BB Exclusive: Director Brian Baugh Discusses Inspirations & His New Film Finding You
Director, Brian Baugh took some time out of his busy day to sit down with BeautifulBallad to discuss his new film, Finding You. Based on the novel, There You’ll Find Me, by Jenny B. Jones, Baugh was tasked with bringing to life a story about a young violinist who sets out to Ireland in hopes of finding her love of music again, but instead finds something else.
On the difficulties he faced while trying to adapt the book into a film: “Well, that’s a big question. I think probably the biggest thing that we left out obviously was the eating disorder portion. It’s such a serious topic and it’s such a important topic that it feels like if you’re going to make a movie about it, it should be all about that. And there isn’t enough time to deal with the complexity of that, as well as deal with five or six other topics. So I think that was a pretty early on decision. And thankfully we had the support as the author for that. And she was really great and a great collaborator, as I would say, “Hey, what do you think about this or that?” And she was really, really open to that.
Other than that, we were just trying to update things and help things run through a little bit of filter. It had been a few years since it had come out. So we were just trying to update certain things, and then make characters that could be perhaps more cinematic, trading fiddlers out for nuns, and doing things like that.”
On being inspired by his own journeys abroad: “Well, I think with my own experiences of going abroad, it’s such a transformative time. And so I think, it was a really good narrative journey to be able to take to, to be able to watch someone go through that process, and to see her come more alive, and to develop as a human being through that process. We were excited to do that. So, that was really a big chunk of it.
On how they stumbled upon their filming location: “One of the producers, Ken Carpenter and I, on an early scouting trip, we drove and had a wonderful Irish location scout, drive us all around the country. And we first focused on the West, and then we tried some stuff on the East to be a little bit closer to Dublin where a lot of the crew work. And we were heading up to Northern Ireland just to check it out for the day, and randomly kind of went through it as, ‘Oh, let’s just check out this little peninsula’, and we just stumbled across it. And it was just this delightful town that had castles intermixed with houses, and was right on the water, and some wonderful pubs and the cute little main street. And so we just fell for it.”
You can read the rest of our interview under the jump. Finding You is now in theaters!
Source: Roadside Attractions
On casting his leads Rose Reid and Jedidiah Goodacre: “I had the pleasure of working with Rose before, and she’s really skilled with the violin, and loves the travel and adventure. And so, she just seemed to be a great fit for a young woman that would be on this adventure. And then, with Jed, we worked with our great casting director in the States and she scoured LA and Hollywood and all up and down of all the great actors. So we had a bunch of great auditions and talked to a bunch of wonderful actors, but was really looking for someone who’d be a bit unpredictable and a bit outspoken, and little wild, and Jed really did that. It can be hard sometimes for young men to just really let it go on screen, but he has no problem with that, and was able to reach a lot of different emotions in different… Because we really wanted that character, who’s been through so much, to just jump off the screen.”
On filming a movie within a movie: “The cast and crew just loved doing it and we had a great time pulling it off.”
On using some of the crew as extras in the “movie production” scenes: “I think we had… It was a bit of a mix, I believe. There were some people that wanted to be in the movie. And so, we let them jump over and say, ‘Oh, I want to be cameraman’, or ‘I want to be sound guy.’ So, if they wanted to be in the movie, they certainly could. But we needed them for the shots we were doing too, so we couldn’t lose too many of them.”
On the most difficult thing to bring to life in this film: “It’s been two years, so some of the hard things fade away since we shot it. But it’s always a little bit of an adventure dealing with different ways of doing things when you’re in a different country. And so I think just getting used to some of the different protocols that Irish crew has, and they’re fantastic, and they work on a bunch of giant shows all the time. So there’s just subtle little ways of doing things differently, and communication, and different protocols that sometimes you just take a week or so to get used to, and then you’re in the flow of it.”
On scenes that did not make the cutting room floor: “There were some fun aspects with Beckett’s character that we had, and then we found we didn’t need because he was likable enough. But we had put in some other things that say, ‘Okay, if audiences aren’t tracking with him yet, this will be good.’ So there’s some really charming moments, one in particular where he surprises this group of scrapbookers that are at the BnB, and he jumps in and they’re all shocked to see that it’s a big movie star, and then he sits down and starts scrapbooking with all these old ladies. And so it’s really a short bit, but it’s fun. So things like that, that just add humor. It’s fun. We did great with those improv.
On his favorite part of filming: “It’s always, whenever I’ve done stuff, either in a different part of the country, or a different part of the world, it’s such a joy to build it and to construct it together with all the crew, and to learn about a country or a part of the country through the eyes of that crew. It’s like when you go visit a country, you may not get to know the people real well, but you develop some really close friendships with a lot of your collaborators, and it’s such a privilege to be able to experience the country in that way. And so that would be a highlight.”
On directing his amazing cast: “Saoirse-Monica Jackson is just awesome in so many great moments in the little humorous touches all over the place that there was such a joy to see. And then Fiona Bell who plays Nora, the mom, and Ciaran McMahon, who plays the father, they were just great. They just crushed it on auditions and then just brought their magic to set. Yeah. I just loved their little interplay, and a lot of it was written into the script, but they just took it to a new level, which was awesome. It was an absolute highlight to work with all these great actors, Tom Everett Scott and Katherine McNamara and Vanessa Redgrave. And it’s a joy to just watch through the monitor, them do their things, or just be right next to the camera and seeing all the great subtleties they add to make what you’ve written on the page all the better.”
On the difficulty of directing so many characters at once: “I ended up writing some extra stuff for Katherine McNamara because she was so good. It was like, ‘Oh, we have to have more.’ And we ended up cutting one of them. But yeah, it is, one of the great challenges that actually drew me to the project was how do you weave all these different stories together, and give enough to justify us having all these great actors there, so that they can really all have their own arcs and their own transformations in the midst of it as well.”
On what he gained from creating this film: “I feel like every project that at least I do or I’ve worked on, I’ve taken something from it. I guess to me, the joy of finding so many great friends in a different country, and experiencing that country in that way, and just getting… It’s a very intimate and privileged thing to be able to do. So, that was really cool. And then I really loved that subtle theme that’s throughout the movie, and that’s really impacted my life. It was just being open and curious about people that are very different than me. And so I think the various folks that Finley runs into that are maybe a different age, or a different background, or a different social economic level, that as she learns to open up to them and to try to understand them a little bit deeper, it really impacts your life. And I know that’s really impacted my life. So I think I’d take that from it as well.”
On why fans should check out Finding You: “Well, I hope more than anything, after this tough past year we’ve been through, that fans would watch this movie because it’ll just be a great time, and they’ll have an awesome two hours at the movies, and then get back and experience life normally, quote normally, right? And so, yeah, I just hope they find joy and inspiration and the little bit of hope that they can be a little bit more alive and more themselves after watching it.”
Finding You is out in theaters now!