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Young Werther Dir José Lourenço on Apatow, Adams, Learning Experience

Writer and director José Lourenço spoke to Bleeding Cool about Young Werther stars Iris Apatow, Patrick J. Adams, harsh weather and more.

José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço prides himself on being a creative force as a writer while embracing his destiny as director in the process. For his feature-length debut as director, Lourenço adapted the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 18-century classic The Sorrows of Young Werther. Providing a modernized take on the story, Young Werther follows a lovestruck writer Werther (Douglas Booth), who falls for Charlotte (Alison Pill), who's having a day out with her friends. As the two strike a chord, Werther decides to pursue a relationship with Charlotte even after discovering she's engaged to Albert (Patrick J. Adams). The director and writer of Farm Crime spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with stars like Iris Apatow (Funny People (2009) and Patrick J. Adams (Suits), weather concerns, and how his previous efforts on Farm Crime and shorts influenced his work on Young Werther.

Young Werther Director and Writer José Lourenço on Apatow, Adams, Unpleasant Weather Conditions and More

BC: Can you talk about the contributions from Iris [Apatow] and Patrick [J. Adams] and what they brought to their roles?

JL: Iris is so smart, and funny, and treated everyone on set with such kindness and grace. It was amazing watching her work. She was also quite young when we were filming. The confidence and resolve she has as a performer, improviser, and someone who understands character, I was so grateful to have.

Patrick, people largely know him from his role on 'Suits,' but someone with so many projects coming out in the next few years, and he's a crazily talented person and so quick-witted. He's so steady on screen and understands the nuances and the subtleties of what his character needs to do in this story. He can also turn a phrase and like react perfectly. Just as someone to be around day to day, the confidence and the lightness that he brought to set was wonderful. I loved being around him, being able to sit down with him at lunch, and being like Patrick and I screwing this whole thing up. He'd be like, "No, here's what I saw here. Here's what I saw." He was a real honest, and resource throughout shooting. Yeah, I love Patrick!

What's the most difficult sequence to film during production?

Physically, the most difficult thing was everything we shot in Charlotte and Albert's house, because we're filming in this beautiful home. It was this massive, insanely big house, but we were filming in late May at that point, and there was like a heat dome over the area. It was like 40 Celsius and it was unpleasant, and we couldn't get the air conditioning to do anything with the house.

God! The actors, not even one of them, were sitting there complaining, "My God! It's so hot! Meanwhile, they've got lights on them, in costumes that are like wool blends and polyester. I'm in shorts, a t-shirt and I'm like, "This is rough, but they handled the heat so well." They're professionals, but it's you know, it's they were I think we had three days in that house and I was blown away that they were able to put forth such strong performances, stay in the moment, in character, and stay in their narrative stream while I'm off to the side, trying to make a fan out of like a magazine I've picked up off of a table.

What did you learn from your time from your work on shorts and working on 'Farm Crime' that helped you develop into the director you had to be for Young Werther?

In any production I've ever worked on, the best experiences I've had are the ones where the people in the leadership positions were present, working as hard or harder than anyone else, and treating people with kindness, grace, and respect. That sounds like it should be a basic thing, but it was not always my experience with different shots and things in the past. It was important to me. I wanted to have a set that was free of jerks, attitude, and ego and I was so lucky all the actors were such lovely people. They set the tone for everyone, background players, and our wonderful crew. It was a special and lovely experience. I should thank all the other people who were awful leaders back in the day showing us how not to do it. So, thanks, jerks!

Young Werther is in theaters, digital, and on-demand.

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