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fact, it wasn't this fairytale romance as I had imagined it would be. I found that Wallis Simpson tried to avoid the actual marriage from taking place and how she saw the writing on the wall and how she tried her best to get Edward to see the writing on the wall. She was very astute in her observations, but obviously she couldn't talk him into her point of view. He was just cunt-struck, as they say in England. (Laughs at her choice of words) Sorry!
GC: Did you ever think of making the movie without the contrasting modern-day story of someone reflecting on a historical figure?
M: No. I wasn't interested in making a straightforward biopic. I don't think it's possible to tell the story of one person from beginning to end in two hours. I think that's actually an unfair challenge to give oneself. And also, truth is so subjective and each of us could read the same five books about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and we would walk away with a different interpretation. It would impact us in a different way, and so it was important for me to establish that. As much research as I did, and as close as I tried to stay to the truth and as authentic as I wanted to be, it was important that I be clear that it is a point of view. I never intended to just tell the story of Wallis Simpson. GC: What's the importance of telling this story from your point of view?
MA SOCIF
Most of the perspective on the story is, "Look what he gave up for her," and it's told from the male point of view. I think that when Wally starts to make all these discoveries about the Duchess, she appeals to Mohamed Al Fayed (keeper of the Duke and Duchess' letters) as an outsider, because he lives as a foreigner and as an outsider in England, not really accepted by society.
Really, in my movie, each character is an outsider.
Wally is living in alienation in the Upper East Side, where she doesn't fit in; (Wally's love interest) Evgeni is a Ukrainian immigrant working as a security guard, but he's really an
PIA just the worst reason I've ever heard for doing something."
I encourage them to question things. Question their behavior, take responsibility for their behavior, think outside the box.
intellectual and an artist and he doesn't fit in; the Duchess doesn't really fit into this aristocratic world that she's found herself in, and Edward doesn't really fit into the Victorian world that he was raised in. So it's how all these people who feel like outsiders try to come to terms and find their way in the world.
GC: Is that something you draw from your own experience?
M: Yeah, but I think a lot of people can relate to it. A lot of us feel like we don't fit into the conventional norm or what society expects from us.. More and more, people are redefining what makes a family, what makes a couple, what makes love, what romance is, what a union is, what soul mates are all of these things we're reinventing, because family is what you make it. It's funny how things turn out that way. Sometimes. your parents aren't really the people who nurture you. You have other role models in your life that become your mother and your father. It's unusual when the family you're born into is actually the people that feel like your family.
GC: Growing up, you rebelled against your upbringing and convention, becoming a major trailblazer. How is it different being a mother with kids who will not have to fight the same battles that you fought?
M: Not that this has anything to do with my film, but it's an interesting question. I don't think that I'm a conventional parent. I realize that, to a certain extent, my children are raised with privilege; they have housekeepers, I didn't. There are a lot of differences. On the other hand, my parents raised me in a very conventional way and I rebelled against it, and now my children come to me and they often want to do things because everybody else does them, and I say to them, "That's www.gaycalgary.com