Mimi Cave about directing ‘Holland’
Mimi Cave acquired candid over Holland as a director.
The director was deep in post-production on her 2022 horror debut, Contemporary, when she was approached with an intriguing alternative—directing Holland, with Nicole Kidman as star and producer.
The screenplay by Andrew Sodroski had been floating round since its inclusion on the Black Record in 2013, and Cave discovered herself unable to shake the story.
“The town I grew up in was not too dissimilar from Holland, so I just felt a real kinship with them,” Cave shared, recalling her connection to the Michigan setting and its characters.
Kidman, who performs Nancy Vandergroot, a highschool house economics instructor who suspects her optometrist husband, Fred (Matthew Macfadyen), is dishonest. Enlisting the assistance of store instructor Dave Delgado (Gael García Bernal), she embarks on an investigation, although she has little proof past instinct—holding audiences guessing in regards to the fact.
Cave made a deliberate option to set the movie within the 12 months 2000 somewhat than the script’s unique up to date setting.
“The script, when it was written back in 2013, was set at present day, and I chose to set it back to 2000 because it felt to me like some of the themes they were dealing with, in terms of like Dave feeling like an outsider, felt more of that time,” she defined.
The slower tempo of expertise additionally added a layer of rigidity.
“There was a lot of her unfolding everything that happens, to have to go to the library, going to Ask Jeeves or whatever, and it’s a slow dial-up [connection] — the slowness of needing urgent information just added a tension to it that felt fun.”
Though the workforce initially deliberate to movie the film’s last scene at Holland, Michigan’s well-known Tulip Time parade, logistical challenges led them to Clarksville, Tennessee.
“We really kind of took over the town. I think it ended up fitting better, in a weird way, because the Holland we created was an elevated, more surreal version of Holland, Michigan.”
One of many movie’s largest storytelling challenges was balancing viewers uncertainty about Nancy’s suspicions.
“It’s a lot of instinctual choices and consistently checking in with the audience point of view,” Cave mentioned.
“Hopefully, there’s a moment in the movie where you don’t know who to believe and at the moment of the parade, it could go in any which way.”
Working with Kidman was additionally an expertise in itself.
“With her, she’s a dramaturge — really, really sharp. She has studied more scripts than any of us,” Cave famous, explaining how Kidman contributed as each a producer and an actor.
“Before shooting, she’s involved, not in a heavy-handed way, but in a way that’s pinpoint surgical, looking at what could be helpful in the script. As an actress, she’s very interested in what the director wants, so the moment we start shooting, she steps back from the producer role and really allows herself to be caught up in the actual role.”
After premiering Contemporary at Sundance, Cave is bringing Holland to SXSW, a competition she believes suits the movie’s power.
“My hope is that the experience of watching this is a fun escape from everyday life, and you can just jump into the movie and let yourself get carried into it and not ask too many questions,” she mentioned. “South By has that fun, irreverent energy to it.”
Audiences received’t have to attend lengthy to dive into Holland, because the movie premieres on Prime Video on March 27.