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Synopsis : A tale of massive ambition and outrageous excess, Babylon follows the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of rampant decadence and corruption in early Hollywood.
Rating: R (Graphic nudity|Drug use|Gory violence|Throughout language| Strong and rough sexual content)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original language: English
Director: Damien Chazelle
Producer: Mark Platt, Matthew Plouffe, Olivia Hamilton
Writer: Damien Chazelle.
Release date (cinemas): Broad
Execution time:
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Exclusive interview with actor Jovan Adepo
Q: Could you walk me through the audition process with Damien Chazelle, the director?
JA: Oh man. All the audition processes I went through were stressful just because you are so excited about the role in question – or at least I am. I stress about it until I get the part or I get it. I mean I auditioned for it in late 2018 or early 2019 and sent in the autograph. I remember seeing the ticket come in my email and as soon as I saw Damien’s name on it I was like Oh my God, I’m obsessed, I’m excited. I’m a big fan of his work. I sent an autograph and I hadn’t actually heard from him in about a year. I think that was right when the shutdown — when the pandemic actually kicked in. So everything got delayed.
And I remember after that self-recording—it was just one tape—he actually called me, it was late 2020 and I was at the grocery store. He called me and said, “Hey, this is Damien.” I thought, that’s great. “What’s happening?” He said, “Yes, I want you to play Sydney if you are free. I would love to have you in this film.” I was ecstatic. I knew that whatever it took to make this role perfect, I wanted to give it my all. Because that cast, the size of the script and the scale of the film itself was something that I really didn’t want to let slip away.
Q: Damien wrote a 180 page script. What were your impressions of reading this script?
JA: It’s huge. I even think it was more—it must have been about 200 or so pages. It was a beast. But it was like when you read it for the first time, you almost have to sit with it for a minute and then go through it again because, like you said, it’s so ambitious and pushing the boundaries as far as an artist taking something off a page on screen. You are eager and curious to see how they will bring this epic to the screen. But if anyone can do it, it might be Damien Chazelle, because he’s made brilliant movies before. The way he adapts what he records and brings to the screen is something to marvel at.
Q: You learned to play the trumpet for this film. Have you ever played before, and if not, what training did you have to make it so authentic?
JA: Incredibly, incredibly energetic. I touched the trumpet briefly in middle school, but it was only… I mean it might have only been a month and then I gave up. I told myself I wanted to focus on sports. But to bring it back again, I was already familiar with how to play the trumpet, just the basics of holding it and what the valves meant and all that. But I don’t read sheet music and I can’t play anything really complicated, so Damien and Justin [Hurwitz, music director] were really patient with me in developing a system.
Justin was basically creating the score for the film and sending it to my trumpet coach, Dan Fornaro, who is a brilliant, brilliant musician. They developed a system where they could number each musical note because there are only three valves on the trumpet. So if you number each of those notes on paper and then my coach will play it, then I’ll watch him and memorize it, I’ll just watch him play those notes and listen to the music at the same time. I did this Monday through Friday, two to three hours a day. I was really looking for him for three months. It was intense.
It was intense, but for this type of film it has to be, because everyone will know. When it comes to a movie – and Damien shared this with me from Whiplash – people will know if it looks deceptive. So you have to put in the man-hours to make sure you understand the instrument, and you have to learn to play it as well as you can, which is what I tried to do.
Q: Damien was also a musician before becoming a director. How comfortable was it for you to rely on his direction because he knows so much about music?
JA: Even if this movie had nothing to do with music, I would still trust his direction. Because this Damien we’re talking about. Every actor involved in this film believed in Damien’s abilities, believed in this film, believed in the script. You know he’s the type of director who’s amazing—he’s hyper-focused. There’s so much going on in this movie, as you know, and someone who keeps everyone on track and really focuses on everyone else’s work as well as their own is someone to be respected. So every time there was a proposal – he is very willing to cooperate, he really wants to know your opinion. But also, if there’s something that he really, really feels should be a certain way, he’ll explain it to you. And as I recall, he’s usually right, so you learn to trust a guy like that. And as actors, we rely on a director who knows what to do for his story.
Q: Margot Robbie’s character [Nellie LaRoy] is based on actress Clara Bow. Is your character based on any of the actors or musicians or someone Damien asked you to watch?
JA: Yeah, I got to watch it all and it was really interesting because I hadn’t spent much time on that era just in my personal life, other than listening to some of the music. I’m a big fan of Nat King Coles, Duke Ellingtons, Cab Calloways. But I had never delved into the history of black artists in Hollywood in the 1920s. So I was really happy that Damien and I talked about all these different pioneers of the entertainment industry. I was able to choose certain things for different people.
And it wasn’t even just the 1920s era. I was also able to choose from contemporary artists such as Wynton Marsalis and Robert Greene, a jazz pianist. But just the way they talked, their rhythm, voice and sound, how they even walk. I was able to research each one and then try to find things that I could apply to myself that I could play believably and fully.
Q: Now that you know what was happening in Hollywood in the 1920s, the Harvey Weinstein cases started in 2017. How much do you think Hollywood itself has changed over the years?
JA: I think there is more visibility to the industry itself. We are in the information age and everything is out there. People can give their feedback, they can talk about diversity, they can talk about inclusion. There’s a lot more conversation about how we can make our industry a safer space, a more productive space, and really fully support artists, and not just by giving funding to make an interesting film, but [also] to protect them, protect their rights and protect the sincerity of filmmaking.
Q: What do you want audiences to take away from this film?
JA: Of course they will have a lot of fun watching the movie itself. It’s funny and it’s really fast paced and there’s a lot going on. But I think people – like Damien does – will really develop a stronger love and appreciation for filmmaking in general. The history of that is something to respect because if you look at this film, a lot of these artists were going through a change in era and trying to make a living as on the go. There was no blueprint or people who had come before them for them to really learn from. They were living through the transition to the sound age and trying to continue to help this industry thrive.
So I think people will develop a stronger love and respect for the film’s story. But also, hopefully, it will really push people to start coming back to the theater for those experiences. I think we’re in a cool era of streaming and there are a lot more shows and opportunities for artists to share their work. But there is something to be said [for] experiencing the movie in a movie theater and sharing it with a bunch of strangers and everyone watching the same thing and enjoying the moment live and in person.
Q: Thank you.
See more of Nobuhiro’s articles.
Here is the trailer of the movie.
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