WI LD ROSE | DRAMA
We speak to director Tom Harper and colourist Simone Grattarola about the making of Wild Rose, a new country music drama starring Jessie Buckley and Julie Walters BORN TO BE WILD
WORDS JULI AN M ITCHELL / PICTURES BFI FI LM FUND
I f the 2019 Oscars offer evidence of a rising trend, it’s one involving features with musical motifs. They’re no longer simply just blockbusters aimed at entertainment: they now have the capacity to regularly break records, too. Winner of four Academy Awards, Bohemian Rhapsody has made history as the highest-grossing music biopic ever made, while A Star is Born features a soundtrack that rose to number one on the Billboard 200 – and won Lady Gaga her first Academy Award statuette. Then there’s Wild Rose – a new indie feature that promises to capitalise on the ever-growing hunger for music-inspired drama, while simultaneously delivering several completely unexpected twists to the
traditional rising-star narrative audiences might have come to expect. Directed by Tom Harper and graded by Time Based Arts’ Simone Grattarola, with cinematography by George Steel, the film tells the story of Rose-Lynn Harlan, a brazen talent from Glasgow whose dream is to go to Nashville to become a country music star. Her personal problems, however, have the potential to get in the way. The film begins right after Rose-Lynn’s release from prison, where she’s served a year-long sentence on drug offences. Definition spoke to Harper and Grattarola – who graded the feature in Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve – about how they ensured an unsympathetic heroine was nonetheless also relatable.
IMAGES The wild rose herself, Jessie Buckley (top), and DOP George Steel setting up a shot (above)
DEFINITION: How did you first become involved in Wild Rose ? TOMHARPER: I initially heard about it ten years ago, when the film’s scriptwriter, Nicole Taylor, began working on it. It wasn’t until about a year before we started shooting, though, that I read the script after going for a cup of tea with producer Faye Ward. She was just starting to get the project off the ground, and as soon as I read the script, I fell in love with it. I knew I had to get Jessie Buckley on board. We worked together on BBC’s War & Peace and, as both a singer and an actress, I knew the lead role was perfect for her immediately.
MAY 20 1 9 | DEF I N I T ION 31
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