Director Charlie McDowell and Writer Justin Lader on 'The One I Love'
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Charlie McDowell and Justin Lader look like regular guys; guys who could easily pass as friends of mine dressed in casual t-shirts and jeans, with a welcoming presence to boot. We sit at the roundtable in the SLS Hotel to talk about The One I Love, McDowell's directorial debut and one of my favorites of the year so far. Its twist has been preserved until the film's release, which makes for a very interesting press day. While we don't talk about the plot of the film, one key theme is prevalent throughout our entire conversation: Not everything is as it seems. McDowell's stepdad, Ted Danson, stars in the film. Lader doesn't know how to play poker, despite writing a scene that revolves all around poker. And as another interesting fact, credited costume designer "Bree Daniel" is none other than McDowell's real life girlfriend, Rooney Mara. We begin:
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE GENESIS OF THIS PROJECT?
CHARLIE MCDOWELL: Mark [Duplass] sent Justin and I a one-line idea that just hinted at the tone and genre to play in. I sent it to Justin and he was like, ‘I think you cut off the email ‘cause there’s no story here,’ and I was like, ‘No, that’s all he gave us.’ We took it from there and started building characters and ideas.
WHY WERE MARK AND ELISABETH [MOSS] PERFECT FOR THIS FILM?
CM: To me, they felt like real people, a real couple. There are so many actors in L.A. that are talented, but they just have a look of, “I moved to L.A. to be an actor.” I don’t really respond to that look because that doesn’t feel real to me. Mark and Lizzie feel like real people that we can all connect to. And they’re both incredibly talented. Mark feels very comfortable in this space of independent film and improving dialogue, and I think Lizzie was really excited to try this [improv] thing out. Also, we haven’t seen Lizzie really as a contemporary leading girl.
She had texted Mark saying she saw him in Safety Not Guaranteed and wanted to do something like that with him. So Mark brought up her name and the idea that she’s been on this iconic show [Mad Men] and people see her as this specific character, the idea of making her this contemporary leading girl was really exciting because it’s fresh and new.
WHAT IS THE TRICKIEST PART ABOUT KEEPING THE FILM UNDER WRAPS?
CM: It’s hard to discuss a lot of it in order to protect the twist that happens, which has become our marketing campaign. We like to keep it under wraps because we think the best experience to see the movie is to go in knowing very little.
There were a lot of challenges [technically] shooting this film; we shot in 15 days, so there wasn’t a lot of time to [waste]. There was a lot of preproduction work. Each day before we shot, we would go over all the scenes and talk about what we wanted to accomplish and let the actors [feel it out]. Justin would start scripting pages for the next day, so it was a really bizarre, interesting way to make a movie but it felt really organic and natural.
JUSTIN LADER: Something that I didn’t consider when I’m writing it that really surprised me when I watched it was what Charlie and our cinematographer [Doug Emmett] brought to it. [The film] is like a Ping-Pong match between the two locations, and one of those locations is much smaller than the other. The fact that Charlie and [Doug] were able to compose shots that were never redundant was something that blew me away.
IT SEEMS LIKE THERE WAS A BIG COLLABORATION BETWEEN YOU AND THE ACTORS, AND THAT'S ALSO BEING FELT NOW AS JOURNALISTS- WE'RE WANTING TO KEEP THE TWIST A SECRET SO AUDIENCES CAN ENJOY IT FOR THE FIRST TIME TOO. HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL WITH THIS OVERWHELMING SUPPORT?
CM: It's so cool, and wasn't even something we thought about. We thought we'd premiere at Sundance, the cat would get out of the bag, and everyone would know from there. The next day we started reading reviews, and [no one gave away the twist]. We [wanted to] continue that. The next screening we had at Sundance, there were like 300 people waiting in the wait-list line, whereas before it wasn't even sold out. We realized that was a cool, exciting and fresh way to see the movie. To get people that had that same feeling and agree with how we want people to see it is amazing. That's kind of the greatest compliment we could ever get.
It’s become a thing where people say, ‘Oh that’s such an ‘indie film’,’ and that terrified me. I didn’t want to make a generic “indie” film, I wanted it to feel like something bigger.
CAN YOU TAK ABOUT THE DYNAMICS OF THE FILM’S GENRE?
JL: We knew that we were dabbling in sci-fi, but a lot of people have been talking about romantic comedy. Of all the conversations Charlie and I had when we were creating the story, we never once said to each other ‘Let’s take two genres and smash them together.' I think if we did do that, at least for me from a writing standpoint, I might have drowned. I was never very good at math and I didn’t like puzzles, but for some reason I love thinking, ‘Ok, what if this happens… what if that happens,’ basically creating a puzzle of structure and making it connect. Charlie is amazing at grounding the characters and what they’re feeling within the confines of that [structure].
CM: I think it terrified us to go into something that didn’t have an actual definition, but it also made it really exciting because there are so many indie films being made now, it’s become a thing where people say, ‘Oh that’s such an ‘indie film’,’ and that terrified me. I didn’t want to make a generic “indie” film, I wanted it to feel like something bigger.
JUSTIN, WERE THERE ANY CHALLENGES IN WRITING A FILM THAT HAD A SHOOTING SCHEDULE OF ONLY 15 DAYS?
JL: There was only one day where I felt like it was going to be tough, and that was the poker scene. Originally it wasn't supposed to be poker, it was supposed to be… a board game, but there were issues about rights. The morning of, when we realized we couldn't [use the board game], now I had to rewrite the scene for poker.
CM: You freaked out! You were like, 'I don't know poker...'
JL: I play Blackjack! One of the people that worked on our set gave me the cliff notes version of poker, and to this day in the poker scene, we cut to the hand Mark's character has and, with every time I see the movie, there's an eruption of laughter when the camera cuts to his hand. It's a terrible hand, but to this day, I don't know why people are laughing!
[Laughter]
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR MUSICAL CHOICES FOR THE FILM, SPECIFICALLY THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS SONG?
CM: The score really defined what the tone was. I saw the movie Martha Marcy May Marlene and it was such a weird, atmospheric score with dark chilling tones, but there was also something really beautiful about it. My first obvious idea was, 'This is a quirky story, it should have a quirky score,' and then I quickly threw that away because it was the obvious idea. When I saw [Marlene] I thought to go darker, hit the dramatic tones and support the emotional journey of the characters.
The Mamas & the Papas song, called "The One I Love," was just, our editor Jennifer Lilly just looked it up in iTunes and she brought this song [to us] and I became so obsessed with it. Our poor producer Mel [Eslyn] was trying to get the [song] rights from six different people.
CHARLIE, IT'S NO SURPRISE YOU COME FROM A SUCCESSFUL ACTOR FAMILY- HOW HAS YOUR FAMILY SUPPORTED YOU DURING THIS FILM?
CM: Yeah, I come from this bizarre family- Ted [Danson] is my step-dad, my mom is Mary Steenburgen and my dad is Malcolm McDowell, but I grew up in this very normal house and they were just my parents, you know? For me, it was an incredible experience because I was exposed to being on a set and watching great directors work.
To work with Ted, it was one of those things where, I just called up my parents house and my mom picked up and I was like, 'Hey mom, so umm, I want Ted to be in the movie,' and she was like, 'Ok, hold on, let me put him on,' and he was like, 'Oh, are you sure?' I was like, 'Yeah, you're in it,' and he was like, 'Fine.' It was the easiest way to get an actor.
[Laughter]
Ted came on our last day of shooting and I think he was a little nervous 'cause we had all connected and he was coming into this thing so nervous. I was like Ted, you're the most veteran person here! He was like, 'I know, but what am I supposed to do?' But it was great! The only embarrassing thing was my mom- I let her come into the room where the monitor was and I could see her with this huge grin on her face. She was turning to people being like, 'That's my son directing!'
Director Michael Rossato-Bennett & Dan Cohen on 'Alive Inside'
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Music is an important part of my life, as I'm sure it is yours. Every day, we're influenced by the type of music we listen to and fortunately, most of us are able to recall those special memories associated with those songs. Unlocking that inner being is what Director Michael Rossato-Bennett set out to do while filming Alive Inside. With a genius idea from social worker Dan Cohen to incorporate personalized music in nursing homes, Rossato-Bennett is able to capture the "a-ha" moments of senior citizens living with dementia, where recalling any sort of memory is virtually impossible. An award-winning documentary, Alive Inside is an uplifting and inspirational film, which made my exclusive interview with Michael and Dan all the more special, even offering up a touching moment from Michael as he talks about his reasons for choosing the film's end song, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros' "Man on Fire," which you can hear in the Soundcloud clip above. We begin:
DID YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANTED THIS FILM TO BE WHEN YOU BEGAN FILMING, OR DID IT SURPRISE YOU ALONG THE WAY?
MICHAEL ROSSATO-BENNETT: Absolutely surprised me. It started out as a simple job- just creating video clips for a website for Dan [Cohen]. I just saw, lined up against the hallway, literally one hundred people in wheelchairs just sitting there- they looked like they were dead. That's what Henry was like when he was wheeled in, his head was against his chest. When I filmed Henry reacting to the music that had formed him, I saw this man literally be resurrected. That was the moment for me- tears came to my eyes, I felt it.
Whenever a human being suffers being treated like an object, it's an assault to the self. If it happens every day for 10 years, you just slip away, you fade away into nothingness. What Dan is doing with this project is throwing them a lifeline, he's giving them a piece of their self and it's the most profound piece of the self that anyone can have. Music that made us when we were young, it lives in us in a phenomenally powerful way.
I learned something very powerful; these people don't have their memory, there is a lot of functionality they don't have. When I first started this project, I saw them as dead. But what I learned, and music was the teacher…is that there's a life inside each of those people. There's a movie that plays inside each of their heads that will disappear when they go. I never thought about these things until this project.
DID YOU FIND THAT SOME OF THE SENIORS WERE NOT RECEPTIVE TO THE TECHNOLOGY AT FIRST?
DAN COHEN: I don't think it's so much "the technology," it's really just the music. That's part of the reason why nobody really thought of this, if it's technology we just think, 'Oh, [seniors] aren't going to want to do it.' It does work most of the time.
HOW DID YOU NARROW DOWN WHAT STORIES TO FOLLOW IN THE FILM?
MRB: This whole endeavor is seeking and following emotion. That's what Dan is doing, he's saying 'What song touches your emotions the deepest' and then he's just trying to find them and give them to these people. That's it. It's so simple. As a filmmaker, that's what I do. I just watched, and looked, and if it touched me emotionally, it ended up in the film.
I HEARD THERE'S TALK OF AN "ALIVE INSIDE" APP...
MRB: Yes, I was in a conference call today. We're getting very close. This is not going to be the "be all and end all" of apps, it's just a tool to support a connection between the young and the old. We wanna do a reach into schools and churches that will aid a conversation about the themes in this film... We have no conversation about the wisdom that comes with age. It's a taboo subject in our culture. It's called the Alive Inside app, and it'll be out very soon.
WHAT MUSIC WOULD YOU HAVE ON YOUR PLAYLISTS?
DC: 60's music. Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, James Taylor, Peter, Paul & Mary, and the Beach Boys.
MRB: My taste goes from Philip Glass to Joanna Newsom to Pavarotti, to Bach. Jeff Buckley to Björk. I don't know if I'm gonna be 95 and listening to Björk, but I'll certainly be listening to Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. And The Beatles, I'll never not listen to The Beatles.
THE EDWARD SHARPE AT THE END, WAS THAT A PERSONAL PREFERENCE OR DID YOU HAVE A REASON FOR CHOOSING THAT?
MRB: Absolutely, there's a line in the film that says, 'Everybody wants safety but not me, I'm a man on fire.' I'm a little overcome here. I think nursing homes are our attempt at safety. Nursing homes are amazing, we could let our elders and our sick elders just die on the streets like Elizabethan England, but we don't. It comes from our desire to create safety for these people, and it's just a little misguided. Drugs are not the safety for these people, their deep selves are the safety and that's why Edward Sharpe is in there, because he says it. He says, 'I'm a man on fire,' and fire burns and you have to be willing to stand up to the flame to really change.
WHAT WAS YOUR SUNDANCE EXPERIENCE LIKE?
MRB: I wasn't eve going to submit it. [The registration fee] was $100 and I didn't have $100 at that time. My wife made me do it and we go it, and I thought that was the end of the story. I thought it was the greatest victory. 12,000 films were submitted, and they pick 16 for competition in American Documentaries. The numbers were against us, but the experience was amazing. Sitting in a room with 800 people and seeing grown men literally weeping, not for sadness, but from some sort of connection that they were feeling. To win, that means that we were the film that people had the most emotional reaction to. It told us that people are interested in this story.
Review: 'Alive Inside'
It's no surprise that music does something to us- whether it brings back happy memories like Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy" does for me, or stirs up feelings of sadness, there is no denying that music's ability to make us feel any emotion is quite profound. It's been proven that the brain lights up when exposed to music, and interestingly, the part of the brain that processes both music and memories is last to be affected by Alzheimer's or dementia. With these facts in mind, social worker Dan Cohen set out to revitalize patients in nursing homes and awaken their memories with one simple thing: an iPod. The outcome of his efforts is incredible, and the subject of director Michael Rossato-Bennett's award-winning documentary, Alive Inside.
As the film points out, the ratio of doctors to patients is overwhelmingly skewed in nursing homes, and not in the patients favor, so personalized attention is nearly impossible. Cohen leads the audience to a main room of the center, where seniors are sitting in wheelchairs, watching TV; basically, just existing.
One man in particular, 94-year-old Henry, has been a resident for 10 years and every day, he sits with his eyes shut and head down in his chair. A nurse explains that Henry has never been an animated personality, and prefers to sit alone. It's a tragic scene, heartbreaking really, knowing that this is the way many seniors are living out their final days. However, as Cohen explains, this doesn't have to be the case.
Not only is Alive Inside a tightly executed film, its' screening at this year's Sundance Film Festival took home the Audience Award in the Documentary Category.
As soon as Cohen places the headphones over Henry's ears and pushes play on the iPod, it's as if Henry falls into a trance. With his eyes open wide, he lifts his head, and miraculously, begins to sing. This is just one moment out of many shared in the film, which walks a fine line between documentary and educational.
This is director Michael Rossato-Bennett's first feature film, and his passion for the subject matter is obvious. Not only is Alive Inside a tightly executed film, its' screening at this year's Sundance Film Festival took home the Audience Award in the documentary category.
We are all made to age, but unfortunately, our culture tries to defy it at any cost. Instead of embracing this stage of life, many disregard it or write it off as "the end." But who's to say that "the end" shouldn't be full of memories as well? Cohen's introduction to individual music players as a form of healthcare will forever be a life-enhancing resource, just as Alive Inside will enhance the lives of the audience. One thing's for sure, it will give new meaning to your personal playlists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaB5Egej0TQ
Colin Firth & The Cast on 'Magic In The Moonlight'
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"Ms. Stone would like to be here today, but she's making a Woody Allen film," Jacki Weaver giggles to us at the start of our press conference. "That's the only way to get out of doing press," exclaims Colin Firth, who himself is sporting Allen-esque black hipster glasses. From my left to right sit Firth, Weaver, Hamish Linklater, and Simon McBurney, stars of the much anticipated film, Magic In The Moonlight. Though it may sound cliché, this press day really was magical, or at the very least mesmerizing, as I sit in the front row, ready to listen to this incredible group of actors who brought this romantic comedy about mysticism and the supernatural to life. We begin:
WHAT DO YOU TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH WOODY ALLEN?
SIMON McBURNEY: It was a very curious experience for me because I had no idea I was even being considered for this movie. I was at home with my kids and my wife and my agent rang up and said 'Could you just film yourself in your kitchen, cause Woody Allen wants to see you for his next movie.' I think I filmed myself 40 different times… I sent if off and though it was never going to happen. And then it did happen… to get the part was extremely surreal.
HAMISH LINKLATER: I got the call to come meet Woody… and I got the part. There were two sentences spoken, he was like, 'We're considering you for this movie,' and then the next one was 'Well, we'll see you in France.' And then I went outside and sat down, and cried. His place is on the upper East Side on Central Park and I found a bench, and yeah, I had a weep.
COLIN FIRTH: It's like the end of Blue Jasmine.
[Laughter]
JACKI WEAVER: My manager said, 'Woody Allen wants to see you,' and that was it. I went to the office, he said said ' I really want you to be in my next film,' and I said, 'Awe, thanks!' And he said, 'You have to be honest, if you hate it tell me and I'll find another project we can do together.' [After reading the script] I said, 'I'd like to play all these women's roles,' and he said, 'You can't, you can only play Grace.'… The rumor that I heard was that he saw me on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which I think is a lovely idea not just if that's true, but also the fact of Woody Allen watching Ellen DeGeneres.
[Laughter]
CF: I was the one who didn't get a meeting. I heard rumblings that [Woody] was inquiring about my availability...Suddenly the script was upon me… [the script] had to be entrusted to a trustworthy person who had to travel a long car journey, and then that person had to wait while I read the whole thing. I'm not a fast reader, and there's nothing like having the intensity of being offered something by somebody like [Woody]. There was a note from Woody Allen saying nice things about how I was right for it...
JW: [To Colin] You're being modest, he said 'I wrote it for you.'
CF: Well he didn't write that in the note, that would've appeared flirtatious.
[Laughter]
DO YOU REMEMBER THE LAST SCENE THAT YOU SHOT, AND WHAT WAS THE EMOTION LEAVING THIS FILM?
HL: The big ball, that was the end of it for us, and it was super sad and really late at night. Woody came up to me, privately, and said, 'Hamish, I don't know if you're going to like the movie when you see it, but I know you'll like your work in it.' And then he came up to Jacki, privately, and said, 'I don't know if you're going to like the movie...'
[Laughter]
HL: We both went home with this private secret after the last day, that Woody had really loved our work individually in the picture. Later that night, when we were talking, we revealed it, haha! Our secret!
SM: The best things about the last day was the elephant… when I finished, [Woody] gave me a very beautiful present...
JW: The elephant?
SM: Haha, well Woody's very fascinated by magic… he gave me a little box. There's a museum of magic in Paris, and he bought me an original 1920's magician's wand. It's very, very beautiful, and a very powerful thing to get.
CF: Looking back on that day, it's hard to believe that it was one day. After Simon wrapped around 6 or 7pm, I had another seven or eight hours to go and one of the most challenging scenes was deep into the night- the big tirade when I first speak backstage, taking off the makeup. Trying to remember it- getting all the moves and the dialogue right all in that one shot, timing that piece of theater is quite a challenge. And it had occurred to me that the last line of the last word I uttered on that entire shoot was: "sodomy."
[Laughter]
CF: I can speak to Emma Stone's last day, my last day with her in fact, was a mirror image of our first day because it was a re-shoot, which didn't make it into the final cut of the film. So it was bookended by scenes that you will not see.
FOR HAMISH, YOU'RE HALF NAKED, AND YOU'RE SINGING- WHAT WAS THAT LIKE FOR YOU WHEN WOODY APPROACHED YOU TO DO THAT SCENE?
SM: It was terrible for us…
HL: Turns out that was a question for the rest of the table.
[Laughter]
HL: I was like, 'As long as that swimsuit is belted, Mr. Allen.' I think it's all to the credit of Emma Stone for making me feel so comfortable all through that scene, she was a really wonderful scene partner, unlike the rest of these shenanigans I'm sitting with right now.
HOW MUCH DID THE LOCATION AND THE PERIOD HELP YOUR PERFORMANCES AS THESE CHARACTERS?
JW: I would say the costumes certianly enhanced the performances. Of course, the glorious mansions we were shooting in the South of France, it all enforces what you're doing… In the ballroom scene I was wearing 2.9 million dollars worth of diamonds!
SM: Oh, there were two absolutely massive guys [guarding the jewelry].
CF: They were like, in the shot- they wanted to be as close as they could to the jewelry.
SM: They stood on the edge of the set and they watched her neck.
Magic In The Moonlight opens in theaters Friday, July 25th.
Composer Nathan Whitehead of 'The Purge: Anarchy'
Composer Nathan Whitehead has always been fascinated with music. From composing for video games, to television, and feature films, his range of work is expanding vastly. This time around, Nathan talks exclusively to CINEMACY about his experience working on the just-released thriller The Purge: Anarchy. We begin:
HAS MUSIC ALWAYS BEEN A FASCINATION TO YOU?
Yeah, it has always been a fascination. Fascination really feels like the right word too. I remember listening to my parents' records and poking around on our piano and thinking about how exciting and mysterious the idea of creating music was. I didn't always know I wanted to be a film composer but I was fascinated by music as far back as I can remember and I think the fascination and curiosity is as strong as ever today. It still feels mysterious.
HOW IMPORTANT IS A COMPOSER'S JOB IN RELATION TO THE FILM AS A WHOLE?
I think the composer's job is somewhat unique in that we are providing this element to the film that is usually outside of the literal narrative. When we're watching a movie we don't say "hey, where's that orchestra that's playing?" We just usually accept the score as part of the film, in many cases we might not even notice it but we feel it. I think the composer has the unique opportunity to have this direct emotional input into a film and I think that's very important. At the same time, I love the collaborative nature of filmmaking and the score is just one element. I think the composer's job is critical but so is the writing and acting and directing and all the other departments. The amazing part is seeing it all come together.
WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION GOING INTO THE COMPOSITION FOR THE PURGE 2?
We talked a lot about the madness of the night. That was something I kept in mind a lot, how could this music speak to all the madness that erupts on Purge night. Also, I think the city of Los Angeles and all it’s grit and beauty and sprawl provided inspiration. This film expands and takes place all over the city. There are these beautiful aerial shots of L.A. with the skyline and this sea of lights and it feels big and expansive. Then there are sequences where we are in the bowels of the city and it’s dark and we have all these urban sounds and textures closing in on us. This was all really cool inspiration. It provided a great canvas to create a score that felt larger in scope and then we dive into these intense, violent situations that are unfolding all over the city. It called for much more range in the score I think.
This film is really a sort of hybrid action-dystopian-thriller movie. It feels like it exists in between some of these genres rather than being a straight horror movie or action movie. Because of this we were always steering away from music that felt too traditionally action or too traditionally horror. We focused a lot on sounds and textures and paid a lot of attention to the emotional content of sounds. There are melodic motifs but finding sounds or textures that contained something intangible that felt like the world of The Purge was a big part of writing this score. So I tried to focus a lot on creating this unique vocabulary that would hopefully work between all these genres but still deliver the pacing and tension and emotion that we needed. It was really tricky at times because I couldn't reach for some of my go-to tools or techniques but it was also a lot of fun creating all these textural and electronic elements.
LIKE GOOD EDITING, THE BEST JOBS OFTEN GO UNNOTICED. IT'S SUBTLE, YET MAKES A HUGE IMPACT ON A FILM'S OVERALL RECEPTION. IS THIS SOMETHING YOU ACKNOWLEDGE IN YOUR WORK?
Absolutely, and I think it's fine to go unnoticed. My goal is to help make the best film that we can and do my part to help tell the story. If someone watches a film I scored and it makes a connection with them one way or another, that is awesome and I think it's successful whether they specifically noticed the music or not.
YOU'VE WORKED ON A VARIETY OF PROJECTS, LIKE TRANSFORMERS: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON TO DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES; WHAT WAS THE MOST FUN YOU HAD WORKING ON A FILM?
Both the Purge films are at the top of the list in terms of having the most fun. The schedules were short (especially the first one) but it was a great experience working with James DeMonaco and the rest of the team. It felt very collaborative and I had a lot of freedom to explore ideas. I think James is a great director in that regard, he manages to create space for you to cultivate ideas and experiment, even on a crazy deadline, and he’s genuinely interested in what everyone is bringing to a project. Another really fun project was working with Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels on Friended to Death. The reasons are pretty much the same, we were able to have a great dialog and an openness to exploring ideas. To me, that collaboration is really fun and I think it usually results in better work from everyone.
WHO ARE A COUPLE OF YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS, PAST AND PRESENT?
Wow, there are so many inspiring artists but to pick a couple I would say Jon Brion and Arvo Part. I think Jon Brion is incredibly diverse. I love his score for Magnolia andStep Brothers. He is also a fantastic song writer and has great production chops. It seems to me that he pays a lot of attention to both the sounds and the notes and combining composition and production, treating them almost as the same process, is an approach that makes a lot of sense to me and I'm impressed how well he does all these things. I think Arvo Part's music is uniquely amazing in the way he can create sparse, minimal compositions with incredible depth and subtlety. Simple ideas are always so hard to pull off and I think are usually the most effective. I love how evocative and emotional Für Alina is for example. It's this sparse piano piece but it's so powerful.
I think I do my best work in my studio. It’s my laboratory. I try to make my studio an inspiring environment, sort of protect that space and try to use it only for writing. I think it’s really valuable to be able to have this dedicated space where I can lock myself away from distractions and just experiment freely. To me it’s a combination of this space to work in and also allowing the time to focus and not be interrupted. Time to just get lost in the process. That’s the ideal situation anyway, I don’t always have a nice big chunk of time but I do my best to build that in to my routine.
AS WELL AS SUCCESSFULLY WORKING AS A HOLLYWOOD COMPOSER, I HEAR YOU ALSO MAKE AWARD-WINNING CORNBREAD. WHAT'S NEXT ON YOUR LIST OF THINGS TO EXCEL AT?
Ha! Well, overall I think I just want to keep learning new things. I recently went fishing with my brother-in-law in Montana and I think I would like to learn to fly fish. I would also love to learn to play the cello.
Review: 'Happy Christmas'
Joe Swanberg of Drinking Buddies fame is back with another rambling comedy about a twentysomething's identity crisis and the subsequent effect on her friends and family in the dramedy, Happy Christmas. Almost immediately, the desperation stemming from the film's protagonist Jenny (Anna Kendrick) will polarize audiences into either finding this mumblecore movie charming or not; I seemed to agree with the later.
Kendrick plays Jenny, who, broken-hearted after a nasty breakup, decides to move in with her married brother and his family. She arrives in Chicago and seems to have put the past behind her as she cheerfully greets her brother Jeff (played by the film's writer/director, Swanberg), his wife Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) and their adorable son Jude (Jude Swanberg), Joe's own son (who also gave the best performance).
Dependability and trustworthiness are not Jenny's strong suits, as she soon flakes on her babysitting obligations, stays up late drinking, and almost sets the house on fire. These moments, although intentionally comical, I found slightly agitating. If we as the audience are supposed to sympathize with Jenny or care about her well-being in the least, her blasé attitude certainly doesn't help us do so. The mess she makes both literally and figuratively far outweigh the repercussions she faces, leading to my biggest critique, being that there are no apparent consequences to these scenarios- Jenny gets let off the hook far too easy for almost starting a fire that would have destroyed a family and Christmas.
The formula plays out much the same as it did in Drinking Buddies, lots of stuttering, careless attitudes from the female leads, and ultimately, no real punch or weight.
The supporting roles feel organic to the film- for example, the queen of the genre Lena Dunham plays Jenny's best friend Carson. Her natural comedic timing and rapport with Kendrick make for enjoyable scenes, although, for those hoping to see Dunham play something other than her Hannah Horvath (Girls) persona, it's a letdown. We see her as " the actor Lena Dunham," not as Carson, which proves challenging to give in to the suspension of disbelief, of which these types of films only barely ask you to do.
In true Swanberg form, the low-budget aesthetic and hand-held camera work is consistent with his previous films. The formula plays out much the same as it did in Drinking Buddies, lots of stuttering, careless attitudes from the female leads, and ultimately, no real punch or weight that defines "movies" as "movies."
As a whole, Happy Christmas is a lighthearted film whose existence will be recognized by fans of Swanberg, but most likely overlooked by the rest. As I left the theater, I felt as if I had just witnessed an inside joke playing out on screen that I and the audience weren't a part of, but we laughed politely and nodded our heads in acknowledgement anyways. Although there is no denying that little Jude Swanberg is worth the price of this ticket. All of the laughs generated from the film came from this two year old baby, and as I re-read my notes after the film, I realized I jotted down "Give that kid an Oscar!" Amidst all of the film's kerfuffle, I still stand behind that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VaaYbraOrQ
Director Dave Green talks 'Earth to Echo'
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A debut feature film is a huge feat for any director. For Dave Green, the stakes were higher, but the reward is sweeter, as the director unveiled his film Earth To Echo yesterday. Coming from the world of music videos and short films, Green is paving the way for young directors by staying true to his unique style. I had the chance to talk to Green (on the day of the film's release, no less) about his experience working on a high-budget studio film, as well as his hilarious reaction to finding out he was going to direct it. We begin:
WHAT WAS THE TRANSITION LIKE, GOING FROM MAKING SHORT FILMS TO YOUR FIRST FEATURE?
I think the transition, from making shorts to making this movie, was interesting for me. Because even though this was a feature film, there were things that got scheduled a little bit differently than even on a short film or a music video- where you can spend a lot of time on one shot, just like you had planned, and you kind of cross it off the list.
Because this movie was shot in twenty eight days and it was kind of made at a break-neck speed, there were certain cases where you'd have even less time to spend on a particular thing. So I'd say that part of the learning curve for me was having to actually let go of certain things. For example, I had storyboarded something in a particular scene, and letting go of the idea that it had to be done exactly [was difficult], which is usually my M.O..
Also, walking into the production as a "young director," I wanted to be sure I was clear in my communication to my crew. So something that I did for better or worse, was I kind of, I like to stay on message, I was like, "I want to run this movie like the first Obama campaign," which is like, incredibly on-message all the time. I didn't want to waiver from what I originally told people when we were walking the scene.
But at the same time, there were all these people around me who had dozens of years of film experience above me, and who had been in the business for so long. That was also part of my 'letting go' process- just looking at those people on the set, saying "Hey, they know what they're doing, I'm gonna let go, and let them do their thing," and the result is always much better, so I learned from them.
WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO FINDING OUT YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE THIS FILM?
(Laughter) Well, ok. Henry [Gayden, Screenwriter] and I, we pitched the studio the movie, and that was pretty cool, but at the same time, we were kind of used to, not in a negative way, but we're totally used to hearing people say "no," which is totally cool, it's just the nature of the game. So, you pitch, you pitch, you pitch, you pitch, and you don't expect "yes," you never expect it...
So Henry and I had done the pitch, and without even thinking about it, we're like, "OK, well that's not gonna happen, there's no question." So we had ordered some sandwiches, we were ready to kind of wind down from the pitch and just kind of spend the rest of the afternoon working on other projects, cause we were like, "Yeah, of course, that's not gonna happen," like every project doesn't happen. And we were on the way to eat and we got a call, like, ten minutes after the pitch. And the producer called us into his office, and we sat down, and he's like, "So, they said 'yes'." And we were very confused, so we were immediately terrified. And then like, I was very scared. I was like, "Oh shit, now we have to actually go and make this." This is terrifying.
And then we had a couple of weeks where we were literally thought that it wasn't real, like they were joking, where you know, they would knock on our office door a couples days later and just like come in and be like, "Hey sike! This is not for real."
DID YOU WATCH ANY MOVIES FOR VISUAL OR DIRECTORIAL INSPIRATION?
Well, I know Henry watched basically every first person movie there is. He watched REC, he watched all the Paranormal Activity's... I didn't really dive into those movies very deeply. But I do remember a couple things- Like one, I was watching Stand By Me at the New Beverly [Theater] when we were very close to the pitch stage on this movie, and we watched a double feature of The Princess Bride and Stand By Me, and I was like, "Oh, this is a great time."
But, I think it's more like accessing that hard-drive in my brain; little pieces of production design and little pieces of fine art photography, or little pieces of reference from all over. I had this wall in my office that was big- I asked to get this material called 'celotex' which makes your wall a huge bulletin board. And for the first, five days, on the movie I was just- I had a color printer in my office, and I was just printing out stills from anything that made sense for the movie, just kind of throwing them up on this wall. Some of the images were from photographer Gregory Crewdson who does all the Spielburg-ian neighborhood shots, and some of them were this guy named Joel Sternfeld, who is this other fine art photographer, he takes pictures of like, Americana. And then we had robot references that were from Wall-E, and yeah, there were production design pieces from Close Encounters (of the Third Kind), and all these things kind of went up on the wall, and I could just kind of stare at them whenever...and it was easy when I had production designers and DP's that I was meeting, because they would just go into the room and they were like, "Oh, yeah, ok. We see what you want it to look like."
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE FILM BEING COMPARED TO ET ?
Well, it's always very humbling to be mentioned in the same sentence, because obviously E.T. is a masterpiece, even though certain people aren't bringing it up as an equal comparison...I mean, E.T. is a movie that is about a friendship between one boy and one alien, and it's like a love affair. And it takes place over two or three weeks, and they fall deeply for each other, and they depart from each other. And our movie is about a group of four friends who are, ebbing and flowing from each other. And the fact that they find this little alien is kind of- these kids could've easily found a baby bird [ in place of Echo] on their last night, which is something that one of my friends said when he saw the movie, and I was like, "Oh yeah, that's true." This is a story about the friendship between the kids. And yeah, it's flattering to be mentioned in the same sentence, and if it's giving people even a smidge of those vibes, than that feels great.
WERE THERE ANY CHARACTERS IN THE FILM THAT YOU PERSONALLY RELATE TO?
Yeah, for sure. Henry came up with all the characters and pitched them to me, all comes from him. There are pieces of him in all of them too- like if you asked him, he would say that he relates most closely to Munch because Munch is like the actualization of all of Henry's insecurities in one little guy.
But yeah, I connect to each of the kids in a different way. You know, even if you're a twelve year old boy and you see the way Emma's parents are treating her in the movie, even though you're not a girl, you can take the leap and put yourself in those shoes and feel the things that she's feeling. At like twelve, thirteen years old I was a lot like Tuck. Meaning, I was the one with the video camera, pressuring my friends to do a short film, or you know, get covered in fake blood or something. So as the kid with the camera who's basically the group motivator, I guess I would be the closest to him.
DRIVING AROUND L.A., I MYSELF HAVE SEEN THE FILM'S POSTERS EVERYWHERE. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE BILLBOARD THAT YOU'VE SEEN AROUND TOWN?
Oh yeah, it was super weird! I was out of town doing press in Arizona and when I left there was nothing up, no billboards up in L.A. When I came back, like three days later, I was in my car coming from the airport, and it was like somebody painted the town with these things, and it was completely surreal. It almost feels like when I drive down the street I'm like, "Oh, there's that movie that someone else made." It feels a little out-of-body.
But yeah, my friend actually sent me a photo the other day of graffiti art that someone did, that's beautiful graffiti art, all over an Echo billboard he found in North Hollywood, and when I saw that I was so stoked! I've seen graffiti artists do that on Transformers billboards, and Godzilla billboards, and stuff like that. I don't know if it's one guy, or if it's a couple guys who do this, but they manage to blend in the graffiti to the key art of the poster in a way that makes it feel like, "Oh, we're not tagging this billboard, we're actually just making a cool piece of art that actually integrates with the poster design," which is so cool. So it's just this kind of awesome, elaborate, just beautiful lettering that kind of just envelops Echo. As soon as I sat that I was just like, "I need to go there! That's amazing!"
Review: 'Life Itself'
Up until the very end of his accomplished life, Roger Ebert had a smile on his face and something to say. He may have lost his ability to speak, but ironically, he was talking more than ever- contributing his thoughts on film through social media and his website, www.rogerebert.com. The life and times of legendary film journalist Roger Ebert is beautifully captured in the documentary Life Itself, directed by Steve James.
James, whose biopic Hoop Dreams was nominated for an Academy Award in 1995, gives the audience the opportunity to feel a bevy of emotions and say one last farewell to a truly gifted man. The film intercuts between the past and present; from Ebert's hospital bed, he talks about his childhood and getting his start as the movie critic at The Chicago Sun-Times (a position he didn't even apply for). His fellow journalists and peers talk with James about Ebert's wild young adult years, his struggle with alcoholism and his ultimate happiness when he met his wife, Chaz.
Ebert remains self aware throughout the film, acknowledging this is his "third act" and probably wouldn't be around to witness the film's release. Unfortunately, in 2013, he was right.
The hot/cold relationship with Gene Siskel is explored in the film and serves as an anchor in the story as well as comedic relief. Archival footage from their PBS TV show Sneak Previews shows two film journalists from competing newspapers (The Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Tribune) who utterly despised each other, try to play nice when the cameras were on. While this charade was forced in the beginning, Siskel and Ebert began to develop a close relationship- exemplified by resurfaced outtakes from their show. Belittling and berating each other in their signature way makes for a pretty good laugh.
For all the heartwarming moments in the film, there is a fair share of uncomfortable ones. From hospital visits to forced insertions of feeding tubes, James doesn't shield the audience from unsettling situations. This was Ebert's life, his reality; however hard it was to deal with on a daily basis, his strength shines through all of these bleak circumstances. Ebert remains self-aware throughout the film, acknowledging this is his "third act" and probably wouldn't be around to witness the film's release. Unfortunately, in 2013, he was right.
It's the little moments captured in the film, though, that makes it a touching biopic as opposed to just another "biographical documentary." His white Lexus with the "MOVIES" license plate. His peer's comments that Ebert had the worst taste in women. Even the film's title, Life Itself, is taken from Ebert's bestselling memoir of the same name. These little-buried treasures humanize Ebert to an audience that may not be familiar with his personal life. Just as Ebert wrote his articles for the movie audience at large, Life Itself makes it easy for anyone to connect and relate to him.
Life Itself left me inspired, as I'm sure it did every single person in the theater. How it can be both sympathetic and courageous is a testament to the work of director Steve James; his ability to unbiasedly shed light on the late Roger Ebert's life is what makes this documentary a great piece of film journalism and cultural entertainment. Being a journalist myself, I knew this would be a difficult yet gratifying piece to write and can't help but personally hold this review to the highest of standards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4SgwBRq-fU