Hugh Jackman on the making of his female-dominated film 'Reminiscene'

Lisa Joy, co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the HBO science-fiction drama series Westworld writes, directs and produces her first feature film, the thriller Reminiscence starring Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton. Nick Bannister, played by Jackman, is a private investigator of the mind who navigates a darkly alluring world of the past by helping his clients access lost memories.

Lisa Joy said that you were her muse when she wrote Nick Bannister ...

Yeah, I was a bit like, hmm, I’m not sure. I’m a huge fan of Westworld. The moment you meet Lisa, there’s a competence to her, you know you’re in good, safe hands.

What is Reminiscence about?

My character is a decorated war veteran who, during the war, was using a new technology. We’re in the near future. Miami is mostly submerged. My character runs a business using a technology called a reminiscence machine. It was used during the war to go into people’s minds and find the truth about what happened, to interrogate them. Post-war it’s used for people to relive memories — to feel, touch, see, taste everything that happened.

My job is like a private investigator of the mind; I go in, I guide people through their memories so they don’t get lost — they’re kept safe. Early in the movie, a client comes in looking for lost keys. Her name is Mae, played by Rebecca Ferguson, and that’s where the journey begins. I follow her, fall in love with her, then she disappears and I follow her down quite a dark path through Miami’s underworld.

As in Westworld, Joy both melds genres and bends them. What did you do to establish the right tone for Nick?

HJ: She sets up classic characters: the femme fatale, played by Rebecca, the loyal secretary, who may be truly in love with Nick, played by Thandiwe Newton. It was incredibly enlivening and energising, different and original, certainly reading and making the film. I hope audiences find it the same.

Tell me about the character dynamics and about working with two powerful actors?

I worked with Rebecca on The Greatest Showman, so I knew her well. And I’d do a hundred more movies with Thandiwe, she’s phenomenal. They’re strong female characters. The obsessive love interest is Mae, the character played by Rebecca, and it’s an unusual relationship for Nick. Watts, played by Thandiwe, was with Nick in the army. They’ve been friends for a long time, incredibly loyal, best friends. Is there something else underneath? I’ll leave it to the audience to find out.

You’re on a set with a strong woman, Lisa Joy, playing opposite two very strong women, not to mention Natalie Martinez, Marina de Tavira, Angela Sarafyan. Did it impact how it felt on set?

Yeah. It’s funny, my first acting job was directed by a woman and starred a woman who became my wife — a TV series called Correlli, in 1995; I haven’t been in a situation since where a set is dominated by women, until now. It was awesome, mainly because of who those women are — incredibly collaborative, strong, confident and fun.

You face off against two different and formidable foes. What do Cliff Curtis and Daniel Wu bring to the table as Cyrus Boothe and Saint Joe?

Both are enigmatic. I worked with Cliff on The Fountain years ago — he’s a phenomenal actor and brings an immediacy, a presence and a strength. And Daniel, whom I hadn’t met, was brilliant, a steady hand.

In Reminiscence nostalgia can become a drug that’s easily addictive. How does that pertain to the film?

The film explores the idea of memory and nostalgia as something that’s potentially addictive, or enticing to go back and live in the good old days. And with this technology, you can relive it and stay in the past. But what’s the cost of that? Are we going to try and recreate what we had before? It’s an interesting, uncertain time. I hope the movie resonates in that way — it’s wonderful to have memories, but as humans we have to be constantly creating new ones or we get stuck.

Joy didn’t play it safe with her first feature — this film is big and detailed. Explain the non-traditional, near-future world she’s captured.

Lisa has a lot to say as a director. The film is deliberately not too far in the future. When you leave the cinema after this film you’re looking at the world in a different way.

From Westworld we know Joy for the gifted writer, thinker and creator that she is. This is her first outing as a feature director. What was it like with her behind the camera?

This was Lisa’s first film, but you’d never think that. She’s one of the most assured directors I’ve worked with. The preparation was so complete. When she gets on set, it’s beyond storyboards, she knows exactly ... almost like a savant, the way she describes it to everybody, the actors, the crew, the stunt people. She was bravely doing things no-one had ever done before. The reminiscence machine is not a visual effect. They spent a year putting it together. There’s no directing teacher who’d tell you to try to invent a new way of shooting something in your first feature film.

If we could conjure a reminiscence tank right now, what would be the first memory you’d choose to relive?

I’d go back to when I was young. I don’t know about you, but because I’m 52, there are holes in my memory from when I was super-young. I’d love to fill in things that my brothers and sisters can’t, that I can’t remember either — fun things, good things, interesting things. I’d love to get back to those early days of my kids, like day one. They’re now 15 and 21. I’d love to go back to those early days. 

Fun Facts about ‘Reminiscence’

• To create the sunken coast of a near-future Miami, the makers of Reminiscence turned to an abandoned amusement park, Six Flags New Orleans (originally known as Jazzland). Façades were constructed to recreate coastal Miami and its weathered art deco architecture.

• To create the waters gradually submerging their version of Miami, the special-effects team built a quarter-mile dam around a portion of the abandoned theme park with 300 sandbags, each weighing 680kg, then flooded the set with 1.9Ml of water (dyed to look like ocean water).

• The amusement park the filmmakers used had become home to wildlife after its abandonment, and animal control officers were brought in during construction and filming. Wild boar, alligators and cottonmouth (water moccasin) snakes were humanely captured and rehomed.

• During location shooting in Miami, a sequence was shot on an active commuter train with special compartments assigned for the production. With a tight schedule and even tighter quarters, star Hugh Jackman and the crew remained on the train — no disembarking and reboarding between shots. Jackman changed wardrobe on the moving train, and he was sometimes viewed by surprised commuters as the train doors opened for awaiting passengers.

• The first week of filming took place in a dilapidated former bar that was fashioned into a drug kingpin’s lair. Jackman’s character is threatened with drowning and, as a result, the actor spent hours with his head being held underwater — “Without ever once complaining,” noted director and producer Lisa Joy.

• The exciting chase sequence with Bannister (Jackman) and Boothe (Cliff Curtis) was filmed over three different sets and locations. In the film, Bannister and Boothe fight through a sinking music school, with an ornate grand piano playing its part. One of the sets was flooded to knee-depth, and the underwater portion was shot inside a pool used by a scuba-diving school. Three pianos were used, as the water began to destroy the wooden legs of the instruments.

• The reminiscence tank in the film was specialy built and weighed 680kg. The water in the tank was filtered and heated to 36°C for the actors’ comfort. Both Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson were filmed in the tank, in addition to Angela Sarafyan and several others.

• Jackman passed out lottery tickets to the film’s cast and crew every Friday.