Henry cannot speak more effusively about his co-star, saying that as soon as he learned of her involvement, he signed on to appear in the drama, despite not knowing her personally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been a fan of Jennifer\u2019s for a long time, especially in her independent film days,\u201d Henry says. \u201cSo to see that she was coming back to do another independent film after being away for so long, kind of getting back to her roots, and me being a part of it, was just very exciting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calling Causeway an \u201cindependent film\u201d might be an understatement. This is the independent film of all independent films, a slow-paced, quiet meditation of grief, trauma and friendship, with a minuscule cast and not a VFX shot in sight. An old-school drama with no camera trickery; just strong, subtle performances front and centre.<\/p>\n
Raised voices are minimal and silences speak a thousand words. It\u2019s a far cry from Lawrence\u2019s days being painted blue for X-Men, or Henry\u2019s days \u201crunning after a lizard and a monkey for a little bit\u201d \u2013 his words, not mine.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/CausewayPhoto0102-f97c84e.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Causeway tells the story of Lawrence\u2019s Lynsey, a soldier who returns home from Afghanistan having suffered a traumatic brain injury. As she struggles to return to her daily life, she meets James, a man struggling with his own personal trauma \u2013 the death of his nephew.<\/p>\n
The film comes from director Lila Neugebauer, with this being her debut feature following some TV work and a successful career in the theatre.<\/p>\n
As it turns out, Neugebauer and Henry have history \u2013 the pair have known one another for 20 years, and she specifically asked for him for the role of James. Henry explained that everything coalesced to make this a project he couldn\u2019t refuse.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to work with [Neugebauer] in any capacity, because I think she\u2019s incredibly brilliant. We never got a chance to work on the stage together \u2013 we both did theatre in New York, and we just were two ships crossing in the night when it came to that. So when I was offered this part to work with her on this film, I had to take it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry was also impressed with the script, saying he was attracted by \u201chow simple it was\u201d.<\/p>\n
He explains: \u201cIt felt very quiet, it felt like a movie that was truly about two characters just having conversations with one another, just existing in space and time. There was nothing too overcomplicated about the text, there wasn\u2019t a lot of exposition, there wasn\u2019t a climax here and a conflict there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really, pretty much just a story about people trying to find their way and make a true connection with one another and a friendship. And that was very exciting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/CausewayPhoto0103-6f0ab2f.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Throughout the film we learn more about James, particularly with regards to his central trauma. He was involved in a car accident which led to his own leg being amputated and killed his nephew. And not only that \u2013 he was driving at the time.<\/p>\n
Beyond this, we don\u2019t exactly get a deep dive on his backstory. As Henry notes, this isn\u2019t a film swimming in exposition.<\/p>\n
I wonder whether this led to Henry fleshing out his character\u2019s backstory in his own mind. \u201cSure,\u201d Henry says. \u201cYes, because when you first meet James in this movie, by all looks he seems to be an ordinary man working at an autobody shop. We don\u2019t really know much about him and I think that was very exciting to me, to figure out what got him to where he is.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then once we peel back the layers, we see that there is a man who is incredibly weighted down by loss and grief and guilt, and I really wanted to figure out how he got there. What was his journey to becoming this man that was completely alone and isolated in his own way?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as we continued to tinker with the script and figure out how to unveil these different parts of James, we realised that a lot of the story came from our own personal lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The film first entered production in 2019 but was stopped twice \u2013 first by Hurricane Barry, then by the COVID pandemic. It finally re-entered production in 2021.<\/p>\n
During this time, Henry notes that the film underwent extensive re-writes, to bring more focus onto James and the central relationship he has with Lynsey.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/CausewayPhoto0101-18b8930.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>He says: \u201cBefore we went back to it, the story was pretty much following Lynsey and the people who were popping in and out of her life. There were never truly any scenes that had her truly connecting with somebody.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we realised that the one character that she probably would connect with the most was my character because in essence, he was also a person wandering through life the same as she was.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo after 2020 happened, we sat down and were like, \u2018We have to come back and really branch out and figure out what this is.\u2019 And in essence, we realised that Lynsey\u2019s journey was complete because of her connection with James.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so we went back and filmed that, and discovered that not only was the story different, but we were different. We had taken this time off and we had dealt with our own losses, we had dealt with our own changes in our lives and so we in essence, kind of brought that to the story itself, which then opened it up in a completely different way to become the story you see now.\u201d<\/p>\n
These changes weren\u2019t just made in the scripting stage. Henry reveals that the team would often sit together before shooting individual scenes, or even while on set, to work out \u201cwhat walk we wanted these characters to take separately and together\u201d.<\/p>\n
Henry says this approach comes from Neugebauer\u2019s theatre roots, calling her an \u201cactor\u2019s director\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she comes from such a deep theatre background, it allows her to be incredibly malleable when it comes to crafting scenes and figuring out characters,\u201d explains. \u201cBecause the theatre world is incredibly collaborative. That\u2019s why I love it so much is that it is a collaborative effort to create a story.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/CausewayPhoto0106-b44d16b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>So what of Henry\u2019s main draw to the project, the reason he immediately signed up to take part? Well, it\u2019s fair to say he wasn\u2019t disappointed.<\/p>\n
Lawrence is magnificent in the film \u2013 it\u2019s a complex, subtle, occasionally abrasive yet often heartbreaking performance. Off camera, Henry notes that, similarly to their characters, the pair grew close during filming, explaining how this also affected the finished film.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cThe beauty of what was going on with this movie is what was happening between takes. Our friendship was blossoming, our connection with each other was growing, and so in essence, that gave us a place to be as messy as we wanted to be whenever action was called. It gave us a place to feel safe, it gave us a place to wander truly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then we realised that in that wander is where exactly James and Lynsey developed from. That\u2019s kind of what we wanted the most, was to show a friendship through all this tragedy and grief, a connection through the guilt. We wanted to see these two characters, in essence, find home in one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early on in the film there are certainly inferences made on both parts as to how platonic this friendship is. One moment sees James call Lynsey his \u201cgirl\u201d to fend off a lecherous drunk who is harassing her, leading him to clarify his intention to her. She reveals to him that she is gay, and their friendship continues as before.<\/p>\n
In spite of moments such as this, Henry doesn\u2019t think James ever saw Lynsey as anything other than a friend. He says that \u201cit\u2019s easy for it to be inferred that here you have a man, here you have a woman\u201d but that there\u2019s \u201cnothing more intimate than sharing grief because it kind of leaves nowhere to hide, honestly\u201d.<\/p>\n
He continues: \u201cWhat I like the most about James and his approach to Lynsey is that he sees a lot of himself. He sees someone who is struggling to find their footing and I think for a long time his character was going through that himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that he was somebody who was wandering around lost on his own, in search of someone who would truly see him. And I think that when Lynsey comes along in his life, he sees someone that is just like him, and that gives him a place to kind of lay his burdens down a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/CausewayPhoto0104-cc690f5.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>For anyone who has watched Causeway, it will come as no surprise that the film\u2019s ending is ambiguous<\/a> and inconclusive. It sees Lynsey attempting to reconcile with James following a rift in their friendship, with an offer of beer and a determination not to go back to Afghanistan for \u201cnow at least\u201d.<\/p>\n She asks whether James would still consider her living with him, something he had suggested earlier in the film, before finally laying out the whole truth \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m trying to make a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether he thinks it\u2019s a hopeful ending, Henry says: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t even say it\u2019s a hopeful ending. I\u2019d say it\u2019s a hopeful beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n He continues: \u201cThe possibility is what\u2019s there for these two people, who kind of threw possibility to the wind in their lives. You get to see them actually have a kind of longing for something else, a kind of possibility.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you\u2019re dealing with two people who are labelled as the disabled and being told what they can\u2019t do anymore, or the places they can\u2019t go anymore, the things they\u2019re no longer able to accomplish. Or that they have to alter their lives in a way.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd this possibility of something else isn\u2019t muscled, it\u2019s not something that is going to take away from anything, it actually is something that could give them a fresh beginning. And I think that that\u2019s what I love about this ending is you\u2019re actually watching the beginning of something rather than an ending.\u201d<\/p>\n The ending appears to have been a sticking point throughout the film\u2019s development \u2013 \u201cMan, if you knew the conversations we had about this ending!\u201d \u2013 with Henry admitting multiple endings were conceived before the finished article was struck upon.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the word that kept getting to us, is ending, like why does it have to be an ending?\u201d he asks. \u201cWhy does the ending have to be the end?\u201d<\/p>\n He continues: \u201cSo we sat down and really had several conversations of exactly where to bring James and Lynsey, and all we knew is that we wanted them to want more. Rather than wrapping this thing up in a nice little bow, we wanted there to be a sense of, and I don\u2019t want to just use the word hope, but a sense of of aspiring for something bigger.<\/p>\n \u201cEven in how simple the request is \u2013 we see her walking down the street with a six pack, and all of a sudden James just happens to be on the porch. And I\u2019m like, \u2018Well, that\u2019s their friendship, right? They show up in each other\u2019s lives exactly when they need to be there.\u2019 And we really wanted there to be a well of opportunity for a possibility of a beginning to be there.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know where they end up but I do know that they at least end up in some way with each other, in each other\u2019s lives, with that kind of extending, like \u2018Hey, I want a friend.\u2019 And that gave me hope for them.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to the future, Henry certainly isn\u2019t short of exciting projects on the horizon. Next up for UK viewers will likely be Atlanta season 4<\/a>, the final instalment in Donald Glover\u2019s experimental drama which has already aired stateside. Henry has one word to tease that particular season: \u201cEpic\u201d.<\/p>\n Further down the line, Henry is also returning to work with Apple TV+ on a series called Sinking Spring, adapted from the Dennis Tafoya novel Dope Thief. The limited series is being adapted by Peter Craig and executive produced by Ridley Scott, and Henry notes it is going to be \u201cvery different from Causeway\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be incredibly great,\u201d he says, but admits that categorising it is difficult. \u201cI want to say that it\u2019s a\u2026 crime, drama, comedy\u2026 dramedy? But Peter Craig is an amazing writer and to work with Ridley Scott is just next level for me, so I\u2019m very excited about that.\u201d<\/p> Then, of course, there\u2019s Eternals<\/a>. Henry made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/a> in Chlo\u00e9 Zhao\u2019s bold, divisive, epic superhero film, and while he has no concrete news on a follow-up, it certainly appears that he\u2019s keen to reappear as Phastos whenever the opportunity arises.<\/p>\n On the possibility of another instalment, he says: \u201cI wish I knew. They know that I\u2019m down, but I don\u2019t know yet. I hope so because I loved making that film. It was really great to do, and to be a superhero \u2013 I\u2019m never gonna say no to doing that again.\u201d<\/p>\n Causeway is streaming on\u00a0Apple TV+<\/a>\u00a0now \u2013 you can\u00a0sign up to Apple TV+ here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for something to watch tonight, check out our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>, or visit our dedicated\u00a0Film<\/a>\u00a0hub for all the latest news.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n By James Hibbs Published: Wednesday, 07 December 2022 at 12:00 am Ask Brian Tyree Henry why he wanted to star in new Apple TV+ film Causeway and he\u2019ll give you a straight, simple answer \u2013 Jennifer Lawrence. Henry cannot speak more effusively about his co-star, saying that as soon as he learned of her involvement, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":26723,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/brian-tyree-henry-on-causeway-and-his-friendship-with-jennifer-lawrence.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/brian-tyree-henry-on-causeway-and-his-friendship-with-jennifer-lawrence-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/brian-tyree-henry-on-causeway-and-his-friendship-with-jennifer-lawrence-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/brian-tyree-henry-on-causeway-and-his-friendship-with-jennifer-lawrence.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/brian-tyree-henry-on-causeway-and-his-friendship-with-jennifer-lawrence.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/brian-tyree-henry-on-causeway-and-his-friendship-with-jennifer-lawrence.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/brian-tyree-henry-on-causeway-and-his-friendship-with-jennifer-lawrence.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By James Hibbs Published: Wednesday, 07 December 2022 at 12:00 am Ask Brian Tyree Henry why he wanted to star in new Apple TV+ film Causeway and he\u2019ll give you a straight, simple answer \u2013 Jennifer Lawrence. Henry cannot speak more effusively about his co-star, saying that as soon as he learned of her involvement,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/26722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/Screenshot-2022-12-07-at-11.35.00-f7dfc6b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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