Marc Turtletaub interview, The Upcoming
After producing some great indie gems like Little Miss Sunshine and Jack Goes Boating, Turtletaub sits in the director’s chair for a second time. Puzzle – which opened this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival – is the story of Agnes (Kelly MacDonald), an insulate Catholic housewife who escapes her drab existence of cooking and cleaning for her family by completing large jigsaw-puzzles. But this seemingly innocent pastime changes her as a person, and risks her relationship with her husband and two sons.
The Upcoming was fortunate to speak with Turtletaub about the film – discussing why he wanted to direct the feature, the similarities between Agnes and his own mother and his resistance to rehearsals.
Puzzle was originally an Argentinian film by Natalia Smirnoff. When did you first become aware of it?
I became aware of it when the screenplay was sent to me. We didn’t develop it, we had a production company but we didn’t develop this one. I had never seen the original movie – in fact, I didn’t watch the original movie until I finished making Puzzle.
