John Crowley celebrated his North American premiere of “We Live In Time” at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, September 6. The romantic comedy stars Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh in a decades-long romance about a couple embarking on a path challenged by the limits of time.
While the “Brooklyn” director has a history of directing both romances and comedies, this is technically the first time he has a film billed marrying the two. “I always like to mix comedy and slightly darker stuff or sadder stuff,” he told IndieWire at the film’s premiere. “For me, we didn’t set out to make a romance, you know, we set out to make a real story about these two people. But the wit and the humor and the two of them generate a lot of romance in the film.”
“It’s great, I think, when you can work with opposites,” he continued. “There’s a big birth scene in it, which is very funny and very touching and then very profound and you can work with all of those things in one scene. You’ve got a really good scene and with two great actors, they just devour that stuff.”
Crowley reunited with Garfield for this film, nearly 20 years after the two worked together for the 2007 indie “Boy A.” The director praised his star for being “the same actor, just a lot more.”
“He’s matured, the level of detail and the level of commitment is extraordinary that he does,” Crowley said of Garfield’s dedication to the craft. “The length of prep that he loves to do on a film, he does these huge imaginative, deep dives on various moments, months in advance of shooting in order to be completely free and light with it on set. He’s just sort of flowered and turned into himself as it were.”
Coming off of working with Lionsgate and Warner Bros. for his last two films, “Brooklyn” and “The Goldfinch,” respectively, he praised A24’s way of distributing his latest project.
“They are passionate about the film, they love it, which is amazing to be with,” he said. “They’re very direct and they just say what they think works about the way in which you can go out into the world. They do feel clever about what what they do rather than just blasting a lot of money at a campaign. They’re imaginative, you know. I think they’re great. I think they deserve their rock star status.”
“We Live in Time” premieres October 11 in theaters. Check out the trailer here.
