We were on the scene for the Closing Night Gala Presentation and World Premiere of “The Lost City of Z” at the New York Film Festival.
Director/Writer James Gray and cast Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Angus Macfadyen and Edward Ashley were all in attendance. James Gray’s emotionally and visually resplendent epic tells the story of Lieutenant Colonel Percy Fawcett (a remarkable Charlie Hunnam), the British military-man-turned-explorer whose search for a lost city deep in the Amazon grows into an increasingly feverish, decades-long magnificent obsession that takes a toll on his reputation, his home life with his wife (Sienna Miller) and children, and his very existence.
Angus Macfadyen
Tell me a little bit about the role you play in the film.
I play this guy who, he seems to be quite heroic. He’s the guy who pays for the journey into the jungle for the lead character. He decides to go along with it, and once he’s there he becomes a bit of a burden on the whole thing because he likes to eat and he starts to eat everybody else’s food as well as his own, and he complains all the time. He’s kind of a comic character.
Was it fun to play up that comedy?
Yeah. It was. It was also fun to actually… I was watching all the other actors and they were eating an apple a day, and starving themselves. I got to actually go home and eat like two bowls of pasta every night, so that was fun as well.
How was it to immerse yourself in the jungle, in the nature?
I live in Panama so I’m kind of used to it. I was a 45 minute flight from Columbia so I’m used to that anyway, the heat and everything.
It was just a simple transition?
It was pretty simple.
How was collaborating with James?
He’s a great director, and he’s really fantastic with actors. He pushes people to another level which is always very exciting for an actor because you got your tricks, and suddenly he goes, “Well I want to try something else.”, and suddenly you discover something about yourself that you never knew.
Edward Ashley
Tell me a little bit about the role you play in the film.
I play Lance Corporal Arthur Manley, one of Col. Percival Fawcett closest friends, from going to the jungle. We keep going back for some bizarre reason, and putting ourselves through hell to find this weird thing that he thinks he knows is there. I was going to spoil it what Manley’s fate is, but I’ll let you watch the film. But yeah, he’s a cool guy, I suppose.
Since this is based on a true story, how did you prepare?
Well, I read the book, and then I read the journal of his. There was very little, but then I thought, there’s a big part in World War I that I’m in, and I wanted to get that, and the political landscape at that point. It was mainly just understanding why this man would be sent on this death sentence to Bolivia, like myself. It was like, why is he doing this?
I was kind of trying to figure out the political landscapes. But there wasn’t anything on Manley, because records are records. I should have gone to the RGS, the Royal Geographic Society, but I didn’t. Harry Melling, who’s in the movie, he went and I was really jealous. Because I thought it had gone, but it’s actually in London. I was really near that one day before we started and I damn the fact that I didn’t go. I really should have gone.
What was your favorite part about being in the forests?
Just, every morning, getting in a boat and you’d see the Sierra Nevada, this amazing mountain in the snow, and it was like, “Am I at work, or what am I doing?” You’re never going to go to the jungle unless you’re going to go make a movie in the jungle. I’d never go to the jungle otherwise. Let’s go. I’ll follow these guys. That was that.
James Gray
I know this is film is many years in the making. What was the most challenging part for you?
The most challenging part in a physical level was the shoot, but in a way, that’s mechanics. What was really brutal for me was the construction of the script to a place where I felt comfortable. Because if you’re going to go and send everyone to the jungle, and there’s going to be a war in the movie, you know war scene, you got to feel secure about the script. In a weird way, that was harder than any physical brutality.
Can you speak a little bit about the casting.
Oh yeah. They came to me. It was people who had read the script that were interested in working with me, which I think is the best way to work. They’re the people who will be passionate. They’re the people who will bring something to it you never expected. I don’t write the script anymore. I used to when I first started out writing with a particular actor in mind. But that’s a bad recipe because it’s always going to be something disappoint you. Either the actor does it, and doesn’t really surprise you, or the actor says no, and then you say, “Oh God”. I wrote it with the real people in mind. Then these people brought beautiful new textures to the film.
This is based on a true story. What most resonated with you about this story, or what surprised you about it?
A man with such incredible drive and passion for something, and obsession. And a woman who was willing to accept all of this, despite her own beliefs in her own equality. The struggle, that struggle was very real to me, and very moving. That was the core of it for me.
Tom Holland
How was collaborating with James?
It was an absolute joy. You know James is a very wonderful director to work for. He’s very open and very giving. He’s a director where if you say, “Hey, I’ve got an idea.” He’ll say, “Don’t tell me, just do it. If I don’t like it I’ll tell you, if not it’s great.” As an actor that freedom is such a privilege and you don’t find that very often, so I really really enjoyed working with James.
Did you learn anything about yourself from being immersed in the jungle?
You know, I actually found myself to be a little stronger than I thought I was. I thought I was going to find it really really tough. Being in the jungle and working as hard as I could every day made me like a more of a man, and I loved it.
What did you connect with most about your character?
That’s interesting. I’ve been very lucky in my life that my dad has been around the whole time. It was very interesting for me to play a character that’s the complete opposite. For me that was an interesting dynamic that I never experienced before, and it was something I was interested to explore.
Sienna Miller
Nina Fawcett was a feminist.
Yes. This woman was incredible. She was a suffragette, she was Buddhist. They both were. She was raising children on her own while her husband was away for years at a time. She supported him and understood him. She was incredibly brave and stoic and forthcoming. I have huge respect for her. It was a real pleasure to play somebody who had that much substance.
Is that what drew you to the role?
Yes, for sure. Also, I wanted to work with James. An amazing talent and has a real sensitivity and understanding of women. He worked tirelessly to make her more than just the wife at home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9GoM3xAu9k
