“We all got a glimpse of what Trudy might’ve felt, even though none of us were risking our lives,” says director Joachim Rønning, reflecting on the challenges of his latest film Young Woman and the Sea, which tells the inspiring true story of Gertrude “Trudy” Earle—the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
Rønning is no stranger to filming on the open ocean and brought his vast experience to the project, having directed the Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee Kon-Tiki, which followed Thor Heyerdahl, who daringly crossed the Pacific Ocean in a wooden raft in 101 days. The Maleficent: Mistress of Evil director harnessed the experience of navigating the unpredictable seas to bring Trudy’s boundary-pushing feat to life.
Rønning, who also directed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and is in production on Tron: Ares, utilizes vivid, immersive visual storytelling to trace Trudy’s journey from novice swimmer to determined athlete who defied the odds after surviving Polio in the 1920s.
For Rønning and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson, there was an added personal motivation behind the story.
“I have two daughters, and as a filmmaker, you never get to spend as much time with them as you want,” shares Rønning. “The next movie I was going to make, they were teenagers, and I was looking for something with a bit more substance… [screenwriter] Jeff Nathanson had that same inspiration and motivation behind finding this story, and it’s not just for our daughters but for the daughters of the world.”
Rønning spoke with Awards Focus about his decision to take on the project, the safety measures involved in filming the challenging, 60-degree ocean scenes with Daisy Ridley, and how he views the ocean as a formidable antagonist in the story.
AF: How familiar were you with Trudy Earle’s story before joining the project?
Joachim Rønning: I first heard about Trudy when I read Jeff Nathanson’s script, probably seven or eight years ago. I remember reading this story, and I was baffled that I didn’t know the story because it was such a worldwide event when it happened 100 years ago. Her accomplishments, in many ways, probably changed women’s sports forever. I felt an obligation to tell her story and bring Trudy back into the light because she had been forgotten in time.
AF: How was the true story aspect of ‘Young Woman and the Sea’ influential in you joining the project?
Rønning: I’ve done biopics in my career, like with Kon-Tiki, so I’m overly above-average interested in history. I have two daughters, and as a filmmaker, you never get to spend as much time with them as you want. When I made Pirates of the Caribbean, they were just kids. They were so small, and then they turned eight, nine, and ten years old, and I made a movie about fairies with Maleficent. The next film I was going to make they were teenagers, and I was looking for something with a bit more substance, something that was more of a story for where they were now in their lives. Something that could inspire them. So, it was a personal quest.
Jeff Nathanson had that same inspiration and motivation behind finding this story and it’s one that’s not just for our daughters but for the daughters of the world.
AF: How did working on your film Kon-Tiki prepare you for filming on open water?
Rønning: You know, it never hurts to have crossed an ocean before, metaphorically. Experience will always help you. At the same time, the weather and the winds are always going to be different from time to time.
This was a story where I wanted to put as much blood, sweat, and tears into it as possible and make it feel as real as possible. As a filmmaker, you always want that impact, especially when you make a historical film or a true story. It became my quest to go out there on the ocean and shoot it like we did Kon-Tiki. It’s hard, complicated, everything, but it’s so rewarding.
My hope is that the audience can also feel, at the end of the day, that it’s not filmed on a stage or in a tank. You see the happy mistakes, the elements we’re exposed to. That’s why it was so important for me to do it.
Of course, I had the best film partner in Daisy Ridley. I warned her very early on that this was something I really wanted, and she went and trained for months and months. We were out there for weeks. Her lips were blue, she was being swept away by the current, and her feet were inches from propellers. It was very stressful, but she was so amazing at doing that while also acting, being emotional, and reading lines.
AF: You’re filming on a schedule but also at the mercy of the ocean. In what ways did the weather and production safety measures impact when Daisy should go in the water, and what you could capture for the day?
Rønning: 100%. We’re also trying to make a Disney movie, and you cannot get Disney to risk anything ever.
We had five times as many safety divers and boats as we had on Kon-Tiki, so it was definitely considered, which was great. There were also swimming doubles and stunt swimmers for Daisy when we were out there.
But even when she’s face down in the water, and there’s no way you could see her face, I ended up using her for the wide shots because Daisy swam with such force. Her strokes were so powerful, even more than the professional swimmers, and she had that very special way of that forceful swimming I imagined Trudy would have back in the day. She was game for everything. I have some videos of her jumping into that 60-degree water again and again and just screaming, collecting herself, and then saying, “Okay, let’s go.”
AF: The beginning of the film has many swimming pool tracking shots, while the back half has open ocean scenes. How did you approach developing the visual language of the film with cinematographer Oscar Gaura?
Rønning: The swimming pools were a controlled environment, so we wanted to do some cool stuff with the camera. We wanted to go through the surface of the water, and we worked really hard on that. We set a couple of days testing all these underwater remote camera heads and so I’m very proud of those shots.
Oscar had so much experience, having shot The Impossible and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. He has an enormous amount of expertise on water. Then, we got to the open ocean, and it was another ball game. We discussed how we would manage to be with Trudy while she was in the water and how we could see her face while she was swimming. From a story point of view, that was one of my biggest concerns that we can see Daisy’s emotions even in the water.
AF: It’s like you’re getting coverage on two characters, one who is swimming and one that is the ocean.
Rønning: It’s almost like a cliché, but the ocean in this movie is definitely a character and, in many ways, symbolizes the villain. It’s the obstacle that she must overcome to prove that she’s equal.
AF: She conquers it, and it’s a really beautiful, emotional climax when she makes it to land. How did that final scene come together after Trudy and the large crowd that had gathered to support her?
Rønning: That was shot at night in the Black Sea in Bulgaria. We had a thousand extras at 2 a.m. on the beach in the middle of nowhere [laughs]. I remember scaling those beaches, and it was snowing sideways. I thought, oh my god, we’re going to be shooting here in a couple of weeks.
Daisy was getting in that water without a wetsuit, so I don’t think it was hard for her to be freezing and exhausted as she was walking out. But she told me that she had a wonderful relationship with Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays her sister, Kim Bodnia, who plays her dad, and Stephen Graham, who plays Burgess. They’re all on the beach in character waiting for her to walk up, and she’s spoken a lot about that moment and how wonderful it was as an actor to have that relationship as your filming.
For me, it was very stressful because we had a thousand extras in costume over several nights.
I will say, though, that this crew was absolutely amazing. It all starts with Jeff Nathanson’s story, based on Glenn Stout’s book, because everyone wanted to be a part of making the film. It’s not lost on me that I’m a man making Young Woman and the Sea, so it was important that we have the best crew in the world and that we have as many women as possible as key department heads.
My production designer, Nora Ekberg, turned Bulgaria into New York. Costume Designer Gabriele Binder and editor Úna Ní Dhonghaíle were fantastic. It’s just an amazing group of women that I leaned on for help.
It’s such an affecting film and you can see the love that went into it.
That was the best crew I’ve ever had.