Do you remember your first time seeing Bill in full costume and prosthetics? Was it terrifying?
I do. We did the first test at Shepperton Studios—not a camera test, but mostly for Robert and David and myself. Then we did a camera test in Prague quite early on—that was amazing. It was like, right, this is actually going to work. And then to see him obviously on set, when we shot the exterior greeting and he’s off in the distance in this dim light with the castle behind him, and he’s got the cloak and the whole nine yards on, I was just like, “Whoa! This is fabulous.”
One of the standout aspects of the film for me was the extraordinarily cohesive world-building—everything from the production design to the costumes to the cinematography, it all fits together so beautifully and elegantly. Having worked with Robert and the same team for quite a few films now, do you find there’s a sort of unspoken language between you all that helps you achieve that?
Definitely, and it started pretty quickly. I would say that during The Lighthouse, which was the first film we all worked on together, we had already begun to finish each other’s sentences. Then I think The Northman, which was… with COVID and shooting in Northern Ireland and horizontal rain and wind, it was just such a crazy personal experience for everybody. That certainly furthered the ability to work together. But really, it’s Robert who’s the conduit. I speak with Craig, Craig speaks with me, we speak with Jarin, we speak with the production people, we speak with hair and makeup. But Robert is always available to talk things through. If there’s something where I can’t find a reference, and I say, “It could be this, and it could be this, and it could be this,” he’ll say, “This is what I’m thinking.” You go, “Oh, okay.” It’s not often you have a director with that much going on in that noggin. It’s this constant back-and-forth of information and images, and it’s always articulated so clearly. That’s very rare.
