How director and star create emotional power with glimpses of memories in ‘Aftersun’
In her best work, Michelle Williams is at the top of her game. And for director and producer Jennifer Siebel Newsom, it all began with her childhood in Long Beach, Calif.
In her best work, Michelle Williams is at the top of her game. And for director and producer Jennifer Siebel Newsom, it all began with her childhood in Long Beach, Calif.
Siebel-Newsom directed her on screen debut, “The Sessions,” and “Sunshine,” both for Universal.
In the family home of Williams and her husband, Eric Bogosian, there was a walled-in patio, one of only three on the block that the couple didn’t have an extra room for.
The walls were made of gray stucco, she said, and when Williams was a kid, she imagined it was a room where people went to talk, or where one would sit and think.
One day as she and her brother were walking through that space, her mother and father suddenly appeared in another room. They were in their late 50s or early 60s and in a state of shock. “They looked so normal,” Williams said.
“The Sessions” finds Williams and Bogosian in the small-town Southern California family home where they grew up. The film explores the way parents — often women who have lost a loved one — can bring the pain of loss with them to adulthood.
Bogosian, an actor, director and co-writer, had been looking for a movie project that would explore a subject of his own. A friend had suggested he could direct her, but he didn’t think he was ready for that.
“I’ve dealt with my grief and my loss,” he said. “I’ve lost people close to me, and lost a job and I’m not an
