The Young Victoria Director Jean-Marc Vallée on True Love and Sigur Ros

When I talked to Emily, she said she thought she won the role because she was the bossiest actor you auditioned and you might have gotten some royal attitude from that. True?

[Laughs] That's good. As a matter of fact, yes, but also, she was the hot new thing and she was amazing in Summer of Love. It was timing, talent, guts...yes, she was ballsy, but she impressed Scorsese, Graham, and myself. It was obvious.

How did you get along with Julian Fellowes?

We were the odd couple, but we respected each other. Yes, there's something very traditional about his writing and dialogue, but I had to adjust to him just like he adjusted to be like me. I asked him to rewrite scenes incorporating music, like Schubert. Still, it's a traditional, old-fashioned, classic film. We didn't try to reinvent anything, though we tried to make it look modern visually. It serves the emotion of the movie.

Do you have music in mind even at the script stage?

Oh yeah. I designed all of those shots with specific backing tracks, classical music. There's also music that isn't in the film, like Sigur Ros, that I used on-set. The DNA of Sigur Ros is still in the movie. I asked Julian to rewrite scenes where tracks could be part of the storytelling, where the actors are aware of the music. That's why Albert became a Schubert lover and writes to her about it -- it's like he's creating a mixtape. The way we used the waltz, I designed a whole sequence around this track I found and I literally told Julian to write it to that track. In England and Germany, they're all playing the same political game, they're all waltzing together, so we cut back and forth between them and use it is as score.

Were there any other costume drama hallmarks that you specifically wanted to avoid?

Hmm, I wonder. Of course, when I was walking through those rooms, my first instinct was to do wide shots because I was impressed by the high ceilings, the walls, the mirrors and how the characters looked smaller and more precious. At the same time, it's a story about emotion and love, so I have to focus and gold myself back from those wide shots. The good thing is that in the intimate scenes, there's no coverage. There's a lot of long shots, one-minute or two-minute shots, and it's just nice to take the time to do that. When you watch these kinds of scenes as an audience, I feel like it looks real, that we're confident about the emotion on the page and the actors. Why interfere with that by cutting and editing if we can do it in only one shot? I love the simplicity. Less is more.

Pages: 1 2