I was like, I dont know, she recalls, Im not like a narrator per se.
What do I know about volcanoes?
Nothing, July tells Deadline.
Filmmaker-actor-writer Miranda JulyEmma McIntyre/Getty Images for WIF
But then the film took hold of her.
I watched this sort of early version, I guess an early cut.
And I was so shocked that at the end I was really emotional, as if volcanoes were mything.
Miranda July andSara Dosaattend a screening ofNational GeographicDocumentary Films’ ‘Fire of Love’ on June 20, 2022 in New York City.Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for National Geographic
And I realized, oh, its just this devotion that I relate to.
That just kind of punched me in the chest or something.
But they didnt tell July that when it came time to record the narration.
Thats one of those director tricks.
I do that too.
You come, you put all this stuff in your head, you dont share it, July muses.
But it makes you very confident in what youre asking for…
It wasnt just that Sara knew what she wanted, but the whole team did.
They would quickly discuss something that I wouldnt hear.
And then in the booth I would get like the simplest note.
July has narrated audio versions of her own work a novel and short stories.
Other than knowing the movie and the story and the footage, I like to be prepared.
I just have to completely trust.
I was surprised to see, oh, theres just as much directing with this as I do.
I loved being on the other side of it.
It wasnt a one-and-done thing either.
I didnt care that that was more work…
It feels so good to be in someones hands like that.
This is a real choice, to have it be that vulnerable.
Narrators arent usually vulnerable like that.
I kept thinking of the Bowie song Major Tom.
Youre in the tin can.
You kind of feel like youre an astronaut or something, talking back to Earth.
Its almost like youre inside a brain or something.
I have the footage on the monitor and theres beeps that kind of help you line it up.
Even with that, the voiceover process involved more than July had anticipated.
And, so, it becomes almost sort of musical.
Im a total sound nerd, she says.
Its my favorite part of my movies, all the Foley, all that stuff.
I think it had something to do with humans relationship to just living and mortality and love.
