Hi, I’m Todd Haynes, and I’m the director of ‘May December.’ [DOOR OPENS & CLOSES]: “Now, this is stupid.” “This is very serious business indeed.” “If you say so.” So in this scene, Natalie Portman, who plays an actor, Elizabeth Berry, who plans to play the character played by Julianne Moore, Gracie Atherton-Yoo, in a story about the origin of this scandalous relationship that took place over 20 years ago. , where Gracie seduces a 13-year-old boy. And in this scene, he’s literally, as the actors do, looking at the way Gracie applies her makeup, and her makeup choices. And like many scenes you’ll see in the film that take place in rooms with mirrors, the scene was shot with the camera covering the area of the mirror. “You know, I think it’s better if I just do it to you.” So actors perform directly into the camera lens when they look at reflections of themselves, and they look out of the lens at the reflection of other actors. What’s really interesting about the scene is, mostly Natalie Portman’s character is in the position of interviewing people and asking questions and trying to collect information to help her transform into this woman. Here, Julianne is the one who starts asking questions about Natalie’s character and Natalie, Elizabeth’s life. “So, did you always want to be an actor?” “As always.” So, you start to hear more about Natalie’s character than we did in this scene. “I wanted to be on Broadway. And when I told my parents, I was nine or 10, they were disappointed. They said, honey, you’re smarter than that.” “What did you say? Are you smarter than that?” “I don’t know. I don’t know.” And there’s an intimacy that starts to emerge between the two of them, and a sense that, wow, these women are going to find a kind of safety in each other rather than a sense of threat, or how far will it go? And that’s the kind of atmosphere the scene conjures up for the viewer as you watch. But ultimately, man, as a director of great actresses that I’ve been fortunate enough to mark my career with, it’s a particularly amazing day to watch. these two women. “What does your mother look like?” “She’s beautiful.” And so a shot like this is a great idea, but it’s not going to work unless you have Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. And so the the silences and the breaks and the little laughs really happen, and it gives the audience a lot to chew on. [MUSIC PLAYING]
