2. I saw some comments that this movie has the feeling of Ozu. In fact, the director was indeed inspired by Ozu's movies from the beginning. He mentioned the two films "I was Born, But..." and "Good Morning", in which there are plots such as children and adults having conflicts and protests, so he has the earliest frame of the movie. Later, a plot about Gentrification was added.
3. When it comes to this, I must say something about the two little actors [They are all great! 】The first is Theo Taplitz who played Jacob. The director said that since the shooting of Little Men, Theo edited, directed, and acted in four short films, which were shown in various film festivals. He would send his short film to the director Ira Sachs, like the relationship between the tutor and the student, and then Ira would say "You can do better than this!" (laughs) and then Michael Barbieri who played Tony would shoot this It was the first time acting. The accent in his movie is his own. After he was selected, the director also specially changed the script setting for him. Then after the performance of this movie, Michael was admitted to LaGuardia, and later cast into various blockbusters such as the new version of Spider-Man! Then the director asked him what role he played in it, and he said, "If I said I would be killed"=0=
4. Regarding the relationship between the two boys in the film, the director said that the two films he made before, "Light Up the Light" and "Love Is Strange", described the lives of young and old gays respectively. When writing this book, he himself resonated with the role of Jacob: a sensitive, artistically talented gay boy. But when talking to the little actors, he didn't want to directly tell them how they were, and imposed on them what they weren't, so the final effect was brought by the two little actors. He specifically mentioned that when Jacob looked at Tony in the last scene, Theo gave the character a sense of "It's over", which was the kind of realization that something had passed in a certain moment. (TAT)
5. The Chilean actress Paulina Garcia plays Tony’s mother. The director appreciates her very much. She thinks she has a Cate Blanchett-style performance, "she never disappears in a film" (basically speaking of aura and existence Strong sense) Then when writing her lines, the director wondered if it would be too mean, but the director hoped that the so-called "good/bad" between Jacob's parents and Tony's mother would continue to change. At first, everyone felt that Such a mean person cried so sad later, and no one was really a "bad guy."
6. There are various issues related to cinematic realism in the audience, so let's focus on it. In order to be close to reality, when casting roles, especially group performances, for example, the people who attended the funeral at the beginning were all people who really lived in the Brooklyn Bay Ridge area in the movie. Another example is the students and teachers in Tony's acting class. They are actually classmates/teachers of Tony's actor Michael. The director said, because people living in that particular area are different from people in other places, even if we don't see the difference, the details such as the way of speaking must be different. There is also a guest starring as Tony’s lawyer Alfred Molina (he was one of the leading actors in the director’s previous "Love Is Weird"). He himself is a Londoner. The director said if you were asked to play the role of a Hispanic lawyer? Alfred said yes, but that would lack some authenticity.
7. When filming, the director said that he did not rehearse. He knew that some directors rehearsed many times and then filmed with good results, but he was not in this way. What he said most to the actors was "Act less." Then someone asked how many scenes in the film were improvised. The director said that he personally prefers actors to follow the script, because he doesn't think the improvised lines of actors will be better than those written by professional screenwriters. About 90% of the movie is based on the script, only a small part of the content such as the funeral scene and Tony's acting class is improvised.
8. The director mentioned several influences in the audience. In addition to the aforementioned Ozu, there is a movie starring Peter Sellers called The World of Henry Orient. There are also novels by Henry James. And Ken Roach.
9. Someone asked how long it took for the film to be conceived and finished. The director said that it started in March 2014, finished the script at the end of the year, started shooting in mid-2015, and then edited it for 10-12 weeks. So in general a year to a year and a half. The director said it was faster than his previous ones. Then the director also said that when you go to the film festival to show, it is the most unconfident time, because the film festival is very cruel. Comments or something.
10. Finally, regarding the title of Little Men, the director said that it actually refers to every character.
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