It’s been nearly 18 years since Alan Rickman’s feature directorial debut, The Winter Guest, hit theaters, but now it’s finally time to catch his second go behind the lens, A Little Chaos. In 1682 King Louis XIV (Rickman) commences a search for a landscape designer to build one of the main gardens at the Palace of Versailles. Even though Sabine De Barra’s (Kate Winslet) social status and forward-thinking techniques aren’t in line with the candidates one might expect André Le Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts) to chose, he decides to embrace the “chaos” of her process and awards her the job.

With A Little Chaos due for a limited release on June 26th, I got the chance to talk to Rickman about making the film. He stressed the importance of pre-production and having rehearsal time, he talked about what it’s like directing a scene that he’s acting in, reuniting with Winslet nearly 19 years after Sense and Sensibility, and more. You can catch it all in the video interview below.

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Alan Rickman:

  • On the importance of pre-production.
  • Prepping for the shoot with rehearsal time.
  • Doing a period drama with a very limited budget.
  • The processes of both acting and directing a scene.
  • On reuniting with Winslet after so many years.
  • If he had to pick any other on-set job to have, what would he choose?
  • What’s the one thing he can’t do without while on set?
  • Will he direct again soon?

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