During an interview withSiriusXM, actor and filmmaker,Joel Edgertonrevealed that theMaster Gardenerdirector was going through a lot during the film production. The director, Paul Schrader, was reported to have a torn retina, forcing him to wear an eye patch for protection, contracted COVID, and walking pneumonia just before finishing the work on the movie. Schrader had to go through extreme difficulties just to push forward with the film.
Edgerton shared in the interview his experience on the set with Schrader.
“He reminded of the old director Ford you know, with the eye patch post second world war. He put off an eye operation so that he could make the film in the window that he was able to. And because he talked about it, I’ll happily talk about it too.”
While filming, at one point, the actor asked how the director was doing, after seeing the latter’s physical state.
“There was definitely a moment, I walked up to him on the porch one day, asked him just, you know, casually how he was doing, and he said that he thought he was gonna die the night before.”
Schrader recounted the said episode to Edgerton when they met again in New York for the premiere.
“He said to me, he thought he didn’t think he was going to live through the night. He had some issues breathing and that this was probably going to be his last film.”
Fortunately, according to Edgerton, Schrader was looking healthier and better than ever, having written two films, and are already entering their pre-production phase. Edgerton further praised the director’s work ethics and unwavering efforts to bring out something new.
“He looked a million dollars. I know for a fact because I saw him in New York last week. He’s already written a couple of new films and he’s about to go into pre-production on his next film. So don’t count the man out yet. He’s one of the sharpest guys, you know. While he might be slow to move, he’s fast to think, and he’s one of these filmmakers who’s really willing to still shake the tree and put challenging material on screen. He’s not softening his edges even though uh some of the aspects of this film show a bigger heart than some of his previous films.”
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Master Gardener Completed Paul Schrader’s Informal Trilogy
Paul Schrader, widely known for writing screenplays for Martin Scorsese, finished Master Gardener as a somewhat part of his ‘man in a room’ trademark style. Similar to his previous two works,The First ReformedandThe Card Counter, the narrative is centered on the ego of a male loner, another signature trait in Schrader’s film catalog.
Master Gardener follows the story of Narvel Roth (played by Edgerton), who works as gardener for an old rich woman, Norma Haverhill (played by Sigourney Weaver). Edgerton magnificently played the almost immaculate character of Narvel, whose past with the Nazi will haunt him back, later. Story-wise, Master Gardener was perfectly executed in the film’s first hour, but Schrader failed to deliver a strong finish.
