How TÁR Is Turning Sophie Kauer from a Classical Music Phenomenon Into a Movie Star
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“I've never been one of those girls,” Sophie Kauer says, “who's like, ‘I want to be an actress so badly.’”
It’s a fall morning in Midtown Manhattan, and despite Kauer’s assurances that acting was never her dream, the London native is here for just that reason. It’s the day that TÁR, the new film from director Todd Field about the complicated life of a world-famous conductor, will premiere at the New York Film Festival, and whether or not it was the plan, Kauer is about to become a movie star.
In TÁR—which the New York Times called a “cruelly elegant, elegantly cruel new film”—Kauer stars opposite Cate Blanchett, playing a Russian cellist named Olga who’s recently joined the orchestra that Blanchett’s brilliant, complicated, and soon-to-be cancelled Lydia Tár conducts. Olga finds her way into the favor of the hard-to-please maestro, which is a trickier situation than one might first assume. And while the acting part of the project was new to Kauer, the cello is something she already has down cold.
“My mom and dad noticed that I responded to classical music, so they signed me up for this first string experience course, which is where we started learning melodies by ear, and singing, clapping, and kind of developing those aural skills for a year,” she explains. “It's not a glamorous story at all. Most people are like, ‘I chose the cello because of this amazing cellist.’ In reality, I chose the cello because you got to sit down while playing.”
Whatever the reason, it paid off. Kauer, who’s currently a student at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, was admitted before she was 10 years old to the Junior Department of London’s Royal Academy of Music, and in her young life she’s already won a slew of awards for her musical work. Which is all to say, this isn’t someone without a spotlight already available to her.
Still, when Field (director of Little Children and In the Bedroom) started casting TÁR, notices went to music school around the world. Kauer taped herself and submitted, as did a number of her friends and classmates, but never expected anything to come of it. And then she had a callback with Field. Next, she says, “I didn't hear anything for a very long time, and I kind of didn't think about it. I was like, ‘Oh, that's fun. I'll tell my grandkids that I did a Zoom audition with Todd Field. How cool.’”
Then, amid a flurry of exams and school concerts, a request came in for Kauer to record herself playing Edward Elgar’s cello concerto—which would have been doable if she hadn’t been in quarantine without her instrument. She recorded the piece as soon as she was sprung, but then waiting continued—until she got a call from Field.
“Todd rang me, and he was starting to talk about Olga, and telling me about the film. I was like, "Wait, I'm sorry. Have I got the part?" He was like, "Yeah. Did no one tell you,” she says. “I was suddenly dropped into this world, and I don't think I really understood the scale until I actually turned up on set for the first rehearsal.”
Field says, “Sophie was just 19 when [casting director] Avy Kaufman and I met her. However, Sophie already knew who she was—as does this character Olga Metkina. Sophie came to that meeting fully prepared. There was never any doubt she could act the part. What I didn’t know was whether she actually played the cello. I asked Avy who came back and said yes, ‘Sophie is a cello student.’ I asked Sophie to record the Elgar Concerto for us. When it arrived, our jaws hit the floor. This was no ‘student.’”
Was making a movie different for Kauer than playing music? “In a way,” she says, “but in principle, the outcome is the same. We're all trying to realize someone else's dream or bring to life a work that's already been written, trying to pick up what either the composer or the writer's intentions were, and convey those emotions to an audience. We're always trying to achieve excellence.”
And that means there might be room for more movies in her future. “I think that would be a lot of fun,” she says. “I'm still aiming to become a concert cellist—that is my dream—but I am aware of this amazing opportunity I've been given. I remember, when I said yes to the film, I felt guilty because I thought some people have wanted this kind of opportunity their whole life, and it's somehow come my way. I felt like someone else should be getting it, but it's been so much fun and I hope to be able to continue with both of them.”
For Kauer the cello is never far from her mind. Or from her, really; she brought her instrument with her on TÁR’s press tour and admits to working in hotel-room practice sessions. It’s about as easy as it sounds. “You always have to call the airline, and book a cello ticket next to you in the plane because you can't send it as luggage, or it'll be smashed to smithereens,” she says. “Recently, they wouldn't let me on the plane with my cello, and I had to rebook and wait for the next flight. I don't know how they could send people to the moon, but they can't book a cello on a plane.”
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