Deadline spoke with Andrew Lauren and DJ Gugenheim about how they became involved in producing Robert Pattinson #HighLife. This is what they had to say:

How did you come to High Life?
AL: CAA reached out to us in the first place. We received a scripment of around 60 pages. It was an unusual format. It was Claire’s vision for the film. It was quite skeletal. The script really took shape as we were filming.

DJ: This is an ambitious movie. It’s a multi-territory European sci-fi co-production in the $10M range. Andrew had seen Beau Travail with his dad when he was younger. It seemed like a unique opportunity and very different. That’s what independent film should be about.

I’m a big fan of Claire Denis’ movies. This one sounds as interesting as ever. By all accounts, the deconstructed nature of the script and process was challenging for some of the actors…

AL: I think a lot of people take a leap of faith with Claire. They might not always know what they’re getting into but they have so much respect for her track record and filmmaking that they go with it. It was challenging. There were meetings when actors wanted to get a handle on characters and were confused. They wanted to know more about how space works. We had astro-physicists come down to talk with them.

DJ: Claire purposefully didn’t need her performers to understand every beat. Part of this movie is about the unknown and about characters who don’t necessarily understand why they are where they are.
AL: Everything was a work in process for her. It can be scary for everyone else but she ultimately knows where she is going.