Lajos Koltai: Some Enchanted Evening

Lajos Koltai is a man on the move. He has to be. His latest project, Evening, has been appearing at film festivals across the U.S. and creating quite a buzz along the way. If his accomplished career as an award-winning cinematographer and the fact that his directorial debut received much acclaim are not enough to create such a stir, then the collection of stellar talent must be. Evening unites Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Claire Danes, Mamie Gummer, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson and Eileen Atkins in a moving story of love and the choices we make along the way.

Based on the beloved novel by Susan Minot and adapted for the screen by Ms. Minot and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham (The Hours), Evening follows Koltai's directorial debut, Fateless, which was nominated for the 2005 Berlinale's Golden Bear award.

Moving Pictures Magazine: Everyone is talking about the cast - a "Dream Team." Who was the first piece of that puzzle?
Lajos Koltai: Vanessa Redgrave. You know, it's such a great role, but at the same time, you're stuck in the bed; you can't do anything. So I was always picturing her even I know lots of great actresses from this generation (because I work [with] them as cinematographer). We met in the last Feb, more than a year ago, in London, in a hotel room. And she gave me immediately her love. She didn't want to show me Vanessa Redgrave is still beautiful. She is exactly 70 now.  But if she take her hair back, straight back, not just any makeup on, she is still a beautiful lady - a very elegant lady. But she carried her run-down hair. And everything was something; was, for me, for the role. And she hold my hand, and it was so intimate, and she ask me about my movie Fateless, which she just saw the night before. And she had so many questions about [it]. It's interesting because she loved the film, and, actually, she said she was honored if I asked her to do the film. She said, "You know, I just read it again and I felt it's not exactly me. But you know what, I'd love to do it for you." So that was our ways. She give her love immediately to me and I take it and we never forget that. Even though it was a long [way] to go, she always said, "I want to make this film with Lajos." I even... I was sure she would get a better offer because, at the time, we went away. We did not start in June; we started in September. I was really afraid to lose her. 

It was Mamie after that - next - who I find very early in March. It was a casting in New York where I looked at 150 different people for different role, and she just came one morning and she was just so interesting, and she did this very difficult scene where she is in the bed. And I asked her to do it a different way and she always did it differently - absolutely take what I say. And I said, "She's wonderful. She looks exactly as I pictured. She has such a similarity to Meryl." And the producer said, "Yes, that was her daughter." I thought she was coming in the afternoon, so I was innocent not to know what is behind her. It really was a beautiful meeting, because she is really wonderful. I think she is so good in the film. So when her mother came up, she did a beautiful thing, because she wants to do it and loves Vanessa, and even gave me a lot of love immediately and really listened to me and trust me with a wonderful two days to do this scene in the bed. That was heaven. That is the essence of the film. And she said one thing, "I want to be here, but I never want to be over my daughter. No way; this is her movie. I am there, merci, but you can't put me on the top of the list." You can see on the poster, she is down on the list because she doesn't want to be first. And it's a beautiful thing. If you know her, if you're close to her, you know she is not just a great actress of the world, but she is a beautiful, beautiful human being. That is why we can work so well. She came to me and said, "Lajos, I am here for you. I'm doing for you whatever you want."

Then I find, of course, the big question is how do I cast Buddy, and you know Buddy is such a complicated person who is not ready yet to go which way to go. And so I know a little bit: Hugh [Dancy]. We did a test for Being Julia a long time ago. And he is just the right person. You see him, and he came to London and make a small test. When he says, "I kissed Harris" - this scene is a very difficult scene. He did so beautifully, we all turned away not to see each other's tears, because it was unbelievable.  And I was just running out of the hotel screaming, "We have Buddy, we have Buddy!" because that was such a big question, "Who is Buddy?"

It was the same question with Harris. Who is Harris? Harris, who gets in your mind forever, even if it's a small scene, a short scene. Something happens with a different look, different touch or just a different kiss. There's a real personality there. And you never forget - the small things stay with you. Not the big things. And that [is] what she finds at the end, in her memory.

And finally, I find Patrick. I saw him [in] Angels in America. I said, "This is the guy, this is the guy." He came in and he wants it. And we had a great talk about kids, about family and about love. But nothing about the role. Just personal. And it was so good to see the person who's talking to you like a real person, not like an actor who is trying to convince me to have him. He was just the right person. I like, as [he] looks like [Patrick] exactly. And then he came later and we made a little test. And the studio said, "OK, Laj, we want to make you happy," because the studio was always behind me. They said, "This is your film. This is your vision. And the part of your vision is the actors' faces."

So, finally, we get this beautiful tapestry of faces, of beautiful faces - and all that I want, all of them. Even Eileen Atkins and Glenn Close, who is my friend, came - an old friend from when we did Meeting Venus in 1990 in Budapest. And we still have this dear friendship. And she even... It's a small part; she wasn't happy about it, but she said, "I do it for you." And finally I said to her, "But listen, you have a moment in this film that not many people can do. After the death of her..." And she said. "OK, OK." That's just one thing. Now she's very happy. She's happy because... she's always there, always present.

MPM: She has another great moment when she wakes her daughter on the morning of the wedding day.
Koltai: It's a small... That was the first shooting day with her. It was so small and she was nervous. It's interesting. She said, "How can I do something today for you? Because I don't say anything; I say, ‘Good morning.'"  That is very difficult - to come in through a door and say, "Good morning." It is one of the most difficult things. No one really realizes, just actors and directors know this moment. It's nothing, it's just sit down. Sit down is a big thing - how you sit down. There are 100 different ways you can sit down, but it mean something - always. And this is just one of the most difficult things. [What] a lot of people cannot do is walk and talk at...the same time. Just try. It is very, very difficult. And some people are suddenly confused by it: "How can I?" You don't know where your legs [are]. "What's my next step?" and say the same thing, the line, and make on the right.

MPM: On set, how would you describe your relationship with the actors?
Koltai: The most important thing is the love. We love each other and trust each other and we have huge confidence. And that was our relation every day. Every morning we start on set. Start on the makeup trailer. We hug each other. Kiss each other. Every morning: "How you slept?" "What are your problems?" "You don't feel today?" Then we get into the scene. And just to talk pure first: "Today I want to do this way and I want to do this way," and everybody come up and say, "This looks good" or "I like it" or "I want to say this line" or "I don't want to say this line, can we have something else?"

Mike Cunningham was there almost every day. And so we can ask him if we can make some new line, not to say this word because it doesn't work well for her. Sometimes you just can't say the word well. And then you have to find another word which means the same thing - at least not to lose anything. And the base was, I never been behind the monitor. I was with them. I grown up like this with Istvan [Szabo] before; I worked 28 years before I did Mephisto and did all those big movies. And we always not use a monitor. We never even see monitor because there was no monitor at that time. So I'm standing beside camera and look at them with my free eye. No head phone on me. I listen the same way. If I want something, I go to them and ask it.  Sometimes I'm whispering, actually, in her ear. Can you imagine, how can I handle her in the bed all the time? I went to her. I kneel to her and we talk to each other, and, of course, that was the kind of intimacy you can... It was fantastic. And actually I talked to her during the shot. "How is she going to sleep now? How she comes back from the dream. Again." And talked to her: "No, not yet." And she loved it. I did the same in Fateless with my boy. It was the fastest to tell him what to do and how to do it. That was different thing because he had no experience. But my Vanessa was very happy to do it this way.  I was very happy to cut out my voice at the end.

MPM: Did you see the script first, or were you familiar with the book?
Koltai: The script. I get the script because, when the studio find me, I read the script. Mike [Cunningham] had made a beautiful version of it. They had a lot of talk before with Susan Minot. And Susan gave him permission to do what he want. Because he said, " I can do it just if I make a huge change," and she said, "Do it. I know you should make a big change because everything was too much." Too many family members. There was, like, 30 people in the group you have to handle. How can you put it in the film? More marriages, more kids...so he simplified everything in a very, very good way and it [is] still the same story. Susan is very happy with the movie.  No one problem. So I saw first the script, and was very happy because the story is not an American story. It's everybody's problem how we make decisions, how we say goodbye to this world, how you find your golden moments at the end. It's everybody's problem. And it had lots of poetry also, because her memory gave us this freedom. And that's when I can use a good visual background and use my visual background as director.

MPM: How does your experience as a cinematographer change your relationship to the material when you become a director?
Koltai: I always get this good relation with the actors, as I said, and I did the same when I was a cinematographer because they need the people who's behind the camera. I always give my love through the camera, and they know you see them with love and not differently. And now just add my visual background. Because three things make a movie, I think. They have a great story. They have those unbelievable actors, a beautiful cast. And a visuality. And visuality actually is first, because if you get in the cinema and get dark and see an image on the wall, on the screen, that is catching or not. That's take you or not, for the next moment.  Then you hear what the people are saying, but not before, and that puts you into the mood also.  You say, "Aha, this is the movie I am going to see." That's how we start this film with her dreams. We try to go into you immediately. So I use this great background that I have. Even with Szabo, the first decision between us was, "Which kind of color is this movie? Which kind of light is this movie?" First things is always the visual thing. This is the visuality we want to send through the beautiful story. If you don't have visuality, no picture. A picture is most important. What you are sending is image and message for the audience.

MPM: Would you say it is requisitefor aspiring filmmakers to spend time behind the camera before being director?
Koltai: I don't know. It's a completely different way also, but I am very happy and very pleased I did so much behind the camera, because I have never been a technical person. For instance, with István Szabó we made casting together, wardrobe together, make all the decision together - and he never used me like a technical person used just for pictures and lighting. I was always there as a partner. That is a good word - always a partner.

And when they asked me to come out from Budapest to America to work for American director like Jodie Foster, who find me just through my work, for example, they always ask me to be partner and use my European feeling. They said, "Put your European feeling into the story through the camera." Which is a kind of warmness to see the human being.

MPM: Do you use your experience with past directors to influence how you work with your cast and crew now? Who stands out?
Koltai: Absolutely. István Szabó and Giuseppe Tornatore. These two really gave me a lot before I did Maléna and Legend of Night... Tornatore mostly had visuality and Istvan mostly taught me how to love the actor, how you have to be close to the actors, how you take care of the actors. That's very difficult, for example, when you have two people who are not exactly balanced in a scene because somebody is more important to the other. Other is just a partner for it, just giving up a line almost. How can you have the scene and to make a balance and not have her feel bad? The other partner has to have the same feeling: She is important, is good and needs to be in the scene. So how you go to her, also, at the same time and say something and to have a good feeling and balancing inside her heart? (Or his heart or whatever.) That is very difficult. When you feel that she feels less in a scene, how can you give her support - not to feel less; just to be exactly equals. It is unbelievably difficult to find the line that you are saying in the moment. It's like a doctor has to say the right thing not to feel bad about. But I love to do it. And it's such a beautiful thing. At the end, everybody said goodbye with cry. Everybody said, "How can I not see you tomorrow?"  Natasha, for example said, "I can't imagine in the morning you not coming and you not saying, ‘How I slept?" It was beautiful. Beautiful.

MPM: What movie had you seen Clair Danes in that made you think of her?
Koltai: Well were worked together in Home for the Holidays with Jodie Foster. I was cinematographer. She was there - just a teenager; doesn't even remember it. I saw the last one she did: Shopgirl. She was always good, but she always was very straight. We worked well together. She was able to do it. What I find out is she's totally secretive. And I say, "Why do you not open her?" And she was ready for it. She opened and she made this. And now she's happy. She knows she can go that way, go that way; she can be older, she can be younger. She looks different age in the film. All the time she is right; she is good. So you have to open her. She's a very good actor, and I really hope people can find out about her now that she can make much more complicated cinema as she did before.  

MPM: Have you been traveling around to some of the festivals?
Koltai: I've already done Boston, Newport, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, and here now.

MPM: What was the most interesting thing an audience has asked you?
Koltai: The good thing was always to see the people standing in line at the cinema. Like, 750 people standing on the street at once and fill up the cinema. That is always what I want to see. The movie is packed and beautiful. That was wonderful. And they did it very well.

Seattle was a special place. The people really like film there. And after the film was ovation; and when I went up again and talk, there was a loud ovation. And the people love the film and thanks for me. Thanks for me to talk about this human problem. You know why you are going to the cinema. That is what I said just before: You go to the cinema to having some answers. And that's the kind of movie. You're questioning, but you are giving answers also. That's why you go there. "Maybe I see somebody similar to me or a kind of similarity with my story or my fate." And something is just there in a beautiful and warm way - a poetic way. And yesterday, a guy run up to me and - he was the youngest in the audience - and he said, "Now this is a film, Lajos. Thank you. Next week, I will think about this film quite sure, every single day, because that is a movie that has a spiritual energy and it stays with me." A beautiful thing is to see the audience smiling and not just leaving the cinema, but to come to you and catching you and say, "Thank you."

MPM: What kind of film had an effect like that on you growing up?
Koltai: You know, I love the Italian films like La Strada, for example. That is still one of my most favorite films ever. I was lucky enough to work with Anthony Quinn later in America in the 1990's [on] Mobsters, a gangster movie. I work with him physically. It was unbelievable. Yeah, French movie, Italian movie. Yeah, that's what I think about, mostly. Growing up in the film academy like this, every day you see those kinds of movies. Went through all the movies important of the world, as the movie was born. I am teaching; I am professor.

MPM: You teach there in Budapest?
Koltai: I did some lectures, like Master's seminars, you know. Even in Los Angeles and Toronto. That was always good because it's not so long - only three days. I can't go... My generation is out - they're working directors and cinematographers. But they always want to give me a new class. I can't do that. Just not correct, because they are coming to listen to you and you're not there. This is very incorrect. I said, "I'm not teaching if I can't be there." To go there sometime, say something and go away... If you're not there at least two years together, forget it.

MPM: Have you already started working on something else to direct?
Koltai: Yeah. This is a love story that takes place during the '56 Hungarian revolution. It's a beautiful book. I already have a script. It find me before Evening here in New York. And this is called Under the Frog - like a frog's ass; you can't be lower. That's what was happening in Hungary in the early '50's in Hungary and drive us into the revolution. Right before the revolution. So I'm looking for the actors right now - English-speaking.

MPM: And will you shoot it in Hungary?
Koltai: That's on Budapest streets. There's no other way.

MPM: (Laughs) They always find other ways.
Koltai: No, I don't.  I'm happy to be on those streets. Even they already changed a lot in Budapest, we still have those streets. We still have enough.

Evening is a Focus Features release. Photos by Gene Page. Top: Meryl Streep (left) and Vanessa Redgrave (right) star in Lajos Koltai's Evening. Middle: Lajos Koltai on the set of Evening.  Bottom: Mamie Gummer stars in Lajos Koltai's Evening.