"When I was eight years old, I read a story about a ghost who couldn't speak. All it could do was rattle doors and windows, trying to communicate with people, but it couldn't. That's how you made me feel, like that ghost."
This simple statement is what I wanted to originally convey in "Removal" - that horrible feeling of powerlessness that you get in a failed relationship.
But it's funny how things change during the creative process. I'd originally intended to use this quote in the film, then during the shooting of the argument scene, actors André C. Andrée and Séamus Kealey started throwing some choice impromptu barbs at each other that were far beyond anything I could ever have scripted. After hearing this, I planned to use a mix of their words in the soundtrack, but came down to just one from Andre: "You don't ever look at me." This phrase seemed to sum up everything I wanted to say in this film. The funny thing is, I tried to get Andre to repeat this phrase later on, and he never said it the same way again. I ended up using the original recording.
I guess that's what film is, isn't it - fleeting moments of light and sound, that somehow move us in ways we can't explain.