Mahalia Belo on directing Jodie Comer and real babies in The End We Start From
Mahalia Belo has got “the therapy bills and fine lines” to show for her challenging feature directorial debut, The End We Start From.
The independent film, based on the book by Megan Hunter, stars Jodie Comer as Woman, who gives birth to a baby boy named Zeb just as London and low-lying areas of the U.K. are hit by flooding. Woman and her partner R (Joel Fry) venture out of the capital and try to survive the civil unrest and she eventually embarks on a journey back home with her newborn.
Miss Flicks met with Belo for a chat on the rooftop bar of the Picturehouse Central cinema during the London Film Festival in October.
She revealed to us that Woman’s experience resonated deeply with her because she gave birth to her second child during the pandemic. The project disappeared for a while and she felt “emotionally ready” to make the movie adaptation when it came back around.
“I knew it. I read the book again and I could smell it. I knew the smell of it. I immediately put together images and wrote about it and I was just writing these random (pieces),” she recalled in our interview. “So I just kind of wrote it all down and then got to work with (screenwriter) Alice (Birch) to develop it and find the hope in it and really really root out Woman’s internal world through the story.”
With the exception of Jason Reitman‘s Tully, Belo felt like she hadn’t seen motherhood told from this angle on-screen before.
“I was just very thankful for my debut… to be able to tell this particular (story), I hadn’t really seen anything about that time in your life,” she added. “I’d had my second child around Covid and really felt it that this other world was happening while I was looking at this child and trying to keep him fed and nappy-changed.”
Belo, who has directed episodes of TV shows like The Long Song and Requiem, had a struggle on her hands to shoot the film in 30 days, particularly given the flooding, many outdoor locations, and the presence of a real baby in most scenes.
While it would have made her life much easier using a dummy, the director knew a real baby was essential to the story.
“It’s difficult working with babies, (but) at the same time there’s something really authentic about having a baby there,” she explained. “It affected the performance, it affected the set in a really positive way, the difficulty was time and they don’t do what you want. But actually, they are the film.
“There’s something very different about holding a dummy to holding a real (baby), there’s something about the care and the attention that you have to place in holding a real-life human being.”
Comer and Fry took an NCT class to prepare for their roles and the Killing Eve actress – who doesn’t have children – met with the newborns who played Zeb (there were about 15 in total) before pretending to be their mum on camera.
“Jodie was nervous, like you would be because you’re holding a human being,” Belo remembered. “I think it was very scary for her. I think that’s good because in many ways when you hold your first child you don’t know how to hold it. All of those things she’s having to learn, both the ethical, ‘How do you hold someone else’s baby on set as an actor?’ but also, ‘How would a mum hold a baby?'”
The Free Guy star managed to form a bond with the “hero” babies (the key Zeb actors), especially a three-month-old who was used for a longer period of time.
“In the end, she got really comfortable with that baby, she would just end up putting him to sleep all the time and I wanted him awake,” she said. “That was actually really frustrating, I was like, ‘Stop rocking! Just stop rocking’ as I’m watching his eyes close.”
Her biggest regret about the film? “There’s not enough poo.”
The Liverpudlian star joined the project as an actress as well as an executive producer and she was particularly involved with creative conversations about tone and casting and the editing process. She also had Belo’s back when they had to fight for what they wanted.
“She trusted me a great deal and that was amazing. She supported me and it’s my debut so to have her supporting me, it was so valuable because there’s some fights to be done. I can’t go into it but she was there with me throughout that and had my back,” Belo praised.
In addition to Comer and Fry, The End We Start From features Mark Strong, Katherine Waterston, Gina McKee and Benedict Cumberbatch. The latter’s production company, SunnyMarch, developed the project and Belo admitted “the money” probably would have liked him to play R. However, Belo and Birch wrote a part for him to play in a short sequence that would have been scrapped without his involvement.
“I was very thankful for him to help me keep that moment. He’s so brilliant coming in for that time and just giving me that part so beautifully,” the filmmaker gushed, confirming that he was on set for a day.
“He’s just super supportive. It’s his production company but I think (he was) also (supportive) of me and watching me and what do you need, what do you want, you know, having him in it also meant I was allowed to shoot on film and things like that. It changed things.”
When she looks back on her difficult shoot, Belo is proud of her team for “getting through” the punishing schedule – and for the “fearless” way they handled Comer’s topless scene after it was derailed by paparazzi.
“It delayed us massively because obviously Jodie strips off and goes in the water and we nearly didn’t get it and I would never have got it back,” she explained. “Just before the time ran out… we just did it and it meant that actually in some ways the light was more amazing. And just the fearlessness of everybody. (Cinematographer) Suzie Lavelle, with the camera in the water, did it in one take.”
Now that the film is in the can and ready to be released in cinemas, Belo is “taking a moment” and “brewing” some ideas for future projects. It sounds like she deserves it.
The End We Start From will be released in cinemas on Friday 19th January. Here’s my review.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this interview and how this experienced film crew took on the challenge of filming with real babies. It takes a lot of dedication and vision to make something like that happen. I was also impressed by the fact that the actor was able to build a bond with not just one but all the hero babies. Recently, I read about how a director used cue cards inspired by classic horror movies to direct lighting. I’m new to learning about what happens behind the scenes, and your article added to some of the cool things I’m discovering. It’s insightful and a great read.
Thank you so much. It was so interesting hearing about all the behind the scenes stuff from her. I’m glad you enjoyed the interview 😊