Shortly thereafter, they broke up.
“Our attempts to get additional information from the CIA proved not fruitful,” the filmmaker tells EW.
It remains a mystery.
Credit: Joanna Harcourt-Smith/Courtesy of SHOWTIME
There’s more to the film than the mystery, however.
“I find her story endlessly interesting,” says Morris.
“She’s also an extraordinarily romantic character,” he continues.
Nafis Azad/SHOWTIME
“She saw her life very much as an adventure that she was inventing as she went along.
Joanna says fairly early on in the film, ‘I always wanted to be with an outlaw.’
And indeed she was.”
That interview was shot in December of last year, and then guess what happened: COVID-19.
And the whole idea that we were shooting drama was more or less out of the question.
It meant that we would have to wait until, probably, next year to actually go into production.
And we said yes, of course.
And the film came alive as we started to work on it.
it’s possible for you to’t always predict these things.
In fact, in my experience, the best films often come out unexpectedly.
There’s no way you really could have thoroughly planned for them.
But here, there was this amazing wealth of archival material.
There was Joanna herself, who is, I believe, extraordinary on film.
Of course there’s an element of performance, and her performance is great.
Yes, she is Joanna Harcourt-Smith.
Yes, she’s describing events from her life.
But she’s describing them in a way that is unendingly interesting and revealing.
Why did this love affair come to such an abrupt and brutal end?
Was she being used in some way by the federal government?
What was her role?
She’s not even sure of that.
What was her role in this entire story?
I’m immensely sympathetic with this whole idea of really not knowing who you are.
And throughout this film, she points this out very clearly.
“Was I a CIA plant?
Was I being used in a way that I didn’t really understand?”
The mystery of the failure of their love affair, that really came to a sudden and abrupt end.
I find the story deeply mysterious and powerful.
Joanna’s also really honest.
You know, whatever honesty means in an interview.
How did you first connect with Joanna?Well, she approached me.
That happens more and more often, in my case.
Maybe it’s because I’m becoming better-known, but you tell me.
She was a fan of my work; she lovedWormwood.
After all, it’s about the CIA and a possible conspiracy.
She also loved my son’s work.
My son [Hamilton Morris] has done a series for Vice,Hamilton’s Pharmacopoeia.
And Joanna loved that series, and hoped that both of us could be involved.
This is an incredible story and an incredible character.
I don’t ever know in an interview situation what I’m going to hear.
And what can I say, it turned out to be a good bet, ‘cause she was great.
And it’s a great tragedy.
I think it gave her an enormous amount of comfort.
I find it ironic that I’ve now had this experience twice in my recent films.
And in both cases the film I produced gave them enormous comfort at the end of their lives.
So, for that I’m grateful.
Did Joanna know she had cancer while you were making the film?She was in remission.
She had cancer, but she believed that she had conquered it.
And it did recur, and she got seriously ill very, very fast and died.
But I’m very glad that she saw the film before she died.
It was interesting, she was still giving advice about the editing.
And so we put it back in again.
It’s a very interesting and very moving section.
I’m glad that she asked me to put it back in the film.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
My Psychedelic Love Storypremieres Sunday, Nov. 29 at 9 p.m.
