Mother Mary: David Lowery’s Dual Identity and the Intimate Art of Creation

For the past decade, filmmaker David Lowery has navigated a fascinating duality in his career, effortlessly shifting between the intimate, experimental world of arthouse cinema and the grander canvas of mainstream blockbusters. This apparent dichotomy was so pronounced that in 2019, during the demanding production of the medieval fantasy The Green Knight for A24, Lowery found himself simultaneously tasked with providing script notes for Disney’s adaptation of Peter Pan & Wendy. The stress of managing these two distinct creative demands led Lowery to a cathartic late-night writing session, where he penned 20 pages of dialogue exploring the very schism within his own artistic personality. Seven years later, this deeply personal script has materialized as Mother Mary, a compelling, character-driven drama that delves into the complex relationship between a celebrated musician and her former confidante.

The Genesis of Mother Mary: A Dialogue of Dualities

The germ of Mother Mary emerged from Lowery’s need to reconcile the disparate aspects of his creative process. The film centers on Mother Mary, portrayed by Anne Hathaway, a global pop phenomenon, and her reunion with Sam Anselm, played by Michaela Coel, a gifted fashion designer. Anselm is tasked with creating a show-stopping gown for Mother Mary on an extremely tight deadline, a task that mirrors the pressures and creative collaborations inherent in the music and fashion industries. The narrative unfolds primarily as an intense two-hander, with the camera fluidly navigating the confines of a secluded fashion studio that evokes a dreamlike quality, far removed from the ordinary.

Hathaway’s performance is marked by a raw emotional vulnerability, her face a canvas for the character’s internal struggles. Coel matches this intensity with steely gazes and unflinching honesty as she confronts Mother Mary with hard truths about the disintegration of their shared past. While the core of the film is steeped in the intimacy of their dialogue, Lowery masterfully infuses it with elements that transcend the theatrical. The film incorporates spectral apparitions, conceptual nods to quantum physics, and electrifying stage performances by Mother Mary to her adoring fans, ensuring its identity as a cinematic experience rather than a stage play.

A Symphony of Collaboration: Music, Fashion, and Artistic Vision

The film’s aesthetic and sonic landscape are further enriched by an impressive roster of collaborators. The original music for Mother Mary is crafted by a trio of acclaimed artists: Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff, and FKA twigs, the latter also making a memorable cameo appearance. The extravagant set designs are meticulously crafted to mirror the characters’ internal turmoil, while the striking costumes are the product of visionary designers Bina Daigeler and Iris van Herpen. These elements contribute to a film that, while replete with references to cultural touchstones like Lady Gaga and Ingmar Bergman, ultimately serves as a profound self-examination for Lowery, or perhaps, as he suggests, a complex exploration of artistic personas.

Lowery’s Persona: The Artist and the Advocate

In a conversation held in London just prior to the film’s UK release, David Lowery elaborated on the personal underpinnings of Mother Mary and his own relationship with public-facing artistry. When pressed about whether he adopts a specific "David Lowery" persona akin to Mother Mary’s stage presence, the director offered a nuanced perspective. "With musicians, their art is represented through themselves," Lowery explained. "Whereas I can hide behind these movies. They’re very personal, but I’ve removed them from myself, and put them on a table for everyone to look at."

He described himself as naturally shy, someone who has had to cultivate the ability to function in public due to the communicative demands of his profession. "My natural disposition would be sitting at home with my cats, and not talking – ever," he admitted. This introspection extends to his writing process. While he typically employs standard screenwriting software, Lowery finds that deviating from the industry-standard Final Draft, even by simply using Microsoft Word and hitting tab extensively, allows him to approach the text with less of an eye towards commercial viability and more as pure idea generation. This method, he believes, keeps the writing closer to a more organic, almost handwritten, feel.

The Symbiotic Dance of Pop Stardom and Fashion

The inspiration for the film’s exploration of the symbiotic relationship between a musician and their fashion designer draws from real-world artistic partnerships. Lowery cited the impactful collaboration between Alexander McQueen and Lady Gaga as a key influence. He recalled Gaga’s declaration that her song "Born This Way" was inspired by her relationship with McQueen, a revelation that shifted his perception of their collaboration from purely aesthetic to deeply emotional. This led him to consider other iconic pairings, such as Madonna and Jean Paul Gaultier, and the profound intimacy inherent in dressing an artist whose persona is intrinsically linked to their visual presentation. "It’s an intimate act to dress somebody," Lowery observed. "When you have an artist who is in part defined by their aesthetics, the connection they have with the person who’s creating those aesthetics must be incredibly intimate and charged, because that person is creating a work of art that the other person has to wear and will become part of their persona. And yet it’s still their creation." This dynamic, he found, was a source of immense fascination.

Crafting the Sound of Mother Mary

The integration of original music by contemporary artists like Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff, and FKA twigs was a crucial element in bringing Mother Mary to life. Lowery actively engaged with these musicians, seeking insights into the world of pop stardom. He found particular value in a documentary about being a pop star that Charli XCX was involved in, and an interview she conducted with Dua Lipa on Lipa’s podcast. These resources provided him with a deeper understanding of the pop star’s experience, informing his communication with Charli and shaping his perception of the lifestyle.

The songwriting process itself was a collaborative endeavor. Lowery described a text chain with Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff, where he initially attempted to dictate the structure of a song to fit a specific scene. "I was trying to make a song work for the structure of the scene, and so I was asking her, ‘Let’s repeat this verse. Let’s add a line here. Can we add a lift at this particular junction?’" Charli XCX’s gentle correction, "Yes, you can do all of these things, but that’s not how pop songs work," served as a vital reminder for Lowery to step back and learn from those who excel in the genre. He acknowledged that he "came perilously close to ruining a great Charli XCX song" through his initial over-interference.

The Evolving Landscape of a Film

Mother Mary underwent a protracted production period, with shooting taking place across 2023 and extending into 2024. Lowery described this extended process as a challenge to maintain perspective. "When you’re in the weeds of any movie, it’s very difficult to see the forest from the trees," he stated. "When you’re in it for this long, the forest changes as you’re working on it." This extended gestation period means that the film continues to reveal itself to its creator even after principal photography has concluded.

Despite his deep engagement with film criticism, Lowery confessed to deliberately avoiding online reviews when his films are released, preferring to maintain a distance from external interpretations until he has had time to process his own.

An Epic Intimacy: Scale and Spectacle

The perception of Mother Mary as a film that straddles the line between intimate arthouse fare and blockbuster spectacle is not lost on Lowery. He noted that, in terms of practical scale, the production was comparable to The Green Knight. However, the emotional intensity of Mother Mary surpassed anything he had previously experienced. "It’s characters who are feeling big feelings, and talking about them," he explained. "The actors manifested those feelings in a very palpable way. For the duration of the shoot, we were on that emotional journey with them. There was no escape hatch."

This deliberate approach to visual language was crucial in ensuring the film felt cinematic, even in its most intimate moments. Lowery collaborated closely with cinematographers Andrew Drozda and Rina Yang to achieve an epic scope. The decision to shoot in the 2.39 aspect ratio was made specifically to enhance this sense of grandeur, even though the narrative’s core is a dialogue between two individuals. "Even the scenes where it’s two characters in a very enclosed space together, I wanted the breadth of the intimacy to feel cinematic," he emphasized.

The Enduring Power of Emotional Resonance

Lowery’s ability to evoke profound emotional responses in his audience is a hallmark of his work. He recalled a previous conversation regarding A Ghost Story, where the interviewer revealed that Pete’s Dragon, a Disney film he directed, was one of the few films that had made them cry. Lowery finds a deep satisfaction in this aspect of filmmaking. "I love that I work in a medium in which when people tell me that I made them cry, it’s a good thing," he said with a laugh. He hopes that, at the very least, such emotional experiences can be cathartic for viewers.

The film’s perceived budget also became a point of discussion, with The Guardian initially reporting a $100 million figure, which was later corrected to $20 million. Lowery embraced this as a testament to his ambition to make his films appear larger than their actual cost. "I always aspire to make my movies look bigger than they were," he stated. He applied this philosophy to Peter Pan & Wendy, aiming for it to look like it cost $250 million. He views the misreporting of Mother Mary‘s budget as a compliment, indicating that the film successfully conveyed a sense of immense scope and spectacular moments, even within its more intimate framework.

Unveiling the Vision: The Iris van Herpen Creation

The striking red dress featured in the film’s climax, designed by Iris van Herpen, was a pivotal element in Lowery’s vision for Mother Mary. He has long admired van Herpen’s work, and the dress needed to be a work of art that would justify the entire cinematic experience. After reading the script in 2022, van Herpen was starstruck by the opportunity. A visit to her atelier in Amsterdam, accompanied by costume designer Bina Daigeler, was a surreal experience for Lowery, surrounded by her iconic creations.

The discovery of the specific red dress design, almost immediately upon entering a dedicated room in van Herpen’s studio, felt serendipitous. This dress, chosen by both Lowery and Daigeler, became a tangible representation of the film’s creative ambition. The production was bifurcated across two years, and throughout this period, the anticipation of filming the scene with the red dress loomed. It was the final piece of the puzzle, both narratively and in terms of production.

Exploring Alternative Narratives: The Silent and the Island

Lowery revealed that the script for Mother Mary has undergone numerous iterations, including a fascinating draft written during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this version, the characters communicate entirely through written messages, with Sam’s house imposing a vow of silence. This exploration of non-verbal communication, though ultimately removed for overt clarity, highlights Lowery’s continuous experimentation with narrative structure and character interaction. He also alluded to a version of the script set on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, which would have significantly increased the production costs.

The significance of character names, such as "Sam Anselm," is also a deliberate choice by Lowery, often weaving subtle connections between his various cinematic universes, leaving audiences to uncover these Easter eggs.

As Mother Mary continues to captivate audiences, it stands as a testament to David Lowery’s unique ability to blend personal introspection with grand cinematic vision, proving that even the most intimate of stories can possess an epic scope.