An interview with the great Ed Lachman has the cinematographer claiming that, before he was forced to bow out of the film, Todd Haynes’ “May December” was originally supposed to be shot in black and white as an homage to Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona.”
Todd and I discussed a totally different conceptual idea—more like Persona—and then he wasn’t able to shoot it in black-and-white, I guess, by that time. So he had other ideas of how he wanted to shoot it. But, you know, I wasn’t part of that at that point.
A black and white “May December” would have been a fascinating visual experiment. The film tackles a Hollywood actress (Natalie Portman) who travels to the coast of Maine to study the real-life controversial woman (Julianne Moore) she’s set to play in a film. Much like in “Persona,” identities start to blur, self-knowledge, sexuality and duality collide.
You just can’t imagine a Haynes project without Lachman’s sultry photography. The duo were set to shoot their sixth collaboration together with “May/December,” but Lachman broke his hip and left the project. Christopher Blauvelt stepped in to replace him.
Regardless, “May December” was a very good film, and Haynes’ best one since “Carol.” Meanwhile, still no word yet on the status of Haynes’ 1930s gay romance, which had Joaquin Phoenix dropping out just a few days before production was set to begin. Some actors have publicly shown interest in replacing Phoenix.