Joe Wright moved seamlessly from a BAFTA-winning career as a television director into feature films with "Pride & Prejudice" in 2005. His follow-up, like "Pride" starring Keira Knightley, takes on an only slightly less daunting source than Jane Austen: Ian McEwan's enormously popular novel "Atonement." The director doesn't face these challenges alone, however. His creative team has stayed largely intact throughout his career.
"We're all kind of jamming together," said Wright. "We trust each other to come in at the right moment. And we know each other's weaknesses as well, which is quite important, so you can cover for each other. Well, they cover for me. They've got my back, to use an American phrase."
Award-winning cinematographer Seamus McGarvey shot Wright's first short 13 years ago and has rejoined the Wright team for "Atonement," which opens Dec. 7, and beyond; among the more senior confederates are production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer (art direction Oscar nominees for "Pride"), who have collaborated with Wright seven times. Others include editor Paul Tothill and Oscar nominees Jacqueline Durran (costumes) and Dario Marianelli (music).
The book club meets again
Joe Wright keeps much of his 'Pride & Prejudice' creative team together to tackle Ian McEwan's 'Atonement.' Familiarity breeds confidence, not to mention a curious shorthand phrase or two.
HOLIDAY SNEAKS
THE DIRECTORS
Wright, McGarvey, Greenwood and Spencer sat down at the director's temporary home in the Hollywood Hills (where he's staying while they work on his next film, the Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. drama "The Soloist") on a remarkably windy evening to discuss the abundant pros and imagined cons of working together so often.
"Joe might say what you think is just the daftest -- I'm putting it politely," said Greenwood, "but you know that somewhere in what he said there's a nugget of absolute truth about whatever it is we're trying to achieve."
"Also, we have a shorthand where I can say, 'It's like that,' and Sarah will know what I mean. And Seamus and I are beginning to have that as well. I can say, 'Get your swizzle stick out,' and he knows what I mean," Wright said, eliciting a laugh from his cinematographer.
One motif running through "Atonement" -- in which a young girl's misunderstanding in 1935 has a tragic effect on the future lives of those around her -- is the sound of a typewriter, as an important theme is the imagination of a writer. To that end, the clacking of keys and carriage returns even pop up in the score.
