For Argentina’s Pablo Trapero, best known for his lauded crime drama “The Clan,” directing his first English-language feature film “& Sons,” feels both new and familiar.
An adaptation of David Gilbert’s eponymous novel co-penned by Oscar-winning screenwriter Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”) and Trapero, the drama, which world premieres Sept. 7 at TIFF, centers on world famous writer A.N. Dyer who is shaken by the demise of a close friend. Facing his own mortality, he summons his estranged sons in a bid to reconcile with them. But when they arrive, he reveals something too farfetched to believe.
Bill Nighy (“Love, Actually”) plays Dyer, Imelda Staunton (“Downton Abbey”) his divorced wife while Dominic West (“The Crown”) plays a pivotal supporting role. They lead a stellar cast which includes Anna Geislerová (“Anthropoid”) as well as George Mackay (“1917”) and Johnny Flynn (“One Life) as the older estranged sons while Noah Jupe (“A Quiet Place”) plays the youngest, Andy.
While he has worked on English-language series before, “Echo 3” for AppleTV+ and multi-lingual skein “ZeroZeroZero,” “& Sons” is indeed Trapero’s first English-language film but also marks the first time that he has worked with an impressive number of BAFTA-winning and/or nominated actors in one project. And in the case of Nighy and Staunton, Oscar-nominated to boot.
The notable pedigree also lies behind the camera. It’s scored by Emmy-winning “The White Lotus” composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer. Multi-Emmy winning casting maven Nina Gold (“Baby Reindeer”) assembled the stellar cast.
Trapero notes: “I’ve been making films for many years, and my cast—especially Bill, Imelda and Dominic—are internationally acclaimed, well-established actors. And yet, they approached every line as if it were their first film, with the same passion and drive to give the best possible performance.”
In a way, “& Sons” reminds him of his last film “The Quietude” or even “The Clan” or “Rolling Family,” all of which bear themes he’s always been deeply interested in exploring: “Not just [about] the family we’re born into, but the bonds we form with those around us. That emotional circle can be your blood relatives, your friends, your co-workers—it’s the group that gives us a sense of belonging… or, just as powerfully, the feeling of not belonging anywhere.”
In adapting the story, he decided to set it in the U.K. instead of the novel’s original New York setting. “The story moves in a slightly abstract house, in a somewhat undefined setting. While you might recognize Oxford or certain parts of London, the heart of the story unfolds in a more ambiguous space. It could be any house, in any city—or in this case, somewhere quiet and removed from the noise, like the countryside,” he explains.
“There was a real sense of care and mutual respect on set,” he relates, adding: “The scenes we were filming didn’t resemble anything I had done before—and the same was true for Bill. Every time we approached a new line, it was about discovering its meaning, its weight. The same went for a close-up or a specific camera movement—finding the value in each choice. That’s what made it so special: we were all experienced professionals, but there was still this deep commitment and a shared desire to keep experimenting,” he muses.
Adding: “And to feel surrounded by people who approach everything with the same kind of passion we had back when we were making short films in film school—that’s just incredible.”
“& Sons” is produced by Infinity Hill (Axel Kuschevatzky, Phin Glynn and Cindy Teperman), Toronto-based Elevation Pictures (Christina Piovesan and Emily Kulasa) and Maven Screen Media’s Trudie Styler, Celine Rattray and Jackie Donohoe.
Trapero also produced through his own shingle, Matanza Cine.
& Sons, Courtesy of Elevation Pictures