- Title: Andrea Arnold found poverty in US upsetting to see
- Date: 15th May 2016
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 15, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) ACTRESS, SASHA LANE, SAYING: ''She just came up to me I was chilling on the beach - you know spring break and she just seemed really nice she just like smily and stuff like that and I just didn't really know what she was talking about she was talking about a movie and I was like yeah yeah whatever, but I don't know she was like in her overalls and she was smiling and I was like really happy that day - and so I was just like, oh she seems so sweet she has such a good vibe about her.'' TEAM AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, ANDREA ARNOLD, SAYING: ''I love that song, I love Rihanna I love Rihanna I didn't actually know that we would get it - I wrote to Rihanna - I love writing, 'Dear Rihanna' I just liked it, I wanted to do it - 'dear Rihanna - love Andrea', I wrote her a letter, I had to write a few letters for some of the songs actually trying to explain what I was trying to do and why it meant something to me, we got it which is fantastic (to Shia) What was it like dancing to it? You didn't like it did you?'' (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) ACTOR, SHIA LABEOUF, SAYING: ''That was like day one of shooting and we had just gone through like a, I had just landed at the motels and we had just gone to the like alpha male figuring out the alpha male thing so it was very awkward amongst the boys in the group and so right on that first day everybody was really like, everybody was alpha male-ing around the set and she's like hey I need you to body role to Rihanna right not in front of everybody - it was a little awkward.'' VARIOUS OF TEAM LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE ARNOLD SPEAKING TO PRESS
- Embargoed: 30th May 2016 17:11
- Keywords: Andrea Arnold American Honey Shia LaBeouf
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: CANNES, FRANCE / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: France
- Topics: Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0094HX3LFX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: CONTAIN FOOTAGE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
For her fourth feature film British director Andrea Arnold has turned her attention to the U.S, with a gritty drama that follows a group of teenagers travelling across the country trying to make money selling magazine subscriptions.
As the 'mag crew' go door-to-door trying to convince anyone they come across to sign-up and give them money 'American Honey' at times shows the contrast between their lives and the lives of the often wealthy people they try to sell to.
Acclaimed filmmaker Arnold, known for her gritty depiction of life in the UK with films such as 'Fish Tank' and 'Red Road' spent time travelling across America to prepare for her latest project.
Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday (May 15) where the film is competing for the Palme d'Or, Arnold explained she discovered a different America to the one she grew up seeing in Hollywood films: ''I got to see an awful lot when as I was travelling and I got quite upset about some of the towns I went to, some of the poverty I saw. It seemed really different to me than in the UK because when people don't have money they can't get healthcare and they can't do things like go to the dentist and stuff like that and those kind of things really shocked me.''
Amongst the mostly unknown cast is Shia LaBeouf, the 'Indiana Jones' and 'Transformers' star said he has first hand experience of growing up in a poor town: ''This is not new information to me, so it's not like I discovered that - in Bakersfield where my father lived for a stint the only thing there is a prison you know so everybody works at the prison, yeah that's not new information I am part of that under class.''
LaBeouf who plays Jake, one of the mag crew's top sellers, took time to understand how a mag crew operates. "I saw the hierarchies of the group of how the money comes in, how the money goes out who handles what - what a pitch sounds like - how long they need to be just the technicalities of doing this gig, what the manager does, what's for sale- all that.''
Arnold, who said she is 'inspired by real life' found her film's star - newcomer Sasha Lane - on a beach, during Springbreak: ''She just came up to me, I was chilling on the beach,'' Lane explained.
''She just seemed really nice, she was talking about a movie and I was like yeah whatever.''
An important part of the film is the soundtrack. The music was cleared before filming began as often the cast dance to the tracks. When Lane's character Star meets Jake (LeBeouf) for the first time Calvin Harris and Rihanna's 2011 hit 'We Found Love' is playing.
Arnold joked she enjoyed writing to Rihanna to get clearance for the track - while LaBeouf said he found having to dance to it 'awkward.'
''Everybody was alpha male-ing around the set and she's (Arnold) like hey I need you to body role to Rihanna right not in front of everybody - it was a little awkward.''
'American Honey' is one of the 21 films in the running for the top prize in Cannes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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