Interview – Bleeding Love director Emma Westenberg on how the film got its name

Director Emma Westenberg knew exactly where she was heading. Work on commercials, shorts, music videos – one in particular with Janelle Monae – and TV was all designed to lead her to one place. A full length feature film. Bleeding Love is the result, which also comes with a built-in headline grabber. It’s the first time Ewan McGregor and his daughter, Clara (also a co-writer and producer on the film) have ever worked together on screen.

The two play Father and Daughter – the closest their characters come to having actual names – but their relationship is fractious and distant. They’re on a road trip to Santa Fe where she’s going to stay with a friend, but, as the miles mount up, the reasons for the journey and their estrangement start to emerge, while their relationship turns into more of a rollercoaster than ever.

In the exclusive interview below, Westenberg describes how the script came her way and working with two actors with such a close connection, as well as finding a new name for the film after its premiere at last year’s SXSW. “It was changed because nobody could remember the title,” she explained and its new title was taken from the Leona Lewis song, which is used early on in the film. Among the many other reasons for the choice was that Clara McGregor remembered her dad playing it loudly on the car radio when he used to pick her up from school. “She was mortified – a teenager embarrassed by her father!”

Bleeding Love is released in UK cinemas on 12th April/

About the Author

Freda Cooper

Editor

Freda is a Senior Writer at The People's Movies. A lifelong movie fan and a film critic for over ten years, Freda’s natural habitat is the darkened rooms frequented by fellow cineastes. She can also be found asking questions of some of the biggest names in the business – from Cate Blanchett to Daniel Craig or Mike Leigh to Pete Docter – or crafting reviews for a number of sites and publications, including The People’s Movies. And listeners to BBC Local Radio can catch her views on the latest releases. She always – and probably always will – cite The Third Man as her favourite film of all time. Her top ten? That’s a moveable feast …..

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