Toronto International Film Festival is best known for its collection of highly-anticipated and often critically acclaimed movies, but the event also has its fair share of television shows to promote. One such project is Apple TV+’s Disclaimer, a new thriller from 5-time Academy Award-winning director Alfonso Cuarón. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Renée Knight, the show follows celebrated journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett, The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as she attempts to keep her darkest secrets from being exposed thanks to a mysterious novel.

Surprisingly, it is not Cuarón’s first time working in television, as he previously created the sci-fi series Believe. Blanchett is also no stranger to the format, having recently lit up the small screen in the Hulu limited series Mrs. America. Nevertheless, the show plays out in cinematic fashion, featuring a strong ensemble cast that includes Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville, Sacha Baron Cohen, Leila George, and Squid Game‘s Jung Ho-yeon.

Screen Rant interviewed the stars and director of Disclaimer while on the red carpet of its TIFF premiere, and everyone had nothing but glowing praise (and a few loving jokes) for Cate Blanchett. Additionally, Cuarón shared which aspects of the original novel he hoped to preserve, Kline discussed the mood on set, and George explained how she stepped into Blanchett’s shoes as a younger version of her character.

Alfonso Cuarón Sheds Light On Disclaimer’s Adaptation Process

“The novel lent itself with incredible narrative lines, and then we elaborated mostly on those.”

Screen Rant: You both wrote and directed Disclaimer. What aspects of Renée Knight’s novel did you want to make sure remained intact?

Alfonso Cuarón: Well, it’s like everything. When you read something, the important thing is that – at least in my case – it’s immediate. You’re just reading a few pages, and already speaks out to you as a film. That was the case for [Disclaimer].

Of course, when you are thinking, and it springs out and becomes a film in your head, it’s very specific. You have to be very discriminating of what you choose or don’t choose from the book because you’re creating a completely different form. I think that the novel lent itself with incredible material and also incredible narrative lines, and then we elaborated mostly on those.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Kevin Kline Keeps Disclaimer’s Plot Shrouded In Mystery

The actor teases, “I’m a captain of a pirate vessel in the Seychelles in 1901…”

Screen Rant: Disclaimer has a very fascinating premise, and your character and Cate Blanchett’s are tied together with a unique predicament. Can you talk about that dynamic?

Kevin Kline: No, no. You have to discover it. I don’t want to give anything away. [Joking] I’m a captain of a pirate vessel in the Seychelles in 1901, which was when Chekhov wrote The Three Sisters.

Screen Rant: Can tell me about your dynamic with Cate off-set?

Kevin Kline: Off set? Oh, I never saw her off set. She finished work, and boom! No. It was a very rough, demanding, rigorous schedule, and there wasn’t a lot of [downtime]. People mostly went home to sleep when they could. Not that the days were endless, but there were so many. We shot for about a year.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Disclaimer Star Leila George Shares What It’s Like To Become Young Cate Blanchett

“I think she’s uniquely perfect and, in the acting world, I feel like she is the queen.”

Screen Rant: What is it like to become one with Cate Blanchett, and how do you do it?

Leila George: I don’t think you can become one with her. I think she’s uniquely perfect and, in the acting world, I feel like she is the queen. I hope that I got as close as one possibly can; I think only she would decide that. But it was amazing, and it was such an honor to [do it]. I still can’t believe that this is happening and that I got the opportunity to do this.

She was so generous with me when I arrived in terms of saying, “Hey, she’s yours now. Go for it.” We had some conversations, and I got to see some scenes that she’d done. I think I watched every single movie that she’s ever done again, just to kind of be in her zeitgeist, I guess. But she was really, really generous with it and with just saying, “Good luck,” which was really liberating. I’m very grateful and so honored to be sharing any space with her.

​​​​​​​Source: Screen Rant Plus

More About Disclaimer Season 1

Five-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón adapts Renée Knight’s novel into a seven-part psychological thriller about a journalist, played by Cate Blanchett, who is threatened with the exposure of her darkest secret.

Check out our other TIFF 2024 interviews here: