Let the Behavior Tell the Story: An Interview with ‘The Greatest Hits’ Writer-Director Ned Benson

Harriet (Lucy Boynton) finds art imitating life when she discovers certain songs can transport her back in time – literally. While she relives the past through romantic memories of her former boyfriend (David Corenswet), her time travelling collides with a burgeoning new love interest in the present (Justin H. Min). As she takes her journey through the hypnotic connection between music and memory, she wonders – even if she could change the past, should she?

What if you could turn back time and save a loved one? For those that have lost someone, I’m sure it’s a far fetched idea that’s come across your mind once or twice during, what seems like, the never ending grieving process. In Ned Benson’s latest film, The Greatest Hits, the writer-director and music connoisseur explores grief through the “nostalgia machine” of music.

In this interview with Ned Benson, he shares the genesis of this story idea, why he prefers to start his stories in media res, how the songs provide subtext, the rules of time travel and so much more.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: Out of curiosity, is there any connection between the name of the cassette brand Maxell and your character Max’s name? Or is it just a coincidence?

Ned Benson: That was a coincidence. But definitely, the reference was in there. We actually tried to license the image to sort of put in the background somewhere, but I think it was too complex. But definitely it was something we were playing with, conceptually, visually, just this idea of sound and sort of the power that comes out of speakers and sound waves and stuff like that.

Sadie: How’d you come across this idea of exploring grief through music, coupled with your memory and the guilt that comes with being alive when you lose someone?

Ned: The initial genesis of the idea was, I read this book by Oliver Sacks called Musicophilia, which is about music and the brain and the interaction of music in the brain. He talks about ideas, like musical hallucinations and synesthesia - and so that kind of like made me think a little bit. And then I'm just so emotionally susceptible to music myself. I think it's such a nostalgia machine for me. So that coupled with that book, I think, kind of bored the idea of, 'what if music was a time travel mechanism?' and it started there.

Sadie: What I really appreciate about this movie, and especially as a writer, starting the movie with her already going through the motions of this and her dealing with it, rather than starting at the very beginning, layering in exposition. Can you speak to the importance for you just diving in, and exploring, her current life and then diving back into those flashbacks through those memories with the music?

Ned: I think I've always just been interested as a writer to come in media res, and really unpeel the onion as you go. In life, we'll sit at a table next to someone in a coffee shop, and you can glance over and see them in a conversation and make your assumptions. And there's something fun about that, but I think you have a perception of what that is. And then ultimately, the story keeps opening the further the behavior goes, and the more you glean from it. And I think that's how I kind of treat writing, at least stories - I like kind of slowly revealing characters. Their behavior is dictating a lot of what you assume. But then ultimately, you learn more and more as the story progresses. So, I try to give as little information upfront, and let the behavior tell the story. And then, you have these revelations as you go, because that's kind of how I like to view things or read things too.

Sadie: That’s what makes it fun. How did your song selection influence character development?

Ned: 100% - the songs are giving subtext, lyrically. If you pay attention to the songs in each scene, they are actually speaking to the scene, what she's going through, what she and a character going through. Like when she's with Morris in two different scenes at his apartment there's the Leon Heywood song “Don't Push It, Don't Force It” which is kind of like what he's trying to say to her in that scene. And then the later scene with the two of them, Patti Jo “Make Me Believe In You” and same thing, it's like he's trying to sort of believe her, but he can't anymore. And “Loud Places” by Jamie XX, each song is really kind of a partner in the storytelling and giving subtext to each of these scenes if you pay close attention.

Sadie: In terms of time travel, while plotting this out, what kind of rules did you set in place to make sure it rang true in this world? Yet keeping it authentic in some way and really grounded.

Ned: Yeah, I think grounded is the right word, I think that's what we lead with. It was the parameters of the song - she had the length of the song really to go back, which is what happens in life anyway, it's like, you have a three-minute song to really have that experience. So, the song created the parameter of time that she could go back.

And then really, it was about grounding it in emotion and psychology more than it was the space-time continuum, for lack of a better analogy. I think it really became this question of well, is this actually happening? Or is it her psychology? Is it her emotion? Is this a psychological pathology that she's experiencing? And obviously, as the movie progresses, you start to understand more. And that's, I think, the point I'm trying to make is that sometimes emotion is so powerful it can overwhelm you and do things to you that are out of your control.

Sadie: Right. I keep thinking of this line, said by Dr. Evelyn Bartlett, “You have this conscious decision to hide out in your own grief.” And I feel like as a viewer I started to think, well, is she hallucinating these things? Or is it really happening? It's just such an interesting place to live in with her as a character.

Ned: Yeah, I think it was definitely in trying to play with that line of is this actually happening to her? Or is it a figment of her imagination? And I think, the analogy really is we do have, whether it's through grief, whether it's through depression, whether it's through anxiety, we go through these things, and sometimes they're really hard to snap out of, and we get lost in them. And the movie is sort of about her getting lost in that and trying to figure her way out of it.

Sadie: What inspired you to be a writer and finally make this film, which I feel is very much through your very specific lens and vision?

Ned: My dad had a VHS camcorder growing up. And my brothers and I used to make little movies. I think I was kind of just obsessed with all of that, and the make-believe of it all. And I got really into theatre. And then I really loved writing. And I can't say that I was urged along by any of my...there were certain professors in high school who were like, ‘you should keep doing this.’ And then I got to college. And I think college, I was a bit of a wuss - what I recognize now is that my professors were being really hard on me to push me as opposed to like, give me the pat on the back that I felt like I needed. So, this idea of being a writer as a profession was just insane to me. But finally, I kind of just was like, ‘I'm gonna give it a try.’ And it worked out. I got lucky.

There's a confluence of things that that got me there. And I've been really lucky to pay the rent as a writer-director. It's wild to me because thinking about this movie, which is really a love letter to Los Angeles, like when I came straight to Los Angeles after college, half my life was driving around in a car when my only companion was music, and you're just trying to find parking the whole time. [laughs]

I think this movie - the idea came earlier in my career…around 2008, but I didn't get to really understand what the movie was about until I met my wife. And then also just, I think the pandemic really shaped this project a lot, because I think we were also isolated. And music was this salve for me. And I think, in a weird way, Harriet is so isolated and shut off from the world. And I think we were all kind of her during that period of time, and a lot of the movies, and music kind of reminding us of what our lives were, but also helping us, and reminding us to live again beyond it.

And in terms of just getting back to experiencing life again, I mean, some of my favorite moments post-pandemic was the first time that I got to go to see a friend DJ, 'Oh, my God, we're at a gig and we're with a bunch of people, and we're dancing. And we're just listening to music again. And we're outside.' And it was mind-blowing. And you forget how special the communal experience of music actually is.

The Greatest Hits is now streaming on Hulu.

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