PRISONERS : Postscripts

[njr]

^ I live in the Atlanta area, but not near where this was filmed. Could have driven over there, but was just too lazy to drive 30 or so miles! 😂

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

May 12, 2017 2:43:07 GMT -5 jo said:

I cannot place this scene -- you have to expand the frame to be able to see the details.




Caption: In the studio as HJ as Keller Dover looks for loved ones in PRISONERS.


Presumably the photographer is referring to a sound stage ( the studio) where other filming takes place.

But I cannot remember any such scene from the movie itself --

Keller Dover is shown with blood on the righthand side of his face.

And presumably Anna is that little girl sitting on the floor?




Hmm... I wonder if this is the alternate scene that was shot -- presumably when he has been rescued ( and then brought up to the house of the old lady, where his family was waiting)? He is wearing the same jacket as in the scene where the old lady is pointing a gun at him in her kitchen ( which was followed by the scene where he was shot and told to go down the underground place). Interesting! I could be all wrong ... but

The stairs look like the entrance to the house of the old lady and Alex ( the Dovers house's entrance looked different). Did they toy with a different climax to the movie? I read the original script ( Black List) and it was quite faithful to the screen version we saw. Hmmm...


Btw, I have never seen how a soundstage is used for filming more intimate scenes like this. In the filmed version of Oklahoma!, they showed how a big stage was created for the scene featuring THE COWMAN AND THE FARMER.


Jo

[jo]

theplaylist.net/denis-villeneuve-prisoners-ending-20200711/

Denis Villeneuve Shot Two Endings To His Thriller ‘Prisoners’
Rafael Motamayor July 11, 2020 4:53 pm News

Before he moved on to big-budget arthouse blockbusters like “Blade Runner 2049” and his upcoming “Dune,” Denis Villeneuve made a big first impression with his English-language debut “Prisoners.” The film was exquisitely shot, and managed to maintain suspense throughout its runtime, leaving the audience with an ambiguous ending. But it seems like we could have got a different ending to the film, as Villeneuve reveals he shot two endings to “Prisoners.”



Speaking with frequent collaborator Roger Deakins in the latest episode of his Team Deakins podcast, the two revisited their inaugural collaboration on “Prisoners.” Despite this being the first time Villeneuve worked with Hollywood studios, the director said he didn’t feel constricted at all. On the contrary, he decided to shoot two endings alongside Roger Deakins, an unusual move for a director making his studio debut. According to James Ellis Deakins, the producers decided to pick whichever ending tested higher and put it in the movie.

“It’s true. They didn’t shape the edit, but there were two endings because they felt my idea, which was closer to the screenplay, was maybe too much depressing and not commercial enough,” Villeneuve said. “I remember we tested both, and they came to me saying they scored equally and that maybe mine was better so they went with mine. It was a beautiful experience.”

In “Prisoners,” we follow Jake Gyllenhaal‘s Loki, a detective investigating the abduction of two young girls, and what happens when one of the girls’ fathers (played by Hugh Jackman) takes matters into his own hands. In the original ending, Jackman’s character, Dover, is imprisoned in a hidden pit, and we fade to black as Loki hears Dover blowing a whistle —but it is heavily Loki saves him. We see that Detective Loki hears the whistle and given the character is absolutely tenacious with uncovering all details, we know he will eventually find and save Dover.



In a 2013 interview with Buzzfeed, screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski shines a light on what was in the alternate ending. “They move the car. They see [Hugh Jackman] down there. You know he’s going to be taken out of the hole. I like it much better being ambiguous. Even though you assume that’s what’s probably going to happen, I like that there’s a small chance that he’s not going to get him out of there for whatever reason.”

[jo]

Translated from French by Google

(Sorry i'll write in french)
It's true that I didn't pay too much attention to it, and that indeed I had noticed some excellent character developments but I forgot to mention it since I wrote these tweets right after seeing the film without thinking too much.

[jo]

A lot of people are awed by this movie - and many calling it as Hugh Jackman's best career performance!

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

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[jo]

[jo]

What I find remarkable was that while filming PRISONERS, Hugh was also spending weekends in Hollywood doing screenings and Q&A's for the Oscar campaign of Les Miserables!


Jo

[jo]

[jo]

Paul Dano Didn’t Want to Do ‘Prisoners,’ but ‘Massive Crush’ on Roger Deakins Sold Him
"Did I want to play that part? No. Like really, no," Dano said of the psychological thriller directed by Denis Villeneuve that took a toll on his "mental health."

Samantha Bergeson

Oct 18, 2022 7:00 pm

Paul Dano in Prisoners
“Prisoners”

Paul Dano has played a “Batman” villain and a Beach Boy, but the Emmy nominee had no desire to play a presumed child kidnapper in “Prisoners.”

The Denis Villeneuve-directed film stars Hugh Jackman, Viola Davis, and Terence Howard as parents whose children are taken. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the detective on the case, as the local community fingers Dano’s character and his suspicious mother (Melissa Leo) as being involved. The 2013 film was nominated for Best Cinematography for Roger Deakins’ work.

“People love ‘Prisoners,'” Dano said while reflecting on his best roles for a GQ video. “This is one of those that you don’t really want to do, but you do, if you know what I mean.”

He continued, “I’d seen Denis’ film ‘Incendies,’ and he told me Roger Deakins was shooting it, who I had a massive crush on. Did I want to play that part? No. Like really, no. But like…yeah.”

Dano recalled the revelation that he could “actually see it” and found the way into the controversial character by embracing a physical transformation. “Then soon enough you’re doing it,” the “Batman” star said. “One of the important moments in the development of that was just, I remember thinking, ‘OK, if you’ve had that much trauma as a kid, and now what happens when we’re scared? What happens to our body?’ And just like, ‘OK, what would happen if you kept living with that?'”

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The “Wildlife” director added, “So for me, the way into that character was just through the physicality of how I helped my body and my jaw even because I needed to find a way out from it for my own mental health. I needed to find a way to step in and out of that. I knew I did not want to engage with that material.”

Unlike portraying Brian Wilson in “Love & Mercy,” Dano wanted to discard his “Prisoners” persona immediately.

“For ‘Love & Mercy,’ that’s something where you’re going to stay in the soup for the time you’re doing it,” Dano said. “But with something like this, how do I, Paul, come out of it? If my body’s like this, then I’m entering into that character and then can I exit out of it easier?”

Dano credited co-star Hugh Jackson for easing the process.

“Luckily Hugh Jackman was the nicest man in the world. It’s true what everybody says. He’s just a super sweetie,” Dano said. “And so if you’re going to get beaten up by somebody, it’s nice to have Hugh on the other end of it.”

[jo]

[jo]

PRISONERS is all over Netflix and social media is full of praise --

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

Quite a few twitter comments of exactly the same vein.


jo

[jo]

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[jo]