Actress Kelly Macdonald and director Marc Turtletaub discuss their new indie film Puzzle
A neglected housewife turns the tables on her dull life by enrolling in a jigsaw puzzle competition in the new film Puzzle, one of the breakout hits at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Director Marc Turtletaub and lead actress Kelly Macdonald (Trainspotting) are the first to admit that a movie about competitive puzzle building may not be at the top of everyone’s must-see list, and yet the duo have managed to make a compelling movie despite those odds.
The pair recently traveled to San Francisco to promote Puzzle and found that the Bay Area reception to their movie was just as rapturous as the one on the festival circuit. We recently sat down with them to talk about the movie, and the following is a transcription of that conversation.
Q: Your film premiered and was bought at Sundance earlier this year. From what I understand, that’s a whirlwind process. Did it feel that way to you?
Marc Turtletaub: It was definitely a heady experience for all of us because you make your film and you don’t know how it’s going to be received. Then we get 1300 people at the Eccles Theater who loved the film, and it was a joyous experience. Sony Classics approached us after the first screening, so it was a special day.
Q: I don’t get much sleep at Sundance. Were you fully awake when you signed those contracts?
Turtletaub: (laughs) Our producing partner signed those contracts, so I hope he was awake.
Q: The festival process and doing multiple Q&As for a film can sometimes feel repetitive after a while. Do you genuinely enjoy doing it, or do you see it as part of the job?
Kelly Macdonald: (laughs) Both.
Turtletaub: When I find myself slightly complaining, I remind myself what a privilege this is, and how many people get to make movies.
Q: What kinds of things do you look for as a director to make your sets run smoother?
Turtletaub: I think for me the selection of the first AD (assistant director) is very important, and I was fortunate enough to find Chris Carroll for this movie. This was a really easy shoot, but part of that was because of his presence. People always ask me what the hardest thing about this movie was, and I honestly can’t say we had anything that challenging. This may come to bite me on the next movie, but the latest we shot was 11:30pm.
Macdonald: That was nice.
Turtletaub: That’s crazy and doesn’t happen very often.
Q: Kelly, what do you look for in your directors to feel more comfortable on set?
Macdonald: It’s good to be able to make suggestions and have your voice heard. When I started out I didn’t have any suggestions, and wouldn’t have dared to speak up because I didn’t know what I was doing. But I’ve got quite a lot under my belt now, so I feel more confident. It’s usually with the dialogue when I feel my character doesn’t have to say something. Changing dialogue to a look or something different.
Q: If you had a time machine, what are some of the things you would tell your younger self to do differently?
Macdonald: (laughs) I’m not going to point out my flaws here.
Q: When you put it like that, it sounds kind of bad. But they don’t have to be flaws; they can be something positive like “don’t stress out so much.”
MacDonald: “Don’t stress out so much” is definitely something I would say. The thing is everyone has their own process so it’s hard to go back and think of things I’d want to do differently.
Q: The world of competitive puzzle building is something we don’t see onscreen often…
Macdonald: (laughs) Quite rightly.
Q: And yet you’ve made it feel engaging and cinematic. How easy or difficult was it to accomplish that?
Turtletaub: Thank you. Making a movie about someone who makes jigsaw puzzles is not the first thing you think of when you want to make a movie. I think the reason it works so well is because we focused on the performances and the relationships. That’s what the movie is truly about.
Q: Kelly, is there a performance you feel has been underrated in your career?
Macdonald: (laughs) Oh, God! I don’t know how to answer that.
Q: Something that you feel proud of that you wish more people would discover?
Macdonald: Actually, I worked with the very talented Benedict Cumberbatch on a TV drama called The Child in Time. He is so good in it, and I’m not sure it got the recognition it deserved.
Q: When I spoke to Danny Boyle last year for T2-Trainspotting, he said the two things audiences kept begging him to put in the sequel were a great soundtrack and more Kelly MacDonald. How involved were you in the process of making that movie?
Macdonald: I was very last minute. I heard they were already shooting in Glasgow and then I got a message saying they wanted a chat. I figured it was either them coming to tell me I’m not in the film, and here’s why, or the other — and it was the other.
Q: I wish there was more of you in the movie.
Macdonald: Thank you. We shot another scene; it’s probably on a DVD extra.
Q: You’re going around from city to city and sometimes you’re answering a lot of the same questions over and over again. Is there one question you wish people would stop asking you?
Macdonald: It’s champagne problems, but me telling the story of how I got the part in the original Trainspotting is the hit record I have to keep singing.
Q: Is it a small price to pay?
Macdonald: Yes, absolutely.
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Puzzle opens today in limited release in Bay Area theaters.
