JLS: I’m sure each poem is special to you, but is there any in particular that surprised you when it came to life?
JLF: I think for me, Sonny’s [Hall]. He’s been in a couple of shorts, but I didn’t know how good of an actor he is until we filmed him, and his performance was among the best of the entire project. He was very nervous and wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to do it, because for him, the kind of direction was more meticulous because we wanted something a little bit specific. He completely jumped into the role exactly the way we were thinking, because he’s good at complex, precise feelings. There’s a scene of him putting on the headphones – every time I watch that with a group and he starts smiling, you just see everyone start smiling as well. There are other things I like, like the scene of the elderly lady removing her robe in the dressing room, which I think visually must be my favourite.
LL: One that will always resonate with me is the car scene because it was more of an experience with essentially no budget to pull it off. I think it was a surprise to everyone involved because it was quite an adrenaline-infused moment to be in that space and the two cars. Driving, going around shooting non-stop and trying do it in the safest way possible but risking a little bit. Also, the first scene with Pippa [Bennett-Warner] when she’s walking through the hospital, that scene had a specific feeling attached to the writing, and it was very difficult for us to understand the absence that we wanted to talk about in that moment. The writing really comes from more of a darker place than most of the others. We got that space one day before and when we walked into the room with her, the energy in that space was so encompassing of the poem and the way she performed. I felt I was able to translate the feeling that was brought to me when I read the piece Jimmy sent me, not necessarily what many people can get from that piece.

JLS: What do you hope people take from their experience of this installation?
JLF: We’re calling it a film installation. I think the idea behind that is that the environment or the situation in which we present it is important and somehow the experience of people being there and watching it is relevant.
LL: I hope that someone goes in there for however many minutes, in that environment where they’re essentially watching something that’s quite abstract and something is happening but it’s quite banal. I hope that they come out and maybe a week later, maybe a day later, they’re outside on the street and they catch a moment that’s so full of this magnetism, of nothingness, of emotion. I hope they can be like, “That’s another one of the fragments of our funny existence.” You know, the most banal thing can create such a stir. If someone can appreciate those moments and see them with beauty, and see the beauty behind them, this would be really nice.

Indigofera Prima x Wes Lang Blanket £312

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