A dazzling screen adaptation by director Joe Wright based on the bestseller by Ian McEwan and scripted by Christopher Hampton, with career bests from leads James McAvoy and Keira Knightley, the best romantic film since the English Patient acts as a canvas that shows the unbearable consequences of how one lie can destroy the outcome of more than one. A lavish film and first rate in this production, this could be a major contender for the Oscars – because it's tailor made.
I met at a press roundtable with James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, screenwriter Christopher Hampton and Vanessa Redgrave in Beverly Hills, CA.
James McAvoy
Yama Rahimi: Your role is such iconic role and performance that will mark your career. Were you aware of that when you read the script?
James McAvoy: No I didn't but it was a role that I wanted from the first reading. I knew it was a special film. It was a well written script from a great book.
YR: Were you the first choice for the Role?
JA: No. There were three other actors who auditioned for the role.
YR: What was the most challenging aspect of the role?
J:That the character of Robbie was too good, almost like an angel. I had to find a way to make him human and more flawed. Once I got into the character, I fell in love with him.
J:That the character of Robbie was too good, almost like an angel. I had to find a way to make him human and more flawed. Once I got into the character, I fell in love with him.
Keira Knightley
Yama: As I had mentioned to James, your roles were iconic like films such as The English Patient, Dr Zhivago and so on. Were you aware of it when you read the script?
Keira Knightly: That's very nice that it's perceived as such. I didn't think it was iconic but it was a well written script with well written characters. There are few good female characters in films but when you find one as this where it was in the script, I was incredibly lucky to get the part. I think what was so fascinating about the roles were that weren't just black and white but that they have different layers to them. My character's behaving badly but doesn't mean she's a bad person which is true for most people. So it's a very fascinating character.
YR: Tell us about your upcoming projects?
KK: I have a film coming out next year called The Edge of Love that's set in the WWII as well about a group around Dylan Thomas and the events up to an act of crime with Cillian Murphy, Mathew Rhys and Sienna Miller. It was written by mom which is very exciting. It was a very low budget film with an intense seven weeks shooting. It was a very exciting project to work on. Last week I finished a film called The Duchess. It's about the Dutchess of Devonshire who was the political hostess for the Wick party in the 1780's with Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling. It's about a marriage that goes wrong basically and the society at the time.
YR: How was it working with John Mayburry again? His films never reach mainstream audiences.
KK: I don't think it ever will. He's an artist. His film “Love is the Devil” is one of my favorite films. I worked with him on The Jacket and then again on The Edge of Love. I love working with him. I love his mind, it's a weird place but a wonderful place. Working with him is not like working the “Pirates” films but it's equally interesting.
YR: How is it working on a script written by your mom? How careful do you have to be with the wording?
KK: Well what she does is dialog. It's very stylized dialog and it's rythmic. So very often you can't change it. She's a playright, so she's specific. Unless you don't find the right word, you can't change it because it will mess up the beats. So no there was no dialog changes.
YR: Are you drawn to period pieces?
KK: No. It's just the stories that interested me were set in the past. I can't refuse a great project because it's a period piece. I'm very fortunate to be in a position to be able to choose the projects I'm working on. So I'm very selfish about the projects I chose. It has to be something that interests me, otherwise if it doesn't interes me, I won't be interesting in it and it won't be interesting to watch.
YR: Does the writer's strike affecting any of your projects?
KK: No. I don't have any projects at the moment. It affects only projects that don't have locked scripts. Joe Wright (Atonement) goes into production but he has a locked script which he usually does.
Vanessa Redgrave
Yama Rahimi: How familiar were you with the material?
Vanessa Redgrave: I knew the book but you can't say you the know it if you read it once. You have to read it a few times. In fact I was reading it this morning. I'm amazed how well the film expressed the most intricate psychological processes that's going on in the book of all the characters.
YR: What attracted you to this project?
VR: Well the book first and formost, then the script and Joe (Wright) whom I heard so much about. I was thrilled to meet him before he cast me because he had to workout who was going to be at the beginning Briony then figuring out the other actors which included Romola (Garai) and me. I'm amazed how it turned out that all three actors portrayed one person that you feel as one person which quiet difficult to achieve which he did, I think.
YR: Your scene is the most pivotal scene in the film that made it stand out to me which is about what art is all about. In a way that art takes real life and make it more presentable or even bearable.
VR: Yes there's a lot layers to it. On a simple level and on a deeper level.
YR: You have been given us a lot or great performances over the years. Ho you choose your projects?
VR: Well they choose me. I have been quite lucky with the roles that I have been able to do.
YR: Which projects remain still fresh after all these years?
VR: Hmm. Well probably the first actual film I did which was a black and white film called Morgan with Karel Reisz which still remains extremely fresh.
YR: How's it playing with your daughters or other members of the family?
VR: Well it has the be the project rather just for the sake of working with a member of the family. Then it's a pleasure as it was with The White Countess with Natasha (Richardson) and my sister Lynn that we shot in China where we called each comrades, partly beacause we were in China and partly because we were really comrades.
YR: What have you done since Atonement?
VR: I have done a play called “The Year of Magical Thinking” and produced a documentary “Wake Up World” that my son directed as a tribute to UNICEF.
YR: Do you still get nervous when are on stage?
VR: Well it comes and goes in waves. In this play it was more like pulling yourself together seven days a week. It's a different art form than film. Not better or worse, just different. I must admit that working on film has made understand actin the theatre better.
