Imbibe Cinema crew discusses the casting, performances, editing, cinematography, and themes behind the 2013 Steven Knight drama LOCKE, starring Tom Hardy, Ruth Wilson, Olivia Coleman, Andrew Scott, Ben Daniels, and Tom Holland. The film tells the story of a dedicated family man and successful construction manager who receives a phone call on the eve of the biggest challenge of his career that sets in motion a series of events that threaten his carefully cultivated existence. In this episode, host Jonathan C. Legat is joined by Michael Noens (Executive Director of Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival) and Tricia Legat (Program Director of Cinema Centennial).
MUSIC: "Woe Mountain" by Band Called Catch
Imbibe Cinema crew discusses the casting, performances, editing, cinematography, and themes behind the 2013 Steven Knight drama LOCKE, starring Tom Hardy, Ruth Wilson, Olivia Coleman, Andrew Scott, Ben Daniels, and Tom Holland. The film tells the story of a dedicated family man and successful construction manager who receives a phone call on the eve of the biggest challenge of his career that sets in motion a series of events that threaten his carefully cultivated existence. In this episode, host Jonathan C. Legat is joined by Michael Noens (Executive Director of Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival) and Tricia Legat (Program Director of Cinema Centennial).
MUSIC: "Woe Mountain" by Band Called Catch
♫Whoa is me, woe is me. They have seen what I've seen. Yes. My mamma didn't let them make change on me. Put change on me. Yeah, whoa is me, woe is me. This is the product of A.D.D. Apothecary, not for me, I dream naturally. Yeah, woe is me. Woe is me. They have seen what I've seen.♫
Jonathan:Greetings and/or salutations and welcome back to Imbibe Cinema. I am your host Jonathan C. Legat and I'm here along with...
Michael:...Michael Noens...
Tricia:...and Tricia Legat.
Jonathan:In this episode we are going to be discussing Steven Knight's LOCKE, which is currently available on Netflix while imbibing"The Lock Pick," uh, which is essentially a bourbon sweet tea cocktail. Um, if you want to find that recipe, it is on our website, which is imbibecinema.com. The Imbibe Cinema podcast is brought to you by the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, otherwise known as BWiFF. Uh, our festival seeks independent character-driven films of all lengths, styles, and genres. To learn more, please visit us at bwiff.com. That is B.W.I.F.F. dot com. So, LOCKE... Wow. What an incredibly intense, uh, 80 minutes. Really. It's about an hour and a half from start to finish, but it's, it's a guy in a car. I mean like the, this film was visually stunning, um, for just taking place in a car. Beautifully edited; everybody behind the scenes, um, did an amazing job. And while Tom Hardy is the only person who has ever on screen, um, it is an amazing cast of characters. Uh, you know, full of some big names here. So, um–.
Michael:And big names that have started to break out.
Jonathan:2013 is when this, this came out. And so now you've got like, you know, Tom Holland–.
Michael:Who, yeah, who...
Jonathan:Spiderman.
Michael:Is Spiderman.
Jonathan:Til now, but that's cool.
Michael:[Game Over Tune]
Jonathan:Womp, womp.
Michael:You got Andrew Scott...
Jonathan:Yup, Moriarty from, from SHERLOCK. You've got Olivia Coleman who is now the Queen on THE CROWN.
Michael:Right. And just, and just won, uh, her first Oscar.
Jonathan:It's amazing given how they filmed this, um, you know that for, for, for doing it, I think they just said six nights. Uh, they did it from start to finish. Like it was a play, like, like a theatrical thing. Um, and so Tom was just in a car for six days while they did, uh, you know, this over and over and, and the entire–.
Tricia:Supporting cast...
Jonathan:Supporting cast. Yeah. We're in a hotel conference room just waiting to call Tom and, and do their bits like that. It's just amazing to think that you'd have that many actors just chilling out for, for that long.
Tricia:But they did say there was wine, which is nice.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Tricia:If you're going to sign for that.
Michael:At least you get to drink while you work, you know, it's the dream.
Jonathan:And depending on the character, there were a few of them that really wanted to be drinking, giving what's going on with their characters. And we will obviously be discussing like the, the script and the story and all that later.
Michael:[Drink] Ahhh...
Jonathan:Um, yeah, that is actually quite a tasty little tea. The pomegranate kind of gives it this nice little like tartness to it.
Tricia:There will be a lot of lip smacking tonight.
Michael:[Lip Smack]
Jonathan:[Laughter] Oh God. I think my ears are bleeding. So...
Michael:[Whisper] Sorry.
Tricia:We just saw the, um, behind the scenes and I really love how they were given props so they could, you know, cause you're just talking into a microphone and you're, you're acting all, uh, on, on the phone and to have props to play with. That's awesome.
Michael:Well, it comes through, I feel in the movie, while you can't see the props that they're handling, it seemed so, you know, like every movie where there's a phone call or whatnot, you're like, okay, yeah, this is, you know, a recorded phone call bit. You know, it doesn't necessarily, it's"movie phone call."
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:It's not, it doesn't sound so real. And with this I felt it was, it was very real. Like when, when, you know, you can't quite hear somebody and there was like, wait, what was that?
Tricia:There's background noise going on.
Michael:There's all these, all this extra noise that's happening, um, or mumbling that's happening that you don't typically get. And it just, it, it felt–.
Tricia:Exactly.
Michael:I felt like it felt very natural.
Jonathan:Yeah. Olivia Coleman is, I, you really can't call her a mistress because it's not necessarily like she is, um, you know, his, his girlfriend–
Tricia:She's a stranger, practically.
Jonathan:She's pretty much a stranger to him, but, uh, she's, she's about to be his baby mama. Um, you know, and so the, the obviously, uh, Tom's character's life is, is, is taking an interesting turn and it is amazing to watch how well Tom Hardy does for being onscreen with nobody else physically in the car with him. Um, to be able to be that compelling to, to, to, to have that much of an emotional ups and downs and, and drive and still be a character who's trying to be on his moral right. You know?
Tricia:Yes, especially when nobody's looking, I mean, you think about how many people are not their best selves when nobody's looking and here you have somebody who is trying to be their best self.
Michael:Well and he says, you know,"I haven't been myself lately.""I haven't been acting like myself." He says that a lot. When he took that right turn instead of the left, uh, at the beginning of the movie, it was like, now I need to find me again. I need to stop running away from this, this mistake that I made. That is clearly, I mean, it's snowballed.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:Up until, up to a night where he has no choice. Well, he makes the choice. He keeps saying that he doesn't have a choice, but he has made this choice and it's because of, you know what you're saying, like, uh, nobody's watching him. Well, we're watching him.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:But nobody's watching him.
Tricia:Voyer.
Michael:He could, you know, start lying. He could, you know, dig himself into a bigger hole. But it's interesting to see somebody who's running away from a mistake. It's eating him alive. But now it's like, okay, no, I've committed to this. Whether it's the end of everything for me or not, I'm clearing the air.
Tricia:And he does say in the beginning, he's like a year, you know,"you're on a list." He's talking to–.
Jonathan:A list of things he's got to accomplish.
Tricia:A woman in labor. Wait a minute, I'm on the list of things to do tonight. Yes. You're on a list.
Michael:"Tonight, tonight, you're on a list."
Jonathan:Yes.
Tricia:And uh, and the fact that he's going through that list and he's going to accomplish everything on that list. And as a, as a viewer trapped in the car with him, basically, it's like, I don't want to go through this list. Why are we doing this? I don't want to be here. This is getting really uncomfortable for me. And the fact that he doesn't w aiver, it's like I'm just, I'm, I'm g oing t o go through this and t hen no matter how ugly it gets, I've got to get all these things done and this is what I need to do.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Tricia:Speaking of, uh, you know, uh, Tom Hardy, um, they had said, uh, he was the only one they considered for the role. They didn't want anybody else. They were, if he was going to do it, then they would make the movie. And I find that that interesting that they, uh, I've heard that before from writers and directors that like they just go with the one person and they're praying,"Oh my God, if we can get this one person, that'll be it." And then the writer, director of the film...
Michael:Steven Knight.
Jonathan:Steven Knight, yup.
Tricia:Jon said that Steven, uh, has done a lot of writing historically speaking, but not very much in the way of directing. So I find it very interesting when a writer decides to step in and direct. In, in those cases, I kind of think it's probably, they have a very specific vision and they're like, this is the only way it's gonna work is if, if it plays out the way I see it. And it's really nice to see all these other people come on board. Uh, we talk about how many big names, uh, uh, maybe not at the time, but now quite a lot of great talent attached to this. And you'd think, uh, producer side, uh, all those people that came together, cinematography and whatnot, and said,"I want to be part of this." As unusual project it is, and how much of it is a very personal project if the writer and the director of the same person to that seems very personal.
Michael:Well in, uh, the the making of the movie itself, I mean from a filmmaker's standpoint, the idea of shooting over what was it like a week and every night you're filming the whole movie. As a filmmaker, that's such a cool opportunity to be able to do that, I would think. I mean, what's your take on it? Um, from like an acting point of view, would that attract you to a project? I mean, even if you're not on screen–
Tricia:Oh God, yeah.
Michael:You get to do, is that something that's enticing?
Tricia:Well, I mean, Jon's done more film work than I have, but I would think that you've, you only usually get, you know, two or three takes, you know, uh, to do something and to be able to do the same bit from beginning– And to do it in order. How often you get to do it in order where you can go through the series of emotions, the way they actually play out on screen instead of starting from one point and having to backtrack. Uh, but the fact that, uh, you get to go, okay, I did it tonight and then tomorrow, you know what, I'm going to play it different today.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Tricia:We're able to do six rounds from beginning to end and be able to play with it. At that point, I think it'd be more fun to go to work. I mean not, not just because of the alcohol.
Jonathan:Yeah. Well, he wasn't drinking?
Tricia:No, he wasn't driving either.
Jonathan:Well that's true. Yeah. The thing, thankfully they do those kinds of rigs cause I swear there was, there's at least a four, possibly five instances where there is a police car, uh, that either drives past or, uh, that like there's an accident on the road and they're showing the accident. And I'm not gonna lie that by the third or fourth accident or police, you know, like emergency vehicles, I started to think that he might not make it through the film. Like, I actually thought that he was going to like, you know, get sick or something like that or just not be paying attention to the road and get involved in an accident. And then, you know, that would be the end of the movie.
Tricia:There are always those scenes when you're watching a movie or a TV show, anything on the screen where you've got people driving and they're, like, looking, and here you have nobody–.
:Staring longingly in the other person's eyes...
Tricia:You have nobody in the passenger seats. You have no excuse for somebody to be just talking and having a conversation. You're like,"look at the road! Oh my God, you're going to die!" Um, and in this instance, uh, or situation, cause I try to put the two words together.
Jonathan:Insta-uation?
Tricia:Yes.[laughter] You have somebody who is alone in the car. And yet there were times I was like,"Oh my God, look at the road! Why are you not looking at, you got a book out? You're going to read a book? What are you doing?
Jonathan:He's trying to accomplish all the things on his list.
Tricia:I know, but it made me nervous.
Jonathan:Yeah. No. And so we were just talking about the fact of, of, of how this was, was shot and you know, as an actor, you're sitting there going like, Oh, I'm, you know, I'm going to do it a little bit differently tonight. And, and what, what they just had explained was that they roughly had 30 hours worth of footage. They were editing a documentary. And so Justine Wright, who was, uh, the editor, I mean, like, just–.
Tricia:Amazing.
Jonathan:Hats off to her because the, like, the unique shots, they have all these exteriors, all these moments where there's not actually dialogue. I mean, she had 30 hours worth of footage to poll, you know, anything she wanted to use in these kinds of interlacing shots. But the, the movement and all the, the–.
Michael:Well, the dissolves.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:That I thought was such a cool use of that, where, you know, you have this negative space that you fill with, uh, you know, with an image as you're kind of either passing the time during these, like between calm moments. But yeah, I though that was so beautiful.
Jonathan:Just seeing traffic...
Michael:And just the, I mean the use of the lights and those, uh, gotta be, I mean it's, to me it looks like it's just the of the highway. It's not, yeah, it's not–.
Tricia:Right.
Michael:You know, it's not like they're rigged the whole highway.
Tricia:It's basically, I mean, yeah, it's not one shot, but it's very limited space. And then to have to edit that together and you know, you've done different nights and the lighting keeps changing and all that. How you do that, how you edit that together, where it continuity wise, there isn't these weird jumps of light or whatnot and just, it seems so smooth.
Michael:As an editor I would be like, it's an 80 minute movie of a guy sitting in one spot. Like he doesn't even move really. He's sitting the entire time. How do you make that interesting? I mean, as a cinematographer, that's a, that's obviously a huge challenge. But as an editor it's like, well, you know, they're looking at all of these static shots. Um, because I, I mean, I, I, unless I totally miss something other than like the beginning of the movie, in the end of the movie where we have these like crane shots outside the vehicle, when he's driving, there's no moving camera. I don't remember seeing a camera move. I feel like everything was very stationary for the most part. I mean, yeah, we might tilt or pan a little bit.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:But I mean, we don't have like, you know, uh...
Jonathan:Dolly shots...[laughter].
Michael:Of course, there's no big like, like, like, uh, like these, these moves across the hood or something like that. No, they didn't do anything like that. It was more like, all right, we, we're, we're coming at him like from, from directly ahead of him, like the cameras on the hood and then we just have this push in on him and just zoom, you know. When he's driving, the camera's got the shake, to it too.
Jonathan:Oh, yeah. Especially as, as the story progresses, the shake gets, you know, more, more pronounced.
Michael:Well, I can't remember all of the times where the, cause you mentioned, you know, the police car going by.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:I couldn't remember all–.
Jonathan:I thought there might be some symbolism, but–.
Michael:But I do remember with the first two, it's when he's talking to Bethan and he's talking about the traffic and I, I can,"I have to go the speed limit," I think was one of them. And then you see, you know, the police car, like if only I could go that fast.
Jonathan:Okay.
Tricia:And it's every time he's talking to a woman in labor that you hear emergency sounds, whether it be a siren from a cop or it be an emergency vehicle. And I, uh, and that I noticed in the beginning, but then I also know, like, tried to pay attention to it and it didn't seem consistent, but I wondered if it was deliberate in the build of intensity, like when those, and during more dramatic or intense moments, if that was, but I guess I, I also don't think, I mean, is that post or is that, did we managed to catch different sirens at different times?
Jonathan:It could also have been an editing situation where the flash of lights, uh, is on the take that they liked. And so they have to then put in B-roll of, you know, police going by. So that way you can see it.
Tricia:And I liked how it wasn't always the same. Like, there were very, uh, if you did see sirens, sometimes you saw the vehicle go past in the background, but sometimes it was just a reflection of the lights of a siren across the windshield.
Michael:Right.
Tricia:And it was, it was muted, almost like it was just distant. And then, you know, like Jon's thinking,"Oh my God, this highway is a death trap." There's so many...
Michael:There's all these distractions. And they, they didn't shy away from any distractions. Even for the viewer.
Jonathan:We were talking lighting and all of that. And so, so, uh, Harris Zambarloukos... I'm almost positive I'm saying that correct. Uh, has actually done like a lot of, of of actually big name films too. He did, uh, JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT. He did MAMMA MIA. He's the director of photography for MAMMA MIA. A wide range and you know, lots of, you know, titles. So I think that this one to him was, he was 100% on the challenge of lighting a car for 80 minutes.
Michael:Right.
Jonathan:And, and, and having it, you know, come out beautifully.
Tricia:And it was so beautiful, the light in itself, the lights going by in the sea of traffic and how it reflects on the person in the car and how it reflects across the car itself. And that, uh, not only does it make you feel like you're part of it, but it also kind of is like this dance, this light dance that goes on. And I mean, that's what happens when you sit in traffic at night.
Jonathan:Andrew Scott, uh, so Moriarty plays–
Tricia:Sorry, you got interrupted by me. That's what happens.
Jonathan:I think we were trying to finish two different thoughts or I was starting an Andrew Scott thought, but he–.
Tricia:You're so nice.
Jonathan:So he plays, he plays Donal, uh, and he is essentially the second in command for, for Locke's job.
Michael:Right.
Jonathan:Um, and he's a drunk. And it pisses off Tom Hardy's character, Ivan, uh, quite a lot to know that he is a drunk, especially on, you know, like what ends up being the biggest night of, uh, of his career.
Michael:Sure.
Jonathan:Um, and again, we'll, we'll get to the, the, uh, the storyline per se later.
Michael:But it's like, if he knows he's a drunk, you know, you're going to put this kind of pressure on this guy.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:That's going to drive him to drink.
Jonathan:To drink, yes.
Michael:You know, like, I mean–.
Jonathan:"How many ciders have you had?""Uh, what, how would you, why would you, why would you even–"
Tricia:"I can hear it in your voice."
Jonathan:Well, yeah, and–.
Michael:I do love that it's ciders.
Jonathan:Oh yeah.
Tricia:Ciders. It's not like he's, you know, it's not vodka.
Jonathan:Hard ciders. Yeah. No, but, but even then Andrew Scott in, in, in his–.
Tricia:Oh, he's amazing.
Jonathan:Just absolute amazingness can, can pull off somebody who, who does not like being accused of drinking and then immediately fesses up to it anyway.
Tricia:Then goes into full run.
Jonathan:Full run.
Tricia:I'm going to go run now.
Jonathan:Yeah, I'm going to go run.[laughter] And then Ben Daniels, who was in ROGUE ONE, um, uh, THE EXORCIST, he played Gareth, uh, which was the boss. Um, yeah. You've got your main guy who is now decided he's not coming in tomorrow.
Tricia:Did it ever say like where we are, like where this project is taking place, like where he lives, where he's going?
Jonathan:Well, he's going to London.
Tricia:He's going to London. But like where the project is actually taking place...
Jonathan:It's an hour and a half outside of London.
Tricia:Okay.[laughter] Fair enough.
Michael:That's all you need to know.
Tricia:Right? But it's a very big project. And I think there, there, there's like one thing we've learned about concrete and how important it is to foundations to building.
Jonathan:Yes.
Michael:Yes. Lots of detail there.
Jonathan:So he is laying concrete. That is his job. He is the foreman to lay concrete and he is doing it for what ends up being the largest, um, pour in, uh, in Britain outside of military and... Oh, shoot, other thing, but–.
Michael:Military contracts and something else. It's like a repeated like multiple times...
Jonathan:Couple of times and for some odd reason I can't remember. But, so the, the head company that is, is, is building their new headquarters or whatever in, in London, uh, is from Chicago. And so are we. So, um...
Tricia:"Fuck Chicago." You know, people in Chicago were so upset about everything. Oh my God,
Michael:Chicago's losing their shit.
Jonathan:Yeah. Mostly the taxes and, anyway, fuck Chicago. Um...
Michael:That's a whole other topic.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:For this movie, the hook for me was you have this construction site and it's almost kind of silent in the very beginning and then it just kind of creeps in this construction noise, the vehicles and whatnot and cause we're far away. And then, you know, we're seeing like, you know, him walking to the vehicle and we're hearing his feet and, and you know, you don't even see his face. And then he gets in and I did enjoy the gratuitous BMW steering wheel shot, which I was like, Oh, is that a BMW you're driving?
Jonathan:Oh, he's clearly got some money.
Tricia:Do you think that they, uh, they're a sponsor?
Michael:Perhaps. You really don't even, you know, you don't know what's going on even when he makes the most important decision of the movie, which is to go right versus left. You don't know the significance of that until way later, until technically I would almost say you probably wouldn't even forget about that moment until you were to maybe watch it again and go,"Oh." There's a lot of gravity. There's a lot, there's a lot riding on that. When you know the, the truck behind him is laying on the horn, like move.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:Watching Tom Hardy internalize that moment. I mean, he, he's the whole– He has the weight of the entire movie on his shoulders in that one moment. And it's pretty cool.
Jonathan:That's probably why 20 of the 39 nomination or award wins were for best actor. 20 of them.
Michael:That makes sense.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Tricia:He didn't even have a volleyball.
Jonathan:No, no volleyball.
Tricia:Nothing.
Jonathan:He had an onboard dash, uh, you know, display.
Michael:And the spirit of his father in the back seat, which we will probably talk about more next.
Tricia:Oh, yes!
Jonathan:At nauseum. Yeah. Um, so we're going to take a few minutes here, uh, to, uh, get some more of this, uh, pomegranate bourbon sweet tea, uh, into my glass. Y'all got sweet tea.
Tricia:So we're just gonna leave you with the ghost we just brought it up...
Jonathan:And uh, we'll get ready to imbibe more after this.
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Jonathan:You're listening to Imbibe Cinema. Once again, I am Jonathan C. Legat and I am here along with...
Michael:...Michael Noens...
Tricia:...Tricia Legat.
Jonathan:And we are discussing LOCKE. Are you enjoying this episode? Please subscribe or follow us on your favorite podcast provider to get new episodes as soon as they become available, which is every fortnight. Rate and leave us a review to help us reach that larger audience. And uh, you can also follow us on the Facebook and Twitter. Tricia wants me to call out that the, uh, the cocktail that we are drinking, uh, is called The Lock Pick. And, uh, it's a, it's a very good decision, uh, to have gone with The Lock Pick because the other option that I had originally come up with for our cocktail would've been a cement mixer, which is just curdling, you know, dairy in hard alcohol. And, uh, the two of them did not look as amused as I was about joking it. Um, so, so this was a much, much more rational, uh, drink. We like bourbon here obviously. So...
Michael:I mean, we could've just chugged it and then hit record.
Jonathan:And then...[Laughter]...had the three of us throwing, ralphing in the background.
Michael:Listeners, you're welcome.
Jonathan:Yeah, we did this for you. So, uh, we actually, uh, obviously waxed a lot of poetics about the cast, the crew. Um, but I think we really do need to dive into the script itself.
Tricia:Yes. Everything on this project was a stellar from, uh, behind the scenes to in front of the scenes, all that jazz. But to me, like the thing that makes this movie the backbone and really sells it is the script. I mean, this story is very intense and uh, there are so many parts of it that I'm so excited we get to discuss. So, I'm sorry–.
Jonathan:Yeah, I do love that, that they count this as a thriller, uh, which, which to me seems a little off because it's, while it is a suspense-thriller, there, there is obviously, you know, you're, you're, you're watching this person's life essentially just turn to the worst version of itself really. Um, but I, I wouldn't count this as a, uh, a thriller in the sense that it's not like there's scare, uh, you know, and it's such a weird genre.
Tricia:I think because the material is, uh, very heavy and it is very intense and it builds and builds and builds and the longer you are as a viewer watching this man in the car and there's nowhere else there is that feeling of being trapped.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Tricia:That feeling of claustrophobia in the car with him. And, uh, that, that idea of like you just, I know I tensed up as I was watching it and I got more and more tense watching it.
Jonathan:So, uh, to, to give enough preface, obviously we've discussed the fact that uh, he is married, has a child or children who are pretty much–.
Michael:Children. Two boys, I think.
Tricia:Two boys.
Jonathan:Yeah, two boys who are old enough, at least one of them is old enough to be watching the soccer game and, and having a grand old time. The other sounds like they are younger, uh, in the sense that when stuff really turns south at the home front, he is apparently just off crying somewhere. Um, and uh, Tom's character, uh, while he is away on business, um, does not fall in love with this person. This is, this is just like a moment of alcoholic, uh, weakness. He, he takes pity, not pity on her, but he feels sorry for her cause she is an older woman who is alone and seems so lonely.
Tricia:They had a rapport going. They were work people.
Jonathan:Yeah, he was, she was the secretary. Secretary and they had just done a successful pour. He has a, a momentary lapse of judgment, a momentary weakness due to alcohol. And, and I think that the job is over. He's never going to see this person again. He probably is acting a little bit more differently around his wife, but to a degree, it's not like he, this, this will always haunt him.
Michael:Yes.
Jonathan:Irregardless, but it's not going to hunt like at least for those first couple of months, it's haunting him internally, uh, that it happened. But you know, he doesn't have to worry about this ever– And then all of a sudden he gets the call that she is pregnant and that she is intending on keeping the child and immediately, like, he's even more boned because he himself is a child of...
Tricia:A father who–.
Jonathan:...apparently a loser father.
Tricia:A father who disappeared, who wasn't there and then showed up when he was like 30.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Tricia:And it was just a sad, embarrassing person. What is the word you used? Pathetic.
Jonathan:Yes.
Tricia:Pathetic person. And, uh, how him not having a father who would own him in a way and uh, and then having the man show up thinking it was better to show up once he was an adult and kind of be this...
Jonathan:Mooch.
Tricia:...person that, yeah, this awful person. And so this haunts him that, you know, part of our mot– Part of the motivation, uh, for him is to not be like his father, to not end up going down that road. Cause it's so tempting to just, this is not my problem.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:Right.
Tricia:And just let it go at that.
Michael:It's almost the easier route is the way that the movie paints it to be like you could just– But because, and I think from a writing standpoint and in establishing the background of this character, um, we talked a little bit about, you know, you're on a list tonight.
Jonathan:Yup.
Michael:They talk about how he's so good at his job and you see that the way that he actually handles human beings in this evening. It's like, no, this is, this is the decision I've made and I'm sticking to it.
Jonathan:Yes.
Michael:And I'm going to see it through regardless. And this is how he works too.
Jonathan:His boss– So, again, the, the, the added bonus is not only is this woman's water just broken prematurely and now he's, you know, but this is literally the eve of the, the largest pour, uh, of cement. And he has to tell his second in command. Guess what? You're now in charge of this. And he also has to tell his boss, yeah, I'm not going to be there tonight when like all this, all this stuff has to happen. And of course, Chicago and his boss fire him and he still goes, yes, I understand. No, that's, that's fine. You fire me. You like that?
Tricia:Makes sense.
Jonathan:Yeah, I, I'm not gonna argue with you. I'm still going to make sure this pour happens tomorrow. And he's like, no, you're, you, you're fired. He goes, look, this isn't about me trying to get my job back. I am doing this because that, that, that cement needs to go down correctly.
Michael:It's a favor to the building.
Jonathan:It's a favor to the building. Yeah.
Tricia:Well, and yeah, and this man is very passionate about what he does.
Jonathan:Very.
Tricia:And you see it. One of the things that's great about, uh, having all these phone calls in different aspects of his life, all being at a, uh, uh, a very, an intense point is you really get to see the kind of person he is at his core. You know, you see the real person when, uh, when the shit hits the fan, you see them, uh, how they gut instinct react. And a lot of people run away. A lot of people don't want to deal with it. Uh, or you know, go into denial. They go into shock or whatnot. And how many people, even if your job is a very intense job, even if you know, there are a lot of people counting on you, if you get fired, if you get let go, if you know something, something happens, they're like, you're done. How many people are like, yeah, but I'm just going to make sure the job still gets done right to my standards. No– There are so many who like, it's not my problem anymore. I have enough problems. I have enough problems right now. This is not mine anymore. And I'm going to move on to other things. But no, he has to finish this. He started it. He's got to finish it and he doesn't want to leave. You can tell he cares about the people he works with. Uh, and you know, especially Donal.
Jonathan:Yes.
Tricia:Um, and as much as he is annoyed by him, but he's like, no, I'm going to get him through this. I'm going to set him up for success in a way. I'm going to make sure that this doesn't go sideways. And all the people that depend on me and have depended on me, I'm not gonna leave everybody in the lurch.
Jonathan:Yeah, or this building cause if anything goes wrong with the pour, the building can collapse. There's all sorts of other things–.
Tricia:Yeah, it's long term...
Michael:There was a point where they refer to like if things don't go right–.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:I mean, you're talking about like millions in losses.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:Um, or hundreds of millions.
Jonathan:Yeah. Um, Donal's like, what about the C5? And he's like, no, it's C6. Well the, you know, the, the, the balance of this one is C5, and he's like, no, it needs to be C6.
Michael:What does it say on everybody's piece of paper? What does it say here? Yeah, yeah. Uh, the, the level of like integrity that he has. Um, there's, there's this one moment upon, um, you know, uh, maybe a second or third viewing that I heard. I felt like I heard for the first time. And it's almost like a throwaway moment when he's on the phone with Gareth and it's, I think it's right after.
Jonathan:That's his boss.
Michael:Yeah. I think it's right after he's firing him and he, and he's like, I'm sorry. I know. You know, I, I don't want to do this on the phone. Um, you know, all of a sudden it's like you see him be a person, even though he's so furious with him.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:You know, there's this moment where he just says, where Gareth says,"why couldn't you just call you were sick?"
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:And he's like, I'm not.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Michael:You know, he, he could have, he could have lied from the get go and said, I, I'm, you know, I have the flu. I, there's no way I can be there and he could have saved his job. I mean obviously wouldn't have saved as you know what's going on at home.
Jonathan:Yeah, that's true.
Michael:But at least he would have a job, uh, at that point. But he didn't, you know, his, his level of integrity is so high that it's like, no, I'm not gonna lie.
Tricia:Right. We've talked a bit about how there's the, uh, the, the list of the on the dash. Well no, the phone–.
Jonathan:Oh, you're talking about the screen display.
Tricia:Right.
Michael:Yeah.
Tricia:And he's got one that's it's bastard. Right.
Jonathan:That's Gareth. That's his boss.
Tricia:His boss in his phone is bastard.
Jonathan:Yep.
Tricia:And yet he's very respectful on the phone.
Michael:His is!
Tricia:The way he, uh, other people talk about him. And it's funny cause here he's the only one on screen.
Jonathan:Yup.
Tricia:Everybody has to go through him. But there are points where people talk about this is not like you and you were, everybody knows you're the guy that, that we rely on. Everybody knows you're the best guy.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Tricia:This is, this is an odd out of character. This is your mad. You're crazy. This is not you. And, uh, it, it adds to this element of like, you're not just seeing the person in front of you in this crisis moment. You're getting this background of the kind of person he is to everybody else in his world and how that affects them. And one of the lines, uh, the love is from his wife when she talks about the concrete on the floor and how like he comes home and there's always concrete and they are his footprints, how she has to clean up.
Jonathan:Chip it.
Tricia:Chip the footprints, chip the footprints away. The weight this man is in the house, the weight of him in her life... She remarks how it's– The job always came first. Like, you love your job more than, than us anyway. But I think it's also the weight of the integrity, the weight of the standards that this man obviously has and living up to them. And here he fell.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Tricia:Right?
Michael:Yeah.
Tricia:But that, that visual of the cement of his footprints, the weight of this man in her house, and it's just like, Whoa, that's awesome.
Jonathan:It's is just amazingly well written from, from, from start to finish because every, every piece of it is, is so human. Um, and, and so heartbreaking to watch because again, you know, like his, his marriage is pretty much ending in front of our eyes. He is, uh, trying to calm down a hysteric woman who is having a child all alone. And the reason that he has turned right instead of left is because he does not want her to be alone at this particular moment of her, of her life. And he also does not want this child to be alone. He wants to give it the Locke name all at the same time that literally he is trying to, uh, do business, uh, checking his book because he accidentally brought his book with him instead of leaving it in this drawer. And so now things are falling apart around him. Uh, there's a whole situation with rebar where he, uh, has to send Donal to run uh, you know, drunkenly run to, uh, go find, uh, some, some, some workers that he knows who will be getting off of work in the next 30 minutes. And if he can't run there fast enough–.
Michael:He's miss them.
Jonathan:They won't be able to get the rebar done overnight until the pour– Like, there's so many things that just keep going wrong–
Michael:And he keeps his cool really throughout the whole thing. And that shows, you know, a time of crisis. This is the kind of guy he is. He's just this, he approaches a crisis situation with this calm demeanor, even though the world is, you know, might be falling apart. He's dealing with crisis, not only professionally, he's dealing with personal crisis at the same time. How many people have to deal with that happening at the same moment?
Jonathan:And when they interlock, when he need to get–.
Tricia:Oooo! No pun intended.
Michael:Inter-LOCKE?
:Oh! Wink, wink. Yeah, no, he's got to get the phone number for, uh, somebody who can approve a stop and go, police stop and it's judge or somebody. Um, but he has this person's number in his coat pocket at home and he's already told his wife. Yeah, there's a woman who's having my baby tonight. So he lets me, needless to say, he doesn't get that number, but thankfully drunken Donald comes through on that one. Surprise dude. I was like, I did something all by myself. Yeah. Locked and Donald are both surprised in that situation. It rubbed off a little bit. Yeah. Just, it'll be all in my own. Good. Good for you. I have another side that the handling of a kid gloves that supportive, uh, I've got your back, I can walk you through this. And he's not just noon. There's, you know, several people. He's walking through things on the phone. And one
Speaker 4:of the things it's very interesting to me is like when one plan goes to hell, it's not like a, Oh crap. You know, it's okay. Okay, fine. That's fine. That's awful. Right? But we're going to go to this, but this is what we're going to do now. And I've made the decision and this is how we proceed. And that's the kind of person that you know in crisis that's good to have. But uh, the toll it takes on them. And then of course you have somebody who's dealing with their professional and their personal life going to hell, but now they have their demons haunting them the same time. Yes, to the ghost. I know a lot of people talk in the car to themselves or they sing a, or all kinds of stuff. I, I have, I had met, I've had conversations with people in the car that it's like, I never got to have this conversation and I really want to say what I mean. I want to say what I feel, even though I know in the moment I probably won't or didn't, you know, that moment on the stairs and what you should've said and you just want it, you know, just have that conversation. Right. I've had that moment in the car where I'd, I'll do it in the car, I'll just, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll tell somebody how I really feel. I'll do that. That's a little equate for whatever reason. Get it off my chest, get it out and uh, so I can get Y you know, he's talking to his dad and, but I think it's very interesting they gave that, uh, I spoke his father has a specific place in the car. Yes. Which is I think is helpful for the viewer but also kind of disturbing cause I don't think I treat anybody like they're in the car with me one night in the beginning I look at it as the backseat. The more and more think about it and the more and more it comes back, you really don't see it as the backseat. It's, it's the rear view mirror. It's the reflection. So it's like this reflection of whatever's behind him is what's haunting him and cause he looks up, uh, up at it with like, like, like the reflection is watching him. Yeah. And uh, I dunno. Yeah. I just, I, I, it's, it's almost more that rear view mirror as the viewer. You see the back seat, you see that specific viewpoint where I see him looking at the rear view mirror and I wondering why, uh, you know, if you see, if you were to have the camera view be of him looking in the rear view mirror, but of course you'd have to have a camera in the back seat. That's true. To see his eyes looking at it. And then people maybe might get the, some misunderstanding there on who he's talking to to give it a focal point. Thankfully it doesn't talk back to them. Right. Or doesn't watch the film. Also listen for the fantastic musical break at the end of the movie where everyone breaks out in song. It's like LA LA LA night. Yeah. Um, but at night, so no. Okay. So here's the thing that I really, really, really my favorite part, I'm gonna say one of my favorite parts, but the, him being all alone in the car, uh, that intensity of that, to me it was like when have to go through these moments where you're dealing with things and nobody else really sees your point of view. It's, it's being in the car by himself. It's almost like being inside his head that here we can communicate with all these people. You can, you can talk to everybody on the phone, you can get ahold of everybody here to solve this problem remotely on the road. Sort of on a level. Right. How far we've come in the last 20 years. Yeah. But the same time, even though we can reach each other, we really, there's so much lost in translation. There's so much you watch him trying to communicate that he, you know, they're only getting this little bit and how frustrating that is. How he has to tell his wife on the phone what he did and how, you know, I, it's not me. This isn't something, you know, me and this is, and how do we get past, how do we get how we move forward? How do we,
Speaker 3:what does the statement he says it's the, I I want to find a way that we can w what, what's the practical next step or practical next step. Yes. Yeah. And uh, and, and then how he tries to talk to his son over the phone and he can't, Oh yeah. When his son doesn't hear him say, I love you. And then he's like, what was that? And he's like, ah, not, nevermind. I just, uh, just having my brother call me whenever it comes down. Yeah. We'll, we'll tell him he can't let us son. Yeah. He's trained
Speaker 4:all that and how isolated we all feel all the time. Uh, when we have these moments where we just can't connect, where we feel like that connection isn't, is just, is just a phone line. It's not a real strong connection. Right. There's so much lost and, and, and it's heartbreaking to watch and yet it's so, um, relatable. It's so I get this and I feel this and it, it is such a beautiful idea to put in film and I think that's one of the things that got me was how you feel like you really in one person's head and how they're trying to communicate with the rest of the world. And how, uh, so much is, uh, just a fight.
Speaker 3:He is so morally up. Yeah. That even though he is literally being kicked from like every angle, um, he, he manages to make the project work. He doesn't make his mirrors work, but he is doing everything he can to try. He'll find a way to, I don't want to say make amends because you can't make it run. Really knows he can't make it. Right. But he has to be there for this child that's coming into the world. He's not going to abandon his children and he's not going to abandon his wife either. Yeah. Even if his wife doesn't want to be his wife anymore, which is very likely. Yeah. I don't think he could walk away from that still. And thankfully his sons want to ignore the entire thing. They, they, you know, they even call him in. They're like, you know, we want whatever it is that you know is going on. We, you know, we, we, we could, we could find a way to just be normal again. Just let everything, we'll just ignore the campus.[inaudible] I like to say that a lot in the behind the scenes, this man is the every man, you know, Ivan, essentially every man, and I must be a cynic because I did not see in every man I see somebody we all aspire to be typical says. I mean there, I just don't think there are that many people with that much integrity in the world that you could consider him and every man. I think everybody, everybody likes to think that that is, that they are, they are not morally bankrupt. Maybe. Maybe the thought is because I totally agree. You know, the way that he handles this, I don't know, a single individual that would handle crisis like that. Every, um, safe place is collapsing around it, around you and so learn truly on your own. Like you, like you were saying church before he decides that left or right. That's where it's like, Oh, he's just, he's just an every man. This is a different level of reacting wall in a crisis. This is, I'm the safe place. Yeah. I'm, I'm going to help you through this. It's okay. Call though. He even, it's fine. It's going to be fine. It's going to those that when he's on the phone with people and as soon as he is hung up, he starts wigging out in his car because he's wealthy losing it on anybody that's his dead father. There's at least one, possibly two instances where he probably should turn around a way. He realizes that the binder that has everything, uh, that Donald needs to get this done right is sitting next to him in the car. You can see the fight in himself where he's going this like, I can't, he can't go without this, but I'm already like, you know, 40 minutes into the drive. I can't, I can't, I can't turn around. Right. There are moments, so many moments in this movie where it could so easily become overdramatic. Yeah. So easily and they were able to harness this just a very real emotion, this very real reaction, uh, without, without going over it over the top I think especially between LOC and Katrina. Sorry, Ivan and Katrina. Technically through both lock. Um, so for now my heart broke for her the entire time. Ruth Wilson? Yeah, it was the second phone call I think that she has with him where she has to get off the phone and she's like, I got to go throw up again. Yeah. Yeah. And when she hangs up on him at that moment I was like, ah. And then, and then putting myself in his shoes, what I thought was interesting. This is kind of taking another step back though on that first phone call with her when she hangs up on him. Yeah. We don't hear from her for like 10, 15 minutes. Yeah. I mean she wouldn't be able to think about anything but her. Oh yeah. She's going through and for him he has this, she hung up on me. Okay. I mean obviously not going to call her back, but it's like, okay, I'm going to deal with all these other problems and I have a clear head. It almost is the way that he approaches it. And that's remarkable. I mean, well, and I mean, when you can't do anything at all to find a place, call her back. I'm going to find a place to be productive to just distract yourself from what you've done. The gravity of what you've done, it might not have actually hit yet. There's that shock level. Then his next thing is, okay, what's the next practical step with where do we go from here? What's the next step? Because that's how he works, right? It's like, but also, am I ready for this all along and Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. I just got dropped this knowledge right now. Right. She's not ready for that process. I have to process that. Yeah, he's had, he's had time to process that. Right. And she has not[inaudible] my, uh, my favorite line in the movie is actually, um, one of earth Wilson's lines and, um, you know, he keeps saying, you know, it was only once, it was only one available the one time, uh, repeats it multiple times in VR in a variety of different ways. My favorite in line in the movie by her and the way that she delivers it is so fantastic. The difference between never and once is the whole world. The difference between never in once is the difference between good and bad. Fantastic line. Yeah. And you watch this guy that, you know, uh, that, you know, it seems like as, as we're even discussing where like he's, he's a good guy. Like we sold the good everything he can to P good. This line was no, he's the bad guy in this.[inaudible] so remember that, you know, so it's like this teetering between good and bad throughout the whole movie. And it's like how you feel about this protagonist. Yeah. This foam got a 90%, uh, ranking on rotten tomatoes. So it is, it is pretty well liked. Yes. So a cinema mall, sorry, let's try that again. Cinema all, Oh no. Should have been more, right. I'm thinking Cinnabon, I'm already at the mall. What does sit in the button doing rating films? Uh, here. Here was the, the rotten, uh, review summary. What should be a gripping narrative is uninteresting to the point of tedium. Wow. Well maybe they don't care about their job or their wife, so it's just not relevant. Yeah, they work at Cinnabon and they don't really, um, they don't commute so they don't have an hour and a half commute. examiner.com said, despite a fantastic performance from Tom Hardy, lock makes for a rather flat single location flick due to its suffering from a lack of explosions and engaging material. Wow. I'm sorry. They liked Michael Bay. You can totally tell. He'll like have explosions. I need nine cameras at all times. Does that mean? So now granted, maybe, maybe this is the nuance of independent film and I, you know what, I don't think we've necessarily waxed enough poetics on this per se, but you know, you've, you've got major motion pictures that producers and writers and directors, they have certain thing they're trying to accomplish, which is why these, you know, these are released into a theater where they need to get butts in the seats. Independent films are writers, directors, actors, right of passage. They're there ways for people to explore things that you can't do in a mainstream theatrical release. And so this is a nuanced villain, robotic guy in a car. I'm sorry that the single location upset you, but it's a single location. No, no, no. We just recommend them with that phone booth movie. They could watch that after this alone. So, um, uh, the final one, I mean, it wouldn't be an imbibed cinema episode if I didn't read a Chicago reader. Trashy Sysco, what is going on? Chicago radio. They were going to quote this. Um, exactly. The conceit is riveting at first because in Knight forgoes any backstory or exposition, though as the foreman's plight becomes clear, the tension quickly dissipates, dissipates. I mean, don't get me wrong, we, we even pointed out the fact that there is no exposition. We, we literally just see left turn right turn that that is as much information as we get before this entire drive starts. What does she mean? The conceit is riveting or is the concept is riveting? I think it's snooty. People are funny. So that's the episode. There you go. Here's, uh, so, uh, you know, uh, once again, we, we greatly appreciate it,
Speaker 1:all of our listeners for choosing this podcast and hopefully also for supporting, uh, independent films, uh, and independent film festivals. Uh, keep your eye out for our next episode when we will be discussing Olivia Wilde's book-smart, which is starring, uh, Caitlin Devore and beanie Feldstein. Uh, so, uh, uh, check out our show notes or drop us a note, uh, and uh, visit us home in bio cinema.com once again, when Jonathan C like it. And thanks for him bobbing with us. Cheers. Cheers.
Speaker 2:Let them make change all[inaudible]
Speaker 1:this is me. Woe is me. They have seen what I've seen.
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