“It has taken on a life of its own.”
Released in 2015, Carol was something of an immediate landmark movie in the cinematic landscape. The burgeoning but secretive romance between Carol (Cate Blanchett) and Therese (Rooney Mara) got its hooks into viewers straight away, with the movie since becoming a staple not just of the LGBTQ+ community and for those who love forbidden love stories, but also Christmas movies!
The movie was nominated for six Oscars, listed on many Best Of The 2010s articles (including our own), and further cemented director Todd Haynes as a filmmaker of remarkable talent.
Haynes’ previous releases (Velvet Goldmine, I’m Not There, Far From Heaven) have all garnered their own fanbases, but something about Carol struck a different, wider chord.
In the run-up to Haynes’ new movie, ecological true-life drama Dark Waters starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, JOE had the opportunity to chat to the Oscar-nominated director, and the conversation did retrospective on Carol five years on.
“There is just something so remarkable when that happens to something you’ve made and crafted and worked so closely with all of those creative partners and amazing actors on,” Haynes told JOE. “It had a long development process, with Phyllis Nagy’s script, and coming out of that [Patricia Highsmith] novel.
“But it has taken on a life of its own. You feel like, and we all do this with everything we make, you kind of let it out into the world and it finds its family, it finds its people who almost possess more than I do.
“In a way, it is almost like having a kid, who you have to let go of, and you just wish them well. And no matter whether they fail or succeed, you love each one of them, and you want them to be happy. Carol has succeeded and meant so much to so many people, but it is really its own thing. I feel like it is its own thing and I’m just very proud.
“And also, Carol was the first film for me that was from somebody else’s script, and that sort of opened up the doors to projects that had been in development out there that weren’t just my own projects. And it has been a fantastic growth for my career, and it means that I have been making films a little more rapidly in the last five years that I have before.”
Todd Haynes’ new movie Dark Waters is released in Irish cinemas on Friday 28 August, and you can check out the trailer for that movie right here.
You can listen to the interview in full on Spotify here, or via the SoundCloud player below here:
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
