A gilded cage

Demi Moore as Suzanne Dutchman in Michael Mailer's Blind: "It's a film about perception."

Michael Mailer and producer Jennifer Gelfer discuss the selection of Demi Moore's wardrobe with costume designer Evren Catlin (Liz W Garcia's One Percent More Humid starring Juno Temple, Maggie Siff, Julia Garner, Alessandro Nivola), Dylan McDermott's character not covering up a tattoo, what is real and what isn't, and why Blind (which has a screenplay by John Buffalo Mailer) is not Disney or Nicholas Sparks (Message In A Bottle, A Walk To Remember, The Notebook, Nights In Rodanthe, Dear John, The Longest Ride).

Alec Baldwin stars as Bill Oakland in Blind Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Bill Oakland (Alec Baldwin), a novelist and professor who lost his wife and his eyesight in a crash, meets Suzanne Dutchman (Demi Moore) whose husband Mark (Dylan McDermott) was sent to prison for insider trading. She has to do community service at a centre for the blind due to a plea bargain with the court. Suzanne is used to refining her style around an emptying soul and is trapped in a life of luxury she cannot really appreciate.

The sleek apartment high above the city lights might as well be a tower of despair for her. Moore, dressed in superbly eclectic pieces that conjure up a happier, invented past, makes Suzanne resemble a domesticated wild bird that has been ready for lift-off for quite a while. Her leather-coat wearing, Queens-born husband adores her obsessively and considers her his possession. "Keep that ring on your finger! You hear me?" She knows how to pick her men. Oakland has her read his students' papers to him. Disgruntled, angry, feisty and proof that a sense of smell can be prejudiced, too, he gets to her in a way Mark doesn't. Life-altering decisions soon need to be made.

Anne-Katrin Titze: I told John Buffalo [Mailer] when we had lunch at Narcissa that I was surprised that Blind has a lot of darkness in it. Is To Catch A Thief your favorite Hitchcock movie?

Michael Mailer: That's interesting. I haven't thought of that.

Michael Mailer on Dylan McDermott: "He was a real find." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Jennifer Gelfer: Because he was so hell-bent on that spot in the South of France.

MM: It's one of my favourites, but to be honest with you, I've never actually thought of the connection. Listen, I'm interested in movies that are steeped in human characters. Dark and light. Even your most evil person has moments of levity, moments of kindness.

To me making a love story that doesn't have darkness in it is not really reflective of the human condition. So why do it? I leave that to Disney or Nicholas Sparks, frankly.

AKT: One of my favourite moments is with the couple sitting on the sofa. The rain is pouring down outside. They are in this fantastic apartment that people would dream about. Instead of having a pet, there is a dead animal skin on the sofa between them. I expected something totally different to happen - an explosion from this explosive man, or something like that. Can you tell me about that scene?

MM: Absolutely. For the apartment we intentionally looked for a space that was grand but cold and prison-like. It's a modern building that has those accents of the impersonal.

JG: No soul.

Screenwriter John Buffalo Mailer on The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Roof Garden Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

MM: You know, she's [Suzanne] living in a gilded cage. As extravagant as it may be, you know, in terms of the material wealth that you see in it and of it, it's a form of prison. But in terms of the emotional tenor of that scene, I mean, the Dylan McDermott character did not get to where he was by being obvious about things. He is a master manipulator.

He's smart enough to realize that the tact back to her heart is through subtlety in emotion and reason and not an explosive argument - because that's what she is expecting. That would have hastened the end and yet he used his wits in manipulation. Even the tears are perhaps real but psychotically engineered.

AKT: I like that. "Psychotically engineered" fits perfectly.

MM: He is a true psychopath in that he develops truth in the moment. And from moment to moment that truth may change very radically. In the end, you see those soulless eyes, dark eyes glistening. It's like the eyes of a shark. You see the soullessness in him. You see that the whole thing was just a masterful manipulation.

AKT: Dylan McDermott is so menacing and nuanced.

MM: He was a real find. Everyone knows who Dylan McDermott is but we tend to see him as a more genteel, amenable character. I was worried in the beginning that he didn't have that depth of truly the wicked in him.

Jennifer Gelfer on Demi Moore's costumes: "It's all vintage." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

AKT: Oh, he does! And you put him in a dark leather coat with turtlenecks. We learn that he is from Queens.

MM: He is. You can take the guy out of Queens but you can't take the Queens out of a guy. There is a throwback to his neighbourhood. He hasn't let go of that. That's what allows his edge to persevere and he stays close to his roots on some level.

You know, Dylan has a tattoo on his arm and the makeup lady the first day started covering it up. And I said, "don't do that! I want to see the tattoo."

AKT: It's a big tattoo.

MM: What I like with this movie is that what you see on the outside is not necessarily what you see on the inside.

AKT: That's why it's called Blind.

MM: That's why it's Blind. It's a film about perception. What is real and what isn't.

AKT: To stay on the outside for a moment - I loved what Demi Moore's character is wearing. All the details, when a certain blouse is coming back again. How did you work with her and the costume designer?

MM: I have to say a lot of that was Demi herself. She really got fully immersed in her wardrobe.

Blind US poster

And vintage was something that she saw her character playing in. And while wardrobe is such a critical part of any filmmaking, it was probably my least favourite aspect of directing the film. We spent hours trapped in Demi's wardrobe room, going through costume after costume with her.

AKT: It was worth it!

MM: Looking back, it was absolutely worth it and I actually learned a new appreciation of that aspect of a process.

JG: She went on Etsy with the costume designer [Evren Catlin]. And she found things and really studied it.

AKT: So it's vintage?

JG: It's all vintage. It was very painfully picked out. I mean, in a good way.

MM: All the stuff she bought herself. We didn't have a budget for it. I'm sure she owns quite a bit of clothes. She probably had to build another closet in her house to accommodate her new acquisitions.

Read what Michael Mailer and Jennifer Gelfer had to say on Alec Baldwin, the scent, colour and sound in Blind.

Blind opens tomorrow, July 14 in the US.