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Dolly de Leon, Ruben Ostlund, Harris Dickinson open up on losing 'Triangle of Sadness' colleague Charlbi Dean
LOS ANGELES — One of our greatest discoveries in the last Cannes Film Festival was the Ruben Ostlund satirical black comedy film, "Triangle of Sadness," which stars our very own Dolly de Leon.
Unfortunately, even before the Palme d'Or-winning film had its international release, one of its actresses, Charlbi Dean, 32, got ill and passed away last August 29.
A final cause of death is still pending autopsy results. It was found out, though, that she had a viral infection in her lungs. And that in a 2008 car accident, her spleen had been removed and this increases the risk of serious infections.
De Leon, Ostlund, and actor Harris Dickinson who recently attended the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) talked about the sudden loss of their colleague and friend from Cape Town, South Africa who had a promising career ahead of her.
Ostlund said before the screening of their film in Toronto, "It's great to share this together with Harris and Dolly. It's also a very emotional screening for us because of Charlbi Dean, our colleague, one of the main actors that passed away 15 days ago. Of course, we wanted her to be here by our side and to share this fantastic moment."
The director said Charlbi was a caring colleague who lifted up everyone on set. He dedicated the screening to her family and the late actress to honor her work.
"I'm 100% sure that Charlbi would like us to have a really fantastic night here. This would be an important night for her also to present the film for the North American audience," he said.
De Leon said that upon hearing of the sudden death of Dean with whom she closely, she was "in shock and in complete disbelief." She also said it felt strange to attend TIFF without Charlbi.
"It was devastating news, and I still can't believe she's gone," she said.
As for Dickinson, he simply said that "tonight's screening will celebrate Dean's performance."
In the Q&A that followed the screening, De Leon, Ostlund and Harris talked more about their award-winning film, which will premiere in Manila on November 17 and will be released nationwide on November 30.
Ruben Ostlund (director)
What does "Triangle of Sadness" refer to?
It refers to the wrinkle that you have in between your eyebrows here, and in Swedish it's called the Troubled Wrinkle. You get it from having a lot of trouble in your life. So, if you do feature films, then you have a deep triangle of sadness that you see I have. But I had a friend that was sitting and having a dinner with someone working with Botox, and this person said, "Oh, I can see you have a deep triangle of sadness, but don't worry, you can fix that with Botox in 15 minutes." So yeah.
How did you cast this film? Not just Woody Harrelson, but your two leads, Harris and Charlbi, and Dolly as this standout in the film?
We went all over the world. We went to Manila, we went to London, we went to New York, and LA, and in the Scandinavian countries. And we met a lot of actors, and we did improvisations. We were trying out the different scenes. I think that Harris and me, I played Charlbi's part, I played Yaya and was pushing Harris. We were doing improvisations and I think that you and Pauline, that is the casting director, did improvisations around when you take command, right when you say, "Here captain," like that. We do a lot of improvisations and trying out the actors, and we try to have a long casting session the first time. They shouldn't be stressed, we should have time, we should be able to relax. That's the idea.
Can you talk a little bit about the challenges of filming that boat scene?
We built the interior of the yacht on a gimbal in the studio, so we could rock it, and we could rock it up to 20 degrees. We were spending, maybe two weeks on this rocking set. The crew actually had to eat seasick pills in order to not get seasick themselves when we were shooting it. That was one part of the whole shooting. But I mean the idea of building the whole set on this gimbal was also that we could make the whole furniture slide around and people could slide around and so on. It's really a great work of the set designer. I want to really pay respect to her work when she did this because the details were so nicely done.
You spoke a little bit about this, but how much improvisation do you actually do when the camera starts rolling?
I like to do it like this. You write a script and then you try it out on set in order to figure out, did I write a script in the right way or not? And I love when the actors are saying, "I don't like this line. Why should I say this? It doesn't feel right." And that you add something to the script or add something with your ideas and so on.
In the beginning of a shooting day, we always use a lot of improvisation, but that's very important to know where you're coming from and where you're going. So only improvisation never turns out to create a good scene. You have to know which direction you are moving in. Then we repeat over and over again.
What I often like to do is at the end of the day when we have just tired ourselves out, is that I say, "Okay, everybody, five takes left." Now it starts a countdown that is like, "Okay, let's really push it now and get the best takes now in the end." Four takes left, three takes left, and the intensity of the scene very often comes in the last takes. In the end, you remember that we gathered the whole crew around the camera, so they should sit and watch you when you did the last three takes?
Before the last take, we had a gong, like, "bonnng," and then you could say, "Action." Then you started to pace in. It's a way of trying to combine improvisation to figure out how the scene should be made and sculpting. Then in the end, "Okay, now we are playing an important football game together, let's win it." To create something that is stepping up above what we can expect. Sometimes when it happens, then it's like, "Wow, this is fantastic."
Was there anything in your real life that inspired or sparked "Triangle of Sadness"? I'm thinking about the scene where they're discussing the check or the bill, but even up to the vomiting in other scenes.
It's completely based on when I met my wife like eight years ago.
Which scene?
It's, okay, I feel less and less shame in my life. The older I get, I feel, okay, I can handle awkward situations. But when it came to that bill situation, and as a man, the expectation is on me to pay and I wanted to impress her, but I felt at the same time, "Come on, I like you too much. I can't take this role of being the sugar daddy. I have to grab the bull by the horn." Because I want to be equal. The actual lines that Harris is saying, I said to her.
Who ended up paying?
I ended up paying, of course. We men, we should create a hashtag that is like, "I got billed," because women, they are masterful in manipulating in that situation. They know, "If I just wait one second longer, he will pick it up from the table." And yeah, I was actually thinking of, "Should I ask the audience? Are there any couples out there tonight that maybe we'll go and have a dinner afterwards." Now it's late, it's not going to happen. But I hate that situation. I hate playing the man. I don't want to be the man. I want to be best friends.
In that situation, I'm 100% Carl. And my wife also said to me, "I think it's unsexy to talk about money." I'm like, "That's so unfair. I'm trying to open up for you. I'm trying to tell you something that I'm struggling with." So that scene is very, very personal for me. And the 50-euro bill that is pushed down in the shirt, and I was taking it up and I was pushing it in between the elevator, and it fell down in the elevator shaft. So, if you ever go to Cannes, because this happened in Cannes Film Festival. I had invited her to Cannes because, of course, I wanted to impress her. If you go to the Hotel Martinez and you look into the elevator shaft, you probably will find a 50-euro bill there.
You've finished what you called your trilogy of male absurdities. What are you planning to do next?
I'm going to make a film that is called "The Entertainment System is Down," and it takes place on a long-haul flight. Quite soon after take-off the crew is announcing for the passengers, "Unfortunately there will be no entertainment, there are no screens that is going to work." We will have modern human beings dealing with a 15-hour long flight with no digital distraction. I'm going to look into what will happen to us then. Maybe we will find each other, or we will be frustrated.
Dolly De Leon and Harris Dickinson (Abigail and Carl)
How familiar were you with Ruben's previous films before coming onto this project? And what did you think when you first read the script?
De Leon: I was very familiar with his work. I first watched "Force Majeure," and then of course when "The Square" came out, I had to watch it. When I found out that they were holding auditions in Manila for a part, I had to go. It was very important for me to make it. I was and still am very familiar with Ruben's work. He's one of those, especially by the cinephiles in the Philippines, he's one of the most important directors of our time.
Dickinson: I didn't have a clue who he was. No, no. Yeah, I'd seen "The Square" and then before that first audition, I watched maybe four of Ruben's films with my partner and we were just blown away. Yeah, I kind of was simultaneously that made me more nervous to go in and read with him, but also helps enormously because you know the tone and there is a real specific tone for Ruben's films. It was amazing to be in this and do this.
How did you get into your characters? How did you figure out who Abigail was? How did you figure out who Carl was during the filming?
Dickinson: I feel like this particular story and character lends itself to just being open each day. I feel like there was early discussions with Ruben and I that ended up being productive in the way that we let go of any sort of, "What is this? Who is this person? What is this character?" When actors say, "I would never do that." Or it's like people do uncharacteristic things all the time and act out of part. So, allowing the scenes to be a structure for your character is a way more freeing experience and puts the control in Ruben's hands really. I love that personally because you don't have to get neurotic about things or traits or whatever. You just be present and let the scene take the character.
De Leon: Trust the material, trust the script, because I mean reading the script by itself, I already felt like we were doing something important. Even after I got the part, we did improvisation in his office in Gothenburg. So, he played Carl, and I of course, I was Abigail, so we did a lot of improvisation. So that was part of me discovering Abigail too and how he wanted me to play her or how he saw her, which really helped me a lot. Because like Harris said, you don't really go into a project knowing 100% how you're going to play a part, but the collaboration with the director helps. That day we spent together helped me a lot in finding how I was going to play Abigail.
—MGP, GMA News
