The Deep Blue Sea, directed by celebrated gay filmmaker Terence Davies, is being released in select Canadian markets in April. The film is based on a work by gay playwright Terence Rattigan, but Davies refutes some claims that the play was a coded gay love story.
“There is this myth that it was about two men — it’s not,” says Davies, who was in Toronto promoting the film at TIFF.
Davies, whose work includes The House of Mirth, The Neon Bible, Distant Voices, Still Lives, The Long Day Closes and the documentary-style film Of Time and the City, was able to land white-hot Hollywood star Rachel Weisz to play the lead.
“I think Terence makes films about the British experience and he is very distinctly British,” Weisz says. “I find that interesting.”
“He’s not making films like anyone in North America is or anyone anywhere else is. He’s an auteur.”
Below is our video interview with Davies and Weisz. Below that is a 2009 interview with Davies and TIFF Bell Lightbox artistic director Noah Cowan.