Kelly Macdonald & Director Marc Turtletaub Discuss “Puzzle” And How Jigsaws Can Make A Great Film [Interview]

Marc, you’ve had a unique path towards entering the film industry and directing film. You worked at the lending company The Money Store and sold it, deciding to use the profits to eventually found Big Beach Films. What motivated you to pursue film?

Marc: Well, I think early on, I was always a storyteller. As a kid, I used to put out a newspaper for the neighborhood, and I was a journalist after I got out of school for about six years, always a storyteller. And on the other hand, I loved film. And so, early on, I was watching foreign films, Bergman in particular.

But I’ve always loved film, and I love telling stories. And then life sort of takes you in a direction, and I had an opportunity later in life to be able to do what I love. And so, I came in and began producing. I was living in northern California and would fly down to LA. And I was reading about 150 scripts a year, trying to find the first one that we would make. And literally, at 1:00 in the morning, I read the screenplay for “Little Miss Sunshine,” and I said, “This is the one.”

And [we] optioned it and then set it up at a studio. And it took five years till we actually made it, and I had to buy it back from the studio and make it ourselves. So, that’s how I got started.

On top of producing, you’ve clearly shown that you’re more than adept at the helm with “Gods Behaving Badly” and now “Puzzle.” How have you learned your craft as a filmmaker?

Marc: Well, thank you. I think it’s as “you get older.” It’s about yourself. I think any work we do teaches us about who we are, right? So, I have learned, over the last few years, about collaborating in a different way and listening to others, and not insisting upon an idea that you might have going in. And I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned as a director.

You learn all the crafts, all the craft that’s involved along the way. And I had an opportunity to watch these amazing filmmakers, Jeff Nichols and others, Liev Schreiber, who directed a beautiful film, and Sam Mendes. So, you get to watch these people, and you pick up a little trick here and a little thing there. But I think the biggest learning, for me, was about myself and how to work collaboratively with other artists.

And that answered my next question. I was going to ask you if you were more collaborative or prefer to “stick to the script” or the way things are rehearsed.

Marc: It just doesn’t work that way. You can do that, but for me, it’s not effective. Forget whether it’s nice or not nice. It just doesn’t work. And when you have people like Kelly and Irrfan and Dave Denman, and even the young boys who were in this. They were talented, young actors.

Kelly: They blew me away. They really did.

Marc: Yeah, and they’re all talented actors. And the old Lubitsch Touch story, which everyone talks about, how he gets the best cinematographer and the best screenwriter, and the best production designer, and the world’s greatest actors. And you get them all in a room. And the Lubitsch Touch is that you get out of the way. And there’s a lot of truth in that, a lot of truth, especially when you’re dealing with great actors and you let them find what they can bring in.

“Puzzle” is such a subtle film with themes peppered in neatly such as the antiquated societal roles of men and women, discovering one’s self-identity, and disillusionment with suburban family life. These are topics that have been covered by Moverman before. At which point, Marc, did you become attached, did you know that this was going to be your sophomoric feature?

Marc: I had seen some of Oren’s work, most of it. But this screenplay was sent by a mutual friend of Kelly’s and mine to me to direct, and I’d been looking for the right project, patiently. And this came across my desk. A friend, Wren Arthur, who’s a producer, sent it to me, thinking I might want to direct it. And the last thing in my life I thought I would be doing is making a movie about jigsaw puzzles.

Who wants to go see a movie about jigsaw [puzzles]? But then I read Oren’s screenplay and was so touched with the writing, as Kelly was, and the subject matter, because it’s really not about jigsaw puzzles. It’s about a woman finding her authentic voice later in life. And that interested me. You don’t see those stories, especially so well-written. And so, I read it and immediately knew I needed do it.

And what was it like for you, Kelly, to work with such a professional like Irrfan?

Kelly: It was amazing, because in the film, we shot all the family end scenes first. That was the first few weeks. And then, my family all wrapped, and I was sort of devastated to lose them. And then Irrfan arrived with this incredible energy, and he’s just so passionate about the film and has always, from day one, been totally behind it and knew what it could be.

So, we ended the film together, and I just kept watching him, endlessly, for hours, every day.

Yeah, he’s such an incredible actor, and you two have such great on-screen chemistry. It’s really amazing. Even though there was a deeply felt connection between her and Irrfan’s character, this isn’t necessarily a love story. We don’t know what Agnes chooses for her life in the end.

Kelly: Like you were saying, it’s not a movie about jigsaws, and neither is it a love story. It’s these things happened in the film. But it’s really about this woman and having the space and the confidence to start discovering herself for the first time as an adult.

Marc: I forget who wrote about great endings or, really, beginnings. And I find that that’s what this movie, the way the movie ends, it’s the beginning of things for Agnus, and you just want to know what’s going to happen next. And it allows the audience to begin to speculate what’s going to happen next. And I think that makes a good ending.