Famed horror writer Shirley Jackson was the original self-isolator, a reclusive and brilliant and tortured soul who penned some of the country’s most-loved novels in the genre.
Elisabeth Moss, who is on an absolute tear, renders the author’s life so brilliantly it sometimes feels like you’re watching footage from Jackson’s day-to-day. Adventurous and meticulous director Josephine Becker brings a cryptic and whimsical visual language to a terse, taut screenplay, and co-star Michael Stuhlbarg is at-once menacing, despicable and impossibly charming.
Poster for “Shirley”
Moss and Stuhlbarg talked about their brilliant co-stars, Decker’s unique vision and Satyrs.
The Knockturnal: So, what were your first impressions of your characters? Like when you first heard about Shirley?
Micheal Stuhlbarg: Satyr! Mine was a Satyr. Mine was like a goat man … I saw pictures of him and I thought, who is this guy? What is he doing here? Why is he behaving the way he’s behaving? I don’t know. I thought there’s something underneath this, I’m going to take that and tuck it away somewhere and apply it where it comes in handy. But that was a first impression I had. Elisabeth?
Elisabeth Moss: Yeah that’s a good one. He’s such a fantastic looking person. He’s got so much sort of mischief in his eyes, you know? Very interesting. I think I was very moved by ‘The Lottery,’ which was the first story that I read, and I was just so impressed by it. That is the impression that I remember. I mean I remember feeling like, ‘oh god this woman is brilliant, she’s absolutely far and above one of the most brilliant writers we’ve ever seen,’ and I think that was my sort of first impression of her.
The Knockturnal: Yeah, is that what sort of made you want to tell this story? I know you’re a producer on this.
Elisabeth Moss: It was Sarah’s script, it was Sarah Gubbins’ script, which was an adaptation of the novel and I read the script. It wasn’t my idea to make the movie, I became the producer when I signed on, and I just was blown away by this script. I felt like it was wonderful that it was Shirley Jackson and at the same time, I felt like it was universal – the character, this couple and the ideas behind it. So, it was Gubbins’ script.
The Knockturnal: Nice. And what a script it is. And then, how would you all sort of describe Josephine Decker’s directorial style? What was it like working with her?
Micheal Stuhlbarg: I didn’t know much about her going into it but the little bit that I got to know about her before we started was that her visual style seemed to be quite poetic and dreamlike and that was really evocative and I think Sarah Gubbins, who wrote our screenplay … one of the things she was excited about was trying to marry that visual sensibility with a very, highly verbal, text-heavy script because I think Josephine usually creates and writes things for herself. So, it was a real experiment in some ways.
The Knockturnal: Both of your characters serve as mentors to younger students. Was there any sort of mentoring going on in real life with these actors?
Elisabeth Moss: No, they’re brilliant. No, they’re great at teaching us. I mean they’re just incredibly professional and kind and game and adventurous and came with ideas and thoughts and challenges and they were not afraid of us. They weren’t afraid of Joe. You know, they just were ready to challenge all of us. I mean we got so lucky with them. So no, if anything, we were all learning from each other.
The Knockturnal: As I was watching this, I was thinking about obviously the current situation we are in—the fact that we are not supposed to leave our homes. This film will be particularly impactful because of Shirley’s hermit state. Do you that will sort of impact the way people receive the movie?
Micheal Stuhlbarg: It may. In some ways, it’s interesting because of the evolution of where she starts and where she goes, and the time it takes her to get where she’s going. It is a journey that you go on. There are some comparisons with our story to “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” because of a similar kind of set up that the film has. In that, they have one night together. In this, it’s a whole year in their lives together. So, in some ways, you kind of go along that journey with them. And she’s afraid to get out of the house or to go outside. In this case, we are kind of confined here to be as safe as possible. There’s a parallel going on, maybe it will be comforting to some people. I hope so. Or at least entertaining.
Elisabeth Moss: I think people view when she’s lying in bed and can’t get out of bed and has the glass of scotch on the nightstand, I feel like that perhaps people will see themselves in that moment. [laughter]
Check out “Shirley” on on Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube, and Google Play!