Manchester by the Sea is writer/director Kenneth Lonergan’s first film in five years – since the universally critically acclaimed Margaret – and he’s getting used to people asking him why it took him so long.
“It’s a lot of work, and it takes a lot of time to do, and a lot of time to plan. I’m also a playwright, so in the time between Margaret and this film, I wrote three plays and directed two of them. I do other kinds of work as well.”
Manchester by the Sea began when his friend Matt Damon asked Lonergan if he would consider writing the screenplay. They had worked together in 2002 in a West End production of Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth.
Matt Damon and John Krasinski came to Lonergan with the core idea of the character of Lee. Lee went through a terrible tragedy, left home, and came back after his brother’s passing. In an effort to rescue Lee, his brother left him guardianship of his son, Lee’s nephew, Patrick.
“I just thought it was a really powerful idea and I found it very compelling. They wanted someone to write the script and I wanted a script to write, and so instead of starting from my own idea, I started from their idea.”
Later, Damon, who originally planned to direct the film, asked Lonergan to take the helm. By that time, he had already written the screenplay with its two sections – one, in the past, and the other, in the present.
“It was easy to do because at first I thought Matt was going to be directing the film, so I thought, ‘I’ll let him worry about the flashbacks.’”
When it came time to direct, Lonergan had somewhat solved the timeline problem in the script. He wondered if the separate periods could be mixed up and put in a different order in the edit.
“They have a progression that my editor said is like a ‘parallel story’, rather than a flashback. It’s like something that’s going through Lee’s head the whole time, so he’s kind of living in the past and the present at the same time, and the structure reflects that. It wasn’t on purpose, but it’s one of the many happy accidents that can happen when you try to switch your brain off instead of on.”
When the story begins, Lee is living in Boston, working as a janitor for an apartment block. He’s a lost soul, shunning any human contact outside of work and drinking heavily at night.
After the sudden death of his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), Lee is shocked to learn that his brother has made him sole guardian of his 16 year old nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges). He is forced to return to Manchester by the Sea and confront the tragedy from his past.
As the story unfolds, the audience will discover the reasons why Lee left and get a glimpse into his once close relationships with his brother and his former wife Randi (Michelle Williams).
Lonergan drew on his own experiences with the tight knit fishing communities of the area to flesh out some of the characters we meet in Manchester by the Sea.
“The background of these characters is completely different from my own, which is New York City – Manhattan, the Upper West Side. My parents have a place in a very small community up on the border between Maine and New Brunswick, and we have lots of friends up there,” says Lonergan.
“It’s a long way from the city, and it’s not a fancy place at all, but it’s very beautiful. It’s a very rough life for the locals, and we have and had many friends – many of them have passed away now – and we’ve been going there every year since I was eight.
“I think the contrast between the lives of our friends up there, and the life that I saw around me in New York maybe heightened my interest in the different ways that people live.
“It’s very hard to live in New York City and not notice that within any given radius there are thousands of people living a completely different life from you. They have a different way of talking, a different way of behaving, a different income, a different everything.
“After my sister saw the film, she said, ‘I love how you’re interested in boats in the water, just like Sheldon and Frazer and Darrel.’ I hadn’t even thought of it. These are all friends of ours from up in Canada, who I grew up admiring, and being very interested in.”
Manchester by the Sea received rave reviews when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and later, played at the Toronto International Film Festival. Many praised its authentic tone.
“I like to write realistic dialogue,” says Lonergan. “I like to write dialogue that is coming from the direction of the characters, and not describing it. I think people speak in a way that is very directly expressive of what’s going on between them.
“Right now I’m choosing my words in a certain way because I’m talking to a number of people whom I’ve just met, as opposed to how I’ll be talking to Lucas in 20 minutes when we’re hanging out, or how I’ll talk to my daughter when I call her on the phone. I’ll use different words, different phrases, and the cadence between us is always based on the emotional content, and that’s what I try to follow.”
Critics also praised the performances of a strong ensemble cast, including Lucas Hedges as Patrick, a teenager who has lost his father and is pushing the boundaries with his uncle, Lee, now reluctantly acting as his guardian.
Patrick is dating two girls, playing in a band and desperately trying to convince Lee that he shouldn’t be forced to move away from the small town where all his friends are.
“Patrick has flaws and he definitely suffers because you can’t take the good without the bad, but Patrick is the kid that I never was, in that he’s the kid that would win the fight,” says Lucas.
“I mean, I would never get to the point of fighting, because I’d be too shy, and that’s something we talked a lot about, this sense of toughness, and having a history of getting into fights and winning them.
“So with Patrick, I got to be the person that I didn’t have enough confidence to be as a kid, and still don’t entirely have enough confidence to be. I like that, because it’s a side of myself that I don’t entirely know how to own, but was able to own, and was supported to find.”
Both Lonergan and Lucas say that being on location helped bring the characters to life. “We just really got into being there,” says the director.
“We really liked it there, and those boat yards are amazing, and the marinas are beautiful, and the town has just got so much character. I was a little worried about it at first, but I think we all just embraced the environment.”
Lucas adds: “It’s like everyone has been telling me, ‘you and Casey have great chemistry together,’ but I wasn’t really particularly aware of the chemistry. We were just working on the scenes, and maybe a shift occurred somewhere along the way that I wasn’t aware of.
“But I did feel like I was immersed in this world, and that we were in almost some alternate universe. It’s not like my life back at home in high school. I left my senior year of high school to go do this movie.”
Lonergan was born in New York City. His plays include This Is Our Youth, The Waverley Gallery, Lobby Hero and The Starry Messenger. He has twice been nominated for Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, for Gangs of New York and You Can Count on Me, which was his first feature as a director. He also wrote and directed Margaret, starring Anna Paquin.
Lucas Hedges was also born in New York. His films include Moonrise Kingdom, Labor Day, The Zero Theorem, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Kill The Messenger and Anesthesia.
Q&A
Q: Did you two have a connection before the film?
Kenneth Lonergan: Yes, his dad and I are both playwrights.
Q: Kenneth, this is only your third film. What’s taken so long?
KL: “It’s a lot of work, and it takes a lot of time to do, and a lot of time to plan. I’m also a playwright, so in the time between Margaret and this film, I wrote three plays and directed two of them. I do other kinds of work as well.”
Q: What’s your writing process like?
KL: I don’t know, I avoid it a lot. I spend a lot of time avoiding it and doing other things, and not enjoying them, because I feel like I ought to be working. If it’s going well, I look forward to it and I like to do it, and I sit down and try to do it as often as I can. When it’s not going well, it’s unpleasant and I’m just waiting for it to get better, and trying to force myself to work through the problem, until it starts to flow again.
Q: The tone of this piece is very naturalistic. How hard was it to find that authentic tone?
KL: I don’t know. “I like to write realistic dialogue,” says Lonergan. “I like to write dialogue that is coming from the direction of the characters, and not describing it. I think people speak in a way that is very directly expressive of what’s going on between them. I’m choosing my words in a certain way because I’m talking to a number of people whom I’ve just met, as opposed to how I’ll be talking to Lucas in 20 minutes when we’re hanging out, or how I’ll talk to my daughter when I call her on the phone. I’ll use different words, different phrases, and the cadence between us is always based on the emotional content, and that’s what I try to follow.”
Q: How did you select the music for the film?
KL: Just by what sounded good to me, and what seemed to fit. I didn’t have a concept for it. We tried a number of things against the picture, and then when something clicks it just clicks. I think there’s a shift in perspective that I like; I frequently end up choosing music that will seem to widen the perspective on the story. It’s hard to define because music is so hard to characterize in words.
Q: What did you like about the role?
LH: Patrick has flaws and he definitely suffers because you can’t take the good without the bad, but Patrick is the kid that I never was, in that he’s the kid that would win the fight. I mean, I would never get to the point of fighting, because I’d be too shy, and that’s something we talked a lot about, this sense of toughness, and having a history of getting into fights and winning them. So with Patrick, I got to be the person that I didn’t have enough confidence to be as a kid, and still don’t entirely have enough confidence to be. I like that, because it’s a side of myself that I don’t entirely know how to own, but was able to own, and was supported to find.
Q: How difficult was it for you to access this blue-collar world? Did you have to do much research?
KL: The background of these characters is completely different from my own, which is New York City – Manhattan, the Upper West Side. My parents have a place in a very small community up on the border between Maine and New Brunswick, and we have lots of friends up there. It’s a long way from the city, and it’s not a fancy place at all, but it’s very beautiful. It’s a very rough life for the locals, and we have and had many friends – many of them have passed away now – and we’ve been going there every year since I was eight. I think the contrast between the lives of our friends up there, and the life that I saw around me in New York maybe heightened my interest in the different ways that people live. It’s very hard to live in New York City and not notice that within any given radius there are thousands of people living a completely different life from you. They have a different way of talking, a different way of behaving, a different income, a different everything. After my sister saw the film, she said, ‘I love how you’re interested in boats in the water, just like Sheldon and Frazer and Darrel.’ I hadn’t even thought of it. These are all friends of ours from up in Canada, who I grew up admiring, and being very interested in.
Q: How did the project start for you?
KL: Well, Matt [Damon] and John [Krasinski] came to me with the core idea of the character of Lee, who had gone through a terrible tragedy. I just thought it was a really powerful idea and I found it very compelling. They wanted someone to write the script and I wanted a script to write, and so instead of starting from my own idea, I started from their idea.”
Q: When you were writing a film set in both past and present, were you worried about the logistics of shooting it?
KL: It was easy to do because at first I thought Matt was going to be directing the film, so I thought, ‘I’ll let him worry about the flashbacks.’ But when I came to direct the film, by that time I had somewhat solved the problem already, just in the script. I wondered if it might turn out that they could be jumbled around and put in a different order, chopped into pieces in the editing. Instead they have a progression that my editor said is like a ‘parallel story’, rather than flashbacks. It’s like something that’s going through (Lee’s) head the whole time, so he’s kind of living in the past and the present at the same time, and the structure reflects that. It wasn’t on purpose, but it’s one of the many happy accidents that can happen when you try to switch your brain off instead of on.
Q: Had you intended to shoot in sequence?
KL: That was a scheduling issue. All your exalted ideas come down to a scheduling issue. You’re like, ‘well, we can shoot the basement. We’re in the funeral parlor, and we could put the ping-pong parlor in the basement and they can change clothes…’ That’s not actually true, but it becomes a logistical problem, under these circumstances, anyway. I think with bigger budget films there is a little more luxury to schedule the project. I think – I don’t know, I’ve never worked on one. Anyway, it becomes a logistical issue and you just do your best. But the way that Casey [Affleck] and Michelle [Williams] transformed themselves, without any help from me, into who they were in the past, I thought was just wonderful. Just Casey’s energy and humor and lightness and the totally different personality he has – we never even discussed it, he just did it.
Q: What is your approach to directing actors?
KL: If they don’t need any help then I try not to get in the way. When I watch dailies, if I think they need help then I try to make suggestions. I try to use analogies, and I find myself saying, ‘one time I had this girl that I liked, and this and that happened, and it’s all a bit like that.’ And then if I get a blank stare then I try to think of another story, and if they say, ‘OK, I get that,’ then that’s a taking off place. I try to find what they call in the acting world an ‘as if’ – ‘It’s as if you’re walking in the door and the cat was gone. It’s that level of anxiety, it’s not the level anxiety of if you walk in the door and the cat’s lying dead on the floor.’ You try to give a specific, and if there’s no correlation in the other person’s experience, then you’re not helping them. I watched dailies and I watched myself with Lucas, and maybe because he’s younger, I felt like I could be more helpful and wise. I’d see take after take and he’s doing great, and I’d hear my voice off camera say, ‘Lucas, can you…’ I was like, ‘Jesus Christ, I should have left him alone!’ He’s great.
Q: The characters really seem to breathe the landscape they’re living in. How did you come to that point?
KL: We just really got into being there. We really liked it there, and those boat yards are amazing, and the marinas are beautiful, and the town has just got so much character in it. I was a little worried about it at first, but I think we all just embraced the environment.
LH: It’s like everyone has been telling me, ‘you and Casey have great chemistry together,’ but I wasn’t really particularly aware of the chemistry. We were just working on the scenes, and maybe a shift occurred somewhere along the way that I wasn’t aware of. But I did feel like I was immersed in this world, and that we were in almost some alternate universe. It’s not like my life back at home in high school. I left my senior year of high school to go do this movie.
KL: It’s just a different feeling. Moving around in the woods and the snow, it’s just a different feeling from being stuck in a taxi in New York City. Whether things are going well or not, whatever is happening to you internally, that’s something external and I think it had some effect.
Q: There’s a lot of weather in the film. Did you always intend for the elements to pay such a key role?
KL: There’s a lot of weather in the picture, but it’s funny how things work. The story depended on his not being able to bury his father until spring, until the weather was warmer. Otherwise he would have tried to get him out of there right away. So he’s kind of waiting around for that to happen, and that’s part of what helps him. Apart from Patrick’s insistence that he stay and not take him away, there’s a built-in time element because the ground is too frozen. It sounds macabre, but it’s not, it’s a practical consideration. But then I found out that that’s not true of most cemeteries, because they have these steam shovels now. That used to be true.
LH: Oh my god, I forgot about that one.
KL: And then I found out that there’s one cemetery in Manchester, which is an older cemetery where you’re not allowed to use a steam shovel, so that’s where we put this particular burial. That’s one of these gifts you keep being given when you try to tell the truth, I think. You find out you have to do all these other things and then you get all this wonderful detail. I had to have it be frozen and cold and I had to have it warm up. I don’t believe in the world reflecting our experience, and I think it is often in contrast. The lights do not dim in my apartment when I am in a bad mood, and they don’t get brighter when I cheer up, but there is something about the thawing of the weather that makes a nice parallel. Also, just in a practical sense, It’s not like it’s a suspense movie, but as the year goes on he’s going to have to make a decision about what’s going to happen and this problem is going to have to be resolved.
Q: Was it hard to decide on that ending?
KL: I can’t remember now how early on I came to that idea, but I think it was pretty early on. I think I just tried to be Lee and to be Patrick and to see what I could do.
Q: Do you agree that writers write about themselves over and over again?
KL: Well, if you can’t relate to it then I don’t think you can write about it or act it. But you also are trying to extend your experience and find something that’s both got to do with you and got to do with other people. If I was only writing about myself, I don’t think anyone would find it very interesting. You hope, I think, when you’re writing, or acting, or directing, to find a meeting point between your own experience and the experience of others, and you try to convey that to audiences. Like when Lucas talked about his character, I think that’s very much in line with that.
LH: We were talking about this yesterday. There was a great Sacha Baron Cohen story – it was like an Oscar video five years ago where he said, ‘we make the movies that we want to see.’ I think the movies we want to see very much align with the stories we tell about the world and the stories we tell about ourselves. If I believe that life is truly uplifting, I’m probably not going to want to see a depressing movie. If I believe life is depressing and always deals me a bad hand, I’m going to connect with that movie. So yeah, I totally agree with what you’re saying.
Q: You’ve already worked with some great directors. How does Kenny compare to Wes Anderson and Terry Gilliam?
KL: You worked with Terry Gilliam?
LH: You didn’t know I worked with Terry Gilliam? I did a movie with Matt and Terry.
KL: What?
LH: Yeah, called The Zero Theorem. And with Christoph Waltz. Did you see it?
KL: No, of course not! I would have remembered it.
LH: I think there’s something that Wes and Kenny really have in common, and Terry as well. Terry’s like you but with no shirt on, running around. He’s just as willing to get in there with us, but he’s just more crazy about it. Wes and Kenny both pay relentless attention to detail. I think you’re more open to change than Wes is – Wes’s movies are exactly how he imagined them before he films them, I think, whereas you’re open to discovery.
Manchester By The Sea opens in Uk cinemas on Friday 13th January 2017.
