Building Relationships with the Young Actors in the Film: Laura Linney says there weren’t any special tricks to building the onscreen relationship with Eisenberg and Kline. “Those are two really good boys. There was no manipulation needed there, nor would Jeff or I ever do that to a young person. We wanted to make sure they were okay. We wanted to make sure they were comfortable. We wanted to make sure they were having a good time and we wanted to make sure they were having a good experience.
Outside of the work, my main concern was just that they were having a good experience and that they were comfortable, and that it would be a good thing for them both on a personal basis and work-wise,” said Linney.
Jeff Daniels added, “You treat them like actors, working with adults. If there is something not right, as actors you kind of go, ‘What’s wrong? You okay? Anything I can do to help?’
All I ask of kids, and I’ve worked with a few, is know your lines, show up on time, and occasionally I’ll allow you to be 12 years old. But these guys were such pros and that, ‘I’m a kid and I don’t want to do that today,’ never happened with these two guys.”
Linney continued with her praise of her young co-stars. “Owen is just a magical little boy. We’d stopped filming and I’d look over at him and he’d burst into this wide grin. And, you know, your heart would just grow. He’s just a sweet, sweet person. And Jesse is not a kid anymore, at all…he’s a teenager. He’s stepping into acting and he’s asking questions about it. He’s thinking about it. He’s not a child actor. There’s nothing child-actory about him at all anymore. He’s coming to grips with what he’s doing and why he’s doing it and what does he like and not like about it. It’s interesting to watch someone who’s growing that quickly.”
Laura Linney on the Resiliency of Children: “I think if they weren’t, I think there would be a lot of people not living now (laughing). I mean, a lot of people are the children of a divorced home, me being one of them. So I think the great thing about the human spirit is that it is resilient. We all have our stuff, whether you’re from a divorced home or not.”
Laura Linney on Working with Jeff Daniels: “…Jeff knows that I feel this way… When I was in school and I would fantasize about what it would be like to be a professional actor, the level that I aspired and hoped that I would be a part of, that was realized by working with him. That’s what I can say. And you have those relationships occasionally, and they restore your faith across the board, because you realize, ‘No I’m not insane. I’m not crazy. It’s not wrong for me to wish for, to yearn for, this sort of situation, this context in which work can be done.’”
Shooting “Squid and the Whale” in Just 23 Days: Both Linney and Daniels are used to working on larger budgeted studio projects so speeding up the process for just 23 days of shooting is a bit of a change. However Linney confessed she believes the short shooting time benefited her as an actor.
“In some ways, sometimes it does. In some ways it forces you to be more creative. In some ways you can’t think about yourself or anybody else, you’re so focused on the work. There’s not time, there’s no time for any craziness, there’s no time for having to please [anyone]. There’s no time to shake this person’s hand. You’re focused on the work. So in some ways it can be [of benefit], which is one of the reasons why I love independent movies. Everyone is so focused. It is pure. It pares down. And then of course there are the drawbacks, which are that it is uncomfortable and you wish sometimes you did have a little more time. So it’s a give and take thing.
There is something about… You have to be so intimate with the work because there’s just no time. And it also sort of equalizes everyone on set. There’s not a lot of posturing or posing going on with a situation like this. There’s just no place for it. It wouldn’t be tolerated and it’s superfluous and it gets in the way. It really gets in the way, in a way that with the bigger budget movies it’s part of the texture of the experience in some ways - all those distractions,” explained Linney.
