Shed met Number 9 Films Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley and decided to ring Karlsen up.
I said, What about making this book into a film?
The Levins were willing to share the rights only if Elliott directed it.
Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs as Raynor and Moth Winn in ‘The Salt Path’Number 9 Films/Shadowplay Features
She was in her 50s, and she lost everything, including her looks.
The love of her life was going to die, she explains.
Everything that she knew of herself as a woman had gone, but she does something really amazing.
(L-R) Gillian Anderson and Marianne Elliott on ‘The Salt Path’ setNumber 9 Films/Shadowplay Features
So I think it was that.
And the audience go, Oh, were in the Forest of Arden.
And, OK, its all about the word.
And I thought, I want to do something thats really visual with not many words, she says.
Elliott met with Anderson because she knew of her interest in the book.
Those are the things that weve seen her play.
So Ive never seen her play this sort of part before.
And so I asked her to do it, and she said yes quite early.
And then Jason was casting directors idea, Elliott adds.
I met him, and he seemed to have all the qualities that Moth has.
Moth is somebody that you just fall in love with when you meet him.
Hes got the brightest blue eyes.
Hes so charming, and hes always got a joke.
Even though hes got this terminal illness, he always sees the funny side of things.
And so I thought, OK, they might be a good match to play the couple.
Rocket Science is handing worldwide sales in Toronto.
Elliott went with Anderson, Isaacs and Karlsen to meet Ray and Moth.
And then there was a week of rehearsal before they started filming.
She and Anderson explored the tales underlying issues.
Elliott says that Anderson, particularly, is so receptive to notes.
I mean, I would just talk to her secretly, quietly in between shots.
And she would listen and shed go away.
And then she sort of processed it in her way.
And it was so beautiful to watch because she just took a note and just ran with it.
It never really is ever talked about.
Its just walked out of them.
But theyre carrying it all the time.
And actually, Elliott says, the real-life Ray is a lot steelier than the Ray in the book.
She wasnt planning on publishing it.
So its basically a love gift, that book.
But in life, shes really steely.
Theyd spend three hours a session covering 10 pages of script.
I mean, I didnt want anyone to say it.
I didnt want it to be an obvious shot with her hands open.
It had to be an incremental thing.
That nature comes more and more and more and more something that they see.
Then the format changes to make the screen go bigger.
During the set visit, I often saw them huddled together discussing the next setup.
They talked in the hard rain.
Ive reckon Ive been salted by the movie.
Thats a good thing.
Its a love story, really, Elliott surmises.
The couple had been together for years.
Theyve fallen in love with each other, havent they?
She laughs as she remembers that day Deadline pitched up on Holywell Bay and the heavens opened.
It was meant to be boiling, boiling, boiling hot.
Its entirely exposed the cliff from miles to miles.
Theres not a tree to shelter them.
She shudders at the memory.
It was hellishly tricky for us.
Maybe thats the adrenaline that directors talk about, Elliott adds.
You have to fly with the wind of it and work it out on the day.
Especially if you are outside you cant control certain things.
Its a different world.
Its a different planet.
And those are helpful things, she reasons.
As long as youve got the coverage, you have to have the coverage.
Did she know what coverage and stuff was going in, I wondered?
She roars with laughter and says: No, I learned.
I learned it actually.
I learned it on the way, because it is all about what the camera takes in.
It sounds so obvious.
But when the cameras rolling, thats the most important thing.
Which sounds so obvious, but it doesnt to a theater director.
She had a monitor, and sometimes shed look down the camera that Louvart was looking down.
So we got very close.
I mean, I dunno how directors work without getting on with their cinematographer, she muses.
We would sometimes play back.
But I learned as I went along, actually.
Elliott nods her head.
I think I felt so passionately about the story.
It felt like it could happen to any of us.
It felt like it was around the corner for any of us.
It was surprising to them, and it could be surprising to us.
And how did they cope with it?
How would we cope with it?
Nancy Pelosi writes inThe Art of Powerabout the necessity of having the ability to act.
To do it now.
Yes, yes, Elliott agrees.
They could have just stayed still.
They know they have to do something.
She continues: And they werent really aware of what they were going to do.
It was a crazy idea because they knew they had to physically do something, they couldnt say still.
And so they just started walking and they didnt know where that was going to take them.
And it was just one step after another.
And then he gets better.
And hes still alive now.
Dont move around much.
Be careful going up and down the stairs.
The earth has resources to heal us, we just have to know how.
Well, and these are the days of climate change.
Thats quite an important story, isnt it?
Elliott doesnt whack us over the head with the climate change stuff; it kinda evolves organically.
I am a walker.
And I suppose thats why I like it the films story.
I did the South West Coast Path on my own for a week.
I didnt do the whole thing, but I did bits of it late on in the pandemic.
And I just remembered this thing about it is because when you are walking, everything slows down.
Just go with it because its an amazing part of the country.
Its quite dramatic as well, because you think youre going down one road and its easy.
You just follow a path, surely.
Because the seas there, its easy to get lost.
And then you turn a corner and you think, Oh my God, this is entirely different.
Where am I now?
You turn another corner and you’re free to see that the path goes on for 20 miles.
You think, Im never going to make it.
She smiles, I know, its crazy.
So did she retain that sense of calmness during the shoot?
Probably not, she shoots back.
Its very fast and furious filming.
And we had so many locations, sometimes we had three locations in a day.
We had quite a small crew, so we were all pitching in and carrying equipment uphill.
And I suppose it made us quite, kind of, well bonded.
And there were a lot of women.
And was that by design?
Was that something that she and Karlsen asked for?
She considers the question for a moment.
I dunno if it was by design, to be fair.
I think it was something that we all celebrated.
It was a bit of a passion project for everyone.
Elliott keeps coming back to adrenaline and how the time goes by very fast.
No, adrenaline isnt the right word, she decides.
But I loved it.
I loved all of the stuff leading up to the filming.
That was quite a long process weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks.
So that was great.
The master stroke was in casting Anderson, she says.
Gillian is just honestly to die for.
I would kill to work with her again.
So she comes ready, totally ready.
She knows the character really well.
She knows the scene really well.
Shes quite reserved because shes taking it all very seriously.
But then she works with the director so beautifully and that she just loves that conversation.
She loves taking on what youre saying.
you’re able to literally see it bloom in front of the camera.
Shes such an artist, I suppose.
And I was surprised by the roads that she would sometimes go down.
Shes not into fame in any way.
Shes such a symbol, and yet shes willing to be warts and all.
No work done, she says emphatically.
So does Elliott want to make more movies?
Yeah, I do actually.
I mean, I still want to do lots of theater, but I love theater.
But yeah, I would love to do movies.
That was what was so great about working on this.
I chose the writer, and Liz [Karlsen] just let me do what I wanted.
Nobody just said no at any point.
I mean, there were budget conversations, but no one said, No you cant do that.
It was a massive learning curve, though, she says.
This could go one of two ways, or itll have a bit of both.
It was a roller coaster ride.
There were some amazing moments and some really tricky moments.
But ultimately I learned so much.
What were the trickiest moments?
So it was my fault, I mockingly protest.
Yes, it was you, she says sternly, her mouth slowly forming into a grin.
Seriously, I think its things like, will the script get there?
Will we get there in time, or will we get the budget?
All of those are kind of pretty normal concerns I suppose.
But when you are there and youre ready to go, you have a very clear idea.
Its the crucial point in the film.
We were really lucky to get that shot.
The film also captures the limits of the planets resources, I say.
Well, it feels like its such a relevant story, doesnt it?
I cant do theater anymore.
We were being told the arts werent viable.
Do you remember that?
I thought wed never see a stage again.
Its my whole family, its in their blood.
Generations in my family come from the theater, she says.
We were all picking up so much anxiety, werent we?
she says of the pandemic, which affected two of her shows.
Her world, our world, was in abeyance.
We wondered, she recalls thinking, whats going to happen?
Who has the answers?
What are we going to do?
And this bookThe Salt Pathis all of those things.
When will the water run out?
When will the food run out?
When will the money run out?
When will our lives run out?
What do we do when were at the edge of the cliff?
It encompasses all of those things.
But as I say, I didnt think about it in that way.
I didnt think, oh, thats why I want to do this story, she stresses.
I can see it as a film.
So lets give it a go, she tells us.
Lets act, in the Nancy Pelosi way.
Ive had years of discussions with film projects and it never happened.
And it was only when I was able to come up with this idea myself.
I thought, I really want to do this.
And that sort of catapulted me on, I suppose.
Im really interested in womens stories, older womens stories.
Im just really interested in that.
Therere really arent that many stories out there, so we need to find those stories, she says.
Elliott & Harper won Tony Awards forCompanyand the transfer from the NT of the two-partAngels In America.
I asked Elliott for any update on the idea she and Harper have of making a feature based onCompany.
I hope it will happen, she says.
But yeah, I hope so, actually.
He also directed a television production ofKing Learwith Laurence Olivier in the title role.
Just thinking about herAngels In America, which boasted Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.
AndCompanyhad stellar participants in LuPone, Rosalie Craig and Jonathan Bailey.
She bristles slightly as I tick off the star names.
I wouldnt say that I look for stars.
I look for the right people.
I suppose when I worked with Johnny Bailey, he was not a star.
And so thats a relationship thats gone back a few years anyway.
And hes become an artist.
I suppose what Im looking for always is actors who make really interesting choices.
Not the most obvious choices.
Im a choice provider, I provide choices for them.
She doesnt mean just that though.
And I love acting so much.
I love the craft of acting more than anything in the world.
Well, OK, lets try doing it like you are lambasting them.
I mean, just give them different choices all of the time, she says.
She continues: There are so many different directors out there.
There are some directors who will allow the actors a freer hand and they do what they want.
But I like to get in there.
Roll my sleeves up.
I suppose what I think about actors, its a kind of ridiculously exposing craft.
They have to be so brave.
So they sometimes need someone to guide them along the way.
I think who will be there with them and be honest and that they can trust.
I think you have to be honest.
As noted earlier, this business that shes in, is in her blood.
Knight was also inAbout a Boy, Prick Up Your Earsand countless TV shows and stage productions.
I used to see her at first nights.
Mariannes sister is the actor Susannah Elliott.
Her childhood is fascinating.
It became sort of understandable why I would go into the theatre eventually.
That took me a long time.
I would hide under the big table and watch.
And there was quite a lot of things going on.
Theres quite a lot of drama in the house.
But nobody spoke because they were brought up in a particular way.
Nobody spoke about anything.
Youre trying to work out codes.
And I think thats made me really interested in acting and different choices.
you could act a line in a very obvious way, but what else is going on?
In all my shows, its usually about subtext.
And the film is all subtext, isnt it?
Sunday lunch was always a big deal, with family members joining thespians, directors and designers at table.
But there was an interesting dynamic between my mum and my dad.
My dads family was very weird, interesting dynamic with my moms family.
There was all sorts of things that never really fully got aired that I was picking up on.
And I thought I was very mad.
I mean, I mustve thought I was mad, but it made me look.
Domestic stuff and affairs.
And my fathers dad was Canon Elliott, who was a very famous cleric in the war.
He was very famous.
My dads father was very religious.
He was a real religious leader of the country.
There was all sorts of very British sh*t, I would say, for a particular class.
Very, very, very varied.
Everybody very well educated, nobody really talking about anything.
And so thats what my dad was doing in his work.
I think he was just finding ways to express things that he could never really express.
And I was just sitting under the table looking for clues.
Her story reminds me of a conversation I had with David Lynch around the timeBlue Velvetwas released.
I wanted to know what he could see from his bedroom window.
He told me then that he could see some trees.
Andhewanted to know what mysteries lay just beyond the tree line.
There are so many more questions that I shouldve quizzed Marianne Elliott about that table.
Anyway, its all inThe Salt Path.
