Ralph, we'll start with you.
If you could briefly introduce your character, David HENNINGER.
Yes, I played David HENNINGER who is married to Jo Henninger, played by
Jessica Chastain.
We first revealed at the beginning of the film arriving on a boat
at the port of Tangier in Morocco, heading towards an upscale party
in the middle of the desert.
And I think quite quickly, the audience of this film will see
that our marriage is fractious and acidic and snarky,
but something happens on the road which changes everyone's lives.
And I think it's no spoiler to say that, you know, is a hit and run,
but not quite a hit and run of a hit of young Moroccan
boy who appears to walk into the headlights of our car.
And the
result of that accident is is the rest of the film.
Thank you. And Jessica, your character, Jo
How am I supposed to add to that? It was the perfect.
What am I supposed to say?
My name is Jessica Chastain.
I played Jo Henninger wife to David.
played by Ralph Fiennes
the beginning of the film.
We have a tragic accident and a young boy is killed
and the film explores
the repercussions of the consequences of that
and how it changes the lives of all involved.
The film's thematic conflict is the culture clash between
privilege and entitlement of wealthy foreigners and how they view
and interact with the Moroccan the local Moroccan population.
So I'm wondering if you guys could
describe how your characters evolved within that context in that conflict?
Well,
initially, you the I don't think I think we come with,
as you say, the entitlement means we don't really see these people who are
you know, they are the the stage management of the party.
You know, the the gay couple who are holding the party rely
on the local Moroccan who working for them to make to to function.
And I think
I've seen this kind of behavior entitled people coming in and
sort of seeing through the people who are serving them a meal
or making them a cup of coffee or making their bed or cleaning their bathroom.
There's a sort of a kind of callous indifference
to these people. And
but I think
through the course of the film,
both our characters change in very different ways
as a result of this, the killing that's happened.
Well, yeah, I know, David. Yes, sorry.
David evolves from being the kind of person I've described to David.
In the end, he evolves.
His evolvement is he confronts what he's done.
He accepts.
He owns up to what he's done initially.
Reluctantly, perhaps, but there's a while. It's interesting.
What was interesting about the part to play was the evolvement towards
accepting taking once, once ability to what you've done,
even if it means that you might have to go and lean into the
into an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,
you know that if he's killed someone, maybe he has to die.
I think he has to confront that.
And he in the end, he does it with a sort of
real sort of ferocious integrity.
I would argue.
I think the film, in addition to exploring privilege and race, it
also what I loved so much about Joe and John's writing in the novel.
It explores gender.
You know, when we first meet Joe,
she feels a lot of sadness and empathy and
guilt over what happened.
And she so much so she wants to go speak to the father of the boy.
And she's reputed, you know, because she's a woman in told
she's it's not appropriate for you know, for her to have this conversation.
She tries to can you know, to have a conversation with Hamad.
She you know, you see these moments of her
being
ignored, I think, merely, you know, because of her gender
and you see her rebel against that
and then throw it in the face of all these men, this this sense of
her power and her fearless
desire to live in a way
where she is putting her needs and her wants
before, I guess, thinking of others.
So she makes quite a transformational journey throughout this film, you know?
Yes. She doesn't behave in a way that I think throughout the film
might be the most compassionate towards the end of the film.
But you see this woman who is in
desperate need of
changing her life and behaving in a way that it's
it feels like it's an act of survival for her.
All right.
Well, you guys sold me on the film, so thank you very much.