After 11 action-packed days screening over 150 features, the curtain came down on the 33rd Cambridge Film Festival on Sunday night. And closing this year’s event with a bang was a sold-out special preview of director Kevin Macdonald’s latest film, How I Live Now, adapted from Meg Rosoff’s young-adult novel.
Starring Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay, the film follows New York teen Daisy whose family holiday in the English countryside takes a turn for the apocalyptic when nuclear war breaks out, leaving her fighting for survival.
Flicks And The City caught up with Kevin just before the festival’s screening and ahead of its UK release on 4 October and its US release on 8 November.
Check out the video to see Kevin talk about the appeal of bringing Rosoff’s novel to the big screen, why he originally wanted an unknown American actress in the lead, how Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay came on board, how the role of Daisy differs from the actress’s previous films, working with Director of Photography Franz Lustig, and balancing different tones in the film.
Kevin also told us about shooting his latest film Black Sea with Jude Law and the challenges of filming a submarine movie, especially when the water in the tank keeps changing colour! Plus, Kevin chats to us about his next film, the Elvis Presley biopic Last Train To Memphis, whether he’s an Elvis fan, how his work on the documentary feature Marley will help him get behind Elvis’s myth, the challenges of finding a young actor to play Elvis, and covering Elvis’s early years in the film.
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