BM: I recall, back when you spoke about Wilbur here in Boston, you had said that Trier had pretty much convinced you to go dark – to commit to that ending of the film…
LS: He unfortunately hasn’t seen this one, because he’s a good friend and comes up with great advice but I feel in England, it’s in England, and he is not attached to this project in any way. But, what I have seen is Antichrist [laughs]
BM: I was going to ask you if you had seen that!
LS: …and I can see that we are moving in very different directions!
BM: Yeah, but it seems like that movie has to be done somewhat in jest, just the fact that…I haven’t seen it yet, but I know he lists a “misogyny expert” in the credits. That’s got to be somewhat of a joke!
LS: There are many jokes! It’s really a witty film. I think someone…well, of course, it’s also it’s also unbelievably horrible and tragic and scary, but…there are jokes!
BM: I can’t wait to see it! It struck me that An Education has a very cold, wet feel to it, your London – except for the day you’re shooting the rain scene where Carey gets into Peter’s car for the first time – on that day, you’ve got sunlight!
LS: What you do have – if you can live with having a slight little bit of sun here and there in a scene like that – is a budget that’s small enough for the director to maintain a lot of influence.
BM: You can’t control the weather!
LS: Well, you can, if you have the budget for it. On the other hand, the hard part of it is actually how Peter Sarsgaard somehow makes you want…her to jump into that car, and…
BM: Well, he does the same thing with her parents, too! He’s a charmer!
LS: Exactly. And Peter’s job, and my job, is to seduce the audience in the same way that he seduces her and he seduces the parents. Because you can see that he’s bad news from the beginning, and on the other hand, you want the story to go in his direction, and it’s just tricky when you see these artists who take the bra off a woman on stage while they’re talking about other things. Have you seen that? It’s like, you know…or somebody’s wristwatch, it’s like a cheap act. They stand on stage and they talk to the audience and all of a sudden they stand there with the wristwatch of the person they last saw…you’ve seen those?
BM: The bra example? I’ve never seen that!
LS: [Laughs.] Well, you should come to Denmark! They take people’s bras off all over the place! I love David’s character, I always did from when I first read the script but it was so attractive for me to portray someone like that. David’s character was what first attracted me to the script when I read it.
BM: Well you must’ve been thrilled with Peter’s performance.
LS: Yeah. He was onboard the film before I was.
BM: Well, that answers that question! How about Carey, though?
LS: The casting director came up with a pile of tapes and assorted DVDs, and she was one of the girls in that…in the best one. Now she's in Wall Street. [Oliver Stone's sequel, now in production].
