Can you talk about the origins of this project?
Tony Kushner: Steven told me the story that’s the core of the movie on the first day of filming Munich, in 2005, in Malta.
![](https://nationalboardofreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/TF2_web.jpg)
Can you talk about the origins of this project?
Tony Kushner: Steven told me the story that’s the core of the movie on the first day of filming Munich, in 2005, in Malta.
Around 2004, you were doing research about curry during Queen Victoria’s time, and it seems you ended up finding much more than expected?
Shrabani Basu: I knew that that Queen Victoria loved her curry and she had so many Indian servants that cooked for her.
The locations are incredible. How did you find them?
Potsy Ponciroli: This film was really created out of the location.
Can you talk about conceiving this story, and you’re writing process?
Noah Baumbach: It was inherent in the title that we are asking, “Does anyone really know what the story of a marriage is, and if that story has an end of sorts, does it mean it wasn’t a marriage?”
What in your own life has helped you connect with the story?
John Crowley: I moved to London when I was 27 to direct a play at the National Theatre. Having been back and forth from London since I was about ten, I knew London better than I knew Dublin.
What was the genesis of this film?
Paul Schrader: The process began about three years ago when I was giving an award for Pawel Pawlikowski, for his film Ida at the New York Society of Film Critics.
Your DP said that his collaboration with you is one of the most unique he’s had with a director.
Edward Berger: We’re both obsessed with precision and architecture in the film. It’s not haphazard and we don’t try to find the shot on set. It gives me true pleasure to set up a shot and in that shot, have every department create the illusion that this is reality.
What was your script development process, and what was your reaction to it on first read?
Darren Aronofsky: All of my work outside of filmmaking is environmental work. As a parent, I’m very concerned about the future.
You did almost all of the work on this film— what was that experience like?
Jessica Kingdon: I did have a close cinematographer, Nathan Truesdell, and we shot it together. But, yeah, it was very much a film that was coming out of my own mind.