The Big Picture

“Foe” is a fascinating yet fraught film adaptation of a novel by Iain Reid, trapping Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan in a grim sci-fi mystery. The film explores a couple’s lives being upended by a mysterious stranger who informs them that one of them will be replaced by a copy in space. Despite the supposedly simple life portrayed, little is as it seems in this intriguing story, which was shot using the ALEXA 65 due to the lack of film labs in Australia.

A film that traps Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan in a grim sci-fi mystery, Garth Davis’ Foe is one of the most fascinating yet fraught releases of the year. An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Iain Reid, it is both withholding in some regards and open in others. It tells the story of a couple, Hem (Ronan) and Junior (Mescal), who are approached with an opportunity that will upend their lives. Specifically, it is the arrival of the mysterious Terrance (Aaron Pierre) who informs them that Junior will be taken into space and replaced by a copy of himself to keep Hem company while he is away. While this is already a bit strange, that is only the half of it as we come to learn that little of their supposedly simple life is what it seems.

Image via Amazon Studios.  Foe Hen (Saoirse Ronan) & Junior’s (Paul Mescal) life is thrown into turmoil when a stranger shows up at their door with a startling proposal. Will they risk their relationship & personal identity for a chance to survive in a new world?  Release Date October 6, 2023 Director Garth Davis Cast Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, Aaron Pierre Main Genre Science Fiction Genres Drama, Mystery Writers Garth Davis, Iain Reid Tagline Some people are made for each other. Cinematographer Mátyás Erdély
The film was shot by cinematographer Mátyás Erdély who previously worked on the underrated film The Nest and whose work can next be seen in the film The Iron Claw. We spoke with the cinematographer about the process of being part of an adaptation like Foe, whether he reads the book before starting, and the challenges of trying to shoot on film.

COLLIDER: When it comes to a movie like this where it’s based on a book, do you revisit or read the book at all, or is it entirely you working with Garth on the script and using that as your reference point to then bringing it to life visually?

MÁTYÁS ERDÉLY: On this one, I did not read the book. I felt that I wanted to experience this script on its own. I did not wanna be influenced in any way from the book because it’s such a different beast, literature and cinema. It’s very tricky. So, I was like, “I’m not gonna read this book before.” I really wanted to focus on the script, and then listen to whatever Garth needed to say about his vision and his approach of telling the story.

What was it he first said when he approached you? I believe this is the first time you all have worked together.

Yes, that is correct. I don’t know if I can recall our first conversation. I was super nervous, probably, talking to him. So, I was, like, hoping that I could finish a sentence properly. [Laughs] But later our conversations were just…We’re really, really, really focused on the emotional part of the story and what the characters are going through in each moment, and what is the most honest and simple and careful way of showing these emotions and these moments. He had a very strong idea of what he wanted to do. I told this to other people, my job mainly in the prep was to listen and understand, making sure that whatever he has in mind, I understand and I can embrace, and then I can go with that idea and then translate that into camera movement and mood and contrast and all of those things that we are dealing with. So yeah, there was a lot of listening from my end.

The film looks really, really wonderful. I was wondering what you shot it on because I had read that you prefer 35 mm, but I don’t know if that’s what it was, so I wanted to make sure to ask you.

Unfortunately, there is no film lab in Australia anymore, which is a shame. That’s something that needs to be changed. Because of that, we were not allowed, and we were not able to shoot on film. Actually, with our amazing line producer, we looked into sending exposed negatives to Los Angeles and then back, and it became a nightmare even just the turnaround time and all of that. So, we ended up testing the ALEXA 65. When we put the test up on the big screen they looked fantastic and they looked right for what we were trying to do. So, with the help of our producers, we were able to get those cameras, and we showed them that.

There were a couple of striking moments I wanted to ask you about. The first was the sandstorm scene with the unbroken shot going around in the house. How did you first map that out? I’m guessing that was not an actual sandstorm, although it very well could be, what was the process of making that come together?

It’s not an actual sandstorm. It’s a sandstorm that we created, and it’s mainly special effects with a little bit of VFX help. It’s mainly special effects, so there was a lot of real dust hitting those windows. The shot itself, it’s kind of like a chapter break in the movie. It’s definitely a passage of time, and it’s almost like an act break as well, I think it’s somewhere somewhere there. It’s definitely a shot that’s giving you this sense of the passing of time and the way it was designed was just to experience the loneliness in this house. It’s this inverse clock that is like, you know, the sand is outside, but you’re stuck inside in this little structure. It is a shot that tries to give you this feeling of the loneliness and the isolation, I think. The shot itself is not a super complicated shot. There’s this movement that shows you this empty house.

I was gonna then remark, even as you’re saying it’s not that complicated, I had been thinking a lot about your past film, The Nest, which was very much about two people—there were a little bit of a different circumstances—but two people in a house growing apart from each other. I was wondering, was there anything you took from that then into this?

I’m sure, but I don’t know what it was. I can’t put my finger on like, “Oh, I learned this exact thing,” because I try to approach all these projects with a totally blank slate. Obviously, my experiences are growing as I’m making these movies, but I cannot tell you what are the exact things that I learned from there that I used here. I’m sorry that I can’t.

Image via Amazon Studios

That’s quite alright. I read in an interview you said that you maybe have a style, but you always want each film to be different. You always want to bring a distinct approach, a specific approach. How much do you kind of create a shot list? As much as you can, or is it much more free flow when you’re on the day of?

It really depends on the directors I’m working with. Usually, there are certain ideas that we talk about a lot and then those automatically can be translated into a shot list or shots or visual ideas. But most of the time these ideas can and are changing on the set. So there are certain moments that would require a specific frame or specific shot or a specific movement or a specific something, but some scenes will have an approach. You know, “Okay, we know that this scene needs to be free-flowing and it needs to be handheld,” or another moment it’s one shot, or another moment it’s just this close-up and then a reverse close-up. But again, it depends on what is the approach of the director. Like, what is the style? What he or she feels is the best, you know? Some people are extremely precise, even down to, like, drawings and storyboards. Some people would tell you, like, “Oh, okay, I think this thing should be handheld,” and then you go to the location and then you rehearse with the actors, and then suddenly you see something you never thought of and then that triggers an idea, but you know that your approach is handheld. So, you know, “Okay, so if it’s handheld and this is what they do, let me show you this,” and then I can show a version, and then we can work from there.

On this one, Garth, again, had some very specific ideas that he wanted to do. Sometimes we would start the day by sitting down, and we would go through all his notes and little beautiful little drawings, and then that’s what we did. Unless it changed in the middle, and then suddenly the actors did something or came up with a new idea that we were like, “Oh, okay, this is actually amazing, so let’s deviate from our original plan and let’s embrace that.” But it’s great when you create an environment that allows for you to do that, and I think I function the best in an environment like that.

I then wanted to ask more about that environment and, like you were saying, working with the actors because both Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, they’re the main subjects of this entire experience; it’s so much just about their dynamics together. What was it like working with them, kind of blocking some of these things out and working together in some of these very intimate but often painful scenes?

It was extraordinary. It was unbelievable. These two and Aaron Pierre, the third character in the story—but he’s less present, so yes, you’re right—these two actors were 100% on screen, and the work with them was just magical. It’s such an amazing feeling when you look through the eyepiece, and you look at these actors. Whatever they do is just perfect, and then they do a variation on that, and then they do another thing, and they keep on surprising you with subtle changes, and just to be there to experience this immediately and in close, physical spaces, I really feel it’s super inspiring for me. Both Saoirse and Paul are not just amazing actors but absolutely beautiful human beings, and the two of them together were fantastic. It was just a joy to be working with these two.

Image via Amazon Studios

I did want to specifically ask about Aaron, as well, because there’s kind of this—I won’t give anything away—but there’s this climactic scene where there are these big lights coming from the outside. Paul is on the floor, and it’s kind of the moment of revelation. I wanted to dig into detail on that one. How long did you shoot that scene, especially with these two actors when Saoirse is not in the room? What was your process of going about that scene in particular?

The scene I think we shot, if I’m correct, I might be wrong, it was either two or three nights. So not very long. We had to go fast, and it was very technical. Again, trying not to reveal too much, but it—for reasons we both know why—it was very technical, so it was very tricky in that sense. But our VFX team were really, really great, and they were there every day on set and super helpful, so our approach was helped by them tremendously. I mean, it’s such an emotional experience for all three main actors that, again, the guiding rule was always just to make sure that we shoot these emotions properly, meaningfully, and gently. So, I think for this film, I think what the camera was trying to do was to make sure that it was in the right place for the emotions at any given moment.

I was thinking of there’s the scene with Saoirse and the piano, where it’s a very low-angle shot. I think it’s one of the last times she plays the piano, and it’s almost like this finality to it, and recalls what she had said earlier about looking down versus looking up. I was curious, with the piano scenes, I don’t know if she actually plays piano, but it feels like she does. How did you choreograph some of those scenes?

There is a little bit of trickery there. But again, all I can say is the guiding principle for the camera was always to be in the right place for the emotion. So if we had to be close on a wider lens, or we had to be further back on a longer lens, or we had to be moving or not moving or even being handheld, it was always dictated by what Garth and I felt was the best way to reveal an emotion or to reveal a state of mind or support something that the actors are trying to achieve. So yeah, I mean, it’s almost like a very straightforward approach. There’s no gimmicks, and there’s no trickery in it. I hope it feels honest. I feel it’s like you’re not fooled by the images. Your experience as the audience is helped by the filmmaking. That was the goal.

Image via Amazon Studios

That honesty to your approach is something I’m very interested in. Because so much of the movie, to some degree, is about withholding and kind of calling attention to small details but making sure not to overplay your hand, how—I’m guessing at this point some people will have seen it, but we don’t want to give away too much—how did you approach calling attention to certain things but not ever going too far into flagging something up?

What you just touched on was a very, very, very important topic in our conversations. I felt that this is exactly the key or one of the most crucial decisions we had to make. Garth’s approach was to shoot it straight, meaning shoot it as if this would be a linear, straightforward story if you know what I mean, but then he gave direction to search and pull to do certain things in certain ways that would give you little doubts or give you little hints as you were watching it. So basically, it was a little contradiction between the way it was shot and what was played, and that created a little tension, which I find very, very exciting.

Absolutely. As a last question, you shot this before The Iron Claw, so then going from something like this to going back to working with Sean [Durkin], is that something that’s easy to kind of shift into a new story? What is your process of going from this to something else?

I mean, working with a director that I have worked with before and love so, so much as Sean is always a pleasure. We had a chance to work with each other for…this was our third project together because we did a TV series in England called Southcliffe, and then we did Nest and then this, so for me, it’s a joy to work with him. And obviously, when I work with somebody for the first time, that’s a totally different approach because we are learning each other. We’re learning to communicate. That’s the biggest part of prep is to learn each other and learn that when he says slow, I know what slow is, or when he says dark, I know what he means by dark, as examples. So, it’s a different experience for me, but it’s great no matter what. It’s great to work with somebody that you have worked with before, and it’s also great to work with somebody for the first time. I don’t think it changes anything besides, you know, every project, every film has its own problems and issues that you have to figure out and you do because that’s your job, no matter if you have worked with the person before or not.

Were you able to shoot The Iron Claw on film?

Yes, Iron Claw was on film.

Foe is now available to stream on VOD in the U.S. now.

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