Robin Wright went all in on ‘Land’
To film her directorial debut, Robin Wright got the hell out of dodge.
For her new movie “Land,” which is now in theaters, Wright stars as Edee, a woman who retreats to a remote Wyoming cabin for two years as she pieces herself together after loss. Wright was no stranger to directing, having directed 10 episodes of Netflix’s “House of Cards,” but this was different.
“I mean, you couldn’t have a more distant comparison between what it was like shooting ‘House of Cards’ to shooting and directing ‘Land,’ ” says Wright, 54, during a video chat from her home in California.
For “House of Cards,” “we were on a stage outside of Baltimore for six years on sets in an airplane hangar,” she adds. “This was a completely different beast because you’re dealing with nature.”
Production started in the city of Calgary, where a ramshackle cabin was assembled “like Lincoln Logs” to specific filming guidelines before the crew moved (along with the structure) up 8,000 feet into the Canadian Rockies, where the unpredictable elements sent random snow dumps and roving bears.
To portray a woman determined to stick it out on her own in the wild — no car, no running water, no electricity — Wright got schooled in shooting game, chopping wood and fishing.
Her biggest challenge? “It was stomaching the skinning of the animal. And I eat meat. But I just — I don’t want to see that.”
Wright’s character is alone onscreen during much of the film as she learns to adapt to bitter winters and dwindling canned goods, though her character slowly accepts the help and friendship of a local mountain man (Demián Bichir).
Bichir, she says, “had a great desire to play this part because he went through a similar situation in his life, the way Edee did, and it was therapy for him. He told me that he needed to do it for that reason.”
Directing herself during the 29-day shoot meant often trusting in her fellow female producers watching each take. “I could be in front of the camera, having done a take laying in the snow and they’re over there in the tent. I’d (go), was that good or bad? They’re like, ‘Bad! Do another take!’ I totally trusted them.”
Wright says the pain Edee is navigating in “Land” felt indicative of what the country was coping with when she read the script three years ago as mass shootings dominated the news.
“And there was so much ugliness going on in the last four years and in our country, just mean-spirited. And I just wanted to make a movie about hope and resilience and the kindness of human beings,” she says.
The pandemic has “been a year and it feels like five,” she acknowledges.
What’s been keeping her sane? It’s not far from the premise of “Land.”
“Being able to get out in nature … just the air, the beach, the trees. It’s very healing,” Wright said.