After several failed attempts, the drama’s tense first scene came in just under the wire.
Shooting on 35mm film, every movement “would be motivated,” Levinson tells EW.
No second left unorchestrated.
DOMINIC MILLER/NETFLIX
And then production started: “We shoot the first day; everything is out of rhythm.
Nothing seemed to be working the blocking, the movement.
Something wasn’t clicking.”
Levinson and his crew left the set that day feeling depressed.
“We get to set, I see J.D.
and Z, and I go, ‘Okay, we’re going to throw everything out.
We’re going to reshoot everything,'” Levinson recalls.
A few hours in, after looking over at his cinematographer, Marcell Rev, Levinson again second-guessed himself.
“I can tell Marcell is sweating, because he’s been carrying this camera the whole day.
He lost six pounds just from shooting that day.”
Dispirited, Levinson put the brakes on the planned opener and shifted focus to a later moment.
While Marie is in the bathroom, a tracking sequence follows Malcolm exploring the house.
There, Levinson saw a new beginning.
“This is what we’ve been looking for.”
We’ll keep up with you.'"
“I’m screaming, ‘Z, grab the mac and cheese!’
She grabs the mac and cheese.
Film roll’s out.
We get the shot.”
“It wasn’t no editing,” Washington says of the sequence.
That was extremely challenging, nerve-racking.
We got that right before light was coming up…
It was like it was meant to be.
The universe said, ‘You guys deserve this take.'"
All’s well that ends well in the world of DIY filmmaking.
Or, as Levinson concedes, “I literally would have been fired.”
Malcolm & Marieis now streaming on Netflix.
