"Sometimes it happens, you are very clear about the landscape and the space in which the story will take place before you write the story itself." That happened to harry macqueen in his second movie, Supernova (Theatrical release October 22).
The actor now director, he knew where he wanted to shoot, where he wanted his protagonists to arrive, move and remember. “It's the Lake District, a beautiful part of England –He says while showing photos of the place and where it is located on his mobile– which, surprisingly, has been rarely portrayed on screen”.
It is an area that he knows well because part of his family, his uncle, also an actor, Peter Macqueen, lives there. And that he chose precisely because "It almost doesn't look like England." “It could be the US or New Zealand.”
A lot of green, a lot of water, narrow roads, a time of dogs. They shot in the fall of 2019 and the rain and the cold did not make it easy for them, but it also helped that melancholy and warm tone that transpires the film.
Sam and Tusker.
Supernova is the story of a mature couple, Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci). The first is a famous pianist, the second a relatively successful writer. They have been together for decades. "They had plans for a quiet retirement somewhere nice, but life has played out," explains Colin Firth.
Tusker is diagnosed with dementia which at such a young age is quick and difficult. “The emotional journey they get into because of the news seemed to me that it could be reflected in a real trip, a last trip, a last roadtrip”, says the young director who still pinches himself when he thinks how lucky he was that these two actors and close friends in real life agreed to star in his film.
Tusker and Sam leave London in their old mobile home (a Fiat Autotrail Cheyenne) to travel on this last trip, the latter roadtrip, the places where they were happy. Like the lake where they spent their first night together. Familiar landscapes that they still remember, that they want to fix in their memory.
In front of the lake, his first lake.
On the way to the Lake District they stop at Cafe Sixty Six in Appleby. An almost American-looking diner to regain strength and continue towards Bassenthwaite Lake and Crummock Water, the main landscapes of the film.
On the banks of the first, they remember their past. And they spend one night. To then continue the trip to Sam's sister's house, a beautiful and charming English country house in Lorton, south of Cockermouth. There they celebrate a family dinner in which "there is a physical closeness" that can still surprise and is missed today, says Firth.
“We shot the film before the pandemic, but seeing her afterwards is even more relevant. We have gotten used to seeing each other on these screens [he says, pointing to the Zoom through which the interview takes place], but I think we want to touch each other, to get together, ”he continues.
“The film breathes that physical closeness because they are lovers, because they travel in this little old motorhome, because they all hug each other, those moments are important for the characters because the final message resonates more about the fear of being alone, as my character says.
The perfect diner.
FINAL STOP
The end of Sam and Tusker's journey is a small cottage isolated near Bassenthwaite. A house that can be rented, by the way. After traveling one of the most complicated and beautiful roads in England that connects Buttermere and Borrowdale. It is the end of the real journey and the emotional journey. A bed. A piano. A kitchen. The stars.
And the stars. The end.