The Salt Path is the profound true story of husband and wife Raynor and Moth Winn (played by Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, respectively), and their 630-mile trek along the beautiful but rugged Cornish, Devon and Dorset coastline. After being forcibly removed from their home, they make the desperate decision to walk in the hope that, in nature, they will find solace and a sense of acceptance. With depleted resources, only a tent and some essentials between them, every step along the path is a testament to their growing strength and determination. The Salt Path is a journey that is exhilarating, challenging, and liberating in equal measure. A portrayal of home, how it can be lost and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.
Based on Raynor Winn’s best-selling book and directed by four-time Tony Award winner Marianne Elliott, The Salt Path is an immersive cinematic journey worth taking when it arrives in Australian theatres this week. And to celebrate its release, Peter Gray spoke with Elliott about what she learned about herself as a director in her move from stage to screen, the importance of authenticity, and how she knew she had found her Raynor and Moth in Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.
With a film like The Salt Path, you’re dealing with grief, resilience and reinvention. Did you make any specific directorial choices to externalize the internal journey that’s going on without relying dialogue?
Yes. Because I’m a theater director, and I’ve been doing it for about 5000 years (laughs), I am very aware that the theater relies on “the word.” The word is the God. The writer is the God. What you say is the most important thing. I was really aware that I didn’t want to do a stagey or theatrical kind of film. I wanted to do a film that had very little dialogue in it, and that’s not how I came to do The Salt Path, actually, but I wouldn’t have done a film that didn’t have a big cinematic requirement.
The South West Coast Path is a character in itself. How was it working with your cinematographer, Hélène Louvart, in capturing the transformative power of the landscape? How did you find the way to bring it to the screen and keep it authentic?
I’m so happy that you said that, because I sed to say to people all the time, as I was developing the story, that nature has to be a third character. People would ask me what I was talking about? So I’m really glad that that’s what you thought. There was years of work on the script, working with Rebecca Lenkiewicz (screenwriter), being on the path myself, and understanding how unpredictable it is. You turn a corner and you’re suddenly in a completely different landscape. One hour it’s sunny. The next hour it’s pissing down. Excuse my French, but it absolutely fucks with you. You’re not in control at all. You’re very aware of the majesty and mightiness of nature, even though you’re in small English isles. It’s a vast, epic world.
Ultimately, you can’t help but think that your problems, however awful, are a little bit smaller than you thought. So working with Hélène, which was months and months before pre-production, it was about that. It was about the unpredictability of this wild creature that is nature, fucking with (our characters), and how do we show that on camera? Initially they’re walking and they’re not talking in their own little bubbles, and then they start to look up and start to take it all in, because you can’t help but not. There’s a point in the film when that happens, which is the first drone shot, which is when the format changes. In the cinema, it just widens and then it’s wide for the rest of the film. It was about rebirth. These people were being reborn. Literally transmogrified and going through this process where they were being rocked to their core and then given such utter beauty that they couldn’t help but enjoy the moment.
When you’re doing a film like this, are you bringing any of your theater rehearsal techniques to it at all? Do you almost have to change the way you direct?
Oh, that’s a brilliant question. Yeah, film is completely different. In the theater, you rehearse slowly, slowly, slowly, work out, work out, work out, layer, layer, layer…then you go and do all the technical stuff. Whereas in film, you start with the technical stuff. It’s very different. Nevertheless, working with actors on set, it helps if you’ve been working in the theater, because you know how to note an actor’s performance. You know how to speak to an actor about a character, and that’s a skill that takes years to hone.
Well, on the mention of actors, you have Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs here. They just feel like very lived in people. It’s performances that make you feel like you’re forgetting that they’re actors. Casting is so key, so how did Gillian and Jason become Raynor and Moth for you?
Well, Gillian, when I met her I knew that she loved the book. She wanted to do it herself. She wanted to get the rights. I’d already got them, but when I met her, I knew how much this role meant and that if the book chimed with her, it said quite a lot. Most actors of that caliber know what they can and can’t do, and I thought it was really interesting that she’d never (directed) before. But I saw that she was unveiled. I knew that she was a really serious actress, and therefore I wanted to take the leap with her. And I’m so glad that I did, because she was utterly amazing. She’s such a hard worker. She really wanted to get it right. She took notes like a dream. You’d give her a note and she’d walk away, she’d think about it, come back and process it in her own way. She threw herself into it.
And Jason, he has this kind of charm and twinkle in his eye. And Moth does, you know? Moth is just joyous to be with, and Jason is very jokey. He’s got these bright blue eyes, just like Moth. He’s charming. There were aspects of both of them in these actors that I thought would be really mining.
As you mentioned that you already had the rights to the book, was there something specific that drew you personally to the story? And did making the film change your perspective on nature or home?
I think we need a bottle of wine and a few hours (laughs). So I was in the middle of doing a show on Broadway. It was about to open and the pandemic hit and I found myself at home with no career, no prospects, and a teenage daughter who was going up the wall because she was being shut in. It was a terrifying time, if you remember. It was quite terrifying, especially in my country. Nobody had any idea what was happening or how to lead or what we should be doing with the country. The politicians were all over the place. So I found myself in my local park on the most beautiful day, thinking “Who would have thought I’d be here? How did I get to this point? How did the world get to this point?”
I was looking at the extraordinary flowers and trees and grass, and it felt like nature was just having a wonderful time. And I just started thinking of “The Salt Path”, and I read it when it came out, and I was thinking of this woman in her 50s who was going through such great adversity, much worse than mine, and she found herself amongst incredible nature and was healed by it. So that’s where it came from. Making a film was a pipe dream, but literally four years to the day after it came to me, I wrapped the film. I had finished sound and everything.
The sheer size of the walk, which I heard you mentioned is like walking Everest three times, really puts so many things into perspective. Just how dedicated these two people were in taking this walk, and it’s so great that they found themselves and each other again. Watching the film I was genuinely terrified for them, because there are so many moments that feel like it could break them. The emotion in this is really a testament to yourself and your performers. You really have made something so cinematic, so big, and yet so intimate at the same time.
Oh, my God, that’s so amazing. I’m so happy. I’m going to try and remember everything you said and hold it close for the next few months when all the journalists start criticising it. That’s just brilliant.
And with directing, did you develop a specific philosophy around sound and silence and music to mirror the couple’s mental state, or even the emotional landscape vastness? Were there any ideas to mirror this, even if it’s subtle to the audience?
Definitely. Yeah, definitely. I remember being on the Salt Path and thinking that the seagulls were laughing at me. I remember thinking that a lot of the time to have the peregrine falcon as a viewpoint. So every time we used a drone, it’s from the peregrine’s point of view. Sound was just so vital. It’s always vital to me in theater, and what’s interesting is that our sound engineers went to Cornwall and spent time on the Path, so every single sound you hear is authentic.
That’s why it feels as immersive as it does. And if you’re going back into theater after this, has making this film changed you as a filmmaker or as a person? And will there be things that you’ll take back to the theater with you that learned on this?
Oh, wow, I learned loads. It was a massive learning curve. There were times that it felt like life is just copying art, because there I was, in my 50s, doing this completely new thing. I was such a novice. Maybe I should be thinking about retiring (laughs). The journey was tricky. A week before we started filming, we didn’t have the funding. Funding was on, off, on, off, on, off. We had no weather cover. We were a low budget film, so we just had to rely on the weather being good. There were so many things that it was like a wing and a prayer, to be honest.
I think, most of all, I’m extremely proud that I did it. That we did it. That I was lucky enough to work with this incredible story, which is especially precious because it’s true. I suppose I feel changed in that I’m more aware of the importance of nature and the importance of the world and the issues that we’re facing. I know absolutely deep down in my core that nature is healing now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Moth always said that being immersed in nature has made him better, and he’s still alive. So, who are we to argue?
The Salt Path is screening in Australian theatres from May 15th, 2025.
