Simon Helberg On the Power of the Baton As The Accompanist in ‘Annette’

In Leos Carax’s operatic, original musical, Annette, we can’t believe our eyes or our ears. Unlike the other big-screen adaptations this season (the year of the musical, thank you very much), Annette doesn’t have an original text to live up to, and the stunning visuals and unique score lend itself to one of the most original musical creations in the last 20 years. As a lovelorn conductor, Simon Helberg delivers a performance full of complexity and nuance, and he reveled in working with director Carax.

While Helberg had to learn many things to star in his first musical film, he is a trained pianist. You may have seen him playing the piano in his Golden Globe nominated performance in Florence Foster Jenkins, but he recognizes how much stamina it takes to successfully perform in the musical genre.

“Sometimes I need to take a big break after working on anything musical because it requires so much, so I can definitely burn out. I think I did a little bit which always makes coming back more exciting, because you always sound better when you’ve taken a few months off. The conducting component was the newest part. I play music a lot, but I had to kind of start from the ground up.  I left the film with somewhat more of an understanding of what conductors do but also just more of an appreciation. I think it’s probably different for every conductor and standing up in front of 50 or 60 people looking at you waiting for you to lead. It’s why I became an actor and not a director. It’s absolutely terrifying. But then, as soon as you lift that baton, the power is infectious. There really is such a unique artistry to that kind of divine interpretation of these components, so I really enjoyed going through the orchestral scores and learning about where the orchestra sits and learning about the different techniques and styles. I loved really going through each line of every instrument, because it was an eye opener. In that sense, that was the biggest new love and intrigue from this movie.”

The Accompanist may not share the same brash gruffness that Adam Driver’s character possesses, but Helberg did want to show his ambition. It’s easier for Driver’s Henry to achieve what he wants, but The Accompanist feels like he has more to prove. The Accompanist becomes The Conductor. Maestros literally have to control the emotion and tempo of the room, and that is a huge task for any man.

“He’s certainly striving. In some ways, these characters are trying to prove that they’re worthy of being loved. I really see that as a common thread, whether that is the love of a man or a woman or an audience. I think each of them definitely are, in some ways, corrupted by that need for validation. My character is pretty comfortable in that seat, but there is something very insecure and volatile and fragile that I’ve found about conductors just across the board. That’s just how I have seen them. You do have a tremendous amount of authority, but at the same time, you’re still interpreting somebody else’s work in some way an not to take away from the artistry of it. There seems to be this conflict, I think in reading up on different conductors and watching them, and there’s a vanity to some of them for sure. There’s a petulant, man-child quality that I could see, but I could just be inferring that.”

One of the best sequences of Annette is when Helberg talks to the audience as he is conducting an orchestra as he talk about his suspicions regarding Henry and Ann (played by Marion Cotillard). The camera swirls around him, and loud music blares at the behest of Helberg’s character. It mixes huge swings of humor with operatic, broad strokes. It’s an example of how Carax’s film is unlike anything we have ever seen. Only an actor adept at comedy would be able to pull off an emotional soliloquy with with playfulness.

“I found a lot of it to be very funny, actually. We many parts of it are, obviously, devastating and haunting and shocking. I’ve seen it a few times, and the audience has many different reactions. A lot of the things that I found very funny I never heard the audience laugh at, and I think that’s not necessarily because it isn’t funny, too. Those moments that you think are real funny don’t always get that laugh. The audience will let you know which way you’re right and when you’re wrong, and I learned that on The Big Bang Theory. We wouldn’t really tell each other moments that we thought were funny, because it’s going to get in your head. Doing a movie is amazing, because you just never know because no one’s laughing. With the style [of Annette] being so singular and there being this kind of constant, operatic tone and stakes and this absurdity, I tried not to focus too much on what I thought was going to be funny. You want to be aware enough that a joke lands, but this movie has a lot of jokes to it. I tried to just find the truth to it. That’s all I could ever do.”

What might be hard for Helberg’s character is when Henry realizes his daughter’s gifts and takes her on tour. He casts a watchful eye as Henry trots Annette around the world, and there is a touching scene where she is perched on The Accompanist’s lap as he teaches her music on a keyboard. There is a connection between baby Annette and The Accompanist that Helberg clung to.

“He wants to get close to her. It’s kind of simple, in many ways, but certainly the pure version of it is wants to, to forge a connection with her. And he wants to protect her. There’s always the rub of opportunism as well. There is that inner conflict of you trying to have a sense of integrity and good values, but there is this temptation of adulation and fame and having a career where you get to fulfill the dreams that have been with you your whole life. Is that at the cost of somebody else’s well being–potentially a baby? It’s possible that it starts out with hesitancy and more purity. I always try to fight for the characters that I play and find a point of view that I can connect to, and I do think it was a chance to be to be with this little girl who he obviously has a very specific connection to.”

Helberg’s final scene with Adam Driver shocked me. Henry’s physical strength comes into play, but it feels so real. The unexpected quality of the scene work thrilled Helberg, and he echoed the sentiment that Carax was making something truly original–no matter the cost. There is a reason why people are so drawn to his singular visions.

“Each scene felt harder than the last one, but after I got through the conducting scene, I was like, ‘Bring it on.’ I heard that they were looking for an underwater earwig to put in my ear, and I knew that they were attempting to do the impossible. That’s really Leos [Carax]. His mantra the entire time was just asking us to do things that were literally impossible or find things that didn’t exist. They don’t make earwigs that go underwater, because no one will ever need to sing underwater. It is logically impossible, but Leos wanted that. The scene goes from talking to singing, to getting thrown into the pool with my head shoved underwater, and you want me to sing the entire time? He said, ‘Well, since we couldn’t find the your earwig, what I need you to just very discreetly is flick out this airway, because we only have one. So when Adam [Driver] is literally throwing me into a table, and whipping me across this patio, they wanted me to kind of just flick this thing out of my ear. Adam is big and powerful and incredibly electric and very honest. I always felt safe, but I definitely felt the feelings and my character has a real sense of terror. There was a thrilling quality to it because of the nature of the scene, but the way that everything was shot there’s just a feeling of danger and truthfulness that is forced to exist. I think it does something to the audience. It really feels like you’re watching a cat flicking around a mouse and playing with him before he is going to die.”

Annette is streaming now on Amazon.