‘Disclaimer’ Is Unlike Anything Alfonso Cuarón or Cate Blanchett Have Done Before: ‘This Felt Slightly Dangerous’
It was probably inevitable that the new Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer,” starring Cate Blanchett, would draw comparisons to her most recent Oscar-nominated film “Tár” given how it tells the story of a highly respected documentarian whose dark past catches up with her. But both the star and Alfonso Cuarón, the creator/writer/director of the thriller, which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, agree that they did not pursue the project, an adaptation of Reneé Knight’s 2015 novel, with the idea of it being in conversation with any of their past works.
“It’s so diverse of what she has done. She has been Bob Dylan. And if you see ‘Manifesto,’ how many characters are in ‘Manifesto’?” Cuarón told IndieWire at the festival. “Too many,” joked Blanchett. “And each one is completely different than the others. I don’t know if there’s really a trademark in terms of the kind of characters [she plays],” said the director.
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Joined by the two-time Oscar-winning actress for an interview inside a hotel only a short water taxi away from the Lido, Cuarón shared that what really made him adamant about having Blanchett as his lead in “Disclaimer” is the layers she could bring to a character that begins the limited series as this enviable, imperceptible figure.
“What is clear is that Catherine is a very, very intelligent woman; [she’s[ very smart, sophisticated, but also has learned to be able to wear masks — a mask with the family, a mask with her work, but also a mask with society at large,” he said. “And when you are wearing the mask, the mask is just the exterior part. What is important is the person that is inside. I cannot think of anybody other than Cate that can play that.”
For her part, Blanchett accepted the role of Catherine Ravenscroft in “Disclaimer” out of trust in Cuarón. “I’m very director-driven because you can read the greatest script in the world, but it depends who’s going to be directing it, who’s looking down the lens. And the fact that, obviously, Alfonso is a writer/director, and you knew that the script was one part of the process of making a film,” she said, gesturing toward the four-time Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “Roma,” “Gravity,” and more.
“My first encounter with the story was the reading of the script,” she said. “And when we first spoke about it, it was a really short conversation. You said, ‘Please, I don’t want to say anything. I just really want you to read the script, and then we’ll talk.’ And so it started from there, and so I was very much alive to what you wanted to do with it.”
There was also this idea of joining Cuarón as he treads into uncharted territory, in a technical sense. The director works with both his regular Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (who won an Oscar for “Gravity,” plus two more for Alejandro González I?árritu) and Bruno Delbonnel across the episodes. They also executive produce. “Disclaimer” follows parallel stories as a supposedly fictional book containing damning details about a life-altering secret from Catherine’s past is discovered by Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline). He’s the father of a decades-dead son (played by Louis Partridge) who, years earlier, encountered a younger Catherine (Leila George) in Italy to devastating consequences. Cuarón considers the seven-episode “Disclaimer” as his most narrative-driven work.
“You’ve moved across so many different genres and styles,” she said. “This was an adventure for you in serialized storytelling, and how would you deal with a narrative that is handed out in parcels? The way the audience is going to consume it. I felt like you were on a personal, creative adventure. And so, I was really excited to be part of that.”
Blanchett added, “It’s always when someone’s making a departure of some kind, which you always seem to do, you’re always setting off into the unknown. And then that’s really exciting. Whereas if someone’s in a groove, doing what they always do, you can go, ‘Ok, that’ll be great fun,’ but this felt slightly dangerous.”
Describing the adaptation process, Cuarón said, “From beginning to end, the whole thing, I have to say it was a constant rewrite.” After doing one refresh of the script before production, in order to have a map of the narrative they all agreed upon, “Cate, on her way back home, would start going through pages, sending suggestions, notes, specifics. And many of those were also a response to some other scenes we have already done to keep on. Not only in terms of dialogue, it was about actions but also objects of things around,” said the director. “And so every weekend, I would have to be doing the rewrites for the week.”
In the end, the pair found enough of a balance to where Catherine Ravenscroft, plagued by her unflattering resemblance to the character in the book distributed by Kevin Kline’s mysterious character, became a vessel for highly varied opinions of her that will come.
“The tricky thing is to have a character that has a rich inner life, but yet is ambiguous enough. Because in a way, certainly in the first four chapters of this story, far more is said about Catherine than she says about herself. There has to be a glass-of-water quality about her onto which people can place their own judgments and perspective,” said Blanchett. “A lot of people have had a lot of different reactions and perhaps that says more about you [Cuarón] in a way than my performance. Some people have found her really repugnant, and things that many of the characters think have transpired they found unforgivable. And so I think it really depends on the audience member’s response.
“Disclaimer” premieres October 11 on Apple TV+.
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