By Iain Blair
As the son of filmmaker Ken Jacobs, Azazel Jacobs grew up surrounded by artists and influenced by the appeal of experimental, nonlinear cinema. But this director of the Michelle Pfeiffer film French Exit, forged his own path, writing and helming indie films, including Momma’s Man and The Lovers. Along the way he’s learned how to take a more conventional story and infuse it with his own mix of satire, melancholy and seriousness.
Azazel Jacobs on set with Michelle Pfeiffer
Such is the case with his latest film, French Exit, the story of broke 60-year-old Manhattan socialite Frances Price (Pfeiffer). Her husband Franklin is long dead, and with his vast inheritance gone, she cashes in the last of her possessions and moves to a borrowed apartment in Paris, accompanied by her co-dependent son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges). The film was written by Patrick DeWitt, adapted from his own novel of the same name.
I recently spoke with Jacobs, who also directed some episodes of Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, about making the film and his love of post.
Where did you shoot? Any challenges?
We shot all the sets in Montreal, which doubled for apartments and restaurants in New York and Paris, and then we did all the exteriors in Paris in the final week. The whole shoot was only a 28-day schedule. The shoot was great — it was all the prep that was incredibly hard. It was a much bigger budget than I’d ever worked with before, and I soon learned that even though we had more money, you run into the same problems you get on a million-dollar budget.
Because it was an Irish-Canadian co-production, I could only work with Canadian or EU people, so it was a whole new crew — except for my German DP Tobias Datum, (Momma’s Man, Mozart in the Jungle) — and that was, frankly, quite terrifying for me, as I’ve had the same team for so long now. But, ultimately, I found amazing people, in post too, and that was a huge take-away.
Can you talk about the look you and your DP, Tobias Datum, went for? Why did you shoot anamorphic 2.35:1?
We talked about the film for two years before we shot. We both wanted to go places we’d never gone before. Toby had been talking about shooting wide screen for a while, but I’d shied away from it, as I thought it would draw too much attention to itself.
In this case, I saw [wide screen] could really help because we had a big cast. Wide screen would let us fit everyone in the room. We also found it would highlight the wide space between mother and son, so it would be far more forceful when they’re either close together or apart. So we looked at a lot of wide-screen films, like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, to see how they’d used and played with the space in a way I hadn’t. Before, I liked the camera to be invisible in the way we shot, but this time I really wanted to embrace all the theatrics of both the material and the performances.
We shot on the ARRI Alexa Mini with Cooke S4 anamorphics, which gives you a softness and less depth of field, which suits the characters and story.
What about the post? Was that done during the pandemic?
I began editing in LA at Vortechs. Editor Hilda Rasula and I were in the room together for six weeks before the COVID shutdown. They were a vital six weeks to have together — to find the rhythms and pace. I’d worked with her before on a TV show, and she was the last person I saw for the rest of post, as it was all remote after that. Because of the co-production, we posted it all — including sound, DI and VFX — at Screen Scene in Dublin. That’s where Lenny Abrahamson posts, and they’ve done huge series like Game of Thrones, so they’re really good and very experienced. The original plan was for me to be in Ireland for the whole summer working on post, but COVID changed all that.
Do you like the post process?
I love it because there are so many things that happen during the shoot that don’t reveal themselves until you’re editing and doing post. So much of the magic you’re looking for is experienced in a totally different, new way. Suddenly, I’m not focused on just one corner of the frame, but on all the corners … and what the actors are doing and the lighting and sound. There’s this great sense of discovery each day. It’s all so exciting, and then finding the rhythm and the truth of a scene. One of the great things was having a clear script that we wanted to cling to, and then finding the space and rhythms and everything that was unexpected in between the lines and how they were delivered.
What were the main editing challenges?
It all comes back to the dialogue, and my sense was that it was like spaghetti. If you just followed it correctly, it all flowed to an end, and you realized it was looping around and tying itself in knots. Ultimately, this was the only way it could have gone. So getting the balance of all that was the big challenge. It was a long process.
Can you talk about the importance of sound on the film?
It was more important on this than any of my other films, especially the sound design because this was a completely created world. I’d never done that before. In the past I’ve created stories inside small spaces, but this story expanded. That is, the characters left that small space and were around new people, so we really had to build all that up in the sound design.
The team at Screen Scene was so sensitive and amazing, and they took so much care with the ADR and all the sound design in scenes like the drunken conversation outside the apartment. I was very impressed with their work.
There are a few VFX. What did that entail?
There are a lot more than you’d think — well over 100 shots, including a lot of greenscreen and mirror reflections in the house. There were places where we’d combine half of one frame with half of another frame so we could create more space between two characters. And we also did some fluid morphs that were really helpful and necessary for keeping up the rhythm we wanted. They’re all pretty invisible except for the ones that are drawing attention to themselves on purpose.
What about the DI?
Donal O’Kane was the colorist. I worked very closely with him and the DP, but doing it all remotely was very challenging. Even when on exactly the same calibrated monitors we’d sometimes find that what we were seeing didn’t exactly match what Donal was seeing in Ireland, so that was quite a process. But it all turned out great in the end, although in a way I never pictured. That’s the magic of post.
This is definitely not your usual American in Paris movie.
(Laughs) I’m glad you said that as I set out to make a film I’d never seen before — something different that’d hopefully surprise and change you.
L-R: Tobias Datum, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Pfeiffer, Azazel Jacobs. Credit: Lou Scamble
What did Michelle, who is getting Oscar buzz for her performance, and Lucas bring to the mix?
Michelle brought it all — precision, excitement, hunger, intimidation — and she really pushed me to go way beyond what I expected of myself as a director. What really surprised me was that, as accomplished and experienced as she is, she can still be so hungry and looking for challenges and willing to push past any comfort zone. And Lucas was the same — very curious and creative. And that’s what you look for in collaborators, but it’s hard to imagine I’d find all that in two actors who’ve already proven themselves so much.
What’s next?
I’m actually in the middle of post on an animated series for kids. It’s a completely different world.
Industry insider Iain Blair has been interviewing the biggest directors in Hollywood and around the world for years. He is a regular contributor to Variety and has written for such outlets as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.
