Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, married on June 2nd, 1958. A month later they were arrested for violating Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws, dragged out of their beds, locked up in cells and released only under the condition they never step foot in Virginia again. The couple soon became a lightening rod for the Civil Rights movement, culminating in a Supreme Court decision striking down all anti-miscegenation laws. And yet Richard and Mildred never quite felt comfortable as national progressive symbols, only wanting to live a peaceful life together and amongst their family in Virginia.
Jeff Nichols’Lovingwisely reflects the Mildred’s quiet demeanor, eschewing the usual court-room postures and big speeches typical of ‘important’ social films. At it’s heart –Lovingis just that: a love story between two kind, gentle people set against circumstances far beyond their control or want.
The performances reflect this tone. As the Lovings,Joel EdgertonandRuth Neggadon’t have much dialogue, instead relying on body language and comfortable silences to define themselves and their relationship. It’s a film that truly comes alive in between the words – a testament to both Edgerton and Negga’s commitment to embodying such reserved characters.
In our interview with Joel Edgerton, he discussed finding the motivation behind these silences, squaring away his ego and going far beyond a mere impersonation. In addition, he talks about the two films he’s planning on directing next: a drama and a science fiction film.
When did Jeff Nichols first approach you about doingLoving?
JOEL EDGERTON: It was towards the end ofMidnight Special. Because I had a really close cropped haircut at the time, I think he was looking at me going ‘Hmm… maybe he’s not that dissimilar from Richard.”
Were you familiar with the Lovings' story beforehand?
EDGERTON: No – as an Australian, I didn’t know the story, but I felt that most young Americans don’t really know it either.
Yeah – it’s a bit under the radar.
EDGERTON: It’s such a big seismic shift in Civil Rights in America. It changed the Constitution. It’s nothing to be scoffed at but because it wasn’t an event marked with violence, it went under the radar.
What do you pick up from watching Richard in media appearances and in the documentary on Mildred and him (The Lovings)?
EDGERTON: That he wished he could just disappear. ‘Disappear’ was a good word for me. You saw him on a micro level just going how can I get away from this camera, his eyes searching for a way out. Richard was almost wishing everyone would go away and things could go back to before but that’s a very naive approach. This is all just my perception of it by the way. It was really Mildred who looked forward and said the way out is not to pretend. We have to keep moving forward and be strategic about it. But Richard is very silent. He was thinking a lot and not saying very much. It was important for me to me focus on what those silences meant…
I was going to ask: Are those silences written in the script?
EDGERTON: Well - there was very little dialogue in the script. A lot of descriptions of things. Jeff and I would talk about the scenes. For example: the scene with the sheriff when he’s doing the cross-examination, we would talk about what Richard was thinking: how much he wished to go away, how much he wished he could speak, and how hard it would be to [do so]. It says a lot to speak against the law when you think about the ramifications of the time. They would literally take a baton and crack your head open or worse…
Given the performance is so reactive, are you finding the character in the moment with your co-stars? How much have you prepped ahead of time?
EDGERTON: I think it’s important as an actor to do as much thoughtfulness and preparation ahead of time and then show up on the day and forget all about it so you can be there in the room. That was always one of the risks of trying to create a character that was so much like Richard. The risk is that it only ever reaches an impression or mimicry. You’ve got to find a way to go beyond that. That was the trick in the first few days. There’s an inevitability to being self-conscious in drawing a character like this so let’s get over it. Let forget about it. Put it aside and allow it to live…
What tends to be the first thing you do after reading a script to get into character?
EDGERTON: Call the agent. Ask how much?
(Laughter)
EDGERTON: How big is my trailer?… No – I often from the moment I start reading a screenplay, I’m thinking about the evolution from the beginning to the end of the screenplay. It’s almost like you’re just willing it to be good, you’re hoping it’s going to be amazing. If you’ve ever got a ping pong ball and you blow it, you’re just trying to keep it in the air. A great screenplay that manages to keep that ping pong in the air by the time you finish the last page is very rare. So I felt very nervous by the time I finished this screenplay because it just was so perfectly put together. I could see it all playing. The end of the movie felt satisfying. The beats along the way felt true. I was very impressed that Jeff had taken a true story – because I had seen the documentary – and decided it to tell it truthfully, which is supremely rare in moviemaking. And definitely there’s ego involved too. Like what do I get to do…
Well a lot of it strikes me as a rather egoless performance? There isn’t that big scene…
EDGERTON: Yeah - the actor has an ego. I definitely have a pretty sizable ego. But you try to square your ego away. I think it’s important as an actor to know how to hide that ego, how to hide vanity in order to service the story.
There is so much about Richard’s public persona, but what did you base his private life on?
EDGERTON: You’re right. The documentary gives you one half the picture, which is the interminably shy, please-go-away, I-don’t-really-want-to-be-a-poster-child-of-revolution, please-get-out-of-my-house side of Richard and Mildred. Particularly Richard was so private, it’s hard to get a full sense of him in the documentary. However there are glimpses of it. It was up to Ruth and I to fill in the other half of the picture. Some of it was helped by say talking with Peggy, their daughter, who said the house was filled with laughter. She remembered her father and had heard from other people that he had a great sense of humor. That was something to go on. The Life magazine photos were something to go on. Greg Villet managed to somehow transform into a fly-on-the-wall in a way Richard felt okay about being private with Mildred. Villet was one those wonderfully invisible photographers who made them feel at ease. So that gave us a lot of clues as well.
Was there a rehearsal process between you and Ruth to find this relationship?
EDGERTON: Not really. That was the other really big task. It was fine for me to create Richard and fine for her to create Mildred but we also have to be believable as a couple. We had a real enjoyment of each other and a real delight in taking on the responsibility of playing Richard and Mildred together. We were like the two special kids in class who get to do the special thing. That created a togetherness for us. We still feel that way. But we never really had a rehearsal period. Jeff was smart enough though to invite us both to Virginia for a two week period ahead of filming to visit places.
What sort of places did you visit?
EDGERTON: We visited the courthouse and the exterior jail where Richard and Mildred were first held. We visited the inside of the jail but it was difficult for us to shoot there. It was too small for the crew and had a lot of lead paint inside there.
Does going to these places help ground the performance, knowing where the Lovings actually were?
EDGERTON: Yeah - just standing in a tiny jail cell and thinking Mildred spent seven days in here heavily-pregnant and that she couldn’t see Richard and that she was alone. Going to the grave site with Ruth was also really special. Something happened to us in that cemetery when we saw the graves [and] the rest of their families. It showed you no one really spilled far from the community. I saw Ruth standing in the cemetery and I’d walked back towards the car and she just wasn’t ready to come back and I could see there was something going on with her, that she was having a very emotional response. I knew how important Mildred was to her and I saw it in front of me in a way that upped the level of reverence I had for the story and how important our parts were and that we were very lucky to be doing it together.
Given your experience behind the camera (as writer/director onThe Gift), does that affect how you approach a performance?
EDGERTON: It does in small ways. I became very fascinated with what lens was on the camera and why. But I certainly didn’t come off the experience of directing and go now I know everything and I know better. I certainly would never presume to do anything more than just be curious about Jeff’s reasons for doing something because his intuition is really great as a filmmaker. But it didn’t change my performance. I set a rule for myself a long while ago. Well – really four or five years ago. That I would stop indulging myself in watching the monitor or any playback because it just started to really affect the performance.
How did it affect your performance?
EDGERTON: I started to monitor myself from the outside. It brought vanity back in, it brought my ego back into the equation. When I said so and so – that’s how I look? you’re able to’t think that way… So that made it hard when I was directing because when I was in front of a camera, I still didn’t want to look at the monitor. I had to be very trusting of the frame that was set and the homework I’d done before. Then I had my brother there to give feedback if my intention was coming through, if I should do another take or if I should move on.Lovingwas the first movie I shot after releasingThe Giftand I felt such a great relief in being able to just enjoy being a part of the process as an actor and having my task.
Do you have any plans to step behind the camera again and what genre are you looking to?
EDGERTON: One of the biggest take aways fromThe Giftwas I loved working with Rebecca and Jason. I love working with actors, watching them solve problems together and watching the drama unfold. What I’m writing and what I’m working on now is a drama – an ensemble drama. I also really love tension and malevolence and danger. But I want to do that in a less genre oriented way. I want to really work with the tension between human beings in a dramatic situation. I’m also at the same time developing a much more genre type movie in the form of a science fiction space movie.
What sort of precursors do you look to for a sci-fi film?
EDGERTON: I like claustrophobic films. I really loveAlienand that for me is a real touchstone for what I’m interested in doing. In that sense too - one of my favorite psychological horror films isThe Shining. Something about a pressure cooker situation where you don’t give people an out. You put them all together in a confined environment. I love that. Just like interviews in a hotel room.
