Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon sing through the apocalypse in ‘The End’
Apocalypse and musicals may not seem like the most likely combination, but that’s exactly why the filmmakers Joshua Oppenheimer want to make his new movie, End. “They came to me as a package. I think the musical numbers are what make the film fundamentally about illusion, self-deception, and a kind of destructive hope that comes from denial,” he said. Vanity Fair at the Telluride Film Festival.
After making two previous feature films, the documentary The act of killing And The look of silence, Oppenheimer learned about a wealthy family who were looking to buy a luxury bunker in case they needed to survive the apocalypse. Oppenheimer decided to make a movie based on the story, incorporating musical numbers inspired by classic films like The umbrellas of Cherbourg.
It took Oppenheimer eight years to realize this ambitious result, which focused on a wealthy family (due to Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon, And George MacKay) His luxurious underground life is interrupted by an unexpected visitor (Moses Ingram). Their lavish bunker, with walls covered in magnificent artwork, is located deep underground in a salt mine—filmed at a real salt mine in Petralia Soprana, Sicily—and tensions rise as cracks in the family begin to emerge.
The actors and Oppenheimer spent four weeks rehearsing, which included practicing scenes, blocking, and musical numbers (there are 13 original songs in the film). End), resulting in four incredible performances that explore the ways we lie to ourselves to lighten our burdens.
At the Telluride Film Festival, where End had its world premiere, Vanity Fair sat down with Oppenheimer, Shannon, MacKay, and Ingram to talk about crafting this story and music to fit it.
Vanity Fair: What are you looking for when casting? End?
Joshua Oppenheimer: For family members, I was looking for artists whose inner lives flashed across their faces in a way that reflected doubt and discomfort. And some artists are better than others. I think George and Michael have that gift. When I approached Tilda and then George, I spent much of the pandemic in the Arctic of Norway during the polar night, and would spend all day and night watching the aurora borealis when I had time and they were high up. There was something about the way the aurora flickered in this chaotic quantum dance when they were strong that I felt really both of these artists had on their faces. It was a kind of metaphor that Tilda and I used when I was looking for casting.
Moses, I think he has that too. But Moses also has a very natural, simple presence that I think might be the antithesis of a family that has to constantly perform their myths on each other—guiding, misleading, manipulating, cajoling each other into following the hymn sheet.
What made you want to be involved in this ambitious film?
George MacKay: The script itself is beautiful, really beautifully written. And it’s a subject that’s not looked at because it’s so hard to look at—the things you say to yourself, the kind of justifications you make. At the beginning of it, I had just become a father. So I was looking at life in a very different way, and that made me think a lot because I was trying to establish a foundational layer in my own life that I would happily let my child jump out of. So it landed at a very personal time.
