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WonderCon 2011 - Hanna
http://www.rarityguide.com/articles/articles/655/1/WonderCon-2011---Hanna/Page1.html
By Douglas Shepard (Editor in Chief, RarityGuide.com)
Published on 04/6/2011
 
An article on the panel about the coming movie "Hanna", featuring director Joe Wright and actress Saoirse Ronan.

hanna

Photos: Emily Anderson
Contributors: Douglas Shepard, Molly Stermon

This is a quieter release than what many would expect at this point. Still, it had a number of interesting twist to it. It will likely break into something bigger than what was seen at the Convention and that panel had a very good turn out. Both the director, Joe Wright and the lead performer, Saoirse Ronan were present to take the questions at the panel and tell us about the movie. The movie features a soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers.

Joe told us that Ronan was the one who contacted him with this project. He was interested in working with her again and took this chance. There had been no director attached with the script so he was given the choice. As he read he found the main character, Hanna, walking down a variety of strange paths. He felt it was a lot like a dark fairy tale. It was, to him, a project that would be found as they made it. He explained that it was made more in the European-sense of things. The movie was aimed to play outside of the genre expectations. It was to hold some sub-conscious ideas and hover just above reality as we know it. It was also an important part of the movie as Hanna learned about the consequences of her actions. Because of her solitary style of upbringing, she did not much think about others. As she traveled though she began to see just how her actions could impact others who were in proximity to her. He also joked about how some of these scenes let him vicariously beat up on bullies from his past by having them beaten down by a young girl.

Ronan told us then about taking up the role of Hanna. She found it liberating to take on the mindset that Hanna would have. She had a very simple, black and white view of the world. When she started the project she did not think it was going to be in the style it was ultimately in. Wright agreed with her, that the project was as much telling the story as finding it. Both of them agreed that the movie shows the innocence that Hanna looks at the world with. Ronan took over again and continued to talk about shooting the film itself. She felt it helped that they shot the film in rough chronological order, letting her take the time to really find the character. She talked a bit about learning to see the world as Hanna did. She had to wipe away much of her own experience and think in much simpler terms as a young girl who had no exposure to the outside world, having only an Enyclopedia and Grimm's Fairy Tales to read. She learned to look at the world through fresh eyes and find a particular fascination with it. One of the biggest experiences she told us about for Hanna was found out about music. Until that point Hanna had sensed something missing and music was that piece.

She took some time to also talk about the training she went through for the role. She studied a personalized version of Wing Chung, a Chinese martial art meant for close quarters grappling and striking to defend ones self. She found it very empowering to learn and practice. She liked the condition she was in after the role and wrapped up most of her training. She felt that this was the kind of movie that we needed to see more of. Wright chimed in saying how she was different from many heroines that we see in the modern cinema. She stands on her own without anything aside from her skills. She was more about the power a woman has and was not gentled in any way.

At this point the panel was opened up to the floor for questions. On the coattails of the last panel question, someone asked about the role itself. Ronan told us she was excited to take on such a strong female lead. Most felt a need to exude coolness and be sexy. Hanna though got away with being a misfit and weird. She explained that Hanna did not buy into the culture we all know as she was raised apart from it. She would sometimes, after the movie, think as Hanna would to get a better look at things.

The second question asked was for Wright, if he had helped with developing the D-box experience for the movie. When Joe expressed confusion, the person explained about how D-box was adding in rumble to the movie. Joe told us he did not have anything to do with that part. Instead he told us about how he felt that was the job of the audio in the movie. That it was a vastly under-used portion of the movie experience. He explained that movies are the marriage of sound and vision. It would only be when the two are fully used that he would be happy to watch a movie. With that, he bid us to enjoy a clip from the movie where Hanna escaped from a facility.

Unfortunately, there was not much time for questions and the panel ended there. Still, it was a promising movie to learn about. It would give a very different experience than one would expect. Something surreal but moderately grounded as well. It sounded to be a good movie.