All I See Is You is an intriguing psychological thriller out to own, starring Blake Lively and Jason Clarke. Lively plays Gina, a young blind woman whose life and indeed character changes forever when her sight is restored.
Versatile star and Hollywood royalty Danny Huston is Doctor Hughes, the man who sets the film’s intense chain of events in motion. Huston has played villains in varied offerings such as 30 Days Of Night and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as well as Orson Welles in the mystery Fade To Black. We sat down to discuss the making of a movie with more POV than most…
THN: Tell us about what brought you to the project and a bit about your character.
Danny Huston: Marc Forster (director) is someone I’ve known since we were starting our careers and I was delighted to be a part of it. What I liked about my character is that I’m in charge of vision, which is what film is. The lens in a camera is like the iris. I help the main character see more clearly.
Blake Lively is really starting to break out in terms of being a movie lead. This was quite a challenging role for her I imagine…?
She was an absolute delight. Why would I say anything else? (Laughs) I loved the way she transformed, the way she began to view the world and how she changed, both in her exterior and emotionally. She has this emancipation and becomes a different woman. That’s a wonderful arc to play.
Marc Forster takes a very elegant but sinister approach to the visuals. Was that in the script? Did you have an idea of what was going to be onscreen as you were shooting?
It was in the script. Of course, I didn’t know how exactly it was going to look. The camera was unusual in this film in that it was like a character that you would look at and refer to. Marc used different devices to create this, the being that was Blake’s character. There was a camera that had antlers on it! I’ve worked in movies where I’ve looked into the camera before for my eyeline, but I’ve never had a camera that I spoke to as a fellow actor.
You’re also a director. Do you think that gives you a greater insight into the films you work on?
We’re all there to serve the story with a different job and a different approach. From the crew to the director everyone is different and that keeps you on your toes. Ultimately you’re in a world where hopefully the director has the vision but what unites everyone is the story.
You’ve got a diverse CV full of contrasting films. Is there a difference as an actor working on a smaller movie like Birth and a big spectacle like Wonder Woman?
I don’t really see the difference between a big film and a low budget film in all truth. But with every project I almost feel like an amateur. I never really know what to expect. I always have my nerves and my adrenaline. I don’t differentiate between big budget and low budget or genre for that matter.
One of your upcoming releases is Stan & Ollie, starring Steve Coogan and John C Reilly as Laurel & Hardy (he plays producer Hal Roach). What was that experience like?
We shot that at Twickenham Studios. I grew up watching Laurel & Hardy movies so when John walked in as Oliver Hardy with his prosthetics… I was speechless! With him and Steve it really is uncanny.
All I See Is You is available on digital and DVD now.
