Emily Blunt & Rupert Friend
Jean Marc Vallee is a filmmaker and screenwriter who has found success with French speaking movies with the likes of Liste noire and Los Locos under his belt.
But he moves into the period drama with his new movie The Young Victoria, which stars Emily Blunt in the early years of Queen Victoria's reign.
I caught up with Jean to talk about the movie, how he tried to portray a different image of Victoria and what lies ahead for him.
- The Young Victoria is about to be released on DVD can you tell me a little bit about the film?
It's a true romantic, heartbreaking film. The Young Victoria is such a passionate film and it underlines the beautiful romance that she had with ther cousin, ooh, with Albert. It's a story where we learn about her young years and how she was when she first became queen of England and we follow her through the years of the seduction with Albert.
- Now Queen Victoria does have this image of being a woman living in grief and dressed constantly in black so what image did you want to portray of this monarch?
Of course it's about the young Victoria and not the old, dressed in black widow that everybody knows and that was the interest it was nice to present her through that veil and in a different way.
We are going to discover a young and rebellious girl, she was rock and roll for her time; if rock and roll is to make some noise and cry out loud what you want to do and what you don't want to do to the authorities she was modern in her own age and era.
She wanted to do good and while see can see that she had quite a temper she had good intentions and I loved the mythical quality that I found on the page about that character who tries to fulfill her destiny.
- That sort of leads me into my next question the likes of Martin Scorsese and Julian Fellows also worked on the project so how did it come to you attention and what was is about the story, script or character that you thought would make a good feature?
It came to me through the agency ICM, they had been giving me scripts since I signed with them and we released C.R.A.Z.Y, so I have read a lot of scripts from America and Hollywood over the last year and a half just reading trying to see if there was something out there for me.
I was almost ready to give and stop reading when they said that I should read this script by Julian Fellows called The Young Victoria, but my first instinct was well first I'm not into period and film and secondly I don't know anything about the monarchy and I'm not sure I want to know.
But then I stared to read and it was good and I felt that it was something that would be fun to direct and I could relate to and when you choosing your film, it's like choosing your lifestyle, when you are spending two years on something you have got to love it.
- I didn't realise that it was such a long production process why did it take two years?
It took two years yes; a year of prepartaion and shooting and then a year of post production, the post production was rather long because of all those little details and the effects to be invisible and transparent to make it believable, authentic and true.
So it takes time to work with the effects team and the effects crew so yes filmmaking takes close to two years and that's always almost the case.
- The cast is very British driven with the likes of Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany so what was the casting process like, did you have those actors in mind?
Again, in order to aim for authenticity as we wanted the film to look real, we aimed for British actors but we do have some German as there are some German character so we went to Berlin and did some auditions over there.
When we tried to find Albert we did some auditions in Paris and in the States but the good thing is we found our actors in London and in Europe. It's great becasue it has this European feel and it has a local flavour to it it looks very British, even though the production is Hollywood like.
- And what was it about Emily Blunt this is her first real lead in a movie so I suppose a bit of a gamble?
Yes she is just perfect, great, she's amazing and such a professional she was so generous, so good, so present and so into her character and just as Queen Victoria wanted to do good she has the same intentions and shared the same goals. So did Rupert and the magic that happened between the two of them was beautiful and the romance is quite strong.
- Was there any sort of preparation that you suggested for you cast as they got ready for their roles?
Yes Emily had a lot of homework to do a lot of reading and listenting to music, especially opera. She also had some horse riding classes and piano classes as well as diction, German and learning how to draw like Victoria, as she loved to draw.
But everyone had to know what there character was and so, as the director, we all had a lot of research to do and, particularly on my part well there part as well even thought they are British, this monarchy world is a special world and you have to research and feel a part of it and be well surrounded, which we were.
- You filmed throughout the UK in the likes of Hampton Court Palace and Lancaster House what are the benefits as a filmmaker to be a ble to shoot on location?
It's great, it's great because it looks like the real deal, it is the real deal, as you can feel the history all of the location has a soul of it's own. I like filming on location it gives you weird angles because you don't have the angles to put the camera there and you have got a piece of wall there that you can't move becasue that's the way that it is. Most of the houses that we filmed in came furnished so the sets were almost the character of the film.
- And how difficult is it to get these houses, castles and cathedrals to open their door to you?
Well you should ask Martin Joy, our location head, it's quite something and it takes a lot of time, patience and requests and we have to be very careful with the crew. casting crew, careful and respectful of the locations. It's amazing to shoot in these locations but sometimes it can slow down the shooting.
- You are trying to depict aspects of the past where ettiquete is very different so did you have a historical advisor on set?
Yes I did I had a great historical advisor called Alistair Bruce, he is a close relative to the Queen and the royal family. And he was such a great help it was a good thing I had this guy without him I don't think this French/Canadian director would have been that accurate.
- Sarah Ferguson is also a producer on the film so how did she get involved in the project?
She was remotely involved, she wasn't involved in the creative process but she was there, she was there to support the film during every level from prep to shooting to post.
It was her idea in the beginning, she gave Graham King the idea of making a film about young Vic, and she came to the set a couple of times with her daughters and supported the cast and crew as well as doing some press to support the film.
- Finally what's next for you?
I'm going to do films at home in my own language of French and I'm hoping to shoot next fall and still reading script coming from Hollywood and London so we will se if I will be back here.
Of course it's different we have more means, more money it's the big machine of Hollywood so there's pressure it's another game, it's something else. But if you succeed to get creative and tell the story it becomes more teamwork than a film by movie but it's quite a toy to play with.
The Young Victoria is released on DVD 13th July
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Jean Marc Vallee is a filmmaker and screenwriter who has found success with French speaking movies with the likes of Liste noire and Los Locos under his belt.
But he moves into the period drama with his new movie The Young Victoria, which stars Emily Blunt in the early years of Queen Victoria's reign.
I caught up with Jean to talk about the movie, how he tried to portray a different image of Victoria and what lies ahead for him.
- The Young Victoria is about to be released on DVD can you tell me a little bit about the film?
It's a true romantic, heartbreaking film. The Young Victoria is such a passionate film and it underlines the beautiful romance that she had with ther cousin, ooh, with Albert. It's a story where we learn about her young years and how she was when she first became queen of England and we follow her through the years of the seduction with Albert.
- Now Queen Victoria does have this image of being a woman living in grief and dressed constantly in black so what image did you want to portray of this monarch?
Of course it's about the young Victoria and not the old, dressed in black widow that everybody knows and that was the interest it was nice to present her through that veil and in a different way.
We are going to discover a young and rebellious girl, she was rock and roll for her time; if rock and roll is to make some noise and cry out loud what you want to do and what you don't want to do to the authorities she was modern in her own age and era.
She wanted to do good and while see can see that she had quite a temper she had good intentions and I loved the mythical quality that I found on the page about that character who tries to fulfill her destiny.
- That sort of leads me into my next question the likes of Martin Scorsese and Julian Fellows also worked on the project so how did it come to you attention and what was is about the story, script or character that you thought would make a good feature?
It came to me through the agency ICM, they had been giving me scripts since I signed with them and we released C.R.A.Z.Y, so I have read a lot of scripts from America and Hollywood over the last year and a half just reading trying to see if there was something out there for me.
I was almost ready to give and stop reading when they said that I should read this script by Julian Fellows called The Young Victoria, but my first instinct was well first I'm not into period and film and secondly I don't know anything about the monarchy and I'm not sure I want to know.
But then I stared to read and it was good and I felt that it was something that would be fun to direct and I could relate to and when you choosing your film, it's like choosing your lifestyle, when you are spending two years on something you have got to love it.
- I didn't realise that it was such a long production process why did it take two years?
It took two years yes; a year of prepartaion and shooting and then a year of post production, the post production was rather long because of all those little details and the effects to be invisible and transparent to make it believable, authentic and true.
So it takes time to work with the effects team and the effects crew so yes filmmaking takes close to two years and that's always almost the case.
- The cast is very British driven with the likes of Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany so what was the casting process like, did you have those actors in mind?
Again, in order to aim for authenticity as we wanted the film to look real, we aimed for British actors but we do have some German as there are some German character so we went to Berlin and did some auditions over there.
When we tried to find Albert we did some auditions in Paris and in the States but the good thing is we found our actors in London and in Europe. It's great becasue it has this European feel and it has a local flavour to it it looks very British, even though the production is Hollywood like.
Tagged in The Young Victoria