How can you tell if a painting is the work of a great artist? To Steven Soderbergh The Christophersart revivalist Lori Butler (Michaela Coel) is involved in the creation of a series of portraits by Julian Sklar, a well-known painter of the pre-Young British Artists generation. The first and second series of .“Christophers” (named after their minor title) sold millions, but Sklar left the project 1990s. A third, unfinished collection of Christophers rots in his basement, waiting for a buyer – if Lori can pass it off as a masterpiece.
As Lori secures a position as Julian’s assistant, their conversations, and her work, touch on questions of authenticity, authenticity, identity and creativity. These were also the questions of Antonia Lowe, the production designer The Christophersagain Barnaby Gortonlandscape artist who has contributed still images around the world to films including Harry Potter series. Like Lori, they were tasked with making paintings that could be a work in the style of a great talent: both the eight sensual and unfinished Christophers, and (this and the following discussion includes a spoiler) their eight finished versions, which Lori completed after Julian’s death, wild and extravagant, and, although it is said to be related to the departure of Julian’s style, it is considered to be his departure from Julian. Lowe and Gorton refer to Julian’s unfinished Christophers as .“Stage One” and Lori’s resume as .“Phase Two” throughout our discussion.
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LWLies: What was Christopher’s painting in brief?
Antonia Lowe: The first point was to think about it as a whole. The studio and the artwork had to be integrated together, [we were] looking at artists who felt authentic at the time. People like Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon [are] probably the most obvious but clear reference points as the London artists of the time when Julian Sklar would have been working. [We] they took references from their studios, but also some of the processes that go into their painting style, in putting the mood boards together.
One key point was to try to find the artist early – we had very little time to prepare, and actually very little time to shoot. Steven is incredibly fast. I think we had a full five weeks to prepare for the three week shoot, and the sketches will be seen at the beginning of the shoot. We needed to make sure we were happy with the person in terms of style, but also that they could work within the timelines of the film.
We had discussions early on about color palettes and tones, and mood boards were shared with Barnaby to get a feel for who Julian Sklar is completely. We have tried to feed you as much world as possible.
Is it Soderbergh or [screenwriter Ed] Does Solomon help? Were you showing them the drawings?
BG: In the first stage, there were no hands. It was, .“We need this in various stages [of completion].” We did them in a week. That’s good, if you work at speed, because you don’t get bogged down in details. We did so 16 drawings, so that Steven could choose eight, and the extras continued to be the drawings for the second stage. Two of each photo, because we were given eight Polaroids [of young Christopher, which are affixed to the Stage One canvases in the film].
AL: Stylistically, Polaroids set the tone. That casting process had to happen quickly, to find the actor who would become our young Christopher. Again [there were] conversations with Barnaby, but also with Steven, thinking about the frame and how these Polaroids light up. The main point was to make sure it felt like Christopher, as the subject, was front and center – not in the background, so that it wasn’t like [David] Hockney, where you find a person in their place, or inside a space. Having that space, so that the full focus is on the face and the speech, and everything else is blurred, gives this sense of importance, so every detail is looked at and looked at.
Barnaby, the way you translated those Polaroids into your first drawings and paintings was great because it was so fast, you took it in such a practical way.
BG: Some had a white background, some had a black background – I wanted to give [Soderbergh] to choose. So they were worked, but, at least, four hours each; if he didn’t like them, I would paint over and start over.
The second phase had a lot of entries on how crazy it was. The second stage was [initially] more symbolic, and more that I would see how he would have finished [the paintings] at that time. Then Steven went, No, no, no, we want more paint.
AL: I think he said .“Wilder.” And we were like, .“Oh, OK.”
BG: Then we lined them all up and went into each drawing. Which one do you want to be painted? Which one do you want to be weighed? Let’s have a big sign here. So it was good to go back and not be afraid to cut and burn and all these other things. That really relieved me. I really enjoyed that.
AL: Steven’s got it wrong in his head, about blocking. He knew what he wanted emotionally and Ian’s movements [McKellan] he will have to give [when desecrating one of his unfinished Christophers, thus inspiring Lori’s continuations]. So [Stage Two] it was built a little backwards: We had to come up with a finished piece based on the movement he wanted from the characters. He wasn’t very specific in terms of what they looked like, as long as he had the ability to manipulate the movement the way he wanted, and give Ian McKellan the space to make it funny, expressive, all those things on screen.
