His Mary and Jesus chain
Australian director Garth Davis talks to James Croot about Sisterly advice, spirituality and our own stunning South Island.
An Israeli nun reminded Australian movie director Garth Davis of the extra responsibility he had in bringing his latest project to life. Meeting her at an archeological site in Nazareth, the Holy Sister wasn’t backward in coming forward with her thoughts on his ambitious plan to make a film about the life of Mary Magdalene.
Previous depictions in the likes of The Last Temptation of Christ and The Passion of the Christ have been somewhat controversial, to say the least, although they were reflective of some churches’ views of her. ‘‘She was taking me down under the church and turned around and gave me a very stern look,’’ the Brisbane-born director says. ‘‘She said, ‘You better not make her a prostitute, I’ll get very upset’. That’s the moment I could tell there was a big voice out there that hadn’t been heard.’’
Admitting that he steered clear of seeking any advice from Temptation‘s Martin Scorsese or Passion‘s Mel Gibson or watching their versions, Davis, whose last effort was the critically acclaimed Lion, says he was drawn to the project by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett’s ‘‘moving’’ screenplay.
‘‘I felt very connected to it. It was the first time I had read anything from this period that had made sense to me. It was such a spiritual story and had such a simplicity to it, which is like embracing unconditional love in our own lives.
He says his challenge was to make Mary Magdalene’s world ‘‘relatable to people who are watching it. Really humanise it and also acknowledge and celebrate that gift we all have. It’s not about the buildings we go into, not about the people we have to look up to. I’m actually saying God is in you and if you have the courage to look inside and listen – you will find it.’’
Key to that relateability was finding the right cast. Davis says his Jesus was an easy choice (‘‘I just kept saying, ‘why hasn’t Joaquin [Phoenix] played him before’), finding an actress with the right qualities for Mary was more demanding.
‘‘For me, Mary was someone who had this otherworldliness within her family structure. You could tell she had this spiritual calling, a spirituality that set her apart from everyone else. To do that in a way that’s believable and kind of intriguing, needed qualities that I thought only a few actresses had.
‘‘But having worked with Rooney [Mara] on Lion, I realised that she’s a very unique actress who has this ability, even in silence, to open up these worlds for the viewer. I felt she had all the qualities to bring a humanity to spirituality.’’
Davis also pays tribute to French actor Tahar Rahim who plays the much-maligned Judas Iscariot. ‘‘Tahar is such a beautiful person, a mercurial actor and so loveable onscreen. I think what he does here is make people reassess their relationship with Judas and maybe see a way to forgive him.
‘‘I think that’s one of the great aspects of this film. Despite the failings of a lot of the characters, they all act from a place of love. And I love that, I trust that. I don’t trust the other versions of this [story], they are too damning, judgmental for me. This treats all the characters with love and humanity.’’
Confessing that he’s always learning something new on every shoot, Davis says the story’s ensemble nature and a shoot that required almost everything to be shot on location, outside, made Mary Magdalene extremely demanding.
‘‘It was hard-wearing on me, the crew and the actors – in many ways. Discovering the language of the film, trying to find the right atmosphere, recreating the temple and making the miracles believable – they were all challenging.’’
He says what helped him immensely was ‘‘the bible’’ that an investigative journalist had put together on what life would have been like back then, a trip to Israel to retrace Mary’s ‘‘steps’’ as best he could, and the support of the movie’s acting coach – Kiwi, Miranda Harcourt.
‘‘She has an amazing ability to help prepare the actors,’’ Davis says of Harcourt, who also helped him prepare his performers for Lion. ‘‘In this case, I brought her on to help the extras be believable and ingrained in their performances, which is something that film-making often ignores.
‘‘There is a traditional system that treats them as sheep and means they aren’t properly directed and engaged and I just felt I didn’t want to do that in this film. The extras are very important and the world I was creating was important, so I wanted Miranda to enrich that world by workshopping them and getting them into that space.
‘‘Also, she’s a great mate. We sometimes have long conversations about the film and throw ideas around. Miranda’s a great intellectual co-pilot in that way and a very special person.’’
Harcourt isn’t the only special Kiwi in Davis’ life, either. Jane Campion helped give the commercial director his big break.
‘‘I had just been with my father for eight months as he was dying of a brain tumour and I felt terrible. I was just in this ‘ground zero’ moment. I hadn’t worked for that long it was just really kind of sad.
‘‘Then I got this phone call from Jane Campion, out of the blue – we had never met before – saying how much she loved my work and, ‘would I be interested in doing a TV series’. I read it and I loved it, I just really related to it. We spoke about the project as a family and decided it could be great, plus we’d get to move to New Zealand, which we love.
‘‘We went a little earlier, got the kids into local schools and rented this fantastic house. I must say it was an incredible experience.’’
That ‘‘project’’ was a certain little critically-acclaimed TV series called Top of the Lake and Davis says he and his family loved their Central Otago surroundings, although one aspect didn’t exactly go to plan.
‘‘My wife was pregnant with our third child and I thought it was going to be sweet because Queenstown Hospital was right there. I figured that when she went into labour I’d only need the day off, but then we realised Queenstown doesn’t have any emergency maternity services.
‘‘That put a spanner in the works. My little boy, River, was born in Dunedin Hospital and it was a bit of an effort for me to get there.’’
Still, he can laugh about it now. Admitting he has a deep affection for New Zealand, Davis says he his looking forward to visiting again over the next few days to promote Mary Magdalene.
‘‘I’ve got the time to enjoy the process of releasing this movie, so I’m going to enjoy being able to talk to actors, the public and guilds there. I wouldn’t mind though having any extra day to drive around the North Island though. It’s an area I haven’t explored yet.’’
Proud of the finished film, despite a somewhat mixed reception from global movie critics, Davis says he believes Mary Magdalene is a ‘‘very immersive experience’’ and ‘‘one of the very first accurate portraits of life in the first century – and I think that’s exciting’’.
‘‘Plus, we are bringing Mary Magdalene’s story to an audience – something that has taken thousands of years. I think that’s just unbelievable and very telling of what we’ve been and where we are.’’
After advanced screenings in select cinemas this weekend, (M) opens nationwide on
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Magdalene March 22.
Mary