Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson had only met socially when they first started filming The salt trailbut they soon struck up a sparkling on-screen chemistry as a desperate husband and wife walking along the stormy English coast.
The salt trail is a true story. An autobiography written by Raynor Winn, Raynor and her husband, Moth, are in their 50s when they lose their farm, business and money in legal fees. After their home is suddenly taken away, Moth is diagnosed with a terminal neurological disease. With nowhere to go, the couple decide to set out, with only £115 ($150) in their pockets, walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path.
What unfolds is a story of love, determination, compassion, strength and heartbreak. Over a million copies of Ray's short story have been sold across all formats in the UK and internationally. The film, which stars Isaacs (The White Lotus, Harry Potter, Peter Pan) and Anderson (The X-Files, Sex education, The crown), is an adaptation of his book by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Directed by Marianne Elliott, in her feature directorial debut, it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, much to Isaacs' delight.
“I want people to go see independent films,” says the 61-year-old The Hollywood Reporter. “The most important thing is that we don't only go to see films where the actors are in lycra. But secondly, I think that as storytellers you have a duty to make sure that the bare minimum when a film ends is that people think: 'Can we see another film?' Because they've had a special experience, but a great experience.”
He says he The salt trail and his message: “When you see a story of people surviving almost every worst thing you could imagine, and also surviving spiritually, surviving physically, it’s a reminder—perhaps more welcome than actually having one of these horrible things happen to you—of the things that are important in life.”
When congratulated on such a heartbreaking yet utterly mesmerizing performance, Isaacs is quick to dismiss the compliment and instead pays tribute to the people who inspired him. The salt trail. “Of course all actors are a bottomless pit of needing adulation,” he jokes, “but the truth is they’re just extraordinary people. Moth, not that Ray isn’t, but Moth radiates joy and love and laughter and wants to lift up everyone around him.”
“Even though, very often with me, he was describing the most reckless things and the most unworthy humiliations that I've ever had to deal with. I felt like I had to just step aside and try to tell Moth's story and their story of what happened to them. So any praise that comes back is really just admiration for them and who they are and what they've done.” He adds, “And I hope I haven't distracted too much.”
Isaacs hopes people will feel the love that radiates from this film. It boils down to the most important thing in life: who you love and who loves you, and “what you do with it.” But what Ray and Moth have done with it, he says, is extraordinary. “Meeting them is believing again in things that seem overly sentimental, things that only Hollywood could dream of. A love story that began in their adolescence, that has gotten them through the worst things that life could throw at them and continues to get them through difficult times.”
And it may surprise audiences that Isaacs and Anderson, despite their obvious talent and connection on screen, are very different people in real life. “She’s incredibly easy to work with, but she’s the complete opposite of me and the way I like to live and work in almost every way,” Isaacs explains.
“And so it was pretty hilarious. I'm very talkative, just like Moth, and she likes quiet and calm, and she doesn't give up easily. She doesn't want to make new friends. She doesn't care about being the center of attention.”
Isaacs went on to describe Anderson as more of an “empire” than an actress. “Various products and books and philanthropy, and she was sitting very quietly on the phone in the middle of the fields… I don't feel like I know her any better than when we started. I'm sure she feels the same way about me, but we have this enormous respect for each other. We let the work do the talking. We both love being parents, Gill and I have talked a lot about our kids. I wonder if, in some unconscious way, we were trying to find common ground in parenting.”
The two will deceive viewers into believing that they know each other very well. The salt trail will be released next spring in the UK, with a US release date yet to be confirmed.