Maud Lewis was written off by pretty much everyone. The Canadian woman lost a child at a young age, and she then lived with a relative who daily berated her and told her she would amount to little. But Maud, not to be daunted, found herself a job as a housekeeper for a local Nova Scotian named Everett, a gruff, surly man who lived in a two-room home without electricity or running water.
To spruce up the place — to say nothing of Everett’s mood — Maud began painting on his walls.
This is the setup for the new film, “Maudie,” opening Friday in the District and based on the extraordinary real-life odd couple.
“I thought it was just such an incredible story, and I didn’t know anything about her,” the film’s director, Aisling Walsh, a native of Ireland now based in London, told The Washington Times during a promotional stop for the film in the District.
Having worked with the actress previously on the miniseries “Fingersmith,” Ms. Walsh knew she wanted to cast British thespian Sally Hawkins as Maud, the sensitive and shy, but still tough, painter who gradually melts through Everett’s rough exterior.
“The first time I read the script… I thought of her, and she wound up being in the film, which was quite extraordinary because that doesn’t usually happen,” Ms. Walsh said of her lead actress, a theater veteran who is mostly known on this side of the Atlantic for the new “Godzilla” movies and Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.”
Additionally, Miss Hawkins is a talented painter in her own right, which made her even more correct for Maud.
“Physically, she’s just so right,” Ms. Walsh said of Miss Hawkins’ deft portrayal of Maud’s trepidation and later arthritic deterioration. “She worked so hard to create that character and work at it. She’s one of those actors that can utterly transform herself.”
No less a transformation was undertaken by Miss Hawkins’ co-star, Mr. Hawke. Often cast as a hero or an unassuming, though handsome, leading man, Mr. Hawke’s Everett, always speaking in a low growl, is typically cross — and often even cruel to Maud.
Ms. Walsh said that in addition to inhabiting the physicality needed for Everett — Mr. Hawke stands at 5’10” — Mr. Hawke also owns a home near the film’s Nova Scotia setting, and was thus familiar with the working-class locals among whom Everett would likely be found.
“He knew those men. He’s fished with them, he’s seen them around the little village where his house is, and I think that really helped him,” Ms. Walsh said of her star. “He’s an artist. He directs his own films, he writes, he paints, he makes documentaries, he makes music.”
While set in Nova Scotia, Ms. Walsh and her crew shot “Maudie” in Newfoundland, which is slightly more remote and a bit more a tough landscape, but it gave the filmmaker the barren land and seascape she sought as the backdrop for the recreation of Maud and Everett’s spartan home.
“For me it was always important that you could see 360 degrees around” the recreated home, Ms. Walsh said, adding that she went to see the original domicile, which is warehoused in a museum in Halifax, complete with Maud’s paintings.
Much like the interior of the real home, Ms. Walsh made a point to light the interior of its recreation with as much ambient and candlelight as possible to mirror the living conditions Maud and Everett faced in the often punishing Canadian countryside.
“We shot September to October, and we had an amazing autumn out there because usually it can be quite brutal with rain,” Ms. Walsh said. “Then I wanted snow, so we went back in January. I just thought it was important because she paints a lot of winter [scenes], and also you need to see how harsh that life was.”
Several scenes show Miss Hawkins walking along seemingly endless roadways and along cliffs as she trudges back and forth to the main town. Ms. Walsh said it was important to her to “open up the film” as much of it takes place within their tiny home.
“I wanted just to see there’s civilization and there’s [the home] on the edge of that kind of society,” Ms. Walsh said of the outdoor Canadian landscapes so ably captured by cinematographer Guy Godfree. “They lived quite remote. For them to go into town was the equivalent of a 5-mile walk.”
As Maud’s artistry becomes more well known in the film, people drive to their remote home to buy her paintings, with Everett seemingly a bit put off by people approaching his isolated dwelling. But also he comes to somewhat begrudging respect his wife’s abilities.
“What drew me to it was the story of a woman artist, and there’s so few of them that are recognized,” Ms. Walsh, who also paints, said when asked if she considers “Maudie” to be a feminist text. “What I also loved was the portrait of that marriage. You don’t see that very often [where] sometimes she’s in charge, other times he is.
“What’s interesting is her showing him love and bringing love in his life that he would have never had without her. And in the end, that’s sort of what that man has learned about himself. So in that respect it is” a feminist work, she said.
Ms. Walsh says she has many ideas for future films, and she continues to be drawn to true tales as well as stories about relationships.
“I’m not good at comedy,” she said. “While there are funny moments [in ’Maudie’], it’s a very uplifting piece.”
She also says “Maudie” will appeal to a broad range of cinemagoers, including teenagers, who have passed along to her their praise of the film.
“Funnily enough, they can relate to her work,” Ms. Walsh said. “It’s very simple.”
• Eric Althoff can be reached at twt@washingtontimes.com.
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