Monday, April 19, 2010
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Monday, April 19, 2010
INTERVIEW
Joel Edgerton, Actor, writer, star of "The Square"
On "The Square" Root Of
Agony And Chaos 
Joel Edgerton, writer and star of the Australian drama "The Square", which
expanded its
release last Friday in select U.S. cities.
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Monday, April 19, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO
For Joel Edgerton, writing the script for "The Square" was an eight-year labor.
"I didn't know what I was doing. It took two years for me to write the
first draft," confessed the Australian actor/writer, who has a plum role as
Billy, a guy up to no good in "The Square", which was directed by stuntman actor
Nash Edgerton, Joel's brother.
The noir drama, released in Australia in the summer of 2008, finally arrived
in the U.S. this month. "The Square" expanded its U.S. release to San
Francisco last Friday and has been playing in New York and Los Angeles for just
over a week to very strong critical acclaim, including from
The Popcorn Reel.
Before heading to France to film a prequel edition of "The Thing" with Mary
Elizabeth Winstead, Mr. Edgerton was in San Francisco in February to talk about
the roots of "The Square", a riveting thriller starring David Roberts as Ray, a
married man diverted by a tantalizing but risky proposition courtesy of his
mistress-girlfriend Carla (Clare Van Der Boom). Layers of suspense and
tightly-coiled drama escalate for the pair, with the grimy, tense atmosphere
becoming increasingly suffocating.
"The difficult thing was trying to find a freshness in them," Mr. Edgerton said,
recalling his eight-year rehearsal of lines for Billy. "I mean, I'm happy
with the result but it was just a really weird feeling on set to go, 'shit, this
is like, almost too familiar to me.'"
For Mr. Edgerton being on the set of "The Square" was an education. He
also was an executive producer, as was Nash, who also edited the film with Luke
Doolan, who also has a small role in the film. Joel Edgerton had about two
weeks of shooting days on "The Square". The rest of the time he learned
the tricks of the trade.
"I learned heaps about how film is developed -- I learned the whole thing.
That as an actor you arrive day one of the shoot, and you're like, 'where's my
trailer, you know, why isn't it big enough? Where's my coffee?' And
you think that the world revolves around you because people make you believe
that." Mr. Edgerton says this with a half-smile on his face, but you can
tell he's serious.
"You don't think how someone lost nights and weeks of sleep trying to finance a
movie, that someone poured months and months into writing it. All those
other things are kind of lost to you."
Joel Edgerton (left), writer and star of the Australian drama "The Square", which
is directed
by his older brother Nash Edgerton.
Matthew Nettheim
Shot over seven weeks, "The Square" had a $4 million budget.
"At the core of ["The Square"] you've got an adulterous affair and a guy who's
the title character -- the square -- the law abiding kind of straighty-one-eighty
guy . . . who makes some bad decisions that just lead him further and further
into a deeper hole. The film to me is inspired by a lot of kind of noir
films that I grew up watching and particularly . . . Hitchcock mysteries."
Mr. Edgerton has a resume that includes roles in "Star Wars" Episodes II and
III.
He switches back and forth from blockbuster fare to smaller independent work in
Australia, but "The Thing", in which he will be the male lead, will likely
catapult him to familiarity status with American audiences. He is working
on several things but will spend the bulk of his time in France and Toronto to
shoot "The Thing", which is expected to be released in the U.S. around Memorial
Day weekend 2011.
But the thing on Mr. Edgerton's mind on an exceptionally warm February morning
was the undercurrent that crackles in "The Square", the dimensions of which
fascinated him.
"I like stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And I
like them even more when those extraordinary things they're doing are
extraordinarily kind of amoral. You know? So -- 'cause I think
we all have those urges in us. We all have those desires. And this
film really kind of gives you a window into what bad things could happen if I
acted on my urges, you know, rather than just kept them in my pants. You
know, Ray is that guy."
"The Square" is now playing in select U.S. cities and will continue its
expansion throughout the U.S. over the coming weeks.
COPYRIGHT 2010. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar
here.
Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film
Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times -
here
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