'Encounter' Director, Michael Pearce Discusses His Process From Script To Screen
The director and co-writer of ‘Encounter’ encapsulates the type of hardships we all live with, in a gut wrenching family drama that keeps you on edge throughout.
Few may yet know the name of filmmaker Michael Pearce as his latest film, ‘Encounter’ is only his second feature, but he will soon, undoubtedly become more of a household name. After two stellar films under his belt, including his directorial debut in ‘Beast’ (which earned him a BAFTA win for ‘Best Debut by a British Writer/Director/Producer’). Now with his latest effort in Encounter; a family drama that stars Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, and Rory Cochrane, along with unbelievable performances by two child actors Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Geddada, this filmmaker is making a name for himself, as the film is a tense ride from start to finish.
After the success of Beast, Pearce was in search for a script that he could connect to personally. the script by Joe Barton was just what he was looking for and he immediately set his sights on bringing these words to life. He describes the writing process as a sort of team effort where he invites the actors to imbue with their roles and go through the several nuances that they want to craft to bring these characters to life. Encounter resonated with Pearce as he had a father figure much akin to the one in the movie where he had to go barriers with his father and come out the other side. He brought a level of understanding to the script because of his own personal experience and with that, the film has much more depth for it.
In the interview, Michael takes his time to carefully paint an in depth picture of his thinking process and how that will translate to screen. He describes the prior research that went into it, meeting with marines to hear their stories and having Riz Ahmed train with them as well to understand just how gruelling of a job it is which, in turn, can lead to mental health problems that are explored in the film. His dedication to his craft rings through with his answers as you see his mind working like clockwork, trying to give the best possible explanation he can.
Michael Pearce’s ability to do a character study within a genre bending film is something that we don't see often in movies and to bring his own personal upbringing to life in this movie showcases his ability to take from real life and translate that on screen fluently. This is a director to keep an eye on in the future.
‘Encounter’ is in theatres now and is available on Amazon Prime on December 10th.
Watch the full interview below:
