And then I really loved the script.
And so I think this is something that moved me and that touched me.
How did you get involved in the film and find out that you had landed the role of Virginie?
It was a casting.
And then the day after, you’re like, “Oh, my God.
I hope he’s going to call back.”
He’s not Bill anymore.
But his concentration is such that the whole room is filled with his character, and the story.
So we had to find the humanity of those characters and make them real.
And I think that it was I just followed them.
And Abigail [Breslin].
Out of everyone in the cast, Matt Damon completely transformed himself.
I feel like he was almost unrecognizable on screen when he became Bill Baker.
What was your first thought when you saw him in character?
Was it in a scene for the first time?
I completely forgot about Matt Damon.
I mean, completely.
I mean, I was really facing Bill.
And we shot almost chronologically, so we really had the time to build the relationship between those characters.
We barely knew each other.
And you were in your home country of France to shoot this.
What was the best part about that?
It was funny because again it was like the story in the story, because yeah.
Did the actors ever go off script while filming Stillwater?
Was there ever a scene where director Tom McCarthy gave you guys the freedom to go off script?
Then he wanted to rewrite some things.
So he said, like, for example, “Okay.
Tomorrow, can you come?
I want to shoot some more things.”
And this was not improvised, but it was decided on set.
And I really like that because we had started shooting.
I could have done that for much more if he wanted to.
He sounds really fun to work with.
Like a great collaborator in that sense.
When you first read the ending, were you surprised at all?
And what kind of message do you hope viewers take away from the film?
And it’s very interesting, because she’s very strong and being very soft at the same time.
With a disarming honesty sometimes.
And she’s very delicate, and very soft, and very warm.
So her strength does not lie in She’s not a conflict person.
It’s really an echo to that.
And so that’s why I really like this ending, even though it’s sad.
“Stillwater” is available today on digital, Blu-ray, and DVD.
