Sally Potter joins Scott Tallal and Jenny Curtis on Hollywood Unscripted to discuss her new film, The Roads Not Taken. Sally explains what her goal was for exploring this subject matter (0:53) and her personal experience with dementia (1:50).

 

They discuss the character of Molly (4:16) and the character’s similarities to Sally’s work-caretaker balance (4:57). Sally reveals the challenge of finding investors versus the ease of signing on actors (5:46). Sally reviews her process of casting and developing the characters further (7:13). She reveals how Selma Hayek and Javier Bardem’s friendship affected their behavior on set (8:26). She raves about Elle Fanning, having worked with her as a child and an adult (9:25). Sally then reveals why she does not write with specific actors in mind for roles (10:00).

 

Sally dissects the feelings behind her personal experiences in grief and loss (11:09), how that did or did not affect her during the making of the film (12:22) and how she does not use her work to process those feelings (13:22).

Sally describes her collaboration with cinematographer Robbie Ryan (15:25) and the production designer of the film, Carlos Conti (17:06). She discusses the transitional gestures written into the script (18:08). She explains how she came to be credited as an editor on the film (18:54) and how she faced challenges in communicating the story to audiences (19:54).

 

She reviews her process in composing the music for the film (22:10) and then explains why she changed from the original title, Molly (23:44). Sally also explains her takeaway from The Roads Not Taken (25:19) and how she lets her films reveal to her how they need to be told (28:10).