Why did it take you so long to decide to do this movie?
A few years, actually. It’s hard to answer that because you can never fully
put your finger on the reason why you’re suddenly, inexplicably compelled to
explore one life as opposed to another, or one story as opposed to another. But
it happens in moments and I think in all the occasions when I’ve gone back to
work, it’s always with that sense of - it sounds grandiose - but inevitability.
And that may be a complete delusion, but nevertheless it’s the one that I
need to get out of bed and go about my business. That sense that I can’t avoid
this thing. I better just get on with it.
I can’t say in this case why it changed, but I do know that when I first read it, which is nine years ago, and before I’d met Rebecca, so all I knew of her was this story initially. I was both at one and the same time absolutely intrigued by it in every detail. It’s a beautiful piece of writing. But also, I knew beyond any doubt that it wasn’t a moment when I was able to make that contribution that she needed from me. I just knew that. It may have something to do with parenthood, but that’s not only what it is. I sensed, I had a strong feeling the demands that that story would make upon me, or anybody else that took it on, and I just didn’t feel up to the task at that moment.
Did you feel Rebecca Miller needed more seasoning as a director?
No, absolutely not. No. No, that didn’t come into question. Shortly after reading that, I saw her film, “Angela,” her first film which I loved. And then I was with her during the experience while she shot “Personal
Velocity” which, again, was a quite beautiful film. Added to which I had the
opportunity to understand a little bit of the way in which she works and to see how the people were around her when she was working, and that’s always a clue. It’s a big clue as to how it’s going to be. You see how the people are around a
director. Because it really does affect everything, every detail of the life of
that movie. So no, that was never a question.
What did you see Jack going through as far as leaving a legacy for his
daughter and the costs of his life choices?
Well, he had certainly hoped to create this beautiful creature in his own
image and that’s a fatal display of conceit against the gods. But it hadn’t been
my choice, his choice, to raise her in isolation. This happened as a result
of the slow but unstoppable disintegration of this little utopian experiment.
And I had sort of imagined myself that Jack, that there wasn’t a leader of this
Commune. That certainly Jack might have been a driving force because he has
the energy for it, but nonetheless, that meeting house which Rose calls The
Acid Tome, (laughing) that was a place in which all decisions were made communally by all members of that group. And Jack, I think probably very often in those situations is that people can only take so much democracy before they start needing a visible chief, a chieftain. And Jack, I think in spite of himself, was somehow designated the role of chief of the tribe. Plus, he has a checkbook which would have been a blessing and a curse because he could keep things ticking along. But they must have had very ambivalent feelings about this kind of middle class.
I think, as you discover them, I think Jack certainly is very aware of fact that they are approaching the line that mustn’t be crossed. That line is blurring and it will eventually be transgressed. And he’s struggling within himself to keep that necessary distance, struggling but failing as his fate and this whole enterprise begins crumbling. It already has more or less evaporated. He’s in the last part of his life.
I think some longing, some irresistible longing to remain part of this beautiful creation and yet, he denies her her birthright, which is the guidance of a parent. That’s what he failed in utterly, and he knows he’s failed her. But he comes to understand that, and the clumsy introduction of this strange assortment of people, as dysfunctional as it may seem, I think in a weird way, kind of sets about a process by which he manages to free herself.
PAGE 3: Daniel Day-Lewis on Accents, Small Sets, and Future Projects
