In anticipation of the film, whose trailer is here, production designer Lauri Faggioni, who has worked several times with Renck, was kind enough to answer a few questions.

When and how long was production?

We started shooting in January of this year in Regina, Canada. We were there about 2 months. It was unbelievably cold. The day I arrived it was -45 degrees. That was the actual temperature. The warmest it got was around -15. Everything was so cold and white. The landscape was barren and we were in this tiny town. People looked at us like we were giraffes walking in the snow. We were all out of our element. It was such a crazy time when I think about it now. We all went a little insane in our own different ways. But now after being away from it for a while it is one of my fondest memories. We were all living in this tiny white town in this building that was for business men. These little corporate apartments. We all had our own little places and every night we took turns cooking and entertaining each other in our apartments. Then we'd go to some bar and get loaded and walk around the empty town at night in the snow. It was so cold your hair would freeze grey when you walked outside. We all looked how we'd look when we are 80.

Was this a big departure for you, working on such a dark film?

This is not the kind of project I would normally do. I've worked with Johan for a couple of years now and have grown quite close to him and his crew. They are some of the best people I know. When he told me about the project he said "I want you to read the script, but call me right afterwards to talk about it. Don't talk to anyone else." He knew this was going to be something different for me. This story isn't about cotton clouds and velvet ponies. It was hard to get through the script, sometimes I could only read 4 pages at a time and then I'd have to step away. It's a hard story to hear and knowing it was a true story made it that much harder. When I finished reading it I called the producers and said, no, no way can I do this. Johan called me and we talked about it. He knew it was a hard tale to tell. We talked about Nancy about who she was and he told me how he wanted to tell her story. I listened to him and I knew what he had in his heart going into this. It was full of compassion for Nancy and the lost.

Then he said, "I want to tell this story in pastels." Pastels. That was the joke after I signed on. I said, "You had me at pastels." Something about telling this dark story in pastels hooked me in. I agreed to it and headed to Canada. The whole flight over all I could think was, "Pastels, pastels, pastels."


10 December 2007
LAURI FAGGIONI'S "BOY WITH A COIN"

It's been a while since we've heard from Lauri Faggioni, creator of Golden the Pony Boy (among other things). In the last year she's been working with director Johan Renck on his debut feature film Downloading Nancy, which I'll have more about later this week. First up, though: "Boy With a Coin," Faggioni's new video for Florida folkie Iron & Wine (aka Sam Beam). In the clip, a group of flamenco dancers strut their stuff in top fashion as Beam plays his soft, sandy tune.

Faggioni, who did choreography for Mad World and a recent Talk Talk campaign, explains..

"When Sam first contacted me about the video he was at first interested in my doing more of an animated video. They sent me the track and when I heard it, all I could think was flamenco. The clapping in the song lends itself so well to that style of dance. I couldn't get it out of my head."

"I liked the idea of the story being told through the students and the teacher and her sorta schooling them in the end. So I sent the idea to Sam and he liked it and we went from there."

"The next thing was finding the dancers. It's not as easy as you would think. Very few women can really dance flamenco in the States. We finally found an amazing woman based in San Francisco named Yaelisa; she is the artistic director at Caminos Flamencos. She brought with her students from San Francisco and found more in Los Angeles. We shot it there. The girls were all incredible and I have to say their spirit is very inspiring. All of them were such strong women and so talented. The first rehearsal I cried when I saw them dance. The sound of their feet sorta goes straight through you. They laughed at me and thought I was an idiot, even when they messed up I'd being crying and clapping. All I had to do was point the camera at them and they made the magic."


28 March 2006
WHAT'S UP WITH LAURI FAGGIONI

Well, first off, Lauri's been signed to RSA Films for music video representation, she tells Director File. This comes after the dissolution of Felt Films, under whose banner Lauri initially was to direct. In the meantime she also worked on Michel's Block Party as production designer.

"There's some new videos I'd like to do," she says, "but I've been focusing on an animated underwater sea documentary." I'll let you know more about that as soon as I unearth the info.

In the meantime, check out her new website: laurifaggioni.com. While it isn't completely finished yet, it will be soon. It currently has gobs of her hand-sewn artwork. Tops!


Videos Lauri Directed
Iron & Wine ·· Boy With a Coin ·· mov (copy/paste link in new window)
Bright Eyes ·· Easy/Lucky/Free ·· directed with Lily Thorne ·· ifilm
Devendra Banhart ·· A Ribbon

As Production Designer
Robbie Williams ·· She's Madonna ·· director Johan Renck ·· mov
The Science of Sleep ·· art department (creator: animals and accessories)
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Robbie Williams ·· Trippin' ·· director Johan Renck ·· mov
Michael Andrews and Gary Jules ·· Mad World
The Willowz ·· I Wonder
Steriögram ·· Walkie Talkie Man