Coon: Elizabeth Olsen has done such interesting work, and I think we haven’t even touched what she’s capable of yet. I feel like her moment hasn’t even arrived yet, because she’s young—and so, so talented. I can’t wait to see what happens to Elizabeth 10 years from now. And I feel like we were bumping into Natasha at the apex of her career, firing on all cylinders—as a director, as a producer, as an actress—and has had this incredible second lease on her life, having been an addict. Because she’s very open about her journey through life, and the fact that she’s alive is a bit miraculous, and I feel like she lives that way. She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.
The movie premiered in Toronto without any of you in attendance, given that it happened during the SAG-AFTRA strike. Was it strange, observing it from a distance? How did it feel seeing it resonate?
Coon: I haven’t seen the movie yet. The rough cut I saw was on a laptop, so I haven’t actually experienced the film, even though I’m doing press for it. I feel really alienated from that moment in Toronto.
Lyonne: It’s a testament to the movie itself that, despite not being able to do the usual steps and promotion, the work stood on its own—and it rose. It actually was very keeping in line with the experience of making the film.
It hearkened back to something more meaningful, a time when the arts were actually just about making a piece of work from the heart rather than being concerned with how it was received or expectations or box office or packaging or marketing. So many of those ideas have so thoroughly corrupted us as people, let alone an industry. Just the way that we commodify everything has really ruined us in so many ways. In a way, Toronto was almost like the perfect vehicle for it, in that there were no beautiful actresses in the mirror. No gorgeous designer dresses and all that fanfare. It is simple: one heart catching another.
Coon: Aza Jacobs is a very specific filmmaker. I feel that if you were given a pile of films and nobody told you who made them, you would probably be able to pick his out, right? You’d say, “These three were made by the same person.” I mean that as a compliment. His vocabulary is very strong and very specific, and he hasn’t historically been for everyone. So the shocking thing for me was how much people resonated with this particular film, because it’s very much an Azazel Jacobs film. It doesn’t exist that far outside of his oeuvre, and yet the world embraced it in such a way that it’s clear he put his finger on the pulse of something in the grief, in the lack of sentimentality in dealing with that grief. I was really surprised how it was received in the world, if I could be frank. I mean, incredibly gratified. I didn’t expect it.
His Three Daughters will be released in US theaters on September 6 before hitting Netflix on September 20. This feature is part of Awards Insider’s exclusive fall film coverage, featuring first looks and in-depth interviews with some of this coming season’s biggest contenders.
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