In Supernova, Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), partners of twenty years, travel across England visiting friends, family, and places from their past. Following a life-changing diagnosis, their time together becomes more important than ever. But secret plans will test their love like never before.

Director Harry Macqueen – who also penned the screenplay – sat down with THS to discuss the film. And while Supernova is full of beautiful moments, Macqueen is especially proud of one scene in particular.

“I think a pivotal scene in the film is when they get to the cottage and Colin [Firth]’s character reveals that he knows what Stanley [Tucci]’s character is planning,” said Macqueen. “It felt important to change the visual language of the film slightly in that scene. So the scene plays out in one continuous long shot of about four minutes.”

This moment in Supernova stands out for Macqueen because it combines an emotional peak of the story with a technical filming challenge.

“Getting that right was very tricky, technically, because the camera has to do quite a lot of intricate moving, and there’s sort of a dance that happens between the camera and the actors in that. And when you’re dealing with really difficult material like they’re going through in that scene, you don’t want to get them to do it over and over again. So getting that right in as few takes as possible was tricky. I think we pulled it off really nicely.”

It’s hard to ask for better leads to work through a tough emotional scene than Firth and Stanley, who imbue the work with an easygoing, believable realness.

“When we came to cast [Supernova], we couldn’t have really asked for anything more. Colin and Stanley are incredible actors, obviously, but they’re also really great people. They treat everything they do with such empathy and compassion,” said Macqueen. “And they’ve known each other for 20 years. They love each other, they’re best friends. So to draw on that relationship in this film was a real privilege.”

You can experience this powerful story of love for yourself soon. Supernova hits theaters January 29 and releases digitally February 16.