always used to emphasize the fun aspects of it. How do you sell it to people? It’s meant to be a fun movie. It’s one of those movies that you’ll get on the ride and some will enjoy the ride, and of course some won’t. For me it was always about entertainment, as opposed to the serious art house kind of thing. That was where I was coming from when I made it.
How tough was laying out the plot and making sure everything connected?
It’s funny because I remember when we were editing it and I was terrified that people would get it. I worked with editor Jon Harris and he was saying to me, he would be like – he uses the dude word a lot – “No dude, people are never going to get where this is going.” And so he would always want to put a bit more in, and another clue and another clue. We ended up putting quite a lot in.
It’s funny. When you watch it the second time, I always think, “Man, there’s so many clues in this movie.” But I guess when you come to it fresh and you don’t quite know where it’s going, then you know there’s something else going on but you don’t really know what.
I admit I didn’t see it coming.
I like going to a movie and knowing nothing about them. I’m not someone who will read reviews or listen to reviews before I go to a movie because I don’t want to know. I remember seeing “Thelma and Louise” and “Boys Don’t Cry,” two movies that I really loved, and I remember going to them and knowing absolutely nothing. Hadn’t seen a poster, hadn’t heard an ad. And I always like to experience movies that way.
I think this is one movie – when I introduce it to people I always think, “I don’t know what to tell you. This is the kind of movie that the less I tell you, hopefully the more you’re going to enjoy it. The more fun you’re going to have. So I really shouldn’t say anything at all.” And they really only understand that comment after they’ve seen it.
PAGE 2: Matthew Parkhill on Gael Garcia Bernal and the "dot the i" Cast
