A lifestyle that initially appears to be a fairy tale can quickly venture into far more shadowy more treacherous territory. The new mystery thriller, Steal Away, truly captures that daring descent from an inspirational fairy tale into a bold, mesmerizing fever dream.
Clement Virgo and Tamara Faith Berger co-wrote the film’s script. Virgo also directed and produced the drama.
Steal Away follows Fanny (Angourie Rice), a sheltered teenager whose knowledge of the world is limited. She spends much of her time in the stately manor she lives in with her glamorous mother, Florence (Lauren Lee Smith). The house is located in a mysterious country that’s reminiscent of occupied Europe, Algiers and the Antebellum South.
Fanny’s life changes, however, when she meets Cécile (Mallori Johnson). The latter is a charismatic visitor who’s one of countless people seeking asylum from the conflicts that consume their country.
The two women’s mutual curiosity sparks a bond that may prove vital to their ability to survive the desires and dangers that surround them. However, they’re so immersed in sensory pleasures that they struggle to comprehend the truth about their situation.
Steal Away made its World Premiere in the Special Presentations section of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Virgo and Berger generously took the time to talk about penning, helming and producing the drama during an exclusive interview over Zoom after its premiere at the festival.
Q: Together you co-wrote the script for the new mystery thriller, Steal Away. What was your inspiration in penning the screenplay? How did you work together to create the film’s story?
Tamara Faith Berger: Well, the script is inspired by a nonfiction, historical book by Carolyn Smarts Frost. It’s a meticulous piece of history about these two young women who come together within the institution of slavery. The young Black woman is sort of gifted to the young white woman as her helper. It takes place in a mansion in a plantation-like situation in Kentucky in the 1840s-50s.
The book goes on and on in terms of the history, especially of Cécile Reynolds, who’s the Black woman, and her escape to Canada and then back again to the States. But we really wanted to focus in on their difficult relationship within the restrictions of this society that they were living in at the time.
Q: Once you began working on Steal Away‘s script, what kind of additional research did you do to help you shape the screen adaptation’s story?
Clement Virgo: I think Carolyn Frost Smart really did a meticulous job with her research. So the book was a resource. But as Tamara said, it was also a kind of inspiration to the screenplay.
With this screenplay, we really wanted to explore genre, especially the psychological thriller and horror elements, and use that framework to talk about this history. Instead of tackling the drama head-on, we wanted to come to it more from the side within the genre space.
We wanted to create a world that felt like the past but could also be the present. It can even be a kind of dystopian future.
So using all of those elements to tell a story that has that history, which echoes what’s happening today, was important. The story’s really trying to talk to one collective history, as opposed to looking at history as being dead.
Q: Clement, besides co-scribing the screenplay, you also directed Steal Away. What was your overall approach to helming the drama? How did contributing to the story influence your directorial style?
Clement Virgo: Well, bringing a film to life as a director, you bring on a lot of collaborators. We brought on a production designer, Elisa Sauve, and a DP (Director of Photography), Sophia Vinquist.
We were mindful in making sure that a lot of our key collaborators were women, including in the hair, costumes, make-up, production design, cinematography and music departments. That way, the film is infused with that feminine energy in some ways.
Like with any project, you give your collaborators free reign to participate and show us what they’re thinking about. For me, as the director, I’m just making sure that everyone’s telling the same story. Everything we do is in service of making sure the story and characters work.
Q: Speaking about Steal Away‘s production design, how did you work with production designer Elisa Sauve to create the feature’s look?
Clement Virgo: When we were working on the script, we had a sense of what we wanted, in terms of the production design. But once we finished the script and tried to find the right cinematic language to tell this story, we began to create the rules for this world.
As a filmmaker, I was very interested in world building and theatrical elements in cinema with my first film. But after seeing certain films, like Poor Things, I was really taken by their boldness and risk-taking.
Certain films of the past used these elements. They were usually sci-fi in some ways.
Certain filmmakers, like David Lynch and Tim Burton, used those elements to create a specific, unique world. Baz Lurman also used those elements in his films, like Elvis and The Great Gatsby. There’s a kind of theatrical world building quality in them that I quite admire.
Tamara Faith Berger: We did also have some certain rules and goalposts, for lack of a better word, in the script itself. We definitely didn’t want any screens. We also did research into the way the dress that our main character Cécile wears would look. So all of the people who came on board the film were able to create and blossom on their way the ideas and concepts that were in the script.
Clement Virgo: One of the key things that I said to them was that I wanted an analog world. We’re of the generation where we were part of an analog world before we switched into a digital world. So I wanted the film to feel like an analog world.
Q: Speaking about the dress Cécile wears in Steal Away, Sofie Callaerts served as the costume designer on the project. How did you collaborate to create the characters’ clothing?
Clement Virgo: Well, our collaborators would go out and find imagery. We would then all sit together and talk about these images. They would show me an image and we would discuss if it felt like it could be included the film.
Then the costume designer, Sofie Callaerts, would present the colors she was thinking about. Then the makeup team would sow me some of the makeup they were thinking about. Our designers would have sheets showing their ideas.
Then we would all talk about what colors would be in this world. The film takes place partly in the mansion in Cécile’s world, which could either be in the Antebellum South, Algeria or Cuba.
I find those worlds to be colorful and quite vibrant, as opposed to the European world, which has a much cooler color palette. So there’s a contrast of color palette, where there’s a vibrancy within the world of Cécile, as opposed to the cooler tones in the world of Fanny.
Q: Steal Away stars Mallori Johnson, Angourie Rice and Lauren Lee Smith. What was the casting process like for the movie?
Tamara Faith Berger: When we saw Mallori Johnson’s tape, I had just seen her in Kindred, which is an FX miniseries based on the book by Octavia Butler. She was just amazing in that role.
Before we saw her tape, we had looked at quite a few other actresses for that role of Cécile. But when we saw Mallori’s tape, I felt excited about it. She had so much energy and focus. Sometimes, when you see someone, you’re like, can we please get her? It felt like that for me watching Mallori’s tape.
Clement Virgo: All the actors are great. Angourie Rice is a veteran, as she’s been acting since she was a kid. The way she spoke about Fanny was key.
We were blessed to have people who I’ve worked with before, like Lauren Lee Smith, who I’ve previously worked with on television and other films. So it was a real embarrassment of riches, in terms of actors who came in to participate on this film.
Q: Once the actor signed on to star in the thriller, how did you work with them to build their characters’ arcs?
Clement Virgo: Once you cast the actors, part of the job as a director is to really get to know them. It’s important to know what motivates and excites them. My job is to then give them the space to develop their characters.
Once I hand the characters over to them, it’s their character now. So they’re showing us who these characters are as people. My job, as the director, is to be the first audience in some ways.
I have a certain sense of who they’re supposed to be, but I try not to be prescriptive with that. I give them the space to show me their various colors of what the moment could be. If that feels right, I get out of the way of that and don’t mess it up with my directing.
If it feels like it can be slightly different, that’s when I go in as a director and try to make it concise as I can. I tell them, “Maybe you want to try this.” I create a space and environment where everyone on the cast and crew can do their best work. They have a sense of freedom and exploration, and feel as though they can take a risk on set.
Q: Steal Away had its World Premiere earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival. What does it mean to you that the drama screened at the festival?
Clement Virgo: I’ve been going to TIFF since 1991, when I made my first short film. It played at TIFF that year, and I was in my early 20s. I also went on to screen my first feature film at TIFF in 1995. So it (was) quite nice to be there for the festival’s 50th anniversary.
I’ve had a lot of memories being in the theaters at TIFF, and having a sense of anticipation of seeing all the films. (The night before the interview,) I went to see (Guillermo) del Toro‘s Frankenstein. The anticipation of the full theater to see a new filmwas exciting. There’s nothing like it – it’s quite magical!
Overall: A-
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