Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver dig into ‘Master Gardener’ roles

LIDO, Venice, Italy – “Master Gardener,” a steamy, continually surprising romantic drama teaming Sigourney Weaver and Joel Edgerton, is writer-director Paul Schrader’s latest Hitchcockian puzzle.

At 76, Schrader remains celebrated for provocative, violent thrillers like “Cat People” or “American Gigolo.”  “Gardener” finds mystery and power dynamics in the relationship between Weaver’s mistress of the manor and Edgerton’s titular character, a man with many secrets — and revealing tattoos.

Edgerton’s Narvel Roth is the horticulturalist in charge of the sumptuous Gracewood Gardens estate of Weaver’s demanding owner Norma Haverhill.

She calls Norma, “A lusty woman and one of the best roles I’ve ever had.”

For Schrader, Narvel’s a man’s man, a tough guy of few words. “A big slab of beef.”

For Australia’s Edgerton, 48, Schrader’s classic “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” screenplays remain revelatory. “Guys like me in drama school,” he said, “we were looking at guys like Robert De Niro — and it didn’t occur to us at the time that the performances are as indelible as they are because of the writing in them. Paul’s behind some of my thoughts about becoming an actor.”

Edgerton (the Disney+ “Obi Wan Kenobi,” “The Green Knight”) views “Gardener” as, “A familiar vein in Paul’s work: tranquility colliding with chaos.  Particularly, a man hiding from his past who finds a way to navigate with another person things that happened before.”

“The script was so different from any I’ve ever read,” Weaver said. “It was very simple on top but so much detail and passion.”

“I don’t know about everybody else but listening to discussions about plants and their evolution and decay,” Edgerton offered, “it reminds me in the confidence of the writing of this.  Everyone can see that you find your own way through this story. I found myself thinking about the potential for violence.”

Weaver noted, “Narvel says, ‘Gardening is a belief in the future.’ That illuminated the script for me. I felt it was going to be about love in the end.”

Schrader, more reflective and mellow, added, “I’m from the generation that came in riding the coattails of violence — and that time is kind of gone.

“So the notion of how — and if — we can participate in our redemption evolves. A young man’s notion of Christian redemption is through the blood, like Christ. ‘I’ll be redeemed. If I can’t do that I’ll, shoot somebody.’

“In my film ‘First Reformed,’ he blows up. In ‘The Card Counter’ it happens offscreen. And in this film the song, which was written by a friend, is ‘I never want to leave this world without saying I love you.’”