Tag: Brendan Gleeson

Elle Fanning Worried She Was Too Young for Ben Affleck’s Live by Night

Playing the evangelist daughter of a cop in Roaring 1920s Boston in Ben Affleck‘s “Live by Night,” longtime child actress Elle Fanning believed she’d found her most mature role to date, though she initially worried the complicated character Loretta might prove too mature.

“I knew it would be a challenge, and I always want to challenge myself,” Fanning, 18, tells Made in Hollywood reporter Kylie Erica Mar. “When I read the script first I was 15. I remember reading it and I didn’t know if I would get the part. Then I met with Ben. And there’s like no way. He’s going to think I’m too young.”

Elle Fanning Reveals How Delay in Filming Helped Her in Live by Night

In the end, it all worked out, in no small part because it took nearly three years for Affleck to get the gangster flick made.

“I filmed the movie when I was almost 18,” says Fanning. “I felt like it was perfect for Loretta’s character, because I was right on the cusp of feeling like a little girl but then also being a woman. And that odd limbo that you feel is what Loretta was going through, too. It was perfect. She’s such a complex kind of woman. To be one of three women who influence Ben in the film …was better than just playing the kid in the movie.”

Helping Fanning channel Loretta was the authentic period wardrobe created by costume designer Jacqueline West.

“She’s like the best ever and thinks of every single detail,” says Fanning. “Everything is very thought out and very specific down to the socks and underwear which are all from the 1920s. … You do walk a certain way, you feel a certain way. You’re really transported back to that time.”

Elle Fanning on Getting Over Ben Affleck’s Batman Past

As for working with Affleck, it took a few moments for Fanning get past his megastar image – and the fact that her costar was also her director.

“It’s like Batman?” she jokes. “Ben makes you feel .. so safe and comfortable. He’s directing it, and he’s also the actor with you in the scene. Once he’s playing Joe, you just look at him as the actor. He’s Joe in the scene with you. And then they say cut and he’s off to look at lighting and camera angles. He really does that flawlessly, that transition. So it was amazing to work with him. It was the best experience, really. He just knows how to help you do your best work.”

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Ben Affleck of Live by Night Talks the Cool Allure of Gangster Movies

There must be something about those hats and spats that no actor can resist.

“I wanted to make a great gangster movie,” says Ben Affleck, the star, director and co-writer of the 1920s-set “Live by Night.” “I wanted to make a fun, pulpy, sexy gangster movie with cars and guns and suits and hats and love and betrayal and all that great stuff that goes into the genre.”

Maybe that’s because Affleck relates to those guys. “I’ve always thought of myself as a gangster — but with no weapons and no gang,” he laughs. “So I’m kind of a gangster of one.”

How Ben Affleck Got ’20s Look in Live by Night

The star tells Made in Hollywood reporter Kylie Erica Mar that capturing the authentic feel of the Roaring ’20s was key for “Live by Night,” about the son of a strict Boston police superintendent who turns outlaw, only to cross a powerful mob boss by stealing his money and his moll.

That starts with the real-life locations. “We found places that still look like the ’20s, believe it or not,” he says. “There are a few of them out there still.”

And it includes capturing the chaos of the climactic final scene, seven minutes of mayhem that took a week to shoot. “It was complicated,” Affleck says. “It had to be done piece by piece. We had to storyboard each shot and make sure they all made sense geographically and knew who was who. It was a lot of work but it’s one of those things where you put them together piece by piece by piece and you have this big jigsaw puzzle that’s all finished and looks pretty cool.”

Chris Messina on Gaining 40 Pounds for Live by Night

For costar Chris Messina, striving for authenticity meant packing on so much weight for his role that he’s virtually unrecognizable.

“I gained 40 pounds, so it was a fun experience of eating a lot of food, drinking a lot of beer, ice cream, pasta,” he says, then points to Affleck. “This guy, he gave me a trainer as a wrap gift to help me lose the weight. He’s a good friend.”

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