We Got This Covered: How involved was producer Tony Scott in this production?
Matthew Goode: Tony, God rest his soul, wasn’t around, and neither was Ridley. They were behind-the-scenes; they weren’t physically producing it on set. Michael Costigan, who works for Scott Free (Productions), was there.
Chan-wook Park: I had heard that Tony had seen my previous work that I had done in Korea, and he liked those films. Tony never came up to me to say this in person, but he told other people, and they would convey his words. I thought that was more genuine. Sometimes, when people come up to me and say those things, I may think they’re just saying that to make me feel good about myself. That was more helpful than anything else in making this film. Rather than come up to me and give me specific ideas, he gave me that support.
We Got This Covered: Mia, you’re quite fond of photography. Did that influence your work with Director Park, who’s also a fan of photography? Did you discuss your shared love of pictures?
Mia Wasikowska: We did talk about photography quite a bit. We were lucky to have Mary Ellen Park shoot our posters. I had worked with her once before, on Alice in Wonderland. We managed to get her to do some special stills for us again. Director Park and I were in complete awe of her. We were thrilled she came on board.
We Got This Covered: Matthew and Mia, what was it like filming the piano scene? Was that challenging, and do you play the piano at all?
Matthew Goode: It became liberating in the end. I hadn’t played the piano in 20-odd years. So coming back into the fold of the piano, it was unbelievably daunting. Luckily, I don’t have a bad-sized hand, so I didn’t have to leap, or anything like that.
But it was hard work, but it was great working with Mia. We learned about three quarters of it, because some of it was just too hard, and too much going on with both hands. But we were able to fake some of that, and he was able to shoot the whole thing from whatever angle he wanted. We kind of recognized that in the vocabulary of filmmaking. When someone starts playing, you think, is he actually playing that? (laughs) He was able to dip down, and you go, they are! It’s not a trick on the audience, so it was nice.
Mia Wasikowska: I was happy with the piano scene because it was written in an intense way. It’s basically like a love scene. We filmed that scene over a day, and it’s always cut up in different angles. You’re never quite sure if the intensity has translated.
That concludes our interview, but we’d like ot thank Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode and Chan-wook Park for taking the time to speak with us. Be sure to check out Stoker, which is now playing in select theaters.
