In, perhaps, the most challenging role of her career, Taylor Russell stars opposite Timothée Chalamet in Luca Guadagnino’s horror drama Bones and All. In the movie, Russell plays Maren, a woman who has been trying to survive on her own when she meets Chalamet’s Lee.And while the film sees Chalamet reunite with Guadagnino after his breakout performance in Call Me By Your Name, it is the first time that the actor has ever worked with Russell. And yet, their onscreen chemistry is intensely beautiful.
Taylor Russell Had Already Met Timothée Chalamet Prior To Their Film
It turns out that the co-stars had already done a chemistry test together for another project (although it looks like that did not work out) and so Russell already knew Chalamet. She also has a pretty good idea why Chalamet became such a fast-rising star.
“I feel inspired by him as a person,” Russell said of the actor. “His ability and his talent.”
And while Russell has never worked with Guadagnino before, she got the Italian director’s attention with her performance in the romantic drama Waves.
After a Zoom conversation with the actress, Guadagnino was sure that she was the right girl to play Maren onscreen. Later on, Guadagnino couldn’t be more pleased with Russell’s performance in the film. “You see how she vibrates?” he remarked.
She Had ‘A Very Specific Alignment’ With Chalamet
Playing Maren had posed some unique challenges from the beginning. Just as the character was portrayed in Camille DeAngelis’ book (of the same title) which the movie was based on, Maren is introduced as a young woman who yearns to find love and be loved. But neither comes easily to her because she is an eater. This predicament also informed Russell how to approach the character.
“What struck me about her initially is that she’s this kind of creature who feels like there’s something off with her, like a picture frame that’s slanted,” the actress said.
“And I wanted to work through that exercise of ‘If there is something inherently wrong with me, is there a way to break through that?’”
Once Maren meets Lee, it doesn’t take long for them to realize that they both practice cannibalism. And even behind the scenes, Chalamet also made Russell feel like they were on this journey together.
“I think somebody that I felt in step with immediately was Timmy. I think I'm much more introverted in a lot of ways, or I need some coaxing out of my shell a lot of the time. But in terms of meeting the challenges that come up day to day on a set, whatever those are, I think that something we share in common is your heart bleeding and then the freakout coming after that, but the heart being first,” the actress explained while speaking on Collider Ladies Night.
“That's a very specific alignment, but it's something that feels really good creatively because you trust that the other person is gonna be there to inspire creatively.”
At the same time, the two stars openly discussed their approach to being eaters. Russell said they “talked about eating somebody, eating anything, using your body, your hands, your mouth — it’s so tactile, so physical, that, in some ways, it’s simple.”
And when it came to the eating scenes, the stars utilized faked body parts that were made out of a form of rubber.
By the time the cameras started rolling, however, Russell recalled that “it didn’t feel gross to do it. It didn’t feel gratuitous or strange.” The actress added, “It was just a physical embodiment of an emotional question. The cannibalism is the chrysalis. “
Filming On Location And In Chronological Order Also Helped Them With Their Chemistry
Bones and All is a true road trip movie with Guadagnino shooting the film across various states in the US. There were even times when they would switch locations every nine hours. And while that might come with some logistic challenges, it also helped Russell bond with Chalamet more.
“The gift of filming there is that we didn’t know anybody except for each other,” the actress explained.
“I loved shooting in the middle of America, in Ohio and Nebraska and Kentucky. It informed our characters in a really strong way because there was a lot of freedom. The wind, I felt like it was speaking and dictating the mood, especially on the cliffs in Nebraska.”
In addition, Chalamet also believes that shooting the film as written in the script helped them develop their chemistry.
“I think time spent together naturally,” he said. “We basically shot in chronological order – my first scene with Maren was the first thing you see in the movie, and my last scene with Maren is the last one you see. A benefit of doing on-the-road movies is that you have your crew, your director, producers, and your actors to hang out with.”
And while Bones and All is meant to be a standalone film, Guadagnino has not ruled out doing a follow-up, if only to reunite with Chalamet and Russell.
“I would love to make a second and third and fourth chapter of all my movies,” he said. “Why? Because I truly love the actors I work with, so I want to repeat the joy of doing what we did together.”
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