TIFF24: Cinematographer Luc Montpellier Talks “On Swift Horses”
This review was originally posted on Film Obsessive.
Behind the camera for On Swift Horses, a new film premiering at 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, is is Luc Montpellier. Directed by Daniel Minahan, the film brings audiences back in time to the 1950s, weaving a tale of self-discovery for its two leads: Muriel (Daisy Edgar Jones) and Julius (Jacob Elordi). Muriel is married to Julius’ brother Lee (Will Poulter) and the two become pen pals of sorts with Muriel in San Diego and Julius in Las Vegas. The two find themselves in search of a better life by way of gambling and their queer desires. Montpellier, most known for his work on Sarah Polley’s stunning Women Talking, tackles another literary adaptation with On Swift Horses.
Fresh off the world premiere of On Swift Horses, Montpellier sat down with Film Obsessive’s News Editor, Tina Kakadelis, to talk about the struggles of adapting a beloved novel, the juxtaposition of queer desire and the Eisenhower era, and what it means to have the film premiere in his hometown. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
courtesy of TIFF
Film Obsessive: How’s your morning going so far?
Luc Montpellier: Good, good! How about you? Are you in Toronto? I see your TIFF Lanyard.
I am. Yeah, I’m in the Lightbox right now.
Oh, brilliant, brilliant! Well, thanks for taking the time.
Absolutely! My first question is how you got involved with On Swift Horses. I heard that it was based on your beautiful work in Women Talking. Once you were approached, what made you interested in the story of On Swift Horses?
That’s a good question. Yes, about two weeks after we had wrapped post production on Women Talking, I guess the film was starting to make the rounds in Hollywood. Agents were wanting to see the film. There’s kind of a process where people look at it. Peter Spears, our producer, had seen the film because his husband is an agent and I know he’s friends with Dede Gardner, the producer. Literally a week after that, I got a call with this script. To me, getting a job based on previous work is always a great way to get something. I’m so proud of Women Talking and it’s one of the hardest films I’ve been involved with. We had an evolution of two people in a room to another three people in a room, and now there’s twelve people. But it’s all about the human condition.
The sense of responsibility was very big. When I read the script for On Swift Horses, it all made sense to me. This, at the core of the film, is about yet another human condition in a certain period of time. I have to admit I’m loving the film medium and being involved as a cinematographer with filmmakers that are trying to use the medium to say something. It gives you a sense of purpose. I love being entertained, and I’ve worked on genre things. And in a way, we’re still connecting as people, even though things are blowing up, or whatever. All the best films, I think, that people connect with are always when there’s human connection. Or you can see maybe a version of yourself or know someone.
Obviously, On Swift Horses is no exception. I mean, today, we have the language to talk about LGBTQ+ topics, fluidity, sexuality, and romantic interest. All of that is starting to happen. There’s an acceptance. We still have a ways to go, but, to me, that was the similarity with Women Talking. It was a group of people that were not able to live their true inner selves. How did people choose to live their lives? What were the challenges? [Director] Dan [Minahan] said, this is a very unconventional love story. It’s the idea of not just going boy meets girl, girl meets boy. There’s brotherly love, too. It just deals with all kinds of flavors of love. To me it was, how do I best support this through imagery?
With Women Talking, the way that you shot the film is very empowering to a group of people that obviously don’t have a ton of power, especially in terms of that film. With On Swift Horses, you were telling an LGBT story in a time, like you said, that is the Eisenhower era. It inherently has Americana imagery. How did you approach telling a distinctly queer story in a time when we weren’t talking about it like we are now?
Dan, the entire creative team, and I spoke a lot about juxtaposing. That was important. We wanted to create this epic Americana imagery, that kind of harkens to what people might think the American dream was, but because it was being told through an LGBTQ+ lens, a lot of that interaction was happening behind closed doors so people couldn’t see it. In a sense, it was important to create the American dream, the imagery, the epicness, the widescreen, and the textures without romanticizing it too much because, as modern viewers, you could have been disconnected from being in the room with these characters. It’s a real fine line we had to do in our design.
Courtesy of Shelter PR.
Then, these beautiful moments with, let’s say, Jacob [Elordi] and and Diego [Calva]’s characters when they’re able to live their true lives where light becomes a lot more organic and dirty and flary and handheld. These juxtapositions were what I was hoping would tell that story. I know Dan had given us that kind of mandate. We looked at a lot of documentary photographs. Gordon Parks was a big one. These kind of immediate photos. John Koch was a painter we looked at for the naturalism of light.
Because we were dealing with the American dream, we tried to stay away from film references. We needed to kind of disconnect ourselves, but also understand that all of that existed. How do you trick an audience in rethinking what they thought was this perfect society at the time?
In a way, we just didn’t want to mimic a classic film scene. People have said, hey, there’s some noir, but we didn’t try to go noir in visual style. We went noir in character style in a kind of a subtle way when Jacob’s character goes into the underworld. That’s a very Noirish thing, but I didn’t want to light it in a fantastical way. I needed it to feel real.
It’s a very complicated dance because there’s so many things firing at the same time. Erin [Magill], our production designer, in the tone she chose, it needed to feel 50s. Or Jeriana [San Juan], our costume designer, too. It couldn’t be too much. We needed you to feel like you were in the room. Juxtaposing the epic and the personal was an important one.
I grew up on Bruce Springsteen music and I’m gay, so I’m always very interested in how the queer lens comes into these stories with the big, beautiful Americana imagery. These people have always existed, so it’s nice that these stories are being told and you still get that epic sense of feeling.
Very much. I’m happy that resonated.
On Swift Horses is a book by Shannon Pufahl. Did you refer to the novel before as a way of planning the shoot?
You know what? That’s an interesting question. I was going to read the novel, but Dan knew the source material quite well. For Women Talking, I read the novel. For On Swift Horses, Dan preferred that I didn’t.
When you adapt from a literary piece to a film, a lot of people that are fans of the book get very critical about what’s in the movie or not in the movie. It’s a very different thing when you have three chapters to describe a character’s feelings, but you have maybe a scene or two in the film.
Now, I’m not a screenwriter, but I’ve also talked to people like Sarah and Dan about that whole thing. I have a daughter who’s a huge reader and she always gets upset when she sees a film that’s not like the book. Dan was my conduit because, as a gay man, he identified with the material. Also Peter Spears, our producer. They were my North star because I think the way you tell this story is through a very personal lens. I relied on Dan’s input, or exposure to the source material. So to me, that’s where I kind of decided to draw my line. At the end of the day, my job is to create an environment for characters, using my piece of the filmmaking process to support them in the best way to create the period without romanticizing it.
Dan and I sat at length in his apartment in Los Angeles every day and just talked about life. Talked about his experiences because I needed to hear that. I’m a straight man, but we all have similar struggles as human beings. So for me, I felt that I needed to connect with him and his experiences. We became quite close during those sessions. We didn’t have a big budget, but we’re doing a period film and, as you can see, there’s a lot of production things that would get in the way.
He was very interested in how Sarah [Polley] and I worked. He said, how did you guys work on Women Talking? He was very open to shaking things up. I love that openness with him and his ability to get to the core of humanity.
I’m a very technical person, but what I love is that intersection. I never think technical. First, I think, what am I doing? What is our mission visually? That means I have to connect with directors and kinda and say, let’s play in the sandbox together. Dan was amazing that way. He really brought me into the fold.
My last question is just a quick one. You’re Canadian. What does it mean to be able to have this premiere at this festival?
I love it. Especially Toronto and TIFF. I went to film school in Toronto. I live in Toronto. I split my time between California and here, because I’m curious about projects everywhere. I’ve been born of the independent film community in Toronto, especially with Sarah [Polley] as a director. Every one of her films has done TIFF because she’s a very local filmmaker. To me, this is like being home. To have a premiere of a film that I’ve made elsewhere, somewhere in the world just feels so great. Even our producers are saying, it’s your hometown. We’re so happy to be premiering here.
I’m so thrilled. I think Toronto is one of the best festivals. As a journalist, you must know that our crowds are obsessive film goers. I love what happens to the city. I love the chaos of it all. I’m so proud of this film showing here. I feel I can be on the ground more because you don’t always get invited to other things. You know, it’s about the performers, as it should be. They’re the conduit. I’m happy to be talking about the film in my own city.
It’s the actor, but then someone’s got to make the actor look good, you know?
Absolutely, and it is a dance between the two. This cast knew that and they were so game to be part of the picture as well to create an emotion. We all have our place in the storytelling thing, but they were so game. They understood we were trying to create a safe space for them. It’s a really rare experience.
Well, thank you so much for your time and congratulations on a lovely film.
Thank you, Tina, for taking the time. It was a real pleasure talking to you.
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