On The Edge of Love - page 2

21-06-2008 08:15

"With the research I was reading a lot in the biographies, and I was trying to understand how people regarded Thomas," he said. "Aeronwy helped me grasp the physical attributes he had. One of the first things I said to her was, 'What was he like physically?' and her answer was, 'A slug,' and it went from there really.

"She helped with little things. I tried little things - I tried to slow my walk down, stoop a bit more and that's where she was helping although you watch it back and you don't see any difference in anything else that I did."

While the movie follows the lives of four real life characters, writer Sharman is keen to point out the story is complete fiction, as no-one can ever know what happened between the foursome.

"It's fiction in the end," she said. "Nobody can tell what happened between those people to cause the events that came up and therefore you have to approach this being completely free in what you're going to make up, in the hope that you will find an essence of truth by doing that.

"Maybe the truth is the joy there was between those four people. Maybe that is what comes out of it. But in filming something with real people you cannot know what they said to each other - we cannot know that, therefore if we're going to risk it we have to plunge and make it up.

"But it was a joy to bring to the screen. The writing of it was an absolute joy. I've never had such a good time writing anything, ever!"

"I completely went with what Sharman put in the script," Keira added. "I think obviously what was fantastic was having the support of the family members. I mean, Rebekah was there everyday and it was amazing for them to have said to us, 'Go for it, make it a fiction, make it a good story.' But, as Sharman said, it is a fiction and the characterisation, particularly my characterisation - it is characterisation, it's not based on reality."

The result is the tale of two women who begin an unlikely friendship after discovering they are linked through their love of the same man - Thomas.

Keira Knightley not only stuns with her acting ability - having restricted her talent with arguably wooden performances in films including 'Bend It Like Beckham' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean' - but also with her melodic tones in the singing sequences of the movie.

Reminiscent of old-school singers including Judy Garland and Marlene Dietrich, Keira's singing is extraordinary in its ordinariness. It seems so unlikely that such a sweet voice could come from Keira, but she accepts the task with vigour. However, the actress admits she needed some encouragement before singing live.

"I was shaking like a leaf, I thought my knees were going to buckle," she said. "It was so embarrassing. I could see all these faces thinking, 'Oh my God, isn't she terrible?' But then I had a couple of shots of vodka and it was much better.

"I went to voice coaching, but the first couple of takes I sounded like a pubescent boy. I didn't realise I was going to have to do it live. I did actually go into a studio and record it beforehand so I thought when I got there I'd just be miming to playback. So in the morning - when there was a hundred extras and God knows how many crew members - John came to me and said, 'Oh no you can just do it live. We just want you to do it live,' and I've never been more terrified in my entire life. But actually once I got into it, it was fine."

The film also saw the second collaboration between Keira and director John Maybury, who she worked with on 2005 movie 'The Jacket'.

While John was less than keen to take on the job of immortalising Thomas on the silver screen, Keira was determined he would helm the film and did everything in her power to convince him to do so.

"I worked with John on 'The Jacket' and I think he's extraordinary," she said. "I think he's a wonderful filmmaker, he's an inspiration to work with. It was actually Shar who had showed me his film 'Love Is The Devil' before I did 'The Jacket' and we both just went, 'Wow, what an incredible talent.' So I was like, 'He's the only person who should direct this. This is right up his street, he is completely amazing.'

"In the end, we actually wrote poems for him, sent him champagne, we sent him cakes, and he wouldn't read it. But four years later, after a lot of talking to him, he finally read it. It was just such a joy to work with him again - he's wonderful."

It is John's clear empathy for the character of Thomas that comes across in the film, and he admits he was keen to do a movie that concentrates so heavily on the importance of female friendship - namely that of Caitlin and Vera.

"What really excited me about this was the fact whilst Dylan Thomas is obviously very significant in character in it, there are two incredibly strong, beautifully written female ingredients," he said. "I mean, I consider all four of the characters lead characters but to have a screenplay with two brilliantly written female characters is quite unusual, and you know, I've never made a chick flick!"

John is also unique in the way he isn't worried about getting hand on with his actors.

In one particularly moving scene, when Caitlin discovers her husband has cheated on her again and, not only that, but with her best friend Vera, Sienna is required to pick the stitches out of a scar on her forehead.

The viewer can't help but feel for this woman, and it is Sienna's clear distress that makes the scene works so well.

"I think that's the job of a director actually, to be 'hands on'," John said. "I think I may be slightly anomalous in that I love actors - I know a lot of directors who don't.

"With Sienna it was quite simple. We had a very dramatic scene to work on and I just took her into my trailer and played her an iPod track of mine that I find particularly moving and spoke to her about elements of her private life. You know, it's a cheap trick to pull as a director but if you have a friendship like we do I'm allowed to do that, I think!

"The interesting thing is, we've got two incredibly intelligent women here who are very serious about their work. I'm really proud of the work that they've both done. Whether it's method acting by provoking memories of something that's already happened or whether it's throwing someone in at the deep end in terms of singing live - it's just resources and I'll use any resources as a director to get what I want from the actors I'm working with."

While Sienna and Keira's performances have undoubtedly attracted the majority of the attention of critics, it is Matthew Rhys' portrayal of Thomas that is most problematic.

Whether he intended to or not, Matthew makes Thomas seem like a bitter, twisted character, who only loves himself and the women he can't have. In a typically hypocritical way, he wants Caitlin when he is with Vera and vice versa.

However, where Matthew said he wanted to make Thomas seem "childlike", he seems vicious, but the Welsh actor says he knew the risks when he took the role.

"To play probably the biggest most prominent Welsh man - it was that beautiful double edged sword," he said. "It was everything you'd want to do to play someone like him but then also the pressures that came with it were also really enormous."

A mention must be made of Cillian Murphy, arguably the least well-known of the famous foursome, but the actor who consistently delivers flawed performances. Playing William Killick, Cillian begins the film as a love struck soldier who falls for Vera. But when he returns from the war to find Vera living with his son next door to Dylan, his mental state becomes clear.

Cillian is absolutely astounding as the soldier, and is just as convincing in the romantic scenes as he is in the distressing war scenes. He, undoubtedly, saves the film from being just a movie containing the tabloid favourites of today, and turns it into an extraordinarily intense period drama.

By Sarah Bull