Producer Rachel Winter has been trying to make a movie, Krystal, for well over a decade. One can see why when you experience the heartfelt gem. The script by Will Aldis paints with a menagerie of glorious emotions in telling the story of Taylor (Nick Robinson). He is an eighteen-year-old with a bad heart, where a single episode could spell the end for him. When he meets the titular beauty, played by Rosario Dawson, he is willing to take the risk of the racing heart and the health challenges that provides, to take a plunge in the complicated, yet magnificent, waters of love.
Winter tells us in our exclusive phone interview about why she tackles movies that are so personal, and yet in the right hands, are supreme triumphs. She and the entire team behind Dallas Buyers Club earned a slew of Oscar nominations and a few victories. With her latest, she has not only scored an actor’s director in William H Macy, but an ensemble cast that any producer would drop their jaw over.
Krystal stars Robinson and Dawson, sure, but hits the heavenly mark with Oscar winner Kathy Bates, Macy and real-life wife Felicity Huffman as Taylor’s parents, as well as Rick Fox, T.I., character extraordinaire William Fichtner, Grant Gustin and Jacob Latimore.
The supremely timely film is also a touching tale about overcoming obstacles, real and imagined, dealing with addiction and above all else, how the heart is so much more than a muscle whose beat keeps us alive. Krystal is a love letter to love and all its thorny beauty.
The Movie Mensch: As a two-time open-heart surgery survivor, of which one was emergency, I cannot thank you enough for triumphing a story about someone with a not-so-perfect ticker, as they refer to it so lovingly in the film.
Rachel Winter: Thank you so much for sharing that with me. That is so meaningful. Actually, growing up my best friend had open heart surgery when she was ten. It was a part of this story that was not just unique for the sake of being unique, but special and human.
The Movie Mensch: One thing I have found, personally, is that the heart truly signifies love and is at its healthiest when filled with love. What personally resonated with you most of all about this script by Will?
Rachel Winter: I have always been blown away by what Will does. In this one, I love how surprising and unexpected [it was] and I didn’t know which way it was going to turn. I loved every word that came out of every single character’s mouth. With a big ensemble like this, the fact that Will, puts equal love into each of those characters. They each have a world view. They each have a soul. Some, good, some bad in those archetypal sense. There is so much love. Then, I suppose it’s no coincidence that it is coming out at a time where some of the themes that have always been in the movie, they resonate so much more today than when I read it for the first time. It cosmically was supposed to come out now in terms of its loving look at addiction, the idea that people aren’t at their best when they come from a place of fear — given all the things going on in our country and the fear of the other. The fact that we have this unbelievably diverse cast that is organic to the story, I’m just proud of this film that it is coming out at this time.
The Movie Mensch: What a cast… from Nick, to Felicity, of course William Macy – who is a national treasure in my opinion, William Fichtner, Kathy Bates, TI, Rick Fox and of course Rosario in the title role… when you as a producer hear the finalized cast list, how do you feel? Lucky? Empowered? Blessed?
Rachel Winter: I couldn’t be more proud of the cast. Kathy Bates and Jacob Latimore, from top to bottom it is the dream cast an exactly how it should have been cast. You get opportunities over the 15-year period that you are trying to make your movie, at the end of the day to emerge with the perfect cast, it’s extraordinary. Everybody did the movie because they loved it. They picked up the script, read 108 pages and said I have to do this. There’s so much value in that.
The Movie Mensch: Nick Robinson, coming up the incredible and moving and important Love, Simon. He is the center of this film, the heart – pun intended – what do you see in him that is so special?
Rachel Winter: I love talking about nick Robinson, especially because I first saw Nick in an episode of Boardwalk Empire, which my husband’s show… he created it. He did one episode. In this episode, he is in a basement hiding with Steve Buscemi and Charlie Cox, two unbelievable actors. Here’s this kid, just a kid, and he’s stole it from them. I’m sorry, I love those guys, but he did. You couldn’t take your eyes of this kid. I remember saying, “I’m going to work with this kid.” He’s just so special and it took ‘till this movie that he found a role that he responded to. But, I was jumping up and down when I heard that he wanted to do it. I was so happy that Bill was as happy as I was. He’s just special, sweet, smart and beautiful inside and out. That’s what this character needed.
The Movie Mensch: You’ve worked with William Macy twice now, he has such an extraordinary touch when it comes to directing, between setting the tone, working with actors – including himself, and editing and overseeing the score… you name it. Why do you like working with him so much? If you had to pick only one thing [laughs].
Rachel Winter: That’s easy. One of the things I like the most about Bill is he is the most gracious person that you can work with. He’s an honest person. You always know where you stand. We joke that he has no spin, because he doesn’t know how to lie [laughs]. It is a magnificent quality in an artist because you have a partner where you know exactly where he is at all times. He takes all his experience as an actor and he pushes that into the area of directing in a way that it was so obvious that folks wanted to work with him [and] do their best work for him. He understands the simple, subtle important things that a non-actor doesn’t understand. He brings all that with him. He knew, for example, that those bigger scenes with the family we needed a certain amount of rehearsal. He wanted the language to roll off the tongues of actors in a certain way. He wanted the choreography to be just so. They are some of the best scenes in the movie. His experience brought that to the table.
The Movie Mensch: What attracts you to these truly personal, truly human stories that might seem like a hard sell, like this and Dallas Buyer’s Club, but in your hands and your filmmakers and cast’s hands, they truly stand out?
Rachel Winter: A bad sense of art and commerce [laughs]. You mention Dallas Buyers Club, the great honor of my career. It was a personal story for me. I was just lucky enough that I was invited along for the ride. My uncle had been on AZT and died of AIDS. But, Melissa Wallack had written a beautiful script with remarkable characters. Their journey has themes that will resonate forever. Stealing Cars is another film I did. My dad was a public defender for juveniles. He believed in rehabilitation and that you didn’t just throw people away. That stuck with me. So, I did a boy’s prison movie. And then Krystal, like you pointed out, is really about love and embracing people who come from different walks of life. That love can show up in the strangest places. And if we have courage, we can face anything. Those are beautiful, timeless themes. I’m always down to invest my time in something that I think has meaning and will have value.