After the wedding - how the film was made

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

The audience will see a sensual American remake of the Danish film of the same name "After the Wedding" (release date in Russia - September 26, 2019) with female characters, filming took place in New York, but not only the locations created a special atmosphere of drama. This is the merit of the talented acting alliance of Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore, as well as the entire offscreen team.

Film design and atmosphere

Filmmakers admit that moving from the extreme poor of Calcutta to the dazzling wealth of New York City, following the film's plot twists, has not been easy. The shooting schedule was very tight, but Michaels, Finkel and Freundlich managed to put together an impressive voice-over team that conveyed surprisingly how different the lives of Isabelle and Teresa were.

Location Manager Gillian Stricker started her work in New York. In consultation with Freundlich and the off-screen team, Stricker was able to find places that, on the one hand, became symbols of Teresa's prosperity, and on the other, they contrasted favorably with everything related to Isabelle.

“Locations play an important role in the story,” says Stricker. - Everything that appeared in the frame was supposed to help develop the plot, especially in the scenes in the mansion of Teresa and Oscar. The house can tell a lot about its owners."

Stricker began looking for locations in Manhattan. Freundlich and Moore are well acquainted with New York, their connections helped Stricker find offices, hotels and restaurants that were supposed to appear in the frame. Most of the suitable accommodations were found at the Bowery and Ludlow hotels. Finding a mansion overlooking the ocean was not so easy.

Several unsuccessful attempts led Stricker to the home of Carter and Susie Bell. The mansion was right on the coast and looked exactly as the filmmakers expected. As luck would have it, Suzy Bell (a renowned landscape designer and author of 12 books on the subject) laid out a gorgeous garden around the house, which was also important for the film.

Freundlich entrusted the visual series of the picture to the operator Julio Makat, with whom he had already worked earlier.

“It is very pleasant to work with a person whom you understand perfectly,” says the director. - It was very important to convey the atmosphere of luxury. I wanted the world that Isabelle is in to be one that anyone would want to be in."

Filming the film allowed Makat to experiment with innovative lighting and classic compositions with a wide-angle lens to better convey the drama of the scene.

“We filmed with Alexa 65 cameras, which capture images in 6.5K resolution,” says the operator. - When you look through the viewfinder, you get the feeling of a miracle, as if you have learned to breathe underwater. The picture is very beautiful and a little overexposed. It was very interesting to shoot such a dramatic, almost intimate film at wide angle. We tried using white light by breaking it down into different colors. This opened up a ton of creative insights for us, from visually changing the character to creating unusual shadows and reflections."

Editor Joseph Krings, who had also previously worked with Freundlich, was entrusted by the director to create the rhythm of the film.

"Nothing is hidden from him," Freundlich says

Production designer Grace Yun, who worked with Freundlich for the first time, impressed him from the first meeting. “She immediately grasped the essence of the story,” Freundlich recalls. “She presented each location in 360 ° in detail, as if she saw a scenario in virtual reality.”

Yoon gave Freundlich the complete picture, from the mansion's decorating plans and photographs from her latest travels in India to the color palette for each character.

“Bart and I agreed that the atmosphere should be calm and serene, so I tried to stick to soft and neutral colors. The main palette consisted of various shades of gray combined with soft blues and purples. The goal was for the picture to be soothing, but at the same time consistent with the costumes of the characters, given the emotional twists and turns of the plot."

Yoon admits that she enjoyed working with Makat and costume designer Arjun Basin:

“They are both open to creativity and incredibly generous,” she says. - We often discussed the color palette, arguing about how cool or warm shade would work best in a given scene. We talked about other thematic and conceptual design solutions. I very often chose a design that would best fit into the composition created by Julio."

In the work on the costumes, Basin was guided not only by the fact that the clothes corresponded to the characteristics of the character of the character. It was also important for him that the clothes correspond to the environment in which the character lived. “Together with Grace, we strived to make the interior and costumes a single whole,” explains the designer.

For the look, Isabelle Basin used only shades common in India, textured fabrics and accessories. The simplicity of the outfits was accentuated by soft shades of indigo and mustard.

The costumes for Teresa, Oscar and Grace used subtle yet expensive fabrics to show the subtle richness and comfort of the mighty.

Even the costumes for Grace's wedding scene were designed with the decorative environment in mind.

“The wedding ceremony was worked out in detail, but at the same time it remained quite simple,” recalls Basin. "The garden has become a key location in the plot, so I designed the costumes in such a way that the characters fit harmoniously into the exterior of the garden."

For the filming of part of the film, the actors and the offscreen crew traveled to India, where certain difficulties awaited them. It was the monsoon season, and the weather in Calcutta was not nearly as friendly to the filmmakers as we would have liked. The location managers found a suitable location for filming in the southeast of Karaikudi city in Tamil Nadu province, near the equator.

The difficulties that awaited the film crew in Karaikudi, in fact, only benefited the film - the orphan world in which Isabelle lived became even more realistic.

“Working and living conditions in India were very difficult,” says Michaels. - It was very hot and unbearably humid - the climate did not make things easier for us. Fortunately, we have coped with all the hardships."

Judging by the stories of the film crew, creating the drama and finding locations was not an easy task, the release date of the film "After the Wedding" in Russia is set for September 26, 2019, the trailer is available for viewing below.