VENICE, Italy (AP) 鈥� It is early afternoon in late August at the Belmond Hotel Cipriani and Luca Guadagnino has just returned from the Palazzo del Cinema at the to do a tech check for his new film 鈥� 鈥� the day before the world premiere. It was the first time he鈥檇 seen it projected on a massive screen and he is buzzing with excitement about the film, an American odyssey about young cannibals in love, and, in particular, his star .
鈥淵ou see how she vibrates?鈥� he said with a smile.
After seeing Russell鈥檚 affecting performance as a shy teenager in a grief-stricken family in 鈥淲aves,鈥� Guadagnino had just one 40-minute conversation with the Canadian actor, over Zoom, before deciding that she had to be his Maren, who finds herself alone and adrift for her unquenchable hunger for human flesh. She was the only person he鈥檇 even considered to join himself and Timoth茅e Chalamet for this metaphoric Midwestern road movie about youth, love, identity and disenfranchisement. He likes casting that way: Off a feeling rather than an audition.
The film, an adaptation of a young adult novel, 鈥渇ound him,鈥� he said. The Italian director of 鈥� Call Me By Your Name 鈥� and 鈥淎 Bigger Splash鈥� has always been drawn to stories about outcasts. Here, with the help of screenwriter David Kajganich, he鈥檇 get to play at making something beautiful (though he doesn't like that term) out of something rather shocking on paper. And it all hinged on whether or nor Chalamet wanted to take this leap with him.
鈥淚 felt right away that what was shared between Maren and Lee was a tender love story,鈥� Chalamet said. 鈥淎nd I thought if anybody could pull off the other elements of the film 鈥� to handle everything sensitively, to not make it about shock value or being fake edgy 鈥� it was Luca."
There would have to be some gore, though, and Guadagnino turned to his longtime collaborator Fernanda P茅rez, a makeup artist he鈥檚 worked with since his first film, 鈥淭he Protagonists,鈥� from 1999, to figure out the bodies and blood. These characters, he said, were not Hannibal Lecter. They were not civilized intellectuals 鈥渕ilking on their own perversities and brutalities.鈥� Their condition, he said, is 鈥渦navoidable and feral and terminal. They鈥檙e like animals.鈥�
And it was really fun to figure out.
鈥淔or me making movies, apart from the difficulties and the financial problems and the hurdles and the agents and trying to make everything work, it鈥檚 still a playground. It鈥檚 like playing with dough,鈥� Guadagnino said. 鈥淢e and Fernanda were really putting the blood on their faces. It was beautiful to find all the shades of blood.鈥�
They鈥檇 consulted with a pathologist who told them how difficult and time consuming it would be to bite and chew human flesh, and the actors took that and just kind of went for it. By the time Chalamet arrived, Russell and Mark Rylance, who plays another cannibal, had already filmed some of their scenes and he got a visceral sense of just how committed they were.
鈥淚 saw how they were 10,000% in,鈥� Chalamet said. 鈥淚t was just tactile. Something that needed to be accomplished. And on the day, it was go time.鈥�
鈥淏ones and All鈥� is more of a road movie than anything else, and they found inspiration in the American Midwest. Filming in the U.S. was a first for Guadagnino, who began this odyssey in Ohio, paying homage to Kajganich鈥檚 home state. He found it to be endearingly beautiful and also 鈥渧ery left behind,鈥� making it the perfect setting for a 1980s period piece.
鈥淚 hope this movie comes across as a very immersive journey into the landscape of America instead of being a movie about it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 a little boringly classicist. I like the idea that when you go and explore a place, you do so by not imposing your gaze upon it.鈥�
They shot the film quickly and were always on the move, sometimes changing locations every nine hours. It helped Russell feel immediately part of the family. In her preparation, though she had a lot of time to think about Maren and what she wanted to say with her, she had hit a wall because she knew she needed to be with Chalamet for it to come together.
鈥淭he gift of filming there is that we didn鈥檛 know anybody except for each other,鈥� Russell said.鈥� I loved shooting in the middle of America, in Ohio and Nebraska and Kentucky. It informed our characters in a really strong way because there was a lot of freedom. The wind, I felt like it was speaking and dictating the mood, especially on the cliffs in Nebraska."
Chalamet was also able to steer the direction of his character, Lee, in a more profound way than he鈥檚 experienced in most of his roles, where he strictly follows the text. In the book, Lee is a bit more of a jock and an alpha male 鈥減rotector鈥� to Maren. That version, he felt, wasn鈥檛 right for him. Instead, he saw Lee as fragile and possessing a unique style that blended both male and female styles, like a cropped cardigan with pearl buttons.
鈥淗e鈥檚 fiercely individualistic and is among the shadows as much as he鈥檚 screaming to be seen,鈥� Chalamet said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all true in my experience at that age.鈥�
After playing at various festivals over the past few months, 鈥淏ones and All鈥� is finally opening in theaters nationwide this weekend and, partially due to Chalamet鈥檚 insatiable fandom, there is the possibility that it could become a teen favorite for years to come, the way 鈥淭wilight鈥� struck that adolescent nerve 鈥� even with the R rating. Both stars found the themes resonant to their own lives.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e young, you fake it to make it. You act the way you are until hopefully people see you that way," Chalamet said. But underneath that is all insecurity, self-loathing, terror, fear. Then to have the goodness or your humanity rather confirmed in love and by someone you find yourself in a relationship with? That felt true.鈥�
And Guadagnino doesn鈥檛 mind if people use 鈥済enre鈥� and 鈥渉orror鈥� when they talk about the film, either.
鈥淲hen you are an adolescent or when you are a teenager, when you are a person that is not yet fully formed, you deal a lot with that sense of wonderment and fear and fogginess of vision," Guadagnino said. 鈥淚 might have approached the idea of a genre unconsciously because it鈥檚 resonated with the idea of anxiety that comes with being someone in transition, the anxiety of becoming.鈥�
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
