Based on Ian McEwan's novel, Atonement is a throwback in terms of story and scope, but told with a modern eye's appreciation. A girl (played by three actresses including Saoirse Ronan and Vanessa Redgrave) compromises the life of an older boy by telling a dangerous lie. We then follow them both through love and war in this sweeping, epically framed motion picture.
Bangitout sat down with the two leads, Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.
BIO: Audiences will be talking about the single shot battle scene at Dunkirk. How did you feel about it?
James McAvoy: Pressurized. Fraught. Massive Gamble. You can't always get what you want to get. Here was one day with a thousand extras. Joe [Director Joe Wright] had to go for it - go all in. He asked what we thought and we said it won't be easy. But with his rustling and corralling and the collaboration of a great cast and crew, he brought us through. Filmmaking is a miracle of collaboration. You have eighteen hundred people working on the shot and if one person does the wrong thing they screwed it up. We tried that scene three times and one of the three worked. The fact that we got that one take where no one screwed up is amazing.
BIO: You both share in a complex relationship in the film. What is your take on chemistry?
JM: Chemistry is not separate from acting. I've seen people in love with each other and when the camera goes on...it's fucking dead. Keira and I got along. We spoke and had similar views about the film and the story. And when you have that you have an ally, someone who will back you up. Not that we always needed it, but it's good to have that sort of support. When you can laugh with someone that is even better. Then you maybe can get to that thing you called chemistry.
Keira Knightley: I think James is a sensational actor. But you could have the best actors together and be in love and have no chemistry. Here we had a fantastic script.
BIO: What do you appreciate about the scope of this film?
JM: It is an emotional piece, but I like it because it speaks to your intellect as much as your heart. If the film wanted it could have held a close up long enough to make you cry, but it holds back. If you are willing to go there [crying] you can go there where you totally break down, but the film constantly asks the audience to come back form the brink.
BIO: The film is very much presenting that old Hollywood vibe. How did you prepare for that?
KK: By watching Greta Garbo. Marlene Dietrich. I always go back to Katherine Hepburn and her...jaunty quality. Celia Johnson from Brief Encounter. I watched that on a loop for two months before filming. I could watch that on a loop for the rest of my life. Before filming we all watched the David Lean, Noel Coward collaborations. We watched it together to have everyone focused on the same things. The film, our characters represent that sort of old way…that type of quality is lost to my generation; the Britain of the real stiff upper lip.
BIO: What was it like working with Joe Wright?
KK: I loved working with Joe and loved him the moment I met him. (The two had worked together previously on Pride and Prejudice).Chemistry is rare between actors but between an actor and a director it is even more rare. We all have the same emotions, but we describe them differently. That is what we call a language barrier. With Joe, we describe emotions the same way.
BIO: How was it playing a character from a novel?
JM: When you are playing a character from a book it depends on the script and the director. Sometimes reading the book can get in the way because they will tell you to play the character one way and you will say (pretending to hold a book) 'but look, I'm supposed to be doing this'. When I did The Last King of Scotland based on Giles Foden's novel, the way Nicholas Garrigan was in the movie was very different, a departure from who he was in the book. There, reading the book actually would hurt my performance. Here, with Atonement, I was revisiting the book every day because the character in the movie was true to the book.
KK: I saw my character so clearly. So often in film you have a character who is black and white. My character is a good person but sometimes behaves like a bitch - we all do that. I found her totally fascinating. At the premiere, Ian McEwan came up to me and said he liked my interpretation of the character. I thought I had done the character exactly as he had written her...but apparently not.
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