Art of the Long Take: Episode 4, Bathroom Confession
Quarry — Episode 4, “Seldom Realized”
Following each episode of Quarry director Greg Yaitanes breaks down elements of a key scene.
The unbroken “long take” in Episode 4 actually occurs when Mac’s rage is boiling over as he exits his motel room and attacks the encyclopedia salesman across the parking lot. However, I’ve decided to write about the “bathroom confession” at the end of the episode because it is, hands down, my favorite scene in the series.
It is a scene done in three shots: a two-shot of Mac and Joni, a single close-up of Mac and a single close-up of Joni. It has remained unchanged since editor Doc Crotzer made his cut. When I saw it, I was so moved by the performances and the rhythm that I dared not touch it. The scene takes its time. It’s two people sitting inches apart with miles of emotional distance. They don’t even look at each other for most of it. It is first and foremost one of the best-written scenes I’ve ever directed and without question the best acted from start to finish. This is an example of trying to stay “out of the way of the work” — not letting it feel directed and instead letting performances guide my hand.
I direct by “bumping the sides,” meaning I feel that casting has done 90% of my job. I repeatedly work with casting director Alexa Fogel (who’s casted Banshee, Oz, The Wire and True Detective, to name a few). She is a master of finding new talent along with casting a stable of actors that seem to show up in all her series.
This is a pivotal scene in the series because, where a show like Breaking Bad, for example, spent nearly the entire series keeping the secret of the double life, here on the fourth episode of Quarry we’ve revealed that Mac is killing people for money. What is the honest impact of news like that? It’s a six-minute scene, built out of the three setups I mentioned. A minimal number of takes were done, but the actors were given that time to share and explore and it took about 6 hours to photograph — 3 hours longer than we anticipated. When you see magic happening on set, that is more important than the schedule, and you need to embrace it.
Mac is out of moves. His wife was abducted then saved herself. His secrets have nearly cost the life of his closest family member. Mac, who is feral and not in touch with his emotional vocabulary outside of rage, has been broken down by the events of Episode 4. We’ve systemically stripped away the Mac you’ve met in Episodes 1, 2 and 3 (you’ll get a chance to see how far he’s come in the finale). I am particularly moved by Logan’s work and how he shows it is challenging for Mac to even utter a word, he feels so out of his depth. In director and actor speak, these are “choices,” choices that the actors make to reveal a performance. For Joni, you feel the impact of the pieces coming together. She now knows the “why,” which is something she grappled with in Episode 3. You see her understanding, her repulsion and her ultimate love for Mac.
When we turned in the episode, I was worried we’d get the request to cut the scene down. My artist soul was soothed when Kary Antholis (President of Cinemax) called me and said, “That is some of the best work we have done on this network. Their performance is just as good as it gets.” It was the call you dream of getting. It’s the scene you dream of directing.
Watch the entire season of Quarry with your Cinemax subscription on MAX GO.
