Last night, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Film Society of Lincoln Center hosted a special screening of "Stoker." From the film: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Phyllis Somerville, Judith Godrèche, Director Park Chan-wook, producer Michael Costigan, Wonjo Jeong (Co-Producer), Chung-Hoon Chung (Director of Photography), Thèrèse DePrez (Production Designer), Bart Mueller (Costume Designer), Kurt Swanson (Costume Designer) all walked the red carpet at the Walter Reade Theater.
"Stoker," written by Wentworth Miller ("Prison Break"), will take you on a dark suspense-filled journey. After India's (Wasikowska's) father dies in an auto accident, her Uncle Charlie (Goode), who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her emotionally unstable mother Evelyn (Kidman). Soon after his arrival, she comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives, but instead of feeling outrage or horror, this friendless girl becomes increasingly infatuated with him. Matthew Goode is stellar as the charming and mysterious uncle Charlie and Wasikowska delivers a complex performance. We also loved "Jacki" Weaver in the film. (It's total coincidence that there are three generations of Austrialian actors). We loved the set design and costumes and how well the story moved. It was incrediblly artistic and we hope to see Park Chan-wook direct more English films.
Mia Wasikowska looked chic in a red Eli Saab number. Check out what she told us on the red carpet.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your character in the film.
Mia: I play India Stoker. She's a reclusive kind of young teenager, and her Uncle turns up out of nowhere and she becomes very infatuated with him.
Q: What it was like working with director Park?
Mia: He's wonderful. He's such an original talent. He's filmed very much his own style, so it was a huge honor to work in his first American film.
Q: What was it like working with Nicole Kidman?
Mia: That's pretty cool. She's like a huge role model for me coming from Australia, and was just so incredibly warm and really took me under her wing and I feel super honored to work with her in this film.
Q: Do you have a favorite scene in the film that you'd like to share with us?
Mia: I like the scene at the wake when Uncle Charlie and India are kind of like following each other around the house and it's hard to tell who’s following who. And I think that like sums up their relationship really well, hard to know who’s the hunter and who’s the hunted in the movie. So yeah, I like that.
British actor Matthew Goode was in high spirits at the premiere.
Tell me a little bit about your character.
Matthew: I play Uncle Charlie who at the beginning of the film there'e been a bereavement and there's a funeral and he comes back and he's been away for sort of 20 years. And he's the uncle to Mia’s character and that's how it all starts off.
What was it like working with Director Park?
Matthew: I loved him. He's super prepared, he's so intelligent, but he's also really gentle, which, considering his subject matter, is kind of not what I was expecting. But he's really peaceful. I kind of loved listening to him talking Korean. I find it like the most wonderful thing.
Q: What was the highlight of this experience?
Matthew: Working with director Park and working with Nicole and Mia and Jacki Weaver who I just love…so working with high-class actresses and a great script
Director Park Chan-wook makes his English directorial debut with "Stoker."
What did you love about the script?
Park (through interpreter): Unlike what one might conventionally think, compared with other American films, he found the script to be very quiet, and whilst being quiet, it still has a very palpable tension and a sense of fear running through the entire story. So this is something that really appealed to him.
Q: And what was it like collaborating with Mia and Nicole?
Park (through interpreter): They weren't any different from the best of the Korean actors that he worked with before in that they are very professional and they're great actors.
Q: And also Spike Lee is remaking "Oldboy." Are you excited about that, and how involved are you?
Park (through interpreter): He really looks forward to seeing the work from Spike Lee because he's not your conventional thriller-making filmmaker, but he's a master at his craft, at his filmmaking. If he was in Spike’s position, he probably wouldn't have wanted any involvement from the original filmmaker, and in this vein, there's no involvement from director Park, in this Spike Lee remake.
French actress Judith Godrèche has a small cameo in the film.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your character in the film.
Godrèche: It's a very small cameo. I'm just playing a psychoanalyst, which was really funny for me because my entire family are psychoanalysts – my mom, my dad, my aunt, everyone.
Q: So what was it like working with Park?
Godrèche: It was very inspiring because it's really like marrying someone’s creative world where you feel like you could just lay down in his arms, the director’s arms, and he's taking you wherever he wants, and that's very nice.
We also spoke with costume designer duo Bart Mueller and Kurt Swanson.
Q: Can you tell us about the aesthetic?
Kurt: The aesthetic for the costumes was based a lot on what director Park had envisioned for the film. I think he and us really wanted to keep kind of a classic, timeless, quality to everything and I think the costumes are within the realm of the house and that all kind of needed to stay timeless, and you never really knew where you were at until you step outside.
Bart: The movie is set in a contemporary time period but there's still references to past but without it being period-specific.
Phyllis Somerville plays a housekeeper in the film.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your character.
Phyllis: She's the head housekeeper. I mean, not the maid...the one that runs the house. And she's known Matthew’s character since they were children. So she knows everything. It doesn't do her that much good, but she knows everything.
Q: What was it like working with Mia?
Phyllis: She's so sweet and so, really, really good. So it was a joy, in short.
Q: Tell us about the film.
Phyllis: It's just a little bit weird, but it's a story of a young girl, you know, kind of growing up and really kind of figuring things out. And there is a sinister quality to it.
Q: What upcoming projects can you share with us?
Phyllis: An episode of "House of Cards", a couple more episodes of "The Big C," I don't know when it's going to be released, but I did another film with Mia.
A cocktail reception with cast and filmmakers immediately followed in The Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery. Additional guests in attendance included Kyra Sedgwick, Cuba Gooding Jr., Chris Benz, Sophie Auster, Lindsay Ellingson, Rachel Alexander, John Buffalo Mailer, Norman Reedus, Savannah Wise, David Siegel, Jeffrey Costello, Obert Tagliapitra, Adam Dugas, Francie Swift, Claire Coffee, Christian Campbell, America Olivo, Peter Cincotti, Eric West, Tanya Mityushina.
STOKER opens in limited release on MARCH 1, 2013
RUNNING TIME: 100 MINUTES
RATED: R
Comments