New period film, The Laureate, is a passionate and unflinching tale of sexual awakening, obsession and jealousy, set during the life of one of the twentieth century’s most popular and influential writers, Robert Graves.
The biopic’s writer, director and producer, William Nunez, is a veteran director of well over 100 commercials and TV programmes, and has even been nominated three times for the Emmy awards in the News and Documentary categories.
His feature film debut, The Laureate, stars Tom Hughes (Victoria), Dianna Agron (Glee) and Laura Haddock (Downton Abbey: A New Era) who, under the filmmaker’s guidance, bring this incredible and shocking true story to life.
The film is set in the mid-1920s, when celebrated poet and writer Robert Graves returns from war traumatised and creatively struggling. It takes young poet Laura Riding to re-ignite Robert’s passion, and with the blessing of his wife, Nancy, his muse becomes his lover. With the three of them sharing a life, Laura’s attention soon turns to Nancy, and a complicated relationship that scandalised society threatens to risk everything they have.
To celebrate the UK release, Nunez tells us about his inspiration behind the film…
Pedro Almodóvar
WN: “I don’t tend to look at specific movies as much as filmmakers. I wanted to give a realistic look to this movie, with a lot of primary colours. So I’m really drawn to the work of Pedro Almodóvar for his visual style. I love Talk to Her which is one of the best films to come out of the century so far, although not everyone agrees with me! I love his story structure. I wish I could come up with something like that!”
Whit Stillman
“Speaking broadly, I’m really inspired by writer-directors as that’s obviously a path I’ve embarked on too, as a filmmaker. I adore the work of Whit Stillman, and his films like Barcelona and Metropolitan are such powerful movies where I feel the writing is so rich. Everything starts from that place”
Alexander Payne
“I’m also a big fan of Alexander Payne, and interestingly movies like Election, Sideways and About Schmidt are all drawn from novels, but he’s able to turn them around and make it a work of his own. Both he and Stillman write and direct beautiful commentaries on society and that really resonates with me.”
Stanley Kubrick
“Of course, Stanley Kubrick has inspired everyone! I love all his films and I rotate on which is my favourite, but Barry Lyndon was a good reference when we made The Laureate. We shot with natural light, but we also benefitted from the foresight of technology and utilising modern cameras which have delicate censors. For example, we wanted a Kubrick style shot during a bath scene in which the fireplace gives the only natural lighting. I think that scene turned out really well.”
“My take on filmmaking is that if you cast it well, and the script is there, you’re 90% home and everything else is the fun part. As a director, you hire actors because they’re the best for each role and if you made the right choice, you have the freedom to focus on the big picture and telling your story.”
Dazzler Media presents The Laureate on Blu-ray, DVD and Download from June 26th.
