The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
THE BOOK ON COLIN TREVORROW
Director talks getting ‘Jurassic World,’ the daunting task of helming the ninth episode of ‘Star Wars’ and the twists and turns of his new film, ‘The Book of Henry’
If you don’t know the name Colin Trevorrow, you should. ¶ He’s the Hollywood director who followed-up his well-received 2012 indie film “Safety Not Guaranteed” with a little movie in the summer of 2015 called “Jurassic World.” ¶ In truth, of course, that return to a universe where genetically re-created dinosaurs wreak havoc on an amusement park and terrify its guests was a juggernaut, raking in $500 million across the world its first weekend for Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and the other companies behind it and remaining one of the top box-office hits of all time. ¶ “The studios did quite well on that film,” Trevorrow says with a laugh.
Trevorrow, 40, seemed like an incredible choice for that movie, but he had done writing work for Amblin — the company behind 1980s hits including “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial” and “Goonies” that was founded by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, now the head of Disney-owned “Star Wars” company Lucasfilm — and grew up on those movies.
“For whatever reason, they trust me,” he says.
Speaking of Lucasfilm and trust, one could argue the lead here has been sufficiently buried. Trevorrow — a co-writer and producer on next year’s “Jurassic World 2” — has been tapped to direct and co-write the untitled ninth episode of the “Star Wars” saga, due in 2019 and expected to be the close of what will be a trilogy of films that started with 2015’s “The Force Awakens.” (The eighth episode, “The Last Jedi,” written and helmed by “Looper” director Rian Johnson, will arrive in December.)
Trevorrow recently was in Cleveland to do press and preside over the first public screening of his new movie, “The Book of Henry,” in theaters June 16. Written by novelist Gregg Hurwitz (“Orphan X”) and starring Naomi Watts (“21 Grams,” “The Impossible”) and young actors Jaeden Lieberher (“St. Vincent”) and Jacob Tremblay (“Room”), it is an unusual family drama with a few twists and turns. Lieberher portrays the titular Henry, a genius who handles the financial matters for his mother (Watts) and who becomes concerned with what may be going on in the house next to theirs.
“I really think it’s something that can connect with people all across the country, and I think it has a set of values we all share,” says Trevorrow, noting Cleveland was one of a handful of cities he chose to visit to promote the movie. “It’s surprising and suspenseful and very, very emotional, and I hope people will give it a chance.”
More from a conversation with Trevorrow, including what he felt he could say about the highly secretive “Star Wars” movie:
Q What was the appeal of “The Book of Henry”? Did you just need something smaller in between directing films in two of the biggest franchises the world’s ever seen?
A It wasn’t about me quite so much. I really felt that this story would connect with people. I feel like we live in a time when there are terrors and horrors all around us, and we all have a lot of anger about it and a sense of vengeance that I think creeps in. I think being able to contextualize that in a story about the way we used to see the world as kids, the blackand-white nature of good and evil, felt like a story for right now, and I wanted to make it right now.
I also had planned to do this movie as my follow-up to “Safety Not Guaranteed.” This was going to be my second movie. You know, when “Jurassic” came along, I had no choice but to take that opportunity.
But I really did feel like I had a responsibility to make the movie that I should have made in between “Safety” and “Jurassic.” I feel like filmmakers should take steps forward, so I just went back and made it retroactively. I kind of directed “Jurassic World” like I was 40, and now I directed this when I’m 40 like I was 37.
Q What about this script by novelist Gregg Hurwitz that appealed to you?
A I love what it does with its storytelling. I love that it changes its perspective and its main character in the middle of the movie. I love that you think you’re watching one thing, and you realize you’re watching another. There are things it did that I’ve never seen before — I’ve never seen this story before. And as someone who’s seen as many movies as I have — and as I know you have — the appeal of that, to be able to do something new… . Because those are the movies that I think we all love the most — when we see something that startles us and is something that is unexpected. This, I felt, could potentially do that.
Q This to me feels neither like “Safety Not Guaranteed” nor “Jurassic World.” Why did you think it fit with your sensibilities as a director?
A
I don’t know if I have them — I feel like I’m a servant to the story. And each of them are very different stories. The only thing that I’d say they have in common is that they aren’t one thing. They’re not one genre. They tend to mix different elements together in a way that I find really compelling. I hope that they’re each unrecognizable from one another.
The directors I love the most, even if there’s some kind of visual link, you just know you’re going to get something different every time. I hope somebody sees a movie I made and goes, “No way — Colin directed that? I had no idea.”
Q
With this movie, you’re not working with computerized dinosaurs or lightsaber duels or anything like that, but there are a lot of moving pieces to this story. I know there’s a lot there in the script, but talk about your job as a director, putting this movie together and giving weight to all the different plot threads. It seems like it would have been challenging.
A
Extremely challenging and definitely the hardest movie that I’ve done, no question. And I worked very closely with (Hurwitz) to balance the tone and structure the film in a way that I thought would keep people with us as we went down some really unexpected paths.
The process of keeping the tone balanced extended from the screenwriting process through the production process, obviously into editing and even after we’d screened it. I sat with audiences and really tried to feel the room move as they experienced the movie — and I made changes as a result, just to make sure we were keeping as many people with us as possible.
Q
The trailer hides a key plot point in the movie that is about 45 minutes in, which is kind of a rare beast. Was there push and pull with the studio, Focus Features, about hiding that? It seems so many trailers give things away in the interest of getting you in the theater.
A
It was something I’d been experimenting with “Jurassic” also. (It helped) having an experience with what (the marketing department) needs, building movies that are kind of spoiler-proof in that they can show everything they need to show to sell the movie but they’re not going to show the most important thing that’s really going to surprise people.
I knew the studio would need — because I respect what they do. It’s really hard, especially with this movie. This is a really hard movie to market.
Q
You’ve got to sell the movie.
A
You’ve got to sell the movie, and this was an uphill climb. I knew that they could sell the fact that it’s a warm family drama, and I knew they could sell the arguably sexiest aspect of it, which is that it’s a suspense thriller. You can sell a suspense thriller. People know that.
I think that not selling the fact there is a fundamental shift in the middle of the movie that recontextualizes everything in the second half — I’m excited about that experiment with an audience, to have people go in and think they know this movie, then realize they don’t. I think people are going to respond well because people are so rarely surprised anymore in films.
You can see it. When you watch the trailer again, you can see it.
Q
Talk to me about your principal actors, the two young boys and Naomi Watts and what each of them brought to “The Book of Henry.”
A
Jaeden Lieberher was the first actor that I chose. I knew that we couldn’t make a movie without a great Henry, and you could see how that character played by a different actor could be, arguably, obnoxious and too precocious. You know, genius kid is a hard thing to play, and I thought Jaeden zeroed in on the emotional intelligence of the character, and he played it in a way that nobody expected, and I think it’s absolutely brilliant what he does.
And you know, Jacob is reliably adorable and awesome and great.
Naomi Watts did something in this movie that I thought was so brave in that she kind of threw vanity away and allowed herself to get pretty wrecked in this movie. She goes into a really dark place ... . It was such a bold performance on her part to allow herself to go where she does and take the audience where she does and know that in the end it’s her story. We even say it in the movie — “It’s not my story, it’s yours.” To exist in a movie that doesn’t feel like hers for the first half and trusting that the audience is going to recognize that it was hers all along, it’s some black-diamond skiing, that kind of acting.
Q
I know you’re still in the middle of promoting this movie, I know there’s still Episode Eight — “The Last Jedi” — to come out. But I know you’ve got to be thinking about Episode Nine. That seems like a daunting task. What is your mindset now, even though you’re not fully into it yet?
A
I’m pretty into it. I took a little break to come out here and sell this film.
We’re all going to see Rian’s film this year, and it’s his year and it’s his moment, so there’s not much for me to say about it other than the group that I’m surrounded by that’s working on this .... and everybody who’s thinking about this cares so much about what we’re going. We’re so invested in telling a story that is going to be deeply, richly satisfying for people who have loved this for 40 years.
A great deal of love and care is being put into this right now.
Q
In the recent Vanity Fair “Star Wars” cover story, Kathleen Kennedy allowed that Carrie Fisher’s unfortunate death did change what you guys were going to do storywise, and I wondered if you could talk about the work that has gone into trying to adapt what you had planned.
A
Not in too many specifics, but (Fisher) was a big part of the film. And I like that Kathy was comfortable with us saying that because I think it is important, first of all, for the fans to trust us and for them to know that was our intention. And when I came in on this movie, that was the character I wanted to focus on. So it was deeply sad for all of us — it was especially sad for me, because finally General Leia was going to have her movie. And yet I can assure you that not only will it be handled with great respect, but the movie will have her soul.
Q
I know you can’t give away any secrets, but can you characterize the amount of secret information that is in your head right now, “Star Wars”wise, as far as “The Last Jedi,” your movie and even what LucasFilm has in store beyond that?
A
I’m not as dialed into what’s in store beyond. But, yes, everything that happens in both of (the coming movies).
I’ve become an excellent question dodger.
“When I came in on this movie, that was the character I wanted to focus on. So it was deeply sad for all of us — it was especially sad for me, because finally General Leia was going to have her movie. And yet I can assure you that not only will it be handled with great respect, but the movie will have her soul.” — Colin Trevorrow, director the due-in-2019 ninth episode of “Star Wars,” on the death of series star Carrie Fisher