Today, We Live in Time, a new romantic film by Brooklyn director John Crowley, opens in cinemas. The romance jumps back and forth in time to tell the story of Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) across a decade – with all the relationship ups and downs.
Before the cinema release on January 9, 2025, Moviepilot not only had the opportunity to talk to Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, but also to talk to John Crowley. In the interview, the filmmaker explained how best to understand the temporal structure of his drama and revealed how We Live in Time’s most sensational scene came about.
Director John Crowley explains the chronology of We Live in Time in an interview
Moviepilot: We Live in Time jumps in time. What’s so fascinating about telling a story in such a non-linear way? Can you simply explain the structure of the film?
John Crowley: It felt incredibly cinematic to me to juggle three time frames that not only take place at different times, but also have different lengths and narrative paces: one time frame spans one day, one is told over about 6 months, and one spans 5 years in this relationship. They all compete against each other.
That sounds complicated, but my job was to make sure it wasn’t complicated. So that the audience doesn’t feel a cryptic mystery but rather the playfulness in it. After about 20 minutes of running time, you should have figured out the system of levels and then everything will make sense. I love how the structure conveys what it feels like to experience a relationship from the inside. How you experience time: That sometimes it passes very quickly and sometimes very slowly. It felt like the right approach to tell what was essentially a very simple story about two people trying to create a life together.
Were the narrative levels fixed from the start or did We Live in Time change over time?
The structure of the timeline changed throughout the film, but we expected that. There’s the film you write, the film you shoot and the film you edit. In the end, one hopes that they are all roughly similar.
The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh is incredible. Were they always your first choice?
Andrew immediately came to mind when I read the script. We had filmed Boy A together before. We’ve talked off and on since then, but never found the right project or the time. When I read We Live in Time and saw the combination of Tobias’s absurd playfulness with his sensitivity and emotionality, I thought: This is exactly Andrew’s specialty. So I sent him the script and he immediately loved it and said yes.
I’ve loved Florence’s work for a long time, but I didn’t know her personally before. When I first inquired, she wasn’t available because she was doing another film. Just as we were about to look elsewhere, I asked one last time and something had shifted in her schedule. Usually it’s never that easy. But they were both my first choices and they both said yes.
An unforgettable scene in We Live in Time is the birth in a gas station toilet. Can you give some insights into how you shot that?
Most of this scene was shot on one set in one day. We then had a night shoot to film the entire outdoor area. So a total of two and a half days of work. It was the scene that convinced me when I read the script that I wanted to make this film. Because I realized I was laughing out loud with tears in my eyes as I read them.
It is the proximity of the absurdity of this situation to one of the most profound moments in a couple’s life. I found the mix of comedy and depth captivating. I can reveal: Sometimes moving scenes in a film are not very moving to shoot. But this one was it. I think it was the presence of a real baby that touched us. When this baby cried, it cried. They didn’t care if it ruined a sound recording. You could say there was an honesty in this baby’s performance. [lacht] The exhaustion on the actors’ faces is real. That was a special day of filming.
Do you have a specific approach to your… To give films their emotional, honest touch?
I don’t have a recipe, but for me it always starts with the writing. [Drehbuchautor] Nick Payne has written two fantastic main characters and my job is to present the truth of every scene in the performance [meiner Stars] can be doubled or tripled. So chasing the deepest, richest, funniest or most moving version to take it to the absolute limit.
Tobias is a planner and Almut is more of a spontaneous spirit. What category do you fall into as a director?
You need both to be a good filmmaker. You need to be able to plan and have people around you who can help create a coherent shooting schedule. I would like to see myself as someone who decides things spontaneously. But to be honest, I guess I’m more of a Tobias.
If you, like your characters in We Live in Time, could choose one piece of candy from a celebration box, what would you choose?
I’ve always been a Twix man.
Almut’s decisions in the film are based on how she wants to be remembered. Was that something you thought about for yourself while filming?
That’s always in my head. As a parent, you think a lot about what you leave behind. As an emotional legacy, but also professionally. You hope your work is remembered. That you have created some good films.