Amy Adams in ‘American Hustle.’ Photo: Sony Pictures.
Preview:
Amy Adams is in negotiations for Taika Waititi’s new movie.
Jenna Ortega is already aboard.
The movie adapts Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of the same name.
Taika Waititi last brought us the based-on-truth story ‘Next Goal Wins’, but for his next film, he’s going in an altogether more fantastical direction.
The director, who has worked on the likes of ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and ‘Jojo Rabbit’ is preparing to direct science fiction story ‘Klara and the Sun’.
‘Klara and the Sun’ charts the story of Klara (Ortega), an Artificial Friend designed to prevent loneliness. Klara is purchased by a mother (Adams) and a bright teen named Josie who adores her new robot companion but suffers from a mysterious illness.
Klara’s quest is to save Josie and those who love her from heartbreak and how in the process Klara learns the power of human love.
The original novel was published in 2021, written by ‘Living’ writer Kazuo Ishiguro, debuting on the New York Times’ Best Sellers Hardcover Fiction List at No. 3 and the Indie Best Sellers Hardcover Fiction List at No. 1.
Dahvi Waller, who has written on TV shows such as ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Halt and Catch Fire’, crafted the adaptation, and Sony 3000 Pictures secured Waititi to direct last year, though the writers and actors’ strikes curtailed any chance to get it filmed in 2023.
But with Adams now closing in on a deal, the aim is to have the cameras rolling in the coming weeks.
And if that wasn’t enough positivity for you, the movie is produced by ‘Harry Potter’ veteran David Heyman, who also worked on both ‘Paddington’ movies and ‘Wonka’.
What’s next for Amy Adams and Jenna Ortega?
Jenna Ortega attends the world premiere of Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ on November 16, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for Netflix.
Adams’ next film is the intriguingly titled ‘Nightbitch’, which was directed by Marielle Heller and is a horror comedy about an artist whose maternal instincts start to manifest as a dog.
As for Ortega, she recently finished work on Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice’ sequel (which now has a title: ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ and will be out on September 6th this year). The actor will next film the second season of hit Netflix series ‘Wednesday’, which also has Burton involved.
The show is gearing up to shoot the new series in the spring.
Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
Arriving in theaters on December 23rd, ‘Living’ sees Bill Nighy as a man choosing to try and live even in the face of death and is one of the most moving and poignant movies of the year.
Though his movies have been adapted many times––‘Seven Samurai’ alone is the basis for a wealth of other films––it’s still the brave filmmaker who chooses to tackle one of Akira Kurosawa’s classics.
In this case, the brave souls include writer Kazuo Ishiguro and director Oliver Hermanus, who bring a new version of Kurosawa’s 1952 drama ‘Ikiru’ to screens.
Instead of switching genres, the two have largely faithfully adapted the story (with some changes that shrink the running time to under two hours), moving the setting from 1950s Tokyo to 1950s London. It’s a smart choice, as the themes and emotions of post-war Britain were similar to those of Japan.
Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
Bill Nighy––who according to Ishiguro was one of the reasons he thought the new film could work at all––plays Mr. Williams, a staid, buttoned-up civil servant who works in a department of the London City Council.
He’s so sunken into duty and free from emotion that co-workers joke about him being known as “Mr. Zombie.” It’s an apt description for a man who ostensibly appears to be alive, but only in the most basic fashion. Stiff upper lips have rarely been stiffer.
At work, he’s distant (though not always completely cold) with his colleagues and underlings and more concerned with shuffling papers than being concerned with anyone’s feelings. But then, he’s part of a generation of men raised to be proper and reserved, who have been through a global conflict forever changed.
Then, at home, the widower is still diffident when it comes to his son, Michael (Barney Fishwick), who, encouraged by wife Fiona (Patsy Ferran), is aiming to confront his father about selling the family home so they can get money to buy their own.
Williams’ world is detonated (albeit silently since he decides not to tell anyone at first) by diagnosis of terminal cancer. It does at least prompt him to act, leaving work for days on end and heading to a coastal town in search of something more in life. He meets and hangs out with disheveled, frequently drunken writer Mr. Sutherland (Tom Burke), who introduces him to the salacious delights of burlesque shows and crowded pubs, but despite opening up enough to start singing in one bar, Williams stills feels buttoned up, complaining that while he’s finally seeking out a life, he’s not good at it.
Aimee Lou Wood stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
He does at least find some solace in Miss Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), a young woman who had worked in his office before moving to a tea house in search of a better job. Her positive energy has a real effect on him, their chaste friendship becoming more of a motivator in his life, even if his son and daughter-in-law confront him about the potential scandal of Williams spending time with her––this is still 1950s London, don’t forget, where people of his standing are expected to be proper.
And at work, he also becomes more inspired, pushing to help a women’s group get a playground built on a patch of waste ground, seeing it as the most important legacy he can leave behind.
Opening with beautifully restored archive footage of the period before seamlessly segueing into the movie itself, ‘Living’ is a striking, moving achievement.
A lot of that is a credit to Nighy, who has excelled in light comedies and heavy dramas (and the occasional blockbuster, acting through CG prosthetics in some of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies.)
Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
Here, he’s the perfect stone-faced performer for Williams, able to imbue the man with an aloof sense of authority that melts into human realization as time marches on and the character learns of his fate. Nighy can say more with a twitch of his lip than some actors can with an entire monologue.
Which is not to say that Ishiguro’s script isn’t wonderful––it is, finding new layers to the story that even Kurosawa and his esteemed colleagues didn’t dig out.
Director Hermanus, meanwhile, stages it all with style and grace, an evocation of British life at the time that pops off the screen in different ways, whether it’s the forest of suits and bowler hats boarding a train at the start or the tents full of bawdy behavior that Williams experiences on his trip.
And Nighy is surrounded by some superb supporting cast members. Wood, a veteran of Netflix series ‘Sex Education’ is a real delight here, her sprightly yet demure Miss Harris a tonic for the viewer as much as she is for Williams. The likes of Alex Sharp, Adrian Rawlings and Oliver Chris shade in his co-workers even if they’re not the biggest part of the story.
Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
And an awkward scene between Williams and his son is a masterpiece of frosty British reserve, emotions that are bubbling under the surface kept firmly in check.
If there is one downside to the film, it lies in the pacing towards the end (which also affects the original). Once the inevitable befalls Williams, those left behind are a little at sea, and the narrative is similarly impacted. A slightly overlong speech from a policeman reminiscing about having seen Williams sitting in the playground he helped make a reality feels uncomfortable and momentarily breaks the spell that the movie has so effectively cast.
Yet it’s a blip in an otherwise unimpeachable film that rewards patience and confirms that Nighy is one of the best actors working today. Like Williams himself, it might seem cold and mannered, but there’s a huge heart at work in ‘Living’.
‘Living’ receives 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
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Opening in theaters on December 23rd is the new drama ‘Living,’ which was directed by Oliver Hermanus (‘Beauty’) and is adapted from the 1952 Japanese film ‘Ikiru’ directed by Akira Kurosawa.
Set in 1950s London, ‘Living’ stars Bill Nighy (‘Love Actually’) as Mr. Williams, an ordinary civil servant who after receiving a grim diagnosis decides to make the most of his final days with the help of a former colleague named Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood about their work on ‘Living,’ their approach to their roles, and the sweet relationship between their characters.
Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Nighy, Wood, and director Oliver Hermanus.
Moviefone: To begin with, Bill, can you talk about your approach to playing Mr. Williams, and what were some of the aspects of the character that you were excited to explore with this film?
Bill Nighy: I was excited to explore that kind of character from my childhood because I was there. I was a small boy during the fifties. The atmosphere of that period and the way that people conducted themselves, I grew up into that. That post-war era and the kind of reticence that was required of people, the reluctance to express anything big and not to trouble one another with your innermost concerns.
It was a kind of religion, and it’s probably very unhealthy. I understand in terms of repression and suppression, but it’s also kind of heroic in its way. I was drawn to, as an acting thing, it’s fun to try and express quite a lot with not very much. I’m interested in that. It’s usually called Englishness, but I’m sure there’s characters like Mr. Williams in every culture. But we take the blame for it.
I just think I’m just really fascinated by that formality, even under great stress, and also procrastination because he spent his life working in an institution designed to facilitate procrastination. I personally procrastinate at an Olympic level. There’s nothing I can’t put off, and I can put it off for as long as you want. When I die, there will be a long list of things I never quite got round to. I’m interested how that personal tendency is expressed in a society because we’re all, my hope it’s not just me, I think everyone has struggles with that tendency.
Aimee Lou Wood stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
MF: Finally, Aimee, can you talk about Margaret’s reaction when she sees her former boss outside of the office and in the real world, and the friendship that they form together that really inspires him to live his life to the fullest?
Aimee Lou Wood: Well, you know when you were younger and you saw your teacher out, and you go, “What?” Because there are certain people that, in your head, they only exist within that specific space. I think Margaret has that with Mr. Williams because he’s quite a closed book at the start of the film. So, they’ve been in each other’s presence for, I think, 16 months, but they have not connected.
I think when she sees him out, it’s shocking that he even exists beyond those walls. But then the fact that he has this new hat on, there’s something different about him. That’s how I knew who Margaret was. The minute that line that (screenwriter) Kazuo Ishiguro wrote about, “Oh, and your new hat,” I was like, “Oh, okay. I get who she is.” That she notices all these things, and she can see that there’s something different about him, just by the fact that he has this new hat.
All of a sudden she can see him in this completely new way. That’s also because he’s seeing life in a completely new way. He’s trying to see things and notice things again, after years of being an autopilot. I think she’s quite taken aback by how seen she feels by him when they’ve been sat near each other for 16 months and she’s never felt that until that day. I think it’s just this really surprising, incredible connection that they have.
It’s almost sad because you think, they could have had that 16 months ago. They could have had it from the moment that they met if they just had a different perspective. It’s Mr. Williams’ newfound desire to live that brings them together.
Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
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