Revisiting Jacques Deray’s The Swimming Pool: A Conversation with Luca Guadagnino for the Blu-ray and DVD release of A Bigger Splash
A dazzling, sensuous portrait of desire, jealousy and rock ‘n’ roll under the Mediterranean sun. From Luca Guadagnino, director of the Academy Award-nominated I AM LOVE, and starring Ralph Fiennes (Spectre), Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey), Matthias Schoenaerts (Far From the Madding Crowd) and Tilda Swinton (The Grand Budapest Hotel), A BIGGER SPLASH is set to be a must-see for audiences this February.
When a high-profile couple – a rock star and a filmmaker decide to vacation on a remote Italian island, their rest is disrupted by the sudden visit of an old friend and his sexy, yet mysterious daughter. Suddenly, what was supposed to be an ideal getaway turns into a whirlwind of jealousy, passion and danger for everyone in the group.
Based on the Jacques Deray production Swimming Pool, from 1969, which had inspired a François Ozon feature of the same name in 2003, now it's the turn of Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino to recreate this tale and inject his own distinctive sensibilities as a filmmaker into proceedings. Assembling a remarkable quartet of performers in Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts and Dakota Johnson to tell this sensual, thrilling narrative, Guadagnino discusses why he felt so compelled to collaborate with Swinton for the third time in his career, and how much freedom he gave the actress to craft the character of Marianne Lane. He also explains why he named the film after a David Hockney painting, his greatest influences in cinema, while also commenting on that Ralph Fiennes dance scene.
This is of course a remake of Swimming Pool, and though this remains very unique, why did you want to tell this particular story?
I decided to embrace the offer I got from Studiocanal to revisit the Jacques Deray film from 1969, on the ground of my interest exploring the power of desire and how this invisible force can lead to very visible consequences in life. This is a subject I am very interested in generally, I found it to be very cinematic, the idea of a group of people very close to one another. I found that interaction, in a way, a canvas upon which I could use a lot of visual skills to depict a relationship, which is very interesting to me. I like the idea you can make a movie about a relationship that unfolds as a story as well, instead of starting with preordained characters that are bound to act out just what the script says.
And the title comes from a David Hockney painting?
Of course, it was a big inspiration for us. We wanted to think of the movie from the point of the view of the great artistic experiences of the 60s, and to have the privilege of using the title of such a masterpiece.
There's something very Hitchcockian about this, is he just one of those filmmakers that is so ingrained into the fabric of this genre that it's difficult not to be influenced by him?
I can only speak for myself, and I can tell you that Alfred Hitchcock and Roberto Rossellini were the two pillars of my filmmaking upbringing. I think that Hitchcock is cinema itself.
You've collaborated with Tilda Swinton a few times now, and she's a wonderful actress. What's she like to work alongside? There must be a reason why you keep going back to her?
Well, there isn't a reason, there is just life, and life led me and Tilda to meet and to become dear friends and great partners. When I say great partners, I mean somebody who loves to plot things to do together, which could be a movie, a conversation, a trip. I think it's a vital necessity that we have to be with one another, and it's something beautiful.
A BIGGER SPLASH WILL BE RELEASED ON DVD AND BLU-RAY ON JUNE 27
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