Actress Noa Cohen & Director D.J. Caruso talk to The Inside Reel about approach, texture, characterization and environmemt in regards to their new biblical-based and set film: "Mary" from Netflix.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00This messiah, is he real?
00:15Has he been born?
00:16Where is he?
00:17Tell me!
00:18Where is he?
00:19Love will cost you dearly.
00:20It will pierce your heart.
00:21But in the end, love will save the world.
00:41The first thing I wanted to ask about to both of you was about perspective and perception
00:46because the journey of this young woman's sort of progression is the why and how she
00:52comes to terms with it in many ways.
00:55First Noah, if you could talk about approaching her that way psychologically, emotionally,
01:00physically, even intellectually.
01:02There's so many different things going on with her idea of piousness versus the idea
01:06of what she needs to accomplish.
01:08Could you talk about that?
01:09And then DJ about perspective and perception and putting that into a visual medium to capture
01:14that correctly.
01:16Right.
01:17So taking on a role like that one is, as you said, was not an easy task.
01:22She holds such a central place in the hearts of millions of people and I wanted to make
01:25sure that I portray her in a way that is very much respectable.
01:31But I knew that the key to bringing her to life on screen in the way that we wanted to,
01:37in the way that she'll be able to touch people on a deeply human level and that will be able
01:44to connect with her that way is to find that balance between her divine role and her humanity.
01:51So I really focused on figuring out who she was as a young woman navigating through those
01:58challenges that she had to face, both the divine and the very, very human ones.
02:04And I feel like being in her position, she had a choice.
02:13I mean, you know, she had this godly calling, but she had a choice and her choosing to accept
02:20that role is not easy as well, you know, it took a lot of courage and a lot of guts.
02:28And I wanted to make sure that this translates.
02:35I don't know why, but I was chosen for this.
02:39Mary, your birth was a gift for your mother and I.
02:46It was a miracle.
02:49But in exchange, I made a promise.
02:52What happened before you did?
02:59Great heresy.
03:01The prophecy speaks of the coming messiah.
03:05What need have we of a messiah?
03:09Let it be understood.
03:11I am your king.
03:16Child.
03:21You are far more powerful than words, child.
03:27I don't understand how it is your will that I should marry this perfect stranger.
03:32Yeah, and that for me, cinematically, it makes it so easy to kind of jump in and say, like,
03:37I'm going to tell this story from her perspective and her point of view.
03:40And that's something you really hadn't seen before in a full movie form.
03:43She's been part of stories.
03:45And so that informed me of how I can tell the story, what I can do.
03:48And if I can put the audience in the room with her when she's making these decisions
03:52and really immerse the audience in the movie, not to look back and say,
03:55oh, this is the story of Bethlehem and that's all beautiful,
03:58but to really be in the story and to see how sometimes how tough it was
04:02and how ugly the world was and how people are always fighting good in the forces.
04:05And when you accept a mission or you accept this, like,
04:08I'm going to bring the world its greatest gift, it is not going to be easy.
04:12And that, for me, kind of opened me up cinematically.
04:14And, you know, I wanted to shoot the movie widescreen
04:17and we used all these vintage old Hawk lenses.
04:20And to me, it was just a great canvas and a great way to paint.
04:23And also to play with the tropes of what a biblical movie looks like.
04:26Because everyone thinks they know it's sand and sandals and everything else.
04:29I wanted to open that up and I didn't want Joseph to pull Mary across on a donkey.
04:34Because I've seen that before.
04:35So we have horses and movement and just so much energy.
04:38And that's what Mary had to go through.
04:40It's her energy that's driving the film cinematically.
04:44All those people out there can call me all sorts of names.
04:56But I'm going to bring this child into the world with love and honor and respect.
05:00I was actually trying to find you.
05:10To tell you I don't care what they say.
05:14But what I do know is that I'm going to love this child as best as I can.
05:21And if you let me, I will love you as best as I can.
05:30I'll jump back to you about using the environments and everything like that, DJ.
05:34But for Snoha, there's different levels of what Mary's going through.
05:38She's very independent and yet she understands duty.
05:42She has humility and yet she does have ego.
05:45She knows what she's capable of.
05:47Can you talk about that energy pushing that back and forth?
05:51Because you even see it with her mom.
05:53Her mom saying, you know, this is not easy.
05:55And you see her sort of moving in between that.
05:58Could you talk about finding those notes within her in that way
06:02and sort of conveying that externally while also feeling it internally?
06:07And then I'll ask DJ one more question.
06:09I think we really wanted to portray both her vulnerability and her strength.
06:14And I feel like to do that it was very important to show her as a young child
06:19seeing how much she loves nature and how free-spirited she was.
06:23And then seeing her get sent to the temple and being kind of locked in this place.
06:28But accepting the duties that she had to accept.
06:31She knows how to get those things done.
06:33But there's this feeling while she's in the temple.
06:36And she says that, can I do even more good outside?
06:39I mean, she wants to kind of break through because she knows
06:43that she is capable of so much more.
06:46And she knows that she has this kind of strength inside of her.
06:50So it was really interesting balancing her independence
06:57and her free-spirited kind of, you know.
07:04But then also accepting her role in the divine plan
07:08and accepting God's plan for her
07:12and accepting all the things that she had to face.
07:18And I think that she had to have such great faith
07:22not only in God but also in herself to be able to do those things.
07:26And to navigate through those challenges.
07:28So, yeah, that was a really interesting process
07:32to kind of portray her both ways.
07:35You did beautiful.
07:36They cast me out of the temple.
07:38What?
07:41Why would they do that?
07:49Because I'm a child, Mama.
07:51Oh, Mary.
07:52I haven't done anything wrong, I promise.
07:55But how could this be?
07:56The angel in blue, he told me.
07:58The angel?
08:00He came to you?
08:03Yes, I thought it was a dream.
08:06You're the vessel of the promise.
08:11It's true.
08:12It's not me, Mama.
08:13I'm engaged to Joseph.
08:14We're not even married.
08:15I can't have a baby.
08:16You're stronger than you know.
08:20You've been selected for great things.
08:23And great things never come easy.
08:25And my last thing, if I have one second with you, DJ.
08:27Could you talk about directing that?
08:29Because you make a very organic environment.
08:31Like the wedding, you know,
08:33the inside sort of the open air, you know,
08:36where she gives birth.
08:37All these things make you feel like you're there.
08:40Could you talk about doing that?
08:41But also directing Noah.
08:43And directing her in a very specific way
08:45where you knew what notes you wanted to hit
08:48but also let her find her way with the role.
08:51Well, yeah, we spent some time in rehearsals.
08:53I like to do, and Noah is so fantastic with this,
08:55is we built the foundation of Mary and who she was.
08:58And if she had any historical or biblical questions,
09:00we kind of dive in.
09:01I can answer all those and help her.
09:03But it's really building that character and the foundation
09:05and finding like her golden key, like Noah said,
09:07her courage and what she wanted to do.
09:10So that for me was it.
09:11And so I'll give you a great example.
09:13During the birth of Christ,
09:16Mary and Noah and Hila and Karen got together
09:21and I said, guys, let's make this special.
09:23What can you do to help me make this special?
09:25And they were spending time in the hotel room
09:27and helping figuring this out.
09:28And they would present things to me
09:29and say, great, that's exactly what we can do.
09:31So it's a collaboration, right?
09:32But it's only collaboration when someone like Noah
09:35is so embedded in who the character is
09:37and I can trust her.
09:38And man, I could trust her to do anything.
09:40And I knew she was right from the moment I saw her.
09:43And in the scenes that you're speaking about,
09:46it's just magical.
09:47But it's a great collaboration.
09:48But to answer your question,
09:49it's because we built a foundation before we went out.
09:51Because as you know, when you go out there,
09:53you just kind of strap it on.
09:55And it's day after day after day after day after day.
09:57You just kind of hang on.
09:58And this wind and sand is hitting you in the face.
10:00And you go, please, God, let us get this right.
10:02And so it was great to have a partner like Noah.
10:08You are to have a son.
10:11But that's not possible.
10:13All things are possible.
10:19You've laid with a man.
10:21No.
10:22Father, I need you.
10:23You'll be put to death.
10:26I'm going to bring this child into the world of love.
10:28I don't care what they say.
10:31I will love you as best as I can.