Plus, listen to an exclusive track from the film’s score.
Gothic romances are all about atmosphere.
James character enters the room expecting to conquer her fears but instead is only overwhelmed.
Credit: Kerry Brown/Netflix
[It] is the nail in the coffin of her confidence, says directorBen Wheatley.
EW talked to the director, as well as composer Clint Mansell, about crafting this deliciously gothic scene.
“Immerse oneself in her writing and the atmosphere literally drips off the page.
Spoilt for choice!”
The film will show you if you let it."
The Room
How do you show the essence of somebody else?
Rebecca [came] out of this glitzy metropolitan world.
She’d been transplanted from London to Cornwall," Wheatley explains.
She was sort of a cancer to Manderley itself, and her influences were spreading inside the house.
If she lived, she would have completely redecorated the whole place.
But as it was, she only managed to get that wing of the house done.
The gray curtains were the final touch, echoing the sea and Rebeccas watery demise.
I wanted it to be like a shroud, he says.
There are only two bits of personal contact that Danvers has with her in the film.
Its the first time she touches her.
Its intimidating, but has that sexuality to it.
The Camerawork
Low angles and creeping tracking shots dominate the scene.
The whole of the film is a memory box, says Wheatley.
Theres a lot of observation and looking through things distorting their own memories.
Wheatley also relied on a Steadicam in this scene to suggest the haunting quality of the room.
“That creeping Steadicam stuff in that room was really important,” he notes.
“It was like she’s being stalked, basically, by that memory.”
But really, its about those two actors going at it with all their skill.
Rebeccais now available on Netflix.
To read more from the November issue ofEntertainment Weekly,order a copy onlineor find it on newsstands now.
