Claire Danes plays the childhood version of Vanessa Redgrave during her golden two days with the suave, charismatic Patrick Wilson. Koltai added: “Claire plays a very straight, complicated, and believable character. She’s not at all sideways. There are lots of secrets inside Claire. You just have to open them up. She was a big surprise for me.”
She’s forced to unnaturally keep a stiff upper lip.
“My character is having defining experiences and starting to make life choices. It’s always exciting to play somebody undergoing a transformation. It’s a seminal weekend for Ann,” Danes said in the film’s production notes. “By the standards of the high society world she is visiting, she is unconventional.
“She is very idealistic and ambitious. She is negotiating her desires to be independent and her desires to have a family. She is drawn to motherhood but also to performing.” She added: “The film considers the question: ‘What makes a life?’ We are all human and searching [for that answer].”
On working with Koltai, Danes said: “Lajos is always there by the camera. He’s never off by a monitor. He created an absolutely secure environment for all of us to be as vulnerable and expressive as we needed to be.” Close added: “Lajos comes from a very rich tradition of Hungarian filmmakers. Many of them cut their teeth when there wasn’t a lot of film stock. They would have to edit more in their heads.”
With such a veteran cast, the Oscar conversation is expected. Koltai, who is a member of the academy, is hesitant to answer the question.
“Not one second did I think about the Oscars. You just have to make a movie,” he said. “I don’t want to name names. Though an Oscar would have to be given to one person, I think of Vanessa and Claire like one body. If [the academy does consider this film], I think it should for the whole ensemble.”
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