In her seven feature films as director, Rebecca Miller has presented indelible, complicated characters rarely seen on the big screen. One of those films, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” was a documentary about the heralded playwright, her father. But the remaining six narrative films were of her own creation — including the titular 10-year-old obsessed with absolving her sins in “Angela,” the three women at the center of “Personal Velocity” and the young mother who schemes to reunite her husband with his ex in “Maggie’s Plan.”
As with her characters, the filmmaker has excelled at presenting unique worlds to the viewer. That continues with her latest film, “She Came to Me,” opening this weekend and starring Peter Dinklage as opera composer Steven, Anne Hathaway as his therapist wife and Marisa Tomei as a tugboat captain with a love addiction.
Miller knew a bit about the world of opera thanks to her youngest son, who is studying to be a composer. “Through him I started to go to the opera and it occurred to me the character could be someone who composed operas rather than write, which was his original profession,” Miller notes. To solidify the film’s authenticity, she was aided by several professionals, including her son’s teacher, composer Daniel Felsenfeld, Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb and the Met’s dramaturg/director Paul Cremo.
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She also had the benefit of casting a genuine opera star. In her film debut, mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard plays Chloe, the in-demand lead of Steven’s new production. “I met with her, and she had such presence. Obviously, I’d heard her amazing voice,” Miller reveals. “And Mike Nichols had cast her in a movie he didn’t get to make before he died and I figured, ‘If she was good enough for Mike Nichols…’”
Leonard says the experience was nerve-wracking but a thrill — and also perhaps a bit of wish fulfillment. In one scene, Chloe tires of Steven’s notes and he’s eventually told to leave the rehearsal room. Miller says that moment in particular seemed fun for Leonard to shoot. “A lot of directing her was giving her permission to be a little bit bitchy,” Miller says. “To ask her to cast aside her natural niceness and sweetness.”
When it came to learning about the world of tugboat captains, Miller wasn’t quite as well-connected — or so she thought. “I randomly looked at tug companies in New York and I found one where, weirdly, it turned out I had gone out with their grandson,” Miller reveals with a laugh. “They were very helpful in helping me find a smaller company and I spent years going on tugboats and eventually developed a strong bond with a captain.”
In addition to her main cast, Miller put together an impressive ensemble that includes relative newcomers Evan Ellison as Hathaway’s son and Harlow Jane as his girlfriend, along with “Cold War” star Joanna Kulig and Tony nominee Brian D’Arcy James as her parents. Miller consistently draws great performances from her actors, perhaps because she understands the craft so personally. Her husband is Daniel Day-Lewis while she herself acted in such films as “Consenting Adults” and “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle” prior to launching her directing career.
Asked about the key to working with actors, Miller says, “I try to meet where they are and try to figure out what they need. And how little they need, because sometimes the secret is they don’t need much. Other times they need a lot. It’s very instinctive and hard to put into words because each person is different. You want to understand their language and be of use — when you’re not of use it just confuses everyone.”
