Ahead of this week’s theatrical release of Rosebush Pruning, Film Festival, Four Time Film School Dropout spoke with actor Lukas Gage about what drew him to the project, collaborating with director Karim Aïnouz, finding the humanity beneath his character’s flaws, and what he hopes audiences take away from the film.
What about this project or character made you want to be part of Rosebush Pruning?
Lukas Gage: I think what I admire most about Rosebush Pruning as a whole is that it doesn’t give you any easy answers. It trusts that the audience is going to sit with some really uncomfortable emotions.
This character experiences very unpredictable emotions and has very volatile ways of dealing with things. For me, getting to explore someone that flawed was incredibly exciting. Those kinds of characters are always the most fun to play because there’s so much to discover beneath the surface.
The film explores complicated family dynamics without giving too much away. What did you find most challenging about portraying someone navigating those relationships?
Lukas Gage: These family dynamics are very extreme and chaotic on the surface, but I think the real challenge was getting to the root of them instead of just playing someone who’s “crazy” for the sake of it.
At its core, this is a story about family, about the roles we inherit from the people around us. It’s about loneliness, connection, and the search for love. As wild as some of these characters become, I always wanted to find the heart and the truth underneath everything they were doing.
The film has such a distinctive visual and emotional style. What was it like collaborating with a filmmaker who has such a unique approach to storytelling, and how did that influence your performance?
Lukas Gage: It’s such a visually beautiful film. There’s something so gorgeous about the colors, but there’s also something deeply unsettling running underneath the entire movie. I think that tension is what makes it so beautiful.
It’s the same with the costumes. These people are dressed in designer clothes, yet they’re behaving like animals.
Working with Hélène, our cinematographer, who I think is incredibly talented, alongside Karim, who has such a rich visual aesthetic, created this dreamlike world that feels detached from reality. That gave me a lot more freedom as an actor. It allowed me to lean into this heightened emotional reality and completely surrender to it.