Washington DC [US], February 18 : The 'Far From Heaven' director Todd Haynes reflected on his collaboration with Mark Ruffalo for the thriller film 'Dark Waters' and said that the actor pushed him out of his comfort zone, which led to the success of the movie, reported Deadline.
Haynes is currently serving as the President of the International Jury at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. He is known for his directorial ventures like 'Poison', 'Safe', Far From Heaven', 'Carol' and 'Dark Waters' among others.
The director collaborated with the 'Avengers' actor Mark Ruffalo for 'Dark Waters' which also starred Ane Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Camp, and Victor Garber in the prominent roles.
During a talk held in Berlin's Hebbel am Ufer theatre, Berlinale jury president Todd Haynes elaborated on how Mark Ruffalo was his creative spark after he bought him a career-changing script of 'Dark Waters', reported Deadline.
"Mark Ruffalo came to me with an early draft of Dark Waters, which was just so utterly unlike the kind of movies that I've been associated with, the sort of expose of a lawyer taking down and challenging criminal practices on a farm. He didn't know how much I was an obsessive and passionate lover of the paranoia in this case, and those exact stories weren't listed as part of my work then."
Haynes continued, "There are always going to be other pockets of desire and inspiration that aren't necessarily the thing that people attach to you and the very fact that he came to me led us down a whole other fantastic path," as quoted by Deadline.
Further, during the talk, the director also opened up about the films, which kickstarted his directorial career in Hollywood.
"I would like to preface this by saying that I think three films inaugurated my career, and all three of them dealt with illness and pathology. They are Superstar, Poison and Safe, and each film approaches those themes in very different ways," said Haynes, as quoted by Deadline.
The 'Poison' filmmaker also talked about the influence of David Lynch in his early years of movie direction.
"What was influencing me at that time was David Lynch and the ironic way he was inserting himself into the genre. At the same time, I was just trying to get a film of mine shown anywhere."
Haynes also recalled the early challenges he faced in the initial years of filmmaking for his content which followed an experimental narrative.
"People would say, 'We don't understand what you're doing here. What is the story? What is the tone? The tonal question was one thing, the narrative question was another. And this was something that forged the creative alliance that Christine [Vachon] and I found in each other. We met in college and started working to produce what we called 'experimental narrative', and it was in this sort of spirit that we embarked on." said Haynes, as quoted by Deadline.
Haynes's film 'Poison' won the Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1991.
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