In adapting Renée Knight’s novel “Disclaimer” into the Apple TV+ limited series, writer-director Alfonso Cuarón enlisted fellow Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline to play its central arch-nemeses. Over seven “chapters,” the two share relatively little screen time. But their eventual pas de deux will send viewers scrambling to rewatch the smoke-and-mirrors mystery thriller to uncover everything that initially went unnoticed.
The Envelope sat down with Blanchett and Kline for a quick chat over Zoom at the end of a long London press day 48 hours before the series’ debut. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I would be remiss in not asking you about working with your respective onscreen spouses, the great Lesley Manville and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Kevin Kline: [Lesley’s] a brilliant actress. It’s such a joy. It was a great, great experience working with her. She’s no-nonsense. Or else the character was no-nonsense. Anyway, just very stiff-upper-lip and very English about things. That was inspiring.
Cate Blanchett: I was working with Sacha, who is [an] absolute genius at what he does. But this is part of a departure he has been making in recent years. He was so open to the experience. It was really great. We talked a lot about the relationship. We had a lot of time to talk, because Alfonso works quite slowly. I really relished those conversations. … The one thing we should say is also our sons [Louis Partridge as Jonathan Brigstocke and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nicholas Ravenscroft] — talk about phenomenal actors. I have always wanted to work with Kodi, back from his very first film, when we were producing theater in Australia. Desperate to work with him. To me, at the heart of this piece is the relationship of fathers and sons, and mothers and sons, and two parallel families. It was an absolute joy to work with Kodi.
Without divulging spoilers, please tell me about shooting your pivotal sequence.
Kline: Well, it’s on Cate. It’s mostly listening for me.
Blanchett: That’s easier said than done. There are qualities of listening, Kevin.
Kline: Well, I was hoping you’d say that. [All laugh.] I was very attentive, and listening with quite a deeply ingrained bias about what I’m hearing and what I’m believing and doubting.
Blanchett: But your character’s been goading my character for such a long period. It’s a very unlikely setting for a very unlikely unburdening. And so, the strangeness of the setup, really, informed the way we shot it. Also, knowing — I talked to Alfonso a couple of days before we started to do it — there would be flashbacks in there, we decided to then shoot all 40 pages to camera rather than treating some as voice-over and flashback, so that we got the whole story, and then he could work out what he wanted.
Kline: Which was extraordinary to me. … [Cate] narrates the whole story to my character, and she just did it! It’s just a phenomenal leap of faith and talent.
Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple TV+ miniseries, premiering Friday, is a fairly straightforward revenge story, though whether or not the revenge is deserved is a central question of its contortionist plot.
Is this the first time you’ve worked together?
Kline: Yeah.
Blanchett: Is it the last?
Kline: I believe so. [Both laugh.]
In general, what surprised you about each other?
Blanchett: Alfonso’s quite exacting about what he wants. So, we had to sort of find a way of all working together in a similar way. I was so taken — [to Kline] I mean, I knew your invention, your wit, your humanity, all of that. And your craft. That was unsurprisingly brilliant. But I think your patience and your openness to the process, I was —
Kline: I was just gonna say all those things about myself. But also, I would add that —
Blanchett: More of a curmudgeon. [Both laugh.]
Kline: It’s always interesting to watch your fellow actors working with the same director you are, obviously. My first film experience was working with Meryl Streep on “Sophie’s Choice.”
Blanchett: It’s all been downhill since then, is that what you’re saying?
Kline: Pretty much, yeah.
Blanchett: Look where he is now. [Laughs]
Kline: I know. … I just learn so much watching my fellow actor.
Blanchett: Watching you. You were exceptional. I mean, it was unbelievable.
Kline: The degree of confidence Meryl exuded. I go, “Wow! She just doesn’t question herself at all. How do you do that?” And then [indicates Blanchett], I got the same vibe from this one.
Blanchett: Oh, I question myself plenty, don’t you worry.
Kline: Well, I suppose we all do. But when someone’s acting with authority, you forget. It doesn’t matter what past things of theirs you’ve seen them do. There’s just a presence you react to. I’m not making any comparisons, but [affected voice] I’ve worked with some of the best. [Both laugh.] No, it was just great to watch how Cate works.
What would you like audiences to leave with at the end of “Disclaimer”?
Blanchett: Well, the most satisfying thing I’ve heard is the fact that you watched it a second time. I can’t tell you the joy and relief that brings me. Because often with episodic storytelling, people either want to binge-watch it, or they’re time-poor, or watch it with two or three other things on board. And there’s so many almost imperceptible details that Alfonso has woven in — and encouraged us to weave into our performances — that hopefully it is rewarding to watch a second time.
Kline: Alfonso is very, very detail-oriented. That’s what struck me the first day of working. I had never worked with a director who was that meticulous and that concerned with foreground, background, decor, costume, hair, makeup, accent, acting, mood, atmosphere.
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Cuarón’s longtime friend and collaborator, was key to the creation of the director’s Apple TV+ miniseries that stars Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline.
Is there anything else you want to say in the last minute or two I have with you?
Kline: [Long pause] I’d just like to apologize.
Blanchett: [Laughs, reacts to offscreen voice] They’re saying Kevin has to go. [To Kline] Is that what they’re saying?
Kline: Oh, I have to go. Oh, good! No, no. My performance is indefensible. [Blanchett laughs.] I have nothing more to say. The defense rests. [Both laugh.]
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