It’s one of the crucial memorable scenes in “Babygirl,” a visible, musical huge display screen second that has taken on a lifetime of its personal on TikTok: A shirtless Samuel (Harris Dickinson) sensually dances to George Michael’s 1987 “Father Determine” for his older lover Romy (Nicole Kidman), the married CEO on the robotics firm the place he interns. Whereas on a current episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, author/director Halina Reijn broke down the quite a few selections and inspirations that went into creating the scene, together with her personal expertise as an actress stripping on digicam and her need to play with gender roles. As to the selection of the music itself, Reijn defined it was tied to the central query she posed to herself when she sat down to put in writing “Babygirl.”
“For this film my query was if it might be doable to like and settle for all of the totally different layers of myself, so not simply those that I’m comfy with exhibiting my pals, or the surface world, but in addition those that I’m embarrassed about, that I’m nervous about, that I really feel disgrace round,” stated Reijn. “And for me personally, it’s primarily that I actually have this tendency to wish to present my weak facet in romance and I’m ashamed of that, and this music embodies all of that in a enjoyable, playful, horny manner.”
George Michael’s life itself — popping out as homosexual within the Nineteen Nineties and confronting head-on probably embarrassing elements of his private life that grew to become headline fodder for the tabloids — spoke to the movie’s themes and was an inspiration for Reijn in making “Babygirl.”
“It’s additionally about freedom for me,” stated Reijn. “George Michael has a really well-known music referred to as ‘Freedom,’ but it surely’s his entire life, and the way he slowly dared to change into who he actually was is essential for my life and a giant inspiration.”
What Michael represents for Reijn’s technology, which she contains Romy as being a part of, performed a component within the selection. As Reijn defined on the podcast, this scene is a part of one of many movie’s two longer lodge sequences that function the movie’s two pillars, which have been supposed to reflect one another. The primary low-cost lodge room is Samuel’s territory, he rented it, and Romy is on unsure footing, not even understanding how or the place to take a seat. However the second lodge room, shot at a real-life floor-through suite at an costly Manhattan lodge, is one thing Romy paid for, and Reijn imagined Samuel as being akin to Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) in “My Honest Girl” when he’s shocked by its grandeur.
“I needed these two particular songs, one within the low-cost lodge room, INXS’ ‘They By no means Tear Us Aside,’ and the one within the luxurious lodge room, George Michael, to be of Nicole’s world,” stated Reijn. “I assumed that was essential [to be] of my technology. Harris dancing to that music was humorous to me and wonderful and shifting as a result of, in fact, he’s youthful, so he’s not her father, he’s not the daddy, she’s the daddy, however nonetheless he’s carrying her round. And to me, why that’s so vital is as a result of all of us have that. All of us, males, girls, any human being, any individual, has a younger youngster inside them that must be taken care of. Whether or not we’re 80 years previous or 6 years previous, it’s nonetheless there. And that’s what it faucets into for me.”
Whereas on the podcast, Reijn stated she considered the scene as remedy for the characters, because the lovers are serving to heal one another’s wounds. In working with Dickinson and Kidman, she had intensive conversations about what the characters are emotionally experiencing in order that they felt a way of freedom on set, however throughout the scenes’ rigorously deliberate blocking — Reijn acted out the scene herself (together with Dickinson’s dance) when writing after which with cinematographer Jasper Wolf.
“[When Harris] is dancing, I simply informed him, ‘Nicole’s gonna sit in a chair identical to Mickey Rourke in ‘9 1/2 Weeks,’ and also you don’t need to strip, you’re not Kim Basinger in ‘9 1/2 Weeks,’ however I need you to bop and it needs to be sensual, however I additionally really need it to be weak. And so no matter you’re feeling, when you’re feeling actual nerves, as Harris, simply use them. It’s okay. It’s all okay,’” stated Reijn. The director’s a long time of performing expertise meant she felt like she knew what Kidman and Dickinson wanted in these intimate scenes, but it surely additionally was, partially, an inspiration for the scene itself. “What number of instances did I do a striptease in so many motion pictures that I acted in? On stage, it’s virtually been 99 % of the time I’m taking my garments off in any play that I did, so, in fact, I’m additionally enjoying with gender roles, swapping them in a lightweight manner, and hoping that folks, whereas they’re watching, are enthusiastic about all of these items and having enjoyable with it.”
Reijn additionally talked about how the movie was as a lot about two totally different generations, because it was about gender, and he or she’s been pleasantly stunned how the scene has taken on a lifetime of its personal on social media.
“This entire ‘Father Determine’ factor changing into now this viral factor and all people’s dancing on TikTok, and wives are forcing their husbands to bop on it, I like it,” stated Reijn. “I feel it’s simply an effective way to be in contact with these sorts of topics, to speak about them and to speak about it, our sincere vulnerability, and that’s one thing that I feel is essential in life.”
To listen to Reijn’s full Toolkit interview, subscribe to the Toolkit podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favourite podcast platform. It’s also possible to watch the complete interview beneath, or subscribe to IndieWire’s YouTube web page.
