While it may be a staple of romantic comedies, the “meet cute” isn’t solely confined to the genre. Akiva Goldsman’s directorial debut, “Winter’s Tale,” is certainly not a romantic comedy, but features a solid example of a meet cute when the characters played by Colin Farrell and Jessica Brown Findlay first see each other.
It is a crucial moment for the film because this is the love story in which the audience has to believe if the rest of the film is to work. Right after the two characters meet, they sit down for a nice cup of tea, which is still a part of that all important introduction and, interestingly, that was the first scene Findlay and Farrell did for the movie.
When I sat down with the two actors, that meet cute and subsequent cup of tea was the first thing that I asked about. It was Findlay who said that it was the initial bit of filming they did and Farrell followed up with, “Sometimes it’s nice to, if you’re doing a film, to not have to say anything, to get to walk or do some walking scenes in the character and easily get into it, but this was jumping straight into that scene and that was one of my favorite scenes in the film.”
The scene wasn’t one where they had a hard and fast idea of what they needed either, and Goldsman had them do it a bunch of different ways. Findlay explained, “We could do takes where it was just like ‘Now you can just be really silly,’ which I like,” and with the thought they could “Just let it… happen.” Both certainly seemed happy with the result.
Farrell and Findlay also said that they do feel like these sorts of awkward first introductions do happen in real life, and apparently to Findlay on a semi-regular basis. Delving into this particular meeting, Farrell suggested that, “It’s awkward, but it’s only awkward because it’s so easy.”
The final question I asked was about good and evil and if love was a facet of that, or vice versa, but for Findlay and Farrell’s thoughts on the nature of love and how it plays into notions of good and evil, you’ll have to click and watch for yourself.
“Winter’s Tale” is currently playing in theaters across the country.