Enchantment in a Shabby Motel
One of the more coveted places to be during the Toronto International Film Festival — the awards season springboard held in September — was at the screening of the Cannes hit “The Florida Project,” which quickly filled past capacity.
It was a sign of the anticipation that has built for the picture, which was directed and co-written by Sean Baker, the man behind what may be the most ambitious work of art shot on an iPhone, his 2015 critically hailed film, “Tangerine.”
“Tangerine” told of transgender prostitutes hustling up a living in Los Angeles, and “The Florida Project,” Walt Disney’s early name for his theme park in that state, explores lives on the margins, too. Set in a seedy pink-and-purple- colored motel (a real- life place, the Magic Castle) on a strip near Disney World, the film follows a 6-year- old girl, Moonee, who lives there with her very young, very poor, wild and vituperative mother, Halley.
While “Tangerine” was a modest hit, earning seven times its $100,000 budget during a limited run, “The Florida Project” is Mr. Baker’s most anticipated picture yet. Now in limited worldwide release and buoyed by a high 90s Rotten Tomatoes rating, the film is produced by A24, whose titles include “Moonlight,” the 2016 indie film that landed the Academy Award for best picture. The Times film critic A.O. Scott said the movie “casts a spell and tells the truth.”
Made for just a few million dollars, “The Florida Project” will test audience appetites for a low-budget film largely peopled by first-time actors, whom Mr. Baker recruited from, among other places, a chain store in Kissimmee, Florida (a city just outside Disney World) and Instagram. Mr. Baker did cast, with some trepidation, a name-brand actor in a principal role: Willem Dafoe plays the motel’s kindly and beleaguered manager.
“My fear, even with Willem, was one recognizable face would pull us out of that moment,” Mr. Baker said. “Especially for what we were trying to do, with audiences attaching to these characters,” he continued, “one moment out of the suspension of disbelief would ruin us.”
Mr. Baker likes to spotlight stories from society’s fringes; the subjects of his earlier films include a Chinese deliveryman and a Ghanaian handbag peddler. “If more stories are told about marginalized communities, subcultures and minorities, the less marginalized they will be,” he said by email.
The idea for “The Florida Project” came about five years ago, inspired by news stories about families — the “hidden homeless” — barely meeting their needs in cheap motels after losing jobs and homes in the Great Recession. Mr. Baker and his writing and production partner, Chris Bergoch, homed in on tourist lodgings that had become quasi-welfare motels in central Florida, and plotted out a story that mirrored a Disney theme — the young princess with an imperiled mother — told from society’s underbelly. But after struggling to get financing, the pair started on “Tangerine,” a success that would make paying for “The Florida Project” a lot easier.
“It was probably serendipity,” Mr. Baker said. “If I had made the film five years ago, Brooklynn wouldn’t have been in the film, so it all works out.”
Brooklynn is Brooklynn Prince, who plays Moonee, “The Florida Project’s” precocious, mouthy, utterly convincing young star. Mr. Baker had been looking for the modern- day equivalent of Spanky McFarlane, from the Depression- era “Our Gang” pictures, and said he knew Brooklynn was his gal within seconds.
Now 7, Brooklynn lives with her mother, father and nearly 8-monthold “goblin brother” ( her term) in Winter Springs, north of Orlando.
Perhaps the riskiest move was hiring another first- time actress, Bria Vinaite, a heavily tattooed, free- spirited New Yorker, to play Moonee’s mother, Halley. Mr. Baker said he had considered A-list names but was struck by the dance videos and paeans to marijuana Ms. Vinaite had posted on Instagram.
The center of the film is held by Mr. Dafoe. His character was created by Mr. Baker and Mr. Bergoch after they met motel managers torn between running a business and caring for families on the brink of eviction. Mr. Dafoe said that while he was conscious of being the most seasoned actor on set, his biggest job was to fit in.
“I may have slightly different skills, but I want to forget those skills,” he said.
While his character ended up being the grounding element of the film, Mr. Dafoe said what kept him grounded himself were the people living in the motels — including residents who served as extras in the film. They were struggling to make it through the week.
“That,” he said, “keeps you on track.”