Tilda Swinton We Need To Talk About Kevin

We Need To Talk About Kevin

Cast: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 112 minutes

Synopsis: An exquisitely realised adaptation of Lionel Shriver's bestselling novel, We Need To Talk About Kevin, the film was an audience and critics' favourite following its competition screenings at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Tilda Swinton turns in a stunning and breathtakingly fragile performance as Eva, a concerned mother with a troubled, angry son - Kevin. Eva is a haunted middle-aged woman trying to grapple with her own feelings towards her son as he grows up to be a brooding teenager. His unimaginable actions will shatter her life. What was her role in it? Did she resent her son since birth? And how much of what Kevin did was her fault? What could she have done to help him?

This is a fearless film that will provoke and enthral audiences in equal measure, raising questions of guilt, regret and loss. At the heart of the story is an eerie portrait of the idea of nature vs nurture, and a bold look at the alienation of parenthood. Chilling but absolutely captivating, We Need To Talk Kevin is directed by visionary filmmaker Lynne Ramsay (Morvern Callar, Ratcatcher), who constructs a mesmerizing, intimate piece of cinema.

Release Date: 10 November, 2011


From Book to Screen
Lynne Ramsay (Director / Screenwriter / Executive Producer): "It's always a struggle to make something with an individual voice. You need to be resilient and realistic."

Tilda Swinton (Eva / Executive Producer): "This project came to me in the hands of my friend Lynne Ramsay. Lynne Ramsay and I have been talking about the project for the last four years, at least."

Luc Roeg (Producer): "What attracted me to the project was I was a fan of the book, Lynne Ramsay and Tilda Swinton."

Jennifer Fox (Producer): "I have been a fan of Lynne Ramsay's work since Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar and had always wanted to work with her. I finally had an opportunity to meet Lynne Ramsay when I was shooting Michael Clayton in 2006. Tilda Swinton had dinner with her and invited me to join. Lynne Ramsay had already acquired the book and set it up at BBC Films. She asked me to read it and I instantly knew the combination of gritty authenticity, character propelled narrative, and poetry that permeates her films would be a great match for Lionel Shriver's psychologically rich book."

Lynne Ramsay (Director): "This is a wonderful project for me, and completely different from my other work."

On Director Lynne Ramsay
Tilda Swinton (Eva / Executive Producer): "Lynne Ramsay's brilliant eye is beyond dispute: she is -- also -- one of the warmest, most focused, respectful, resourceful and delightful of directors alive."

Luc Roeg (Producer): "Lynne Ramsay brings many things to the project including her understanding and fantastic eye for the camera."

Seamus McGarvey (Director of Photography): "I've been a huge fan of Lynne Ramsay's work since her short films, and we're been friends for a long time. Lynne Ramsay comes from a very visually perspective. It's a great pleasure to collaborate with someone like that. Her language is from a cinematic perspective and photographic. She uses the camera very elegantly."

John C. Reilly (Franklin): "Lynne Ramsay was really someone that I wanted to work with. She has an artist eye and ability to find the truth in the acting. I think her films have a lot of integrity and are artfully done. She gives the floor to the actors and tells you what she's looking for. She gives you the responsibility to get it down."

On Tilda Swinton as Eva
Jennifer Fox (Producer): "The role of Eva requires an incredibly complex mix of intelligence and empathy. Tilda Swinton is so strong at conveying a character's impulses, and often unconscious desires. She is absolutely riveting."

Luc Roeg (Producer): "It's great to watch the subtleties of the performances, and you can't mention the film without mentioning Tilda Swinton - she's such a force."

Ezra Miller (Kevin): "Working with everyone on the this has been such an incredible blessing. I feel so privileged. Tilda Swinton is it. She is fearless reality personified. Tilda Swinton is bringing this heartfelt struggle of this woman trying to figure out what she did wrong and brings an incredible warmth to Eva. She is so unspeakably brilliant. I totally lost my self in every scene with her, she's so real and present."

Judy Becker (Production Designer): "I worked with Tilda Swinton on Thumbsucker, which she starred in and she's in almost every scene of this movie. She's so daring and so willing to go to any lengths for her character. It's been great to work with her in two very different roles."

On John C. Reilly as Franklin
Tilda Swinton (Eva / Executive Producer): "From very early on, John was the dream Franklin for both Lynne Ramsay and I. He came to it with such an eagerness, energy and courage in examining this material and playing this particular father."

Luc Roeg (Producer): "For Franklin, there was one choice and John was it."

Jennifer Fox (Producer): "John C. Reilly's diverse body of work speaks for itself. He's one of the most interesting American actors working today. We heard he was a fan of Lynne Ramsay's and took advantage of the great opportunity to work with him."

On Ezra Miller as Kevin
Luc Roeg (Producer): "The process and finding Ezra Miller was more involved. It's a young man, but a wise head. We worked with casting director Billy Hopkins who did a wonderful job of bringing us a range of Kevins but once Ezra Miller auditioned, we knew he was the one."

Tilda Swinton (Eva / Executive Producer): "Ezra Miller was a gift to us. He's brought so much that one might not be able to expect from someone of his age. Nothing needed to be explained to him, he understands this story innately. He's extremely bright and super easy. We had a ball playing with him."

Ezra Miller (Kevin): "Lynne Ramsay is one of the greatest filmmakers, this is a dream fully realised for me. She has a brilliant perspective of how the world really is. "

The Story of We Need To Talk About Kevin
Tilda Swinton (Eva / Executive Producer): "This is a story in which a high school massacre occurs, without it being the main event. In her novel -- the inspiration for our film -- Lionel Shriver directs our attention, rather, to the volcanic possibilities of disconnected parenting. This was the lead we followed, in the development of the script and in placing the atmosphere of the film."

John C. Reilly (Franklin): "The story looks at this idea about families that everyone gets along. That you're going to be peas in a pod automatically with your children. People will see a lot of themselves in it. It's not that they are misguided people, they are trying their best. It's very complicated raising kids, and despite your best intentions terrible things can happen."

Ezra Miller (Kevin): "Kevin is born to a mother who is ambivalent about his existence if not degraded by having a kid. She's not cruel or it's a case of bad parenting, but he is very smart and sees through her façade and begins to resent her and creates facades of his own to get break down her farce."

John C. Reilly (Franklin): "The movie starts in the present day and Eva is looking back at the history of the family and what happened. It's the way she remembers and not necessarily how it happened, so there is a heightened reality when she looks back."

Judy Becker (Production Designer): "At first glance it's seems about a screwed up kid, but it's looking at if a mother's ambivalence about her child had a negative effect on him and how it effected who he became."

Ezra Miller (Kevin): "Kevin is not evil nor is he a sociopath - he is a real teenage who has a dangerous understanding of the make up of his family. Not only is this a plausible situation but these actual relationships exist. In a beautiful and artistic way, we spark the conversation of why these things happen."

John C. Reilly (Franklin): "There's not a villain, it's when these people come together that this tragedy happens. It's that they aren't able to sync up that this happens."

Ezra Miller (Kevin): "Franklin represents the attitude of, 'Let's all be really happy even at the cost of burying some of the dark stuff.' The lack of willingness to acknowledge darkness really becomes the problem. As this loathing blossoms between the mother and the son, they aren't allowed to combat in the way they really need to, so anger and tensions build. Often in a relationship between a mother and a son they can clash, collide, yell, scream and cry -- that cathartic experience where they can come to some mutual understanding. Kevin and Eva never get to do that because every time it's about to happen Franklin comes to put a happy ideology that he forces down the whole family's throat."

John C. Reilly (Franklin): "Eva is this worldly, very educated, well traveled bohemian. Franklin is more down to earth and enjoys the simple pleasures. You can see why she was attracted to him and why he was attracted to her. Both are in denial of what the reality is in their every day life."

Ezra Miller (Kevin): "This is a tough story, but it's being told through such a perspective of beauty and warmth -- that comes from the approach that there is an innate goodness in everything as we're exploring the dark evil within everything."

On the Production
Lynne Ramsay (Director): "We had a 30-day shoot and an 86-page script. We had to be really focused. It was about knowing what you want."

Seamus McGarvey (Director of Photography): "It's was a challenge shooting very quickly as we only had 30 days to shot many scenes. We shot listed the whole film so it was very helpful in that everyone knew what we were trying to achieve every day. We have an extraordinary crew, and it's wonderful to work with such a decisive director as Lynne. She knows the power of the edit and the camera, and she looks at every take and knows when we got it."

Tilda Swinton (Eva / Executive Producer): "Seamus McGarvey is someone I've known for over twenty years. We first worked together with Derek Jarman, years ago, in England. For us to work altogether is grace -- not only are he, Lynne Ramsay and I are all Scottish based filmmakers -- we're all good friends. Working doesn't get much better than that."

Lynne Ramsay (Director): "It's a whole different world for me. You're essentially moving through an alien landscape. But the crew was so organised; it was the best I've ever worked with. We did three takes max, twenty-five setups a day. They were really behind the project, and we had absolutely top-notch people working on it for very little money." On shooting in the U.S. (in Stamford, Connecticut) for the first time.

Bob Salerno (Producer); "We have an amazing crew, there is admiration and collaboration between everyone to help get Lynne Ramsay's vision on to the screen. From the costumes to the production design, everyone is working to bring the script to life."

Judy Becker (Production Designer): "The entire film was shoot on location, so we did a lot of work to find locations that could be transformed. One example is an abandon vocation school we found that has become a hospital, a pediatrician's office, a juvenile detention center, a school and a run down tropical hotel in Ecuador. We're fortunate because we wanted to use it as a mini studio, and fortunately there was enough room here to do it."

Judy Becker (Production Designer): "For the design, it was to distinguish the three main time periods: The early days when she has a baby with happy memories; the suburbs where things become more austere -- where Eva and Kevin's relationship starts to go down hill; and the present day which is the aftermath of what happens when Eva has lost everything."

Seamus McGarvey (Director of Photography): "We went for a very lucid and clear point of view versus how memories are normally shot, like a waking dream. The present day is more psychological and internal and getting under the skin and into the head of Eva's character."