Director Tim Millantz for Cillian Murphy’s Little Things Like This – The Hollywood Reporter

Tim Mellants, a self-described “strange man from Belgium,” is not the first director you would expect to receive a call to direct Little things like thisA film steeped in the culture and history of Ireland.

The film shares its theme with Peter Mullan’s 2002 drama Magdalene sistersWhich revealed the brutal treatment of tens of thousands of women detained in Magdalene laundries. Little things like this It shifts the focus to the world outside the asylum, and to the community’s complicity that has allowed abuses to continue.

Milantis, who first worked with Murphy on the British crime series Slim masksHe says it was this focus on “a middle-aged man trying to deal with grief and struggling to do the right thing” that “made me think I might be able to tell this story.”

Little things like this It is produced by Murphy’s Big Things Films, Millants’ Wilder Films and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company Artists Equity. FilmNation Entertainment is handling international sales.

Talk to Hollywood Reporter Ahead of the film’s world premiere as the opening night film of the 74th Berlin Film Festival, Milantis talks about reuniting with his family. Slim masks The star, why the film is so personal to him, creates new forms of masculinity on screen.

Get Cillian Murphy’s first film next Oppenheimer It’s a huge coup, but how has this project evolved? How long have you been talking about this with Cillian?

Melantis Me and Cillian wanted to work with each other for a while, we really wanted to get back together (after that Slim masks). We were looking for themes and stories we wanted to tell. This was beforeOppenheimer. We talked about ideas, and he and his wife came to me with Claire Keegan’s book. It was something I really understood objectively, on a personal level. So I was fully prepared for that. We started writing and developing it. then Oppenheimer It came along. Cillian was doing that and I was doing another film (Belgian period drama). Woe). While making OppenheimerHe met Matt Damon and they had a really good relationship. Matt Damon said he loved the project and joined it (with Actors Equity). So, after-Oppenheimerall the dots came together.

What was it about this story, a very special Irish story, and the characters that spoke to you?

Almost everything I’ve done so far, also with my own features, the common theme has been sadness. I actually think it goes back to the pain I experienced when I was very young. I lost my brother when I was very young, and that was hard to deal with. I’ve watched my parents go through it, the kind of deferred grief, deferred grief, that comes later. This was something in the main story (of Little things like this) which I thought I would really love to share with Cillian and delve into. It was something I really understood. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the drive of the story. Of course, everything revolves around the Catholic Church, and this is very important. I have a Roman Catholic background, and here in Belgium, we have a lot of similar stories. But really this was the idea of ​​a middle-aged man trying to deal with grief and struggling to do the right thing, which unfortunately I understand all too well. This was the kind of cocktail where I felt like, okay, I think I might be able to tell this story.

Peter Mullan told the story of Magdalene Asylums in Magdalene sisters It’s 2002, but your style is very different, because it’s framed from the outside, through a middle-aged man struggling with his grief. I assume this approach also appealed to Cillian?

Yes exactly. That was also the story of the book. We stayed very close to the narrative of the book, where such a boy and this man were at the center of the story, and the struggle to overcome grief. In a way, it’s a story of how dealing with grief makes you stronger. Little things like this It’s also about moral courage when you live under an autocracy. I just finished a movie, Woe, now available on Netflix, tells a story in a completely different way. The film takes place during World War II, but what happens is similar to what happens in the village here because everyone sees what happens to the girls but no one says anything, and no one speaks against the church.

I always ask myself this question: What will I do in such circumstances? I explored it from this angle and that angle, and it was interesting to explore it here from the point of view of someone who acknowledges injustice but struggles to do something against it.

Was Mulan a reference point for you in making this film?

I watched it decades ago, but never went back to it. On purpose. I wanted to get a new eye.

Because I was wondering if Claire Keegan, who was one of the girls, would be cast Magdalene sistersAnd playing Murphy’s wife in your film was just the tip of the iceberg. I thought you might be using this representation as a kind of cinematic depiction of generational trauma, the actress going through the trauma in the first film and trying to move away from it in the second.

Oh this is a great idea. I wish I had thought of that. But I didn’t. It’s a bit too late now.

It’s yours if you want it. Use it in future interviews.

Thank you, I will do that.

How would you describe Cillian’s character, Bill Furlong?

I guess I would say he has an existential emptiness mixed with extreme vulnerability. He’s very quiet, and doesn’t say much. He’s the type of person who tries to protect himself, is very vulnerable and tries to keep everything inside. This is what I played with. For the structure of the film, I framed it around the five stages of grief. This is how I portrayed the arc of depression that we see in his eyes throughout his performance.

And does that work in practice, when you have to hire an actor to give a performance like this, with very little dialogue?

Well, I don’t like to reveal my secrets! But I draw fairly clearly the emotional arc, and what I think the character is thinking and feeling in each scene. I really believe that you can communicate everything through the lens, through the image, if you are able to know what’s going on in the character’s mind. I consider Cillian one of the best actors on the planet. You don’t have to tell him much, give him plenty of directions. Because the story was so personal to me, I made it personal and invited him to do the same, to find a personal connection to the character and the story. I never told him how to play this game, I just shared my weaknesses with him. I think some of that might come through in the performance.

Cillian is the producer of this film, as are Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. How closely involved were they in shaping the story on the production side?

They were very supportive. It was always: “Can I do something for you? Can I help you?” They really liked the script, and Ben had some really good notes on the edit, which I think made the movie much better. They were very helpful and supportive. I never felt like they were looking over my shoulder. I remember getting some notes during editing about the inciting incident scene where Bill first sees what’s going on with the women in the asylum. Ben just gave a note on how to show this. It just showed how smart he is. It was a small idea, and suddenly the movie was so much better.

Cillian’s character represents a very different view of masculinity, particularly Irish masculinity, than what you’re used to seeing on screen. It’s a world away from Daniel Day-Lewis screaming In the father’s name.

That’s a good point. For me, I’m only interested in these kind of male characters, because those are the kind of characters I look up to. I’m always interested in that kind of vulnerability. Even when Cillian and I filmed Peaky Blinders, we tried to find that vulnerability in (his portrayal of) Thomas Shelby. So, from a personal point of view, this seems right and natural to me. But a producer recently told me that, from a feminist perspective, it’s really important that we start thinking about what kind of men, what kind of masculinity, we want to live with, and portray that kind of masculinity on screen. This wasn’t my goal with the film, but I’m glad to hear it was received this way.