‘Enola Holmes 2’ director reveals how he broke the ‘Fourth Wall’ and the fun of making historical films | interview | Harry Bradbeer | Millie Bobby Brown | Henry Cavill | Netflix | Lights

The game started with the movie premiere.Enola Holmes 2On November 4, the film marks the return of the young detective played by Millie Bobby Brown in a case that crippled even her famous brother, Sherlock Holmes, played by Henry Cavill.

To talk to El Comercio about this new adventure during the Victorian era is Harry Bradbeer, who is also the film’s first director, as well as award-winning series like Fleabag and Killing Eve. Next, we talk about the significant moment that inspired the plot of “Enola Holmes 2”, the joy (and difficulties) of filming historical films and how to break the “Fourth Wall” without trying to die.

The film begins with the message “The following is true, at least the important parts,” and then tells a fictionalized version of the events leading up to the match’s first hit. Why did they choose this historical event as the film’s narrative center?

Because we wanted to tell a story about the brotherhood of women. The first movie was about a young woman who left home and learned to support herself, while in this sequel we were going to tell a story about going from “me” to “us,” how someone who works alone can find her helpers in other women. So what better than the women who live on the other side of society, not of the aristocracy and country houses, but of the working class of the East End.

– Was the idea of ​​learning to ask for help the evolution you had in mind for Enola Holmes in the sequel?

Yes, I think it was. Enola’s big drawback is her pride, she always wants to protect her will and her path, and often insists that she does not need the help of others. This is something we felt was alluded to in the first movie, and we wanted to put her under pressure and confront her with a mystery so complex that she couldn’t solve on her own to tell a story about independence and strength, but also the strength of the Union.

This is another reason why the matchmakers’ strike is so vital, because it shows a real history of women’s struggle against injustice at the time, which I think is still very important in today’s times where young women are still exploited and corruption persists.

The Victorian era was remarkable not only as the beginning of many labor movements, but also as a time when the United Kingdom was ruled by a queen, women had many limitations on their power and opportunity. Could a story like “Enola Holmes” work in another era?

Well, I think it could work, but I think the fun in that is taking events from the past and using their soul to reflect the present, it’s the fun of historical adventure and drama. We could put “Enola Holmes” on in the present, but I feel like the movie would feel more intentional and like we’re cruising. I think it is more interesting to see our present from the perspective of another era so that we understand how long this battle lasted and why we have to keep fighting.

– Another aspect of enjoying period films is the sets, which in “Enola Holmes 2” looked very original. How did they achieve this effect?

I’m glad they convinced you, because they put in a huge effort and were the biggest challenge in making a historical film in a city, since there are so few streets I’ve seen at the moment. So we had to go to Hull, in the north of England, to find that long street where you see Enola following Mae (Abe Hearn) in that first night scene. The sulfur plant was a power plant in Wapping, while the outer parts were found in Chatman, Kent, near the shore. We had to go to a lot of places outside of London to find those sites.

Meanwhile, for the Music Hall website, we searched and visited many of these places and theaters that still exist. We put the collection together from scratch in the Shepperton studio. It was a lot of effort, but sometimes you have to put something together if you can’t find it.

Breaking the fourth wall is an old fiction technique, but it has found renewed use in the past decade with films such as “Enola Holmes” and “Fleabag,” which she also directed. What do you think is the reason for its popularity?

You know, I’m interested to know why it’s so popular now. It’s a way for a character to communicate directly with the audience and I think now we spend a lot of time watching Tik Tok videos and YouTube on our phones where they address the viewer maybe the fact that in this drama or adventure we can have that same relationship with the protagonist, same direct connection, increases its attractiveness.

What is the best way to use this technique?

Public Speaking is a few years old, as Shakespeare put Hamlet in front of the audience to talk to them. But in the movies, you can do it a lot of different ways, and sometimes the best part is to break the fourth wall with a few natural looks at the camera and not overuse it. One key is to find an actor who can do it convincingly. Phoebe Waller Bridge has a tremendous natural instinct and ability to communicate with us, and Millie (Bobbie Brown) shares quite a few of these instincts and abilities to communicate directly with an audience. Not everyone can do that.

– “Enola Holmes 2” leaves enough loose ends for later stories. Will we see more films in the saga?

Like I said, there are a lot of loose ends and directions we can go with. So yes, it is a possibility.

– Going to Spoilers, I wanted to ask you about the movie’s final villain, perhaps one of the most pathetic versions of the classic Sherlock Holmes character. How did you get the idea to present it this way?

Well, we thought that if we want to improve this character, it is better to make it as different as possible so that it is hidden and creates a surprise. I’m glad you say it generates empathy, because I want us to feel empathy for everyone. I even sympathize with Grail (David Thewlis), with all his arrogance, portability, and love of theatre. We should take care of all our villains as well as our heroes.

During the development of the movie, I always had the idea, again here’s a spoiler alert, to make a server that gets ignored. It is interesting to have a character who silently observes everything from the background, absorbs everything, and uses it for his own purposes. The servant doesn’t have power or money, all they have are their ears and their wit and their wit, and I think if we were going to do a sinister origin story, I wanted to be someone with Moriarty traits like his ability to math and cunning to keep their cloaks dirty, but reinventing it for someone who uses them in a different way. This is what we have here.