I wanted to put them at ease, she says.
And thats what I wanted.
I didnt want someone to feel safe.
Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen in ‘The Assessment’.TIFF
I wanted her to go into a danger zone, she tells us.
Heres the rub: Its impossible to reveal too much about this movie.
Theres a dynamic moment at the films core that will shake you because it cant be unseen or unimagined.
Fleur Fortuné, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel of TheAssessmentat the Deadline Studio held at the Bisha Hotel during theTorontoInternational Film Festival 2024 on Sept. 8, 2024 in Toronto, Canada.
Heres what I can say about the movie thats having its world premiere atTIFFtoday.
Yes, but at the same time theres a kind of Japanese cut to the look.
Mia shares the home with Aaryan (played byHimesh Patel).
The means test is cruel in the extreme.
Virginia throws all manner of obstacles for them to solve, physically, practically and morally.
And she has shot music videos with Drake and Travis Scott.
Her visual imagination is stunning.
A friend of Fortunes heard about Woolleys inquiries and suggested her.
Ive done IVF for many years, many years.
I was trying to have a kid and in fact I was writing my own feature about this.
So I was totally on top of the topic of the film.
And I was already, in my videos, doing some kind of sci-fi.
I was totally in this universe, she says.
She met with Woolley and they spoke for hours about family and about children.
Are you a suitable person?
We are already having those conversations now, she explains.
Its about the story, and the character and the visual stuff.
She says that she asked her designers and writers to get rid of all the kind ofMinority Reportelements.
I was like, no, no no!
Whereas Mias character is the opposite.
Shes so natural and grounded that she lives outside with the world.
She swims, she likes old technology and she likes to repair her own stuff, Fortune says.
What goes on in their spaces and in their home is mind-boggling and mind-tingling.
Id add, like a child.
The Assessmentarrives at a time when reproduction rights is a hot button issue.
Minnie Driver finds herself as a guest at Mia and Aaryans home.
Fortune says that the Evie monologue was a tricky scene to get right.
She was brilliant to deliver that, Fortune says with a smile.
Early on in the movie, Vikanders Virginia upends the household.
Both Fortune and Woolley have implored me not to disclose Virginias actions.
Thats tricky for a journalist.
At the same time, its a fair request.
I went in fresh, as it were, with not one iota of what the film was about.
Fortune says that she spent time, individually, with each of the three leads to hold their hands.
They put so much into preparation, she says.
And I told Elizabeth that she needed to be so free to do this.
I remember she was saying one time, Im walking around naked in my house.
She was preparing so much to be free, Fortune says gleefully.
There was a great creative energy between Vikander, Olsen and Patel, says Fortune.
They loved to work together because theyre so different.
They sparked ideas off of each other.
Fortune did some tests with a doctor, which she describes as being right out ofSound of Metal.
She says she was told by the physician that she has a medium hearing problem.
And my parents never tested me maybe because Im the last child they had.
I spent many years trying to have a kid through IVF.
I even tried adoption, and in the end, I got pregnant during the prep for this film.
Thats whyThe Assessmentis dedicated to Fortunes daughter May.
