Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1513564
48 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E and then I'll put it together. He's not far away while I'm doing that. With "Coup de Chance," I had to have two scripts: a French and an English. I speak French as well as you could expect for someone who studied it a long time ago, so I felt comfortable enough with the language, reading it and listening to it, but I hired a French assistant, Hadrien Nicoloso, who could tell me if I made a mistake. If I thought that a cheat worked, I had Hadrien there to tell me whether or not it was something I could get away with; or if I unintentionally dropped a word or if a syllable got by me, or occasionally a flub in a line reading that I thought was acceptable. In a Woody film, the stammering that seems so natural isn't something that I necessarily would cut around. But what seems like a natural stammer might actually be that the actor was just forgetting their line. That was new to the process. But otherwise, we put together a first assembly, screen it on the big screen, make changes, and screen it over and over again until we feel it's where it needs to be. CineMontage: What sort of coverage do you get from him, and where does he put his focus when choosing a take? Lepselter: He shoots limited coverage, and he doesn't shoot a lot of takes because he knows what he wants. I think he directs efficiently. When deciding between takes, it's almost always about performance, but it's also about camera and the rhythm. There aren't a ton of choices, but the ac- tors will give you different performances. So, it's about tone and how we feel the scene is best represented. CineMontage: Have you seen his process or emphasis change over time? Lepselter: He's become more relaxed about certain things and more concerned about others. He's certainly more trusting of me after working together for so many years. If we disagree on something, I'll push him twice, not three times, because I feel like it's my job to point out something when I don't agree with him. But he's the director. So, I have to find a way to get my point across. Now it's nice to not feel like I have to work as hard for him to understand me. We have a much easier rapport so that if I am trying to convince him to look at something another way, he's much more receptive to it. CineMontage: "Coup de Chance" has a suspense element but it doesn't fully lean into the genre. Can you talk about how you found the tone? Lepselter: We f ind it as we go. This particular film was a little tricky because you want it to be suspenseful and to move quickly. But it is also a relationship drama that shouldn't feel like a horror movie. That was something that we worked with a lot. The main character, Jean, had to be scary enough, but you don't want him to be a monster. You want him to be a believ- able character. That was one of the more challenging aspects of this film: how to get the tone right for someone who is clearly a problematic character, while keeping him believable and not a cartoon. CineMontage: Do you think that depend- ed more on finding the performance or on leaving moments out? Lepselter: It was a combination of both. There were things that we left out that were too leading or too over the top. It was paring it down from some of the things that were on the page where, once we saw the whole, made it feel less believable. CineMontage: He has said this will be his last film. Do you believe it, and did that impact your approach to it? Lepselter: I think he backtracked on that, and I don't think that's what he meant. I mean, it could conceivably be, but if some- thing came along that he wanted to do, he wouldn't say that he wouldn't do it. CineMontage: Having such an inside view, what do you think his contribution to film has been? What dierentiates him? Lepselter: He's a distinctive filmmaker with such a specific style. Obviously, the fact that he's made almost a film a year for so many years is a big part of it. I think the fact that he's so prodigiously talented and prolific is an enormous contribution. Just the sheer number of different films that he's made. Comedies obviously, but also dramas. The characters that he's created have become some of the most important characters to film lovers everywhere. I grew up watching Woody Allen films. Never in a million years did I think I'd be lucky enough to work on them. ■ AUTEUR: Woody Allen at the 80th Venice International Film Festival 2023. P H OT O : A L A M Y