Under the Silver Lake press conference: Director David Robert Mitchell and crew discuss the mystery behind their Californian neo-noir

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David Robert Mitchell’s murky, mysterious LA noir has come to Cannes, but without the presence of its two stars Andrew Garfield and Riley Keough. 

The director said his inspiration for Under the Silver Lake came from conversations with his wife: “We looked at the houses in the LA hills and wondered what really happened up there. The script was formed in a fever dream.”

The feature amplifies its knotted search by largely eschewing digital means to communicate. Mitchell remarked that “memories were connected to these technologies”.

“Mystery is built into the fabric of the film. Everyone, including the main character, is unknowable. They feel like ghosts; they aren’t really men or women.”

But when questions arose about the representation of women in the movie, as mothers or whores, the American auteur changed tack: “We’re dealing directly with the male. It’s his take on the world, embracing his experience of LA. It’s tied to a moment”.

Disasterpiece – real name Richard Vreeland – composed the music for the project, having had a background in video games. Vreeland said that Mitchell and he had “worked pretty closely for almost a year. [For one scene] we had to weave together twenty different songs in a single medley.”

Producer Jake Weiner explained that the clues to decipher the movie’s puzzle did exist: “If you look hard enough, the answers are there. I finally understand LA after seeing this film”.

Joseph Owen
Photo: Laurent Emmanuel/ Getty Images

Under the Silver Lake does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival 2018 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.

Watch a clip from Under the Silver Lake here: