Carol Morley’s credits include “The Alcohol Years,” a BAFTA-nominated film about her scurrilous teenage past, “Dreams of a Life,” which went behind the anonymous newspaper headline about Joyce Vincent who lay dead in her flat for three years, and “The Falling,” A BBC and BFI film set in a girls’ school in England in 1969 and revolved around an outbreak of mass psychogenic illness.
“Out of Blue” will begin screening at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
CM: When New Orleans homicide detective Mike Hoolihan (Patricia Clarkson) investigates the shooting of leading astrophysicist and black hole expert Jennifer Rockwell (Mamie Gummer) her quest for the truth destabilizes her view of the universe and herself.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
CM: I adapted a book called “Night Train” by Martin Amis. I was attracted to the book because there was a female lead detective, and I was excited to expand on her, and make a film about a complex woman who owns the investigative gaze.
The book intrigued me because of the themes of cosmology and black holes, but it was also grounded in a police procedural — so it was doing a number of things at once.
I regard what I have done as a radical adaptation — it goes way beyond describing the book!
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
CM: I’ve always thought that when people see a film they complete it – it isn’t finished till then. So I want them to think about lots of things, but most of all I want them to feel something, in one way or another!
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
CM: Every aspect of a film is a challenge, but the biggest is the financing of a film. Without that, none of the other challenges come into the light. So, money. Always money!
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
CM: BBC films and British Film Institute Wellcome came on board for finance, and other private finance from a variety of sources.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
CM: A teacher. I left school at 16, and did various jobs, such as cleaning and working in shops, and I went back to night-school when I was 23. I picked film studies as an A-level subject — something you normally do when you’re 16 to 18 — not out of some lifelong passion, but because it sounded interesting.
The class was taught by writer and filmmaker Bev Zalcock, and she changed my life. Her way of talking about films and the insights she brought ultimately made me want to make films.
Becoming a filmmaker felt like becoming myself. It felt like so much of my life had been working towards being one, but I just didn’t realize it at the time. For me being a writer-director is not a job, or a career, it’s a vocation – a way of life.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
CM: Best: Never give up.
Worst: If it’s taking too long – kill your baby, i.e. your passion project. I believe that, no matter how difficult things are in getting a project that you really believe in made, you must never give up.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
CM: By any means necessary! I sometimes think the stories that we are often drawn to tell, or the way we want to tell them, aren’t seen as being important in the wider world. Know that they are. Know that if you have a burning desire to tell a story, that’s more important than anything – whatever the story is.
And resist being pigeonholed! There are so many stories to be told – and so many ways to tell them. There is not one “strong” female story to tell, nor should you feel responsible for the burden of underrepresentation in the past.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
CM: Impossible to have one favorite. But I will say Jane Campion’s “Sweetie” because it is utterly brilliantly directed, and I love how it is both dark and funny in how it looks at family life, and in particular the relationship between two sisters.
W&H: Hollywood and the global film industry are in the midst of undergoing a major transformation. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?
CM: I get messages from unknown producers wanting to attach a “female director” to a project for no other reason than it seems that they think it will tick a box and help them get their project made. I have been too concentrated on working on “Out of Blue” to notice a massive shift, other than there is the occasional announcement I see about a woman being attached to a big Hollywood project.
All I know is that the world and our minds will be a healthier place if a multitude of stories are told, in a multitude of ways, and for this, the market – the money people – must be a vital part of the conversation.
