In America, we'll get our chance to know Sam Taylor-Wood soon, and she's hoping you'll keep an open mind. In her native Britain, the 42-year-old is different things to different people: a famous visual artist (with headline-grabbing portraits of stars like Robert Downey Jr. and David Beckham), a cancer survivor, a feature film director making her debut with the young John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, and a tabloid fixture for dating the movie's 19-year-old-star Aaron Johnson (soon to be seen as the lead in Kick Ass) and becoming pregnant with his child.
Movieline sat down with Taylor-Wood last week in advance of her film's Sundance premiere (Nowhere Boy's U.S. release is thus far undated by the Weinstein Co.) to discuss the scrutiny of Beatles fans, the tyranny of physical resemblance when making a biopic, and the circuitous, fortuitous theft that got her the project in the first place.
Your first Sundance was four years ago. What was your impression of it then?
Much the same as it is now. [laughs] It's kind of...it's odd. It feels so alien, this desert with snow, where the street feels like it's a set that's been made to entertain you. It's a bit strange.
When you were looking to make your feature film debut, did you think you would end up directing this kind of movie?
Not at all. It was a complete surprise. After [Taylor-Wood's short film Love You More] had done fairly well at festivals, I had been sent scripts and was going on general meetings with producers and studios. Everyone kept saying, "Well, what sort of material do you like? What kind of film are you looking for?" The only answer I could come up with is, "A good one." [Laughs] But I definitely wasn't looking for a film that was factual and about the real life of a person, let alone someone of such a high stature [as Lennon] -- it was just the power of the story. I had read so many scripts that hadn't even begun to touch me, and this one just completely rocked my world.
It has so many parallels to your own childhood -- like Lennon, you grew up not knowing that your real mother lived nearby in town. When you were sent the script, was the sender aware of that?
See, I wasn't sent the script. It was really cloak and dagger! A director friend of mine named Joe Wright, who directed Atonement, he was reading a lot of scripts. He went into his agent's office and there were three scripts and his agent said, "You can have a look at two of them, but there's one you're not allowed to touch because it's just come in." Then she went out of the office and he stole it. [Laughs] He read it and called me immediately -- to his credit -- and said, "This is one of the best scripts I've read, but I know it's yours, not mine. Read it, but you've got a few hurdles in your way because there's a director attached and they're going into pre-production now."
Those are definitely hurdles!
He said, "But I just know you'll get it." The other director left to do a bigger-budget project, thankfully; then the producers didn't want me to do it because they knew they had a great script and they didn't want a first-time director. I stalked them and they got so fed up with me! I kept saying, "You need passion to direct this script, and I'm so passionate about it. You have to give it to me."
A lot of your most notable previous work dealt with some of the most famous celebrities on earth. What is it like to direct them, as opposed to directing a cast of mostly newcomers in Nowhere Boy?
When I was making those photographs and working with some of the people you're referring to, it was directing as much as it was anything else, for sure, but working with these newcomers was really fun to do. Everyone was so open to new things and new ideas, and there was so much excitement. One of the actors asked me, "Is this going to be on TV?" I said, "Well, we're aiming a little bit higher." [Laughs]
There are some real-life events moved around in the timeline. Was it liberating to do that, or did you worry about how Beatles fans would react?
Really, it came down to Matt Greenhalgh, who wrote the script. He had so much information to try to pack into the film, and you have to be aware of what makes drama and what details to include. I sort of trusted his timeline on things and hoped it was as accurate as possible.
But you're the one who'll have to face the music, right?
Of course. [Laughs] Yeah, I know. I think I was quite naive when I stepped into this film, because when I read it, I really focused on the relationships between Lennon and his mother and his aunt. I felt like I was so embedded in their relationships that, in a sense, I forgot that it was John Lennon and the Beatles and all that until I went to Liverpool. Then I realized what I was dealing with.
The thing is that the drama of his teen years is basically interesting enough to stand on its own. Even if it weren't Lennon, it's a very dramatic story.
Well, exactly. It sort of feels like an added bonus to the story that you can say "...and this is John Lennon's life." It was frightening when I went to Liverpool. That's when I realized, "Oh, there are going to be a lot of people focused on the details. There's a lot of people out there who are complete Beatles nerds and they're really going to pull me up on a few things, so we have to be as tough and accurate as possible. I think we were pretty much there, although there were a few things.
Do you try to put on blinders to block out those other reactions?
I have to. I have to. Otherwise, it would completely stop me in my tracks from making it, and I couldn't do that.
How worried were you about physical resemblances?
I was at first. When we sat down with the casting director, a Paul McCartney would walk through the door and I'd just go, "Perfect!" And then he'd start acting and I'd think, "Shit." [Laughs] I really had to make that decision, because there were people who really looked like him, and I had to go with people who I thought really embodied the soul of that person. I just couldn't find someone [identical] who could act, sing, learn the guitar back-to-front, and pull off that role, so in all cases, I went with solid actors. It was a weight on their shoulders, as well, to be playing those icons, and both Aaron and Thomas [Sangster, who plays Paul McCartney] had to learn the accent, how to sing, how to play, and have the balls to carry that. It takes a particular kind of person to do that.
One interesting omission from Nowhere Boy is that Lennon's strict Aunt Mimi has a romantic relationship with her lodger in real life. In the movie, you show the lodger, but you don't show the relationship. Is that something you had hoped to incorporate?
Yeah, that was something that was really revealed quite recently by Julia Baird, Lennon's half-sister. We did actually shoot much more of that relationship, but in essence, it felt like we were running off on a tangent, trying to expose her. Also, I thought that having it implied was as powerful as actually seeing it. If we'd seen it, I think it might have created this whole other personality for Mimi that would have undone what we'd set up.
I was really impressed with Aaron's performance near the end of the film when he records that Quarrymen song "In Spite of All the Danger" -- there's so much that washes over his face in just one long take. Did you have any trouble getting the rights to that song?
Oh God, yeah. Mildly naively, I went into it just assuming that they were going to give us the rights. I had no idea! I'd never dealt with that before -- when we made the short film, we used Buzzcocks records and they were there from day one, being supportive. Of course, I'm dealing with a much bigger machine [with Nowhere Boy]. I had to shoot that knowing that I might have to cut it, and it was his best scene, for me.
So you didn't have the rights before you shot it?
No! We didn't have the rights to "Mother," either, which was the closing song, until a month after we finished editing it.
Did you make a conscious decision to finish the film and use that product to seek the rights?
It just hadn't happened. I mean, to be honest, with "Mother," we had to have the rights from Yoko Ono and have her blessing. I could only hope I didn't offend her -- I made the film lovingly -- and I had hoped that she felt that too. And she did, and she took Sean to see it a second time. They made the decision and they had never given the rights before, they'd always held it back, so it was a big blessing for us. With "In Spite of All the Danger," it was the same, I had to get Paul McCartney's decision. It was a quiet seal of approval -- I didn't need them to all come out of the woodwork saying "Great film!" or anything. They gave us the rights, so they must like it.
I know that you'd originally intended to make your first film with Anthony Minghella. What happened there?
I had met him very briefly -- we were both on a jury for a film awards. I was really outspoken because I was an artist -- I wasn't from the film world -- so I didn't need to worry about who was in the running. [Laughs] Afterwards, he said, "Have you ever considered making a feature film?" and I said, "I've thought about it a little." He suggested we make a short film together, so he produced Love You More and I directed it. He wanted to make a feature film as that kind of team, and it was like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- I had the golden ticket suddenly. He found this book he liked, and we went quite far, and then sadly he died. After that, I couldn't deal with the material, because it was already about grief. I just thought, "I can't."
Do you think it's something you might eventually come back to?
I don't think so. I think it's too emotionally unsettling, in a sense. I took it quite hard, as you would, and it's such a sad story that it would just remind me of it too much. I'd be an emotional wreck.
So do you know what your next project will be yet?
I've started reading, but again, there's very little out there that's interesting. I definitely don't want to make something that's factually based about someone who's so big.
I would imagine you took that as far as you could go already.
I wanted to be able to really run with the story [on Nowhere Boy], but I thought, "I can't! It'll just get killed for it." [Laughs] I want more freedom!