THE DIRECTOR OF BILLY ELLIOT CAME TO PRESENTE HIS PANDEMIC TELEVISION PLAY

STEPHEN DALDRY – THE DIRECTOR OF BILLY ELLIOT, THE HOURS OR THE READER – WAS AMONG THE HONOURED GUESTS OF THIS YEAR’S PRAGUE IFF – FEBIOFEST

Stephen Daldry presented his latest piece, Together, which follows one couple’s struggles during lockdown, at a special screening at the Cinema City Slovansky dum.

“Originally, this was supposed to be a theatre play, but the Covid pandemic made that impossible. At first, we had no idea what to do with it, and then we tried offering the play to the BBC. They don’t do a lot of Covid stories, it’s not a particularly popular topic in the UK, so to speak – but in the end they did take on ours,” Daldry said, adding that the resulting film follows in the footsteps of the traditional television play. “Together is hybrid in its form, but its soul is firmly rooted in theatre,” he pointed out.

The shooting – with James McAvoy playing the lead character – took place this spring. “We wanted to do it quickly, the shooting only took about ten days, and we premiered in June,” said the director. According to him, anger takes centre stage in this movie. “Not so much anger between the characters, it’s more about feeling anger at the whole situation and the way the government dealt with it,” Stephen Daldry explained. For him, Together is just one of many stories about the times of the pandemic. “Plenty of others will follow, no doubt,” he says with certainty.