Well-written characters are nothing, though, without good actors, and I was privileged to have worked with a handful of brilliant ones in this film: Jennifer Connelly, an actress of immense talent, intelligence and sensibility, one of the most giving individuals I have ever worked with. Tim Roth, the ultimate chameleon, whom I love as an actor, director and now friend. John C. Reilly, an extraordinary improviser, an actor who can reinterpret a monologue through as many takes as you’d like, all great. Pete Postlethwaite, a Shakespearean actor of great depth and integrity.
Cinema is very much a collective creation, and a director is anchorless without the ones with whom he works intimately. Cinematographer Affonso Beato, with whom I have worked many times on documentaries in Brazil, was vital in the design of the visual language of this film. Editor Daniel Rezende, who cut “Motorcycle Diaries” and “City of God,” is more than a trusted collaborator—he is brilliant in the editing room. Composer Angelo Badalamenti has been one of my filmic heroes for years, and working with such a talented, generous man was a beautiful gift. Mixer Scott Millan can make any film sound better than it truly is, and I have learned a great deal with him. Production designer Therese DePrez, whose work I had admired in “American Beauty,” managed to miraculously recreate the stark reality of New York City’s Roosevelt Island on the stage, with the help of her close friend and collaborator, talented costume designer Michael Wilkinson.
Roosevelt Island, incidentally, is one of the central characters in DARK WATER. Visiting it for the first time was one of the factors that made me decide to do this film. This short stream of land is just a tram ride away from one of the richest places in the world—Manhattan. Yet, it’s populated by immigrants of all kinds and also patients of the hospital that lies on the island, often solitary, elderly people—the disinherited of the city. In a strange manner, it reminded me of Akira Kurosawa’s “High and Low.” The haves and have-nots facing each other. Only the dark water of a river separated them.
In the interview mentioned earlier, Kubrick also said that when a story has supernatural elements, it must be anchored in the most realistic manner: “Ghosts are only ethereal and transparent in films. From the more convincing accounts I have read of people who have reported seeing ghosts, they were invariably described as being as solid and as real as people in the streets.” In DARK WATER, we tried, collectively, to insert the characters in a human and physical geography that is as real as possible. But at the same time, we tried to abandon the limits of rationality and accept that there is a territory that exists beyond that which we can make sense of.
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