Robert Redford called her, 10 years ago, the voice of her generation. He gave Brit Marling (Chicago, 41 years old) her first opportunity in the cinema, indirectly, by selecting her first films (Sound of My Voice and Another land) at the festival created by the legendary actor, Sundance. Today, finally, after the truncated success of The O.A. (cancelled with much controversy in its second season), Marling no longer needs introductions in the industry. Although she decided to take the difficult path, the uncomfortable one, the one that did not accept the stereotypes launched by Hollywood in front of and behind the camera. Placing yourself on the front line of #MeToo. She began writing out of devotion, to tell stories and because she could not find any that represented a real, complex and fair vision of the feminine universe. “I started writing simply because I couldn’t find a way to get into this business. “I cannot play a role that seems to me to be a poor representation of a woman, who is going to be a bad example for a daughter, cousin, friend… I do not think that your dream has to mean sacrificing your principles and your dignity,” she said. in its most recent release mainstream 10 years ago.
Marling doesn’t write historical dramas or romantic comedies. He prefers science fiction, thriller, the almost unclassifiable genre and not usually associated with female creators. She is interested in the relationship of technology with our present and future society, how it impacts power and gender dynamics, how it is the solution and problem of the environmental debacle. We’re talking about someone who was at the top of her class in Economics and Art at Georgetown, who was going to be a top Wall Street investor, perhaps, but who decided to go to Cuba to film “a documentary about artists in a communist country.” Almost 20 years separate that project, Boxers and Ballerinas, of the series that is now premiering, Murder at the end of the world (just released in Disney+), written and directed together with his regular collaborator, one of his best friends from university days, Zal Batmanglij. In it they once again pour all of his social and generational concerns without losing sight of the entertainment of a whodunit (or police story). And a role is left for her on screen with a lot of symbolism.
They have been with this series for more than six years, a story that seems important to you personally and in which many things happen: true crime, research, environmental awareness, technological responsibility… Where did they start?
A lot of things happen [se ríe]. I think that was just the start for Zal and me. There were too many things happening in the world and it seemed impossible to encompass them, understand them, attack them. The gender of whodunit It became popular in the interwar period and today it is a question we ask ourselves in the face of everything that is happening: who did it? Who is responsible? If in the last century this genre took place in an English mansion, today we think that its ideal space would be the fiefdoms. tech from Silicon Valley. We were also fascinated by these amateur detectives who emerge on-line, They organize themselves and, based on their hive mind, solve open cases. And, of course, that a young girl, generation Z, born in this world, can look face to face with a technological billionaire. It seemed like a world that could help us articulate some of those complicated feelings we were having about being alive during these times.
Three years ago she wrote an opinion column about the poor representation of women in film and television. Is this young protagonist of the series, Darby [Emma Corrin, que interpretó a Lady Di en The Crown], an attempt to respond to that claim?
Yes, I wrote that column because I was fighting with myself about the complexity of women in this world, all the violence that exists against women in particular that, in film or television, translates into giving us the role of victim and now, novelty, perpetrator. also of that very masculine violence. Being the naked woman who dies at the end of the first act or the one who fires the gun because she is, as they say, “a strong woman.” But there are other strengths that also come from intuition, intimacy, risk, and vulnerability. I hope Darby is an answer to all that. We deal with violence against women, but we do not gloat in it, we do not show naked bodies covered in blood, we do not traffic in that imagery that floods our world. I wrote the character of Darby thinking about the type of roles I would have liked to find and play when I was that age and were never offered to me. I think this is how feminism or any resistance movement should work: as a multigenerational project. See what you can do to improve the lives of those who come after you.
Is that why she left the role of pioneer and mentor to you? Is it the place it already occupies in the industry?
It’s nice to think that I am, but only the youngest can say it. I wrote my character Lee as that woman who stood out as hacker in a past exclusively of men, but who came out of it burned, harassed, humiliated… I don’t know, because of the strike, how much more I can say about Lee, but I can say that one of the most important things is having a mentor, a reference . And I didn’t have it, I didn’t meet anyone to help me when I got to Los Angeles. It was very hard because I had to discover my path alone and I made many mistakes. And since I can, I try to reverse that, put an end to that competitive idea between women and for male attention and create beautiful relationships of sisterhood.
You have been at the forefront of many demands, do you finally notice that some change is taking place?
It’s really exciting to see that as more women, people of color, queer, or any other previously marginalized group are finding a place in positions of power, the more space there is for those stories that we have been demanding for years. But it is a slow turn that is only emerging, it is just the beginning of everything.
You are the good example of that slow progress. 10 years ago, precisely, he had his big moment in a more masculine Hollywood, but then the cancellation of The OA, With the time it takes to move projects forward…
As a storyteller that I am, my goal is always to take risks, to go a little further. The O.A. It was something new at that time when Netflix was risk-hungry. And even today I receive love from all over the world for that series. I never regret anything because when I write something I always ask what value it will have today, tomorrow and years from now. Yes, it’s been a winding road the last few years, but I’m exactly where I wanted to be: telling stories that matter. I don’t think I will ever stop writing to continue creating opportunities for myself and others, to tell those stories that have been disappearing from our audiovisual landscape. I want stories that take me to places I haven’t been, not to see the umpteenth explosion movie… and this is a bit of what strikes are about, that we are destroying the ecosystem to create new stories for new creators and new audiences. It can’t be all war streamers and earn more money… And, for this reason, I also believe that the use of artificial intelligence is a theft of the original sources, to turn a story into another product.
As they say to Darby in the series, I ask her: is it hard to be the smartest one in the room?
[Se ríe] I wish I could show you my office so you could see the mountains of books and magazines and texts… My feeling is one of absolute humility in the face of all those people who know so much, who write so well… Elena Ferrante, for example, how does she create those worlds, those characters? ? I have always been very aware of how little time we have and I have been very hungry to learn as much as possible. No, I’m not the smartest. The best thing I can do is always be prepared to receive that story that is floating there and I almost serve as a channel to tell it. We are only servants of the queen and the queen is the story.
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