The more I hear about this film, the more I want to see it. Following the video we posted with director James Ponsoldt talking about Smashed, Indiewire caught up with the director and spoke a little bit more about the film. Here’s what he had to say about it:
“My co-writer – Susan Burke – and I set out to write a screenplay about an alcoholic that didn’t deal in objectification. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (who plays our lead, “Kate”) is an amazing, vulnerable, and profoundly empathetic actor, so her ability to fully inhabit the character and make her relatable helped us tremendously. And Susan is sober and has a lot of experience with recovery, so our story should feel authentic.”
“Basically, this was my breakthrough: hire people who are smarter and more talented than yourself, explain your story and ideas clearly, listen to what they have to say and then give them the autonomy and creative freedom to elevate your film. It’s liberating. You can always respectfully disagree if you don’t like something. But to treat everyone as an equal, a collaborator, and to let the best idea win out (wherever it comes from). If a director doesn’t enjoy that, they should probably take up something more solitary, like knitting or whittling.
“I hope audiences like hanging out with the characters in our film; I sure do. And whether “Kate” and “Charlie” – the married couple at the center of “Smashed” – make good partners, or are co-dependent and enable each other’s worst behavior and are better off apart, well, I think it would be great if audiences are completely divided. I’m very curious to hear how people feel.”
I’m so excited to see this film & the way James describes Mary’s acting is so great.