In Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day, a transcript of a lost recording from an abandoned book by writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) becomes the basis for a dramatization of the conversation she had one 1974 day with photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw), which covers art, memory, relationships, and things as simple as what he had to eat that day.
Awards Buzz spoke with Hall about having the real Linda as a possible resource:
“Ben did not have that advantage with Peter, and it’s an advantage and possibly a disadvantage, you know? I think it’s important to be able to, even when you are playing someone who exists, who is alive, it’s important to find a way into it that is yours because ultimately it’s not – we have two different bodies, two different vocal boxes. So you have to find a way that honors that person in a way that feels comfortable to you as an actor. But I did want to talk to Linda and I did want to get to know her and all of that and absorb as much as I could because she’s an astonishing human. I just wanted to soak up as much of that as possible. So I did speak to her. I tried really hard to get stories from the time and hear her talk about Peter, but I could tell that it was sort of painful for her to talk about it. She loved him very much and their friendship was very special, but that gave me a lot of information in itself. Also, she’s very resistant to talking about herself at all. I think she spent a lifetime interviewing other people. She’s not a natural subject. She’s much more comfortable being the interviewer.”
Watch the video above to hear Hall’s reflections on some of her key roles, including her first film role in Starter for 10 along with some other big names who have had quite the journey since then.
Peter Hujar’s Day is available on VOD.
