#INTERVIEW: TOM HARPER, NICOLE TAYLOR + JESSIE BUCKLEY ON “WILD ROSE”

By Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong

Wild Rose follows Glasgow born and raised Rose-Lynn (Jessie Buckley) who dreams of escaping to Nashville to become a country music star. It had its World Premiere in the Special Presentations Programme at TIFF ’18. In case you missed it the Film is set to release on February 8, 2019 in the UK and May 10, 2019 in the USA. As of right now there is no Canadian release date but the Film is bought by eOne Films. We were lucky enough to sit down with the star of the Film, Jessie Buckley, along with the Director Tom Harper and Writer Nicole Taylor while they were in Toronto for the Festival.

Q: Glasgow and Rose-Lynn are gritty on the outside but very colourful on the inside. How important was it to write the duality of the two and then make that duality visual?

TAYLOR: Because I’m from there it’s so hard to have any perspective on it. I have not lived there for a very long time, but it’s almost like the longer I live away from it the more respect I have for it. Just as you say, Glasgow has this reputation for being this hard-ass place but the people are so warm, and they chat away whether you want them to or not. Its like the biggest move cliche to say that the city is like a character in the Movie but this is a love letter to Glasgow. And everything I love about Glasgow, the lack as sentimentality, the humour, the way that Rose-Lynn’s mom played by Julie Waters — people just get on with it, they just isn’t no chat. I just love the city.

HARPER: For me it’s like I didn’t know much about Glasgow but obviously I have spent a lot of now for the Film. With the lead up, the locations and the casting and pre-production. It [Glasgow] was amazingly welcoming. You know when you go somewhere and make something somewhere there is always a danger, or you have this fear, that people might not want to, they might question why if you aren’t from somewhere why you would want to be there. But actually what I felt was that there was a great welcoming, like they were saying, “look at our culture, be apart of that culture, tell the stories.” And I think also because people we worked with who read the script were so warming to the Script, and loved it so much that it was sort of easy. That’s one side of it, but the other side is that the Film even though it couldn’t be set anywhere else there are a set of themes. Thematically it resonates with, I think it could be anybody anywhere. So even though in some ways it’s very specific, thematically it’s quite universal. And I think that, having been to Glasgow only a couple of time before reading the script, it didn’t stop me from immediately falling in love with Rose-Lynn and the character and identifying or empathizing with her, particularly with her struggles and hardships.

TAYLOR: You know that thing in Film where its got to be super particular but then also be universal, this couldn’t be more particular it was bloody autobiographical. I had to write this Film about this girl who couldn’t wait to leave this place. But it was so useful to have somebody who didn’t have that relationship with Glasgow, who could find and express that universal energy. Because it’s about someone who just doesn’t belong really to where they come from.

HARPER: That’s a nice way to describe our collaborative working relationship.

Q: Jessie, you have played a lot of authentic characters throughout your career what sets Rose-Lynn apart from the others?

BUCKLEY: She is just herself. With Beast or War and Peace they all have their own little mission, you know? They all have their own little thing they are trying to get something out of their life. And for Rose-Lynn it’s her courage to grab her dream. Even when she knows that the consequences of what that might be for everybody else. And it’s not only destructive to them but also to her. That bold journey of identity where she thinks she needs to go far away from who she is in order to find herself, and at the end she realizes that you can’t do that because it’s who you are is the boldest part of your dream.

eOne Films release WILD ROSE as follows:

June 21, 2019 – Toronto
July 5, 2019 – Vancouver, Montreal
July 12, 2019 – Expands