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The Eclipse

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : In a seaside Irish town, a widower sparks with a visiting horror novelist while he also begins to believe he is seeing ghosts.

Opens March 26, 2010

Runtime:1 hr. 28 min

Interview with Director Conor McPherson and Actor Ciaran Hinds

Q: I heard that this movie was loosely based on your friend Billy Roche, Could you tell us about that?

Conor Mcpherson: He was writing a book of short stories and as he finished each one he was emailing them to me. And one was this story set against the background of a literary festival about a teacher who’s a volunteer at the festival and he’s driving this lady around who’s a writer and he becomes obsessed with her. He’s married and he has kids and it’s how his life unravels because of his obsession with this woman.

We thought it might be fun to work on a screenplay of that story and my wife read an early draft and she said, “In a story we can get inside the character’s head, we can kind of understand what’s happening to him. But in a film, if we’re just watching some guy kind of stalking this woman, women are not going to like this guy.

It would be better if he got rid of his wife.” So I thought if he was a widower maybe we’d sympathize with him better, and also of course he could be haunted, and suddenly this whole thing just took on this whole supernatural hue. So about 20 drafts later we ended up with this love story, ghost story, hybrid of genres. So that’s the journey that it took.

Q: So what about the both of you; have you had any experiences with ghosts?

Ciaran Hinds: I believe I had one in my teens. In the North of Ireland, where I’m from, in a graveyard there are stones there from the 17th century. It’s disused now on a little cliff, and in my teens I was up there messing around the way you do with some friends. And suddenly I looked over in one direction and there was this shape that was formed that was very recognizable as old and human, but not complete, not delineated exactly.

But there was movement in it and also some sort of face. And I didn’t know what to do because I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of light or my own sensibilities as a teenager going, “Wow, this is crazy.” But a movement came from this image and I thought it was very weird, and I looked around to the others to see if they could see what I see and they were messing around.

I looked back and at that stage, whatever it was, it was almost like free of gravity because it moved but it didn’t sidle or walk, it just went to a place and then whatever energy it was just dissipated. I don’t know to this day whether it was a trick of light or whether it wasn’t, but all I remember is the gesture of this was sort of spooky and scary and I wasn’t going to go over there. Because also I knew there was a drop after it.

Conor Mcpherson: One time I was driving along, it’s funny because we’re doing this here now, but I was driving along, we had just done a film called “I Went Down,” which I wrote. I was with the director and the producer and we were doing a tour of local radio stations in Ireland, and we were sort of in a hurry.

We were driving across this very desolate area and as we were driving along this very long, straight road, it was a very flat landscape where we were, I saw a figure standing on the side of the road. It was a woman and there was something about her clothes that she looked like she was from the 1970s; she had a leather coat with a belt, and she had boots, and just the way her hair was was very 1970s.

She was standing in the middle of nowhere and as we drove by she seemed to be looking right at us; I remember her eyes and this sort of half quizzical smile on her face as we drove by. Myself and Rob, the producer, we both went, “Woah, that woman was spooky,” and Patty, who was driving, said, “What woman?” and we looked behind and there was nothing there. Maybe she was someone who was standing there and walked away, I don’t know, but I don’t know what it was or why or whatever. That’s the only time I remember.

Q: Belated congratulations since you won Best Actor prize at the Tribeca Film Festival. What was the most challenging aspect of playing this role? We haven’t really seen you do this type of movie before.

Ciaran Hinds: The job description as an actor is to do what’s required for the story, whatever that entails. Because I’d worked with Conor while we were doing the play “The Seafarer,” we got to know each other not just about work but personally. There was something when I read the outline of the story that I just thought there was something beautiful and touching and serious and rather profound about this, but then there are some crazy bits in it that how the fuck do you get to there.

In the end I think I tended to be just as open as possible and not to prepare. Obviously you need to know the dialog to be able to bounce off somebody, but to be as open as possible to every moment that you’re on camera. And what’s so wonderful about Iben Hjejle when you work with her is just the purity of her truth.

When you work absolutely direct with someone it’s sort of beyond acting, it’s about real communication, and there may not even be a camera there. There are moments where you put yourself in the situation, and you believe in the situation, and therefore you are that situation. And you hope the way Conor uses the camera, he picks up the truth of it.

Q: Do you think this is one of your most vulnerable roles?

Ciaran Hinds: I think for sure. I’m not always playing emperors or presidents or strong men, because of the way my face looks, it looks quite tough. It’s not particularly my nature, it’s the way your face hangs, but this is probably one of the most vulnerable roles I’ve had to play.

Q: And is that one of the things you wanted to shoot? To get that side of him out there a little more?

Conor Mcpherson: Well I know that Ciaran is a very warm guy, and I think yeah, he probably sometimes gets cast as guys that are tough and cold in a way. But I knew that Ciarán is actually a very warm heart and I knew the camera would pick that up, but I think the character he plays is a kind of an everyman in a way who gets to be everything; he’s a father, he’s a son…

Ciaran Hinds: He’s not quite a holy ghost.

Conor Mcpherson: He’s a lover, he’s a fighter…

Q: He’s a writer.

Conor Mcpherson: He’s a writer. I think Ciarán just has a wonderful presence as an actor which can allow all of those things to be, and the world can be revolving around him and yet he’s not ever having to be explicit about any of those things, we just get it, we understand. It’s a mark of his great talent.

Q: Can you talk about the character Nicholas Holden?

Conor Mcpherson: In the short story he is the writer who has persuaded Lena, played by Iben, to come to the festival so he can reignite this affair with her. What Aidan really understood about it was he thought this is a guy who’s obviously successful, he’s a writer who all his novels would be on the stand at the airport bookshop, and his books are made into movies.

But what’s great about Aidan in that role is Aidan is very good looking, he’s gotten a bit older, perhaps the character is feeling the hand of mortality on his shoulder, and he’s sort of worried about his prowess and his attractiveness, and this is causing him great panic and great pain. And it was Aidan who actually said it to me, he said, “This guy is in great pain,” and I realized that Aidan understood something about that.

Also as an actor because Aidan says, “I’ve always been cast as this good looking leading guy. I never get a chance to express this kind of stuff, this very panicky, freaking out, I’m losing it, I’m a jerk, kind of stuff.” He really embraced it enthusiastically and developed the character and took it to a place that I didn’t quite expect, actually.

Ciaran Hinds: He’s obnoxious, he’s arrogant, he’s a jerk, he’s suffering something inside, and that often produces the humor in the story because of the extremity of his confusion.

Q: It sure shows in the fight scene. It was very convincing.

Ciaran Hinds: The way he comes in and says, “I’m not drunk.” You know he’s gone somewhere else.

Conor Mcpherson: When you have to say that you’re probably not sober.

Q: This movie involves a lot of things in terms of characters facing their fears, and I was wondering what scares you as an actor, what scares you as a director? How do you overcome the things that scare you in your line of work?

Conor Mcpherson: I don’t think any of us overcomes the thing that scares us, we just sort of learn to accept that they scare us and we’re going to have to just get on with it. If you’re asking me what in my professional life scares me, like as a writer or director, it’s all scary, it’s all crazy. When you’re writing something you wonder is anyone going to understand this, what am I doing, what am I, is this a real job?

All of that stuff is pretty heavy. Then when you go to direct it’s like we’ve got to try to get all these people to work on this thing, and they’ve all got to want to do it, and they’ve all got to get on with each other. And then we’re going to let an audience in and are they going to even get this, are they going to hate it?

So it’s all scary. You don’t overcome it, you just bite your lip and cross your fingers and hope to god it’s going to work. But actors, I mean I don’t know how an actor steps out on stage; that’s crazy to me.

Ciaran Hinds: With most of us, I think, there’s fear wherever you go and it’s a daily battle. But usually you fight that battle because somewhere deep down you believe in the craft and the work that somebody has started and that you owe it to them. And once you get a real sense of trust and a debt to the writer who’s going to share these stories, you’ve got to conquer those fears somehow.

I mean it is scary, taking that deep breath and going, “Shit, here we go.” Ego gets in the way, it’s always all about me, people are watching me, and no it’s not about you, it’s about you playing a creative role in something that they want to see. And sometimes you have to fool yourself that you can do that.

Q: Which is a tougher thing; doing the films or doing the plays?

Ciaran Hinds: The plays, once you are in something as open and you believe in everybody around you, you can breathe collectively and celebrate. Even if it’s not soaring, there’s something about we are together supporting each other. Film is day to day, depending on what you are required to do that day, the amount you’re required, the concentration, how much you feel really ready to deliver, and those can be scary days.

Q: And same for you. You’re writer/director of a play, you’re writer/director of a film, so which is scarier?

Conor Mcpherson: Well a play is probably scarier because it’s live and it’s happening, and you’re sort of at every moment willing the play to keep moving forward, and if someone near you is shifting in their seat you’re like, “Oh god, this is terrible.” If someone gets up and leaves to go to the toilet, you’re like, “Are they going to come back?” So that’s pretty scary.

But then films are scary because it’s like every day you’re trying to get something done. Especially if it’s a small little film and you don’t have much resources, if it doesn’t work it’s like, “Oh my god, what are going to do?” So it’s all scary, but it’s all very rewarding too.

Q: I was also wondering, what was the turning point for both of you when you decided to go into the creative arts? And how is your family reacting to this? Your immediate family, your parents, siblings, children.

Conor Mcpherson: Well we’re back where I started out. My parents were really worried because all I seemed to have an interest in was playing music and playing the guitar and that kind of stuff, and they were like, “Listen, what are you doing with your life?”

They convinced me to go to university because they thought, “Look, you’ve got to have something to fall back on.” But what happened to me was then I really got interested in that and then, to their horror, I became very interested in writing plays, and they were like, “What the fuck is going on here?” So it was pretty worrying.

Q: So university had the opposite effect than what they were anticipating.

Conor Mcpherson: Yeah. But the thing is, as soon as I started making a living…they’re just worried about you. It’s not like they’re trying to stop you because they don’t believe, they just don’t know anyone who’s every done it. But then as soon as I started making a living at it and they could see that I was happy doing it they’re incredibly supportive and proud and absolutely thrilled. So they’ve been really supportive and they still are to this day. They believe in everything I do; they would hate to think that somebody didn’t like something I did.

Ciaran Hinds: My mother, who’s about to turn 90, she used to do amateur drama when she was younger and then she settled down with my father and had a family. I suppose she understood somewhere the idea, not to stand up and show off, but to be a part of something that is celebrating the human condition.

But then again, I never expressed a desire, ever, to say I want to be an actor, ever. I did school plays and I did things, but I never said that’s what I want to be, because I didn’t know. So sure as eggs is eggs, I was told to go to university as well to get a degree, so I ended up studying law for three months and that was about it.

Your parents want to protect you and they know that it’s a very precarious life. They don’t know how you will survive and they’re right because I have many friends my age as talented as I am who haven’t had the breaks, who have had to find other ways, and I understand that. So what they’re doing is trying to protect you, but then you surrender yourself and you offer yourself up to whatever is calling you.

And then we have the idea where you meet somebody, you have a relationship with them, they become your partner in life, you have a daughter who thinks it’s all glamorous for a moment and then comes to see you in two things and then couldn’t care less, which is great.

Q: Has your daughter been to visit you on any movie sets?

Ciaran Hinds: Just one.

Q: How old is your daughter?

Ciaran Hinds: She’s 18. It happened about eight years ago when she was about 10.

Q: Could you talk about choosing the soundtrack?

Conor Mcpherson: My wife wrote the music for the film. She’s a painter but she plays the piano and we play music at home. She composed the music and we got a choir from Trinity College in Dublin, an amateur choir, to do the choral pieces. I just wanted to have that really kind of Catholic feel to the film, like “The Exorcist.” We used that kind of sound. But you’re right, people do scream when they’re watching it.

Q: One of the things you were addressing in the movie is this idea of who really is an artist or not, because his character is a writer but is he really? It’s interesting how people don’t always know they’re a writer until they finally allow themselves to see themselves in that light, and that was an interesting dynamic in the film.

Conor Mcpherson: I always think that at least 80% of doing anything creative is fighting for the confidence to do it. It’s very hard to put stuff out there, I think a lot of people find that aspect very hard and probably don’t move forward purely because of that. I think Aidan’s character has a lot of confidence, he’s out there.

How talented is he? Maybe he’s moderately talented but he’s really a great networker, great at pushing himself, and a great self-publicist, which is half the battle. When we see Aidan talking about his books he’s talking about a movie that was being made of one of his books, that’s where his head is at.

When Iben is reading she’s talking about when someone saw a ghost it made that person realize that they would die, that her husband would die and that her children would die, and she knew in that moment that she was looking at reality. So she’s sort of really getting into what does it all mean and what do ghosts mean.

So Michael when he sees that, he’s like oh I could talk to this person, where he probably couldn’t relate to Aidan Quinn’s character. So he’s sort of the person wondering, stuck in the middle, where do you go, what do you do with your writing, what’s it for?

Q: In a way he’s the real artist.

Ciaran Hinds: Well he denies that he’s a writer. But he must also be quietly doing things that he hasn’t been. He’s reticent and unsure.

Q: When you look back on your body of work it’s so diverse. What can you say about “John Carter of Mars”? No one had ever seen you in that type of movie before.

Ciaran Hinds: I know and it’s really strange because I sort of don’t look back. You work, we do work, and that’s the work, and then it’s behind you. And then I suppose if you look up and you said you’ve done all that it’s sort of, “Did I do all that?” because you’re in the present, because you have to be to do what you do. Why I’m suddenly am doing green screen for the first time in my life, I don’t know. I have to say I’m thrilled to be because he’s a great writer/director, Andrew Stanton. It’s a genre that I wouldn’t particularly go for.

Q: What are you most looking forward to about that movie in terms of your character?

Ciaran Hinds: It’s functional, it’s not anything extreme. It’s just a thrill to be asked by somebody and be offered up something inside a huge experience like that. In a way you’re a cipher inside the story but it’s kind of exciting. I don’t know, I’ve done three days, I might get bored by day seven. I believe in his storytelling and in his sense of humanity, which comes from those animated stories he’s told. It’s just very nice to be involved.

Q: Just very quickly, now that the Harry Potter films have wrapped, what can you say to summarize that whole experience?

Ciaran Hinds: It was short for me.

Q: In terms of working on the film?

Ciaran Hinds: Well I was very surprised that I was suddenly asked to see the director. But of course your agent works for you and suddenly says they would like to see you for this part that I didn’t know because I hadn’t read the whole book. Suddenly I met the director, who was very warm, and suddenly he said, “We’re going to try and fit it in with your theater schedule.

We need four serious days from you and maybe a couple of days in six months time.” They found a gap in my theater schedule so I went there. And I have to say, the preparation, the work they do from the costume to the amount of money, time, and consideration invested in something.

They go into a way where they realize this has to be as perfect as we can make it because people have followed this all the way, this is the last piece. Just to be witness to that, especially because the film I’d done before that was with Conor, it’s committed as you can get to it.

Q: About the cemetery. He couldn’t quite cope with his wife’s loss?

CM: I think he’s feeling a little ashamed. It’s like sort of walking into your wife and saying meet my new…

Ciaran Hinds: I’m with a woman who I suddenly started to find attractive. Not at the beginning; he had a connection with her because of her writing, and you can see he’s with her at the lunch. And suddenly they have a conversation that it’s a bit flirty, but suddenly when she mentions his wife I think it’s a mixture of just wanting to change the subject and not wanting to be on this piece of ground. I think it’s a mixture of the two. But it’s great that the camera went to see; at that moment, he lied.

Q: What are you guys doing next?

Conor Mcpherson: I’m just starting again now, just starting to write new stuff so come back to me in a year or two.

Ciaran Hinds: I’m finishing off “John Connor of Mars” and after that, if something comes in it’ll come in.

Q: See you back here for a play?

Ciaran Hinds: That’ll depend.

End.