In "Blackbird", Susan Sarandon plays a strong woman in the face of disease

In "Blackbird", in theaters Wednesday, Lily (Susan Sarandon) and her husband Paul (Sam Neill), decide to bring together children and grandchildren for a weekend in their country house.

Three generations of the same family meet, with Jennifer (Kate Winslet), the eldest, her husband Michael and their 15-year-old son, Jonathan, but also Anna (Mia Wasikowska), the youngest, who came with Chris, her companion. .

This family reunion has a very specific goal: suffering from an incurable degenerative disease, Lily refuses to suffer a degrading end of life and decides to take her destiny in hand.

A choral film on the question of the end of life

It was a chance meeting at a dinner party that allowed producer Sherryl Clark to discover the story of "Blackbird".

Christian Torpe, screenwriter of the Danish film "Silent heart", explained to him that he had adapted the original screenplay to make it an American production.

Sherryl Clark says: "I was overwhelmed by the story of this family struggling with the mother's decision to choose her end of life after Charcot's disease."

To direct the film, producer Sherryl Clark immediately thought of Roger Michell, with whom she had worked on "Morning Glory" with Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford.

She remembers: "Roger called me right away to tell me that he would very much like to make this film. I was in shock, because as a rule, it is extremely rare to succeed in having the director that we put at the top of the list! "

A prestigious casting

The next step was the casting.

Sherryl Clark explains, “Roger wanted to cast Lily first. He felt it was important to start with the mother role, and the other characters would flow from it. But ultimately, it was Kate Winslet who was the first actress to agree, in the role of the girl. "

Kate Winslet had personal reasons for participating in the project.

She confides: "About 18 months before the shooting, I lost my mother myself. I felt all these emotions, more and more strong, until her death, which we knew was imminent because she had cancer. ... I had a hard time getting back to work after he passed away, and I felt particularly deep grief at this point in my life. I've been through everything the characters are going through, and I know what it is. means to be a family going through something as devastating as the loss of a mother. "

For the character of Lily, the producer then turned to one of the most emblematic actresses of her generation: Susan Sarandon.

Sherryl Clark says, "I called Susan's agent and told her about our scheduling issues. The agent said, 'Give me 24 hours, that's a perfect role for her.' We emailed the script, had it printed in New York City, and a bicycle courier brought it to Susan's apartment. In four hours, she had signed! "

Susan Sarandon says: "I was immediately interested. I have total confidence in Roger. It is a real gift to be able to work with someone like him. He is a great captain, we know that this will be a great trip. "

A shoot in the United Kingdom

Kate Winslet was instrumental in finding the filming location for the film, suggesting a house near her home that could very well pass as a Connecticut property.

Filming lasted for five weeks near Chichester in the UK.

Lindsay Duncan, who plays Lily and Paul's friend Elizabeth, explains: "The house is a character in its own right in this story. It is the family home, a very powerful architectural presence."

Roger Michell made the unusual decision to film almost chronologically, which allowed the actors to bond.

He notes: "It had an even bigger impact than I expected on the focus of the actors and their commitment, to the film and to each other."

Despite some emotionally charged themes in the film, the on-set and off-camera vibe was often light.

Susan Sarandon confirms: "Roger brought a lot of humor to the story and didn't go into sentimentality, which I think is respectful of the people who struggle with this disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal degenerative disease. And Rainn Wilson made us laugh all the time. "

Mia Wasikowska adds: "Everyone got to know each other really well. It's a choral film, most of the scenes involve all the characters; we were only eight actors and actresses so we were all together the whole time."

"Blackbird" is in theaters this Wednesday, in partnership with Europe 1.