The Rose of England Sam Mendes tells a black comic tale of American suburbia. Chalk that up to director Sam Mendes, his choice of actors and his wise way with a script that's delicious as is. In the United States, it's Mendes' Broadway restaging of Cabaret with Natasha Richardson and the bare-assed The Blue Room with Nicole Kidman that won him favor. As he did for those stage productions, Mendes took his film debut's look from the works of favorite painters. He called from Los Angeles, anxious about the look and the fate of his film.
Theater is a more romantic process, literally, as the play emerges organically from the mist.
There's more mystery on a theatrical set than on a movie set. Film is romantic in the cutting room. We did do a valuable two and a half weeks. But I had to fight for it. People try to drag you away to do other silly things.