'Mr. Malcolm's List': Director Emma Holly Jones on the Regency-Era Rom-Com and the Toughest Scene to Shoot

  • 📰 Collider
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 99 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 43%
  • Publisher: 98%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

MrMalcolmsList director Emma Holly Jones discusses making the Regency-era rom-com, which scene was the toughest one to film, and much more.

From director Emma Holly Jones and writer Suzanne Allain , Mr. Malcolm's List is a rom-com with a mountain of familiar genre trappings — only it happens to be set in 1800s England, where the titular Mr. Jeremiah Malcolm is a much sought-after single gentleman who finds himself in want of a wife. The only thorny aspect is that he's made a list of standards that any potential bride is required to meet, and any he finds wanting in some manner is quickly and summarily discarded.

EMMA HOLLY JONES: I actually heard it on the Black List Table Reads podcast. It was a really original way to kind of discover a piece of material because I was driving my car, listening to the podcast, and I heard actors perform the script, so my imagination really did go quite wild because I think there's not much stage description or action description. You're really getting to listen to an interpretation of it by that group of people. I found that really quite a joyful way to...

I know that you all made the short film first to garner interest in a longer feature. As the director, what lessons did you take away from making that short that informed your approach to the feature? Truthfully, then, from a visual standpoint, as a filmmaker, I really, really enjoyed the visuals we had started to develop on the short film. With the feature, you get the opportunity to really put some scale into it, to really put some pace into it. You get to have a couple more tools lying around at your disposal, whether it's drones or steady-cams.

We were, I think, already one week into shooting when this was going on, and Ray Ball, the production designer, called me, and he basically said, "I think we can turn the Hadley Hall drawing-room into the ballroom and do it purposefully." Then I quickly wrote that little bit with John and Molly dancing in the room afterward with all the footmen deconstructing the ballroom.

JONES: Yeah. So the hand thing is like a thing for the Regency romance. I kind of let the fans educate me on that. You know what I mean? Like the scene of the Mr. Darcy hand shake. I so very much wanted... There's actually three little moments in the film, and one's very, very subtle. Obviously, the one with the croquet, which was my one breathe in, breathe out moment. That moment, for me, was about what I realized: this is the first time Selina's probably ever been touched by a man.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 1. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Emma Stone Exits Malibu for Austin, Sells Midcentury-Modern Beach Home for $4.4 MillionEmma Stone has her sights set on Texas after selling her gorgeous beach-front home in California.
Source: SheKnows - 🏆 558. / 51 Read more »

Movies in North Texas theaters on July 8 and coming soonSuperhero flick ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ takes a rom-com approach. Woke Thor will flop epically.
Source: dallasnews - 🏆 18. / 71 Read more »

NY Daily News - We are currently unavailable in your region
Source: NYDailyNews - 🏆 551. / 51 Read more »

Lana Condor Wants You to Know She\u2019s Got the RangeThe actress talks her new Netflix series Boo, Bitch, the politics of Asian onscreen representation, and moving on from the rom-com genre that launched her career.
Source: harpersbazaarus - 🏆 467. / 52 Read more »

Fendi balances past, present in fall/winter 2022 collection, campaignItalian fashion house Fendi has debuted creative director Kim Jones’ fall/winter 2022 collection with a campaign starring American model Bella Hadid.
Source: LuxuryDaily - 🏆 325. / 59 Read more »

Grand jury indicts West Virginia man for fatal Maryland shootingsA West Virginia man accused of fatally shooting three coworkers and wounding an officer responding to the scene in Maryland was indicted by a grand jury last week.
Source: 10News - 🏆 732. / 50 Read more »