PARK CITY, Utah (AP) 鈥� Eileen, the title character of Ottessa Moshfegh鈥檚 debut novel, is a strange young woman with a vivid, sensual, and sometimes dangerous imagination.
Her actual life, however, is anything but: She works a mind-numbing desk job as a secretary at a boy鈥檚 prison in Massachusetts in 1964 and goes home to a depressed, cruel father who seems content to drink himself to death. She is hopelessly lonely and a little bitter 鈥� that is until the arrival of a glamourous new employee, Rebecca Saint John, a Hitchcock blonde with a doctorate from Harvard, a taste for martinis and a breezy Mae West confidence.
The moody, noirish film adaptation of 鈥淓ileen鈥� debuted on Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival with New Zealand actor Thomasin McKenzie playing Eileen and Anne Hathaway taking on the role of the enigmatic Rebecca.
As Moshfegh said in an interview Saturday in Park City, 鈥淩ebecca sort of sweeps and carries Eileen and the viewer away into something that is really kind of sticky.鈥�
Moshfegh helped adapt her novel for the screen. Before work even began on the script, she, her husband Luke Goebel and director William Oldroyd, behind the terrific 鈥淟ady Macbeth鈥� with Florence Pugh, settled on an 鈥渆erily perfect shared vision鈥� steeped in genre but subverted with a contemporary character lens.
Though she knew the story and the characters by heart, when she and Goebel began writing the script, suddenly new dimensions opened up in characters like Eileen鈥檚 father Jimmy, who is played by Shea Wigham. The actors then added their own dimensions.
鈥淚 knew that were it to be made into a film, it would attract great actors because they would love to play these roles,鈥� Oldroyd said. 鈥淎nd I haven鈥檛 met an actor who is as emotionally available and honest as Thomasin.鈥�
As Eileen, McKenzie had to do a lot of heavy lifting in translating the largely first-person novel into a performance that wasn鈥檛 aided by an inner monologue or exposition.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a masterful first person in the novel. That鈥檚 what makes adaptations of novels so difficult. But she just has it in her face,鈥� Goebel said. 鈥淭here were a lot of great actors who auditioned for the part. But she just had the gravity of this character in her bones. It would be a hard call for me to say if there was anything lost between the novel and her expressions, which is incredible.鈥�
McKenzie came in as a fan of Moshfegh, having already read 鈥淢y Year of Rest and Relaxation鈥� and then 鈥淓ileen鈥� and empathized deeply with the character鈥檚 longing and loneliness. She dreams of a bigger life, the possibility of which seems to open up to her in the form of Rebecca.
鈥淚 was very, very lucky that I had the book available to me to work with,鈥� said McKenzie. 鈥淗er writing goes so deeply into that and the character鈥檚 inner monologue. And that was just gold for me because it gave me so much material to work with to really understand what it was like being in Eileen鈥檚 head. I think I鈥檝e always been a bit of a stiller actor and I鈥檓 trying to feel more comfortable to be a bit more fluid and a little bit bigger these days. But in this situation playing Eileen it really worked because she is such an observer and I think she鈥檚 a bit too scared to make any big movements.鈥�
Hathaway, on the other hand, needed to go big to play Rebecca, whose name is a nod to Alfred Hitchcock鈥檚 adaptation of Daphne du Maurier鈥檚 book. Moshfegh wanted her to be larger than life in the film, too.
鈥淩ebecca to me represents someone, a woman who is undeniably brilliant, living during a moment in history where it鈥檚 quite dangerous to be a brilliant woman openly,鈥� Hathaway said. 鈥淲hat we all kind of were going for was how would a brilliant woman both protect and empower herself in that time? That鈥檚 where a lot of the glamour comes in because she鈥檚 able to allow people to think what they want while keeping her private, fairly intense self, private.鈥�
鈥淔or me, this is a film about triggers,鈥� Hathaway added. 鈥淭hroughout the course of the movie, that inner life balloons, it gets triggered and it comes out with some pretty extreme results.鈥�
Due to COVID-19 protocols, Moshfegh and Goebel weren鈥檛 able to be on set during the filming, but they did get to tour Eileen鈥檚 house the day prior. It was a transportive experience.
鈥淚t was like walking into my imagination,鈥� Moshfegh said.
鈥淓ileen,鈥� which is currently seeking a distributor, proved to be a bit of a freeing experience for all 鈥� for the actors to stretch and play, for Moshfegh to let go of the novel and let it be something else, for Oldroyd to have the freedom to make exactly what he wanted without intervention. It was, he said, true independence.
During a climactic scene, Hathaway even had an out-of-body experience.
鈥淚 had a moment where in from within the scene, I left my body and observed it as an audience member and went, I have never seen this movie before,鈥� Hathaway said. 鈥淟ike, this is something completely new.鈥�
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
