Lynne Ramsay Recalls Meeting “Totally Terrifying” Joaquin Phoenix: “I’ve Never Worked With Such an Exciting Actor in My Life”

Die, My Love director Lynne Ramsay was hosted by the BFI London Film Festival on Saturday and reflected on filming with A-list stars Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.

The Scot’s latest feature —following Lawrence as Grace, a new mother who finds herself spiraling into the depths of psychosis —had its U.K. premiere Friday night at London’s Royal Festival Hall, with Ramsay going into more depth about the filming process at a Saturday Screen Talks session with fellow industry execs and creatives.

Known for her movies Ratcatcher (1999), Morvern Callar (2002) and We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Ramsay discussed getting to know Hollywood heavy-hitters and recalled meeting Phoenix, star of her 2017 neo-noir psychological thriller You Were Never Really Here. The film follows Phoenix as a traumatized mercenary named Joe, who is hired by a politician to rescue his kidnapped daughter inNew York.

“He’s amazing,” began Ramsay, “I mean, he’s totally terrifying. He’s a beast, you know? When I first met him, I was like —oh, my God, I think I said something really stupid like, ‘Are you left-handed or are you right-handed?’”

She went on to explain the lengths that Phoenix, an Oscar winner for his performance in Joker, would often go to on set. “He would just never do the same thing twice, he’d just surprise you,” she continued, remembering one unscripted take where Phoenix purposely fell down some stairs. “Everyone’s running, going, ‘What’s happened to Joaquin?!’” said Ramsay. “He just thought, ‘I’ll try this and see if it works.’ […] Honestly, I’ve never worked with such an exciting actor in my life,” she added. “He’s phenomenal and he wants to just get on with it —he’s not into all the paraphernalia and these bullshit things… I feel bad for telling you that story because he’ll kill me!” When filming wrapped, Phoenix suggested they take the same crew and make another film straight away.

Ramsay delighted the BFI LFF audience with a couple of anecdotes about You Were Never Really Here, including one on a French financier who was desperate for it to go to Cannes. “He was obsessed with Cannes,” recalled the celebrated filmmaker. “He wanted to see a cut every week… [I said], ‘You can wait until you get the director’s cut. But he persuaded me into it. And then [he said], ‘This is shit, this is shit’ for the rest of the edit, which was actually so soul-destroying.”

When the movie finally nabbed a spot on the 2017 Cannes lineup, there were still scenes to shoot and Ramsay was left with a week to get the film ready. It later won best actor for Phoenix and best screenplay at the prestigious festival, but it was “the nuttiest film I had ever been on,” according to its director.

When asked about bringing music into her films, Ramsay admitted it was only after working with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood on You Were Never Really Here that she had enjoyed hiring composers. “I never used music unless it was in the scene. And then the more and more I worked on features, and especially after I worked with Jonny Greenwood, whose work really enhanced my film, I changed my mind,” she said. “Because I feel that music can tell you so much about character.” She added that receiving files from Greenwood, who recently composed the score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s buzzy thriller One Battle After Another, was like “getting a Christmas present… I was just blown away by the music.”

Towards the end of the session, Ramsay was nervous to reveal too much about her latest film with Lawrence and Pattinson. “Jennifer Lawrence was just in a permanently bonkers situation,” she did tease, before going into depth about the characters of Grace and Jackson. “She does the most outrageous things, but he still loves her, you know?”

“But she kind of takes it to the limit,” continued Ramsay. “It’s also about her marriage and whatnot, and she feels a bit invisible… There’s all that hope moving into a new house, there’s wild sex and then a baby comes in and he doesn’t want sex with her anymore. Those kinds of things that happen in relationships are in the film as well as elements of [postpartum depression].”

The BFI London Film Festival 2025 runs Oct. 8-19.