Jules Director Marc Turtletaub Discusses The Genre-Bending Drama & Practical Effects Challenges (2024)

Jules

Jules Director Marc Turtletaub Discusses The Genre-Bending Drama & Practical Effects Challenges (1)

By Grant Hermanns

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Jules

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Summary

  • Jules is a charming and compelling movie that emphasizes the importance of community, especially in later years.
  • Director Marc Turtletaub wanted the alien in the film to be portrayed by a real actor in a costume, rather than using CGI effects, to maintain a focus on interpersonal relationships.
  • The cast of Jules, including Sir Ben Kingsley, was able to deliver emotional and vulnerable performances due to the trust fostered by the director, who allowed the actors to bring their own interpretations to the scenes.

Prepare for an out-of-world reminder of the importance of friendship in Jules. The movie centers on an elderly man living in a quiet Pennsylvania town who is thrust into a tense bond with two nosy neighbors after a UFO crashes in his backyard and brings with it a curious extraterrestrial.

Sir Ben Kingsley leads the cast for Jules, which also includes Harriet Sansom Harris, Jane Curtin, Zoë Winters, and Jade Quon. Never straying too far from its human story while utilizing its sci-fi concept for emotional character drama, the movie is a charming and compelling look at the importance of community, especially in later years.

Related: Best Upcoming Sci-Fi Movies of 2023

Ahead of the movie's release, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with director Marc Turtletaub to discuss Jules, the practical challenges of the movie's sci-fi elements, and building trust with his cast to achieve the emotional vulnerability of their characters. Note: This interview was conducted before the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in WGA and SAG-AFTRA.

Marc Turtletaub Talks Jules

Jules Director Marc Turtletaub Discusses The Genre-Bending Drama & Practical Effects Challenges (5)

Screen Rant: Jules is really quite a beautiful movie. It's a charming character drama with a little bit of a twist in there. What about Gavin's script caught your attention, and how did you even come across the script in the first place?

Marc Turtletaub: It was sent to me by producers, Debbie Liebling and Andy Daly, who had developed it for a couple years, Grant, and when I read it, I went like, "Wow, all of those different elements in one package is so unusual." It's got a bit of a 1950s sci-fi feel to it, it's got a story which has a lot of heart and pathos about a guy who's beginning to lose some of his faculties. It's got a buddy element, and we have three folks that are finding friendship later in life. It's got wild humor, and crazy inventiveness, and it's got a 4'11" alien. Those things don't usually go together, and when I read it, I said, "Okay, you're not going to find two other movies like this in the next five years. This is one of a kind."

It feels just like a normal grounded drama, but even when you throw the alien in there, it still somehow fits just right. I love that you mentioned the 1950s sci-fi nature to it, because I was curious how the design of the alien came about. Was that something in the script, was that something that you felt you wanted to go for in designing Jules?

Marc Turtletaub: Yeah, it's something I wanted. I could have done it CGI, we could have done it with all those effects, there are a few effects, but not a lot. I just didn't feel like that's what the movie was about, it was about the interpersonal relationships with these people, and how this 4'11" alien helps them to find connection. For me, that's not a big CGI thing. Also, if you do CGI, then the actor is acting against a stick with a ball on the top of it. That's what Sir Ben Kingsley said to me when we first read it, he said, "Oh, I hope I won't be acting against a stick." So, the whole idea that we had a real person in the costume, and you had a very practical ship in the backyard, gave something tangible to ground the film, so that was just the vision I had from the beginning.

Jules Director Marc Turtletaub Discusses The Genre-Bending Drama & Practical Effects Challenges (6)

Did the budget provide any practical challenges in suiting someone up as a little gray man every day, as well as having that ship in the background?

Marc Turtletaub: Yeah, the practical challenges are both practical and human challenges. To the practical, it's, "How the hell do you put together a spaceship in somebody's backyard and then move it 60 miles to another location?" which is what we had to do — or 40 miles — to another location. We had to take it apart in eight pieces and reassemble it, and even in the backyard, when it moves from one location to another, we had to pick it up, take it, take it apart, reassemble it in the backyard, and then in the effects, they make the movement happen. But we had to move it from one location to another, so it's beyond me how somebody can do all that. But thank God, we had a great production designer. So, that's the sort of practical challenges of it.

The human challenge is that you had a woman Jade Quon playing the alien, and it would take her sometimes four to five hours a day to put that costume on. Then, she had to go to work, and then an hour and a quarter to take it off, she had to perform, right? [Chuckles] So, the work just begins after she's got the costume on, and so that's the human cost, and she was amazing, because she said, "In every scene, I want to be fully present." It enables the other actors to really have somebody to play off of.

This is a movie that really does need a phenomenal cast to carry this story throughout. I'm curious to hear about the casting process, and how you went about finding the right people for each role.

Marc Turtletaub: Well, I immediately thought of Sir Ben, as he is called, and within five days, all of the key cast said, "Yes," which never happens. It's rare that that happens, but they all read it, and had the same response to the screenplay I did, which is, "I need to be in this, I need to be part of this." So, we were quite fortunate to get the people that we wanted, and then it's a matter of blending, and not just those three key, but also you have Zoë Winters, and you have Jade Quon, you have these other characters that are critical to the movie.

All of them signed on very quickly, and the key is to try to get a mixture, because Jane Curtin brings an element to the story, which — I see you smiling immediately, you think of her, and you smile, and you can't help it, because she's funny. But she's also got a certain edge, which the film needs to balance Sir Ben and Harriet Harris, and creates a nice balance in the movie. So, that's all part of the magic of having great actors.

Jules Director Marc Turtletaub Discusses The Genre-Bending Drama & Practical Effects Challenges (7)

This movie requires a lot of vulnerability from your actors, and going to a lot of very emotional places, as they have almost one-sided conversations with Jules throughout the movie. How do you, as a director, go about fostering that trust with your actors to allow themselves to go to those vulnerable places?

Marc Turtletaub: Yeah, it's a great question, Grant. I think the starting off point is when you work with great actors, you get out of their way. Then, they can bring in what they're going to bring in, so I try not to rehearse. Sometimes an actor will say, "Oh, I really want to walk through the scene," or, "I really want to try rehearsing this," and then we'll do it. But normally, we'll just talk about a scene, talk about where they're going to be physically in the scene, and then let them go, and you can always later on adjust, you can always later on have a conversation about, "How about if we try it this way or that way?" But initially, if you don't get in their way, and you have great actors, they're going to surprise you, and that surprise may not be what you thought it should be, it may be much better.

Is there a moment that you can think of that's in the final cut of this movie, in which one or multiple actors did bring something that maybe wasn't on the page that just wowed you as you sat back?

Marc Turtletaub: Every day, literally every day. [Chuckles] There's a famous director, who I won't name, who says, "Every time I cast an actor, it's like a little death," and what he means by saying that is, "I know how this scene should play, I know how these words should be said, and if they don't say it exactly that way, it's going to be like a little death. That's not going to be my vision." It takes surprise out of it, it takes the unexpectedness out of it, and so yeah, there are moments in every scene where an actor will do something, say something, use an inflection, move in a way that you could never have envisioned. That's really part of the wonder, the magic of making a movie. Harriet Sansom Harris sitting on the couch and going, [Moves his hands expressively] "It's an alien from another — it's from another galaxy," and she moves her hands like that, you go like, "I would never have thought of that," and yet, it's perfect.

Jules Director Marc Turtletaub Discusses The Genre-Bending Drama & Practical Effects Challenges (8)

Was there any one scene in particular in which you were really excited to get to bring your vision to it, as well as get to see what your actor would bring to that scene?

Marc Turtletaub: No, I don't know that there was any one scene, and there were several scenes where I had great ideas that didn't make it into the movie. I thought they were great ideas, and that's what happens. You have one idea when you read a screenplay, you have another movie that you make, as you know, when you make the movie, then you have the third when it's edited. And in the editing room, I discovered that there were some things which I thought were so great that really didn't quite fit in the tone of the movie, or in the pacing of the movie. Those you just have to let go of, so I wouldn't say there was any one scene that I was expecting to be great, but I was pleasantly surprised throughout the movie.

I really can't wait for people to have a positive experience with it as well. What are you hoping in the lead up to the release that people can take away from this journey?

Marc Turtletaub: Well, first of all, Grant, thank you for getting on with me. It's so important on these independent films, especially during the strike now, it's so critical, because our actors can't go out and get on the morning shows and promote the film. And Sir Ben loves the movie, the cast love the movie, they can't promote it, so what you're doing, and word of mouth, is so important.

If people like the movie, please spread the word. I think what you take away from the movie is that it's heartfelt, and you've said that. It's a story about people finding meaning and connection later in life, and that, to me, is really hopeful. And yet it's done in a package which has wild inventiveness and humor, and we don't usually see those things together, so hopefully that comes through.

About Jules

Jules Director Marc Turtletaub Discusses The Genre-Bending Drama & Practical Effects Challenges (9)

Jules follows Milton (Kingsley) who lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash-land in his backyard. Before long, Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial he calls “Jules.” Things become complicated when two neighbors (Harris and Curtin) discover Jules and the government quickly closes in. What follows is a funny, wildly inventive ride as the three neighbors find meaning and connection later in life - thanks to this unlikely stranger.

Check out our other Jules interview with star Sir Ben Kingsley.

Jules hits theaters on August 11.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

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