Train Dreams Earns Four Oscar Nominations

“You just made my day, man. Thank you. No, I mean, even from Jockey, I think [it’s clear that] I’m very inspired by American films, but equally — if not more — inspired by what we call international films — Japanese films and Iranian films. And so, yeah, this film was inspired as much by Kiarostami and Tarkovsky as it was by any American films. And I think that’s something that I love about working with Adolpho and I think is very special. It’s a measure of an approach that I couldn’t quite articulate for you, one that marries these approaches to making a movie that you would normally find in international films but marrying that with old Hollywood style of camera movements and things that you’d maybe see more in a John Ford film or Douglas Sirk film that we get excited about. Marrying those two things together without it feeling all over the place is an approach that Adolfo and I have developed from one film to the next, and we’re just trying to figure out where we can take it from here.”

“We all feel that way, I think it’s indicative in the moment itself when they put up the photo for Best Picture and they used a photo of Joel. I think that speaks to the fact that the film doesn’t work without Joel, and none of us could have done what we did without Joel. I know that Joel believing in this style of filmmaking — that we were just talking about, that we were endeavoring to do — is the only way we were able to do it. And I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do my job without Joel’s encouragement and help along the way. And so, it’s very bittersweet that we’re not also celebrating Joel, but, at the same time, we are, because the film doesn’t work without him. It doesn’t exist without him at the center of it.”

“Oh my God. I feel like it’s hard to say, because we had no idea. There were so many moments when I was like, 'Oh my God, this project is special.' I feel like the first thing was when I got the script, and I was completely in love with what Clint and Greg wrote. And also, every single piece of news that we would get, I would be more confident and nervous at the same time, because suddenly they would tell me, 'Oh, Joel Edgerton is attached.' And then I would be nervous because it’s like, 'OK, it’s a good script, a good director, a good actor. If everything goes wrong, it’s probably my fault because everything else is amazing.' I needed to be the one not messing everything up! So, I had a feeling that the project was special, but it’s such a small movie also. It’s such a small fish against or all the other big fishes.”

“Not at all. I feel like I’m really happy it does because I feel like all the reasons we did it were, first of all, to remove all the layers between the viewers and the characters and the emotions. I feel like when we watch movies, we want to connect with other emotions and with other characters and people. And I feel that stripping that down to make that as big as possible in a way and as approachable as possible, as grounded as possible, is the reason we did it. And it’s good to know that this is being recognized too, because sometimes this can pass like an invisible thing. As much as a good VFX is invisible, I feel sometimes that good cinematography ends up being invisible, so I’m really happy with all the reactions. Surprised, but also really, really happy.”