The always-cool Bill Pullman in Curtiss Clayton's 'Rick'. |
by Scott Weinberg
THE 'RICK' PITCH: Rick does a truly wonderful job of depicting corporate America, dissecting the vacuousness of its concerns, and the indifference of its practices. The film gains true tragic power when its troubled, compromised protagonist decides to protect the one thing of value in his life - his daughter - proving that he is indeed human and has a conscience.
Envy, lust, murder... business as usual.
Will this be your first time at South By Southwest? Any other film festival experience?
I had a short film at SXSW 1997 called The Man Who Counted. Rick had its world premiere at Toronto 2003 and it also played at Rotterdam in January.
When you were 14 years old, if someone asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, what would your answer have been?
An actor. I was in all the high school plays, but I also had a job as an usher at the local multiplex. This was in the 70s, before VCRs, so it was the only way you could see movies over and over without paying for it. By the time I graduated I wanted to be a filmmaker.
How did you get started in filmmaking?
I spent three years as a film student at USC and hated it, but it did get me to L.A. I then endured five or six penniless years before landing the job as editor of Drugstore Cowboy. After that the phone started to ring.
How have things changed for you since your film was accepted into the festival?
It's really been slow and steady progress since the film premiered. Rick is not, as the marketing people say, an easy sell.
When you were shooting the film, did you have SXSW (or other festivals) in mind?
Like everyone, I had Sundance in mind but this is not really a Sundance film as it isn't a poignant/edgy coming-of-age story with big name actors in the supporting roles.
How did you get your film started? How did you go from script to finished product?
Ruth Charny (the producer) told me about the script, which Daniel Handler had supposedly written in 24 hours, and she allowed me to rummage through her apartment in search of the one copy she had. I found it and read it the same night. Of course I loved it but l didn't believe anyone would finance it. Ruth seemed fully confident, however, and in an amazingly short time we had a deal with ContentFilm. I will be forever indebted to her.
What’s the single most important lesson you learned while making this film?
You can't relax once the film is finished. Everybody thinks they know this, but you can't appreciate how true it is until you've been there.
When you were in pre-production, did you find yourself watching other great movies in preparation?
There were many. The most significant were The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and A Clockwork Orange. There's also a direct steal from Casablanca.
If a studio said ‘we love this, we love you, you can remake anything in our back catalogue for $40m’ – what film, if any, would you remake?
The List of Adrian Messenger. It's got a great gimmick and it's all based around celebrities. I can't believe Miramax isn't all over this one.
Two-parter: Which actor would you cut off an arm to work with, and which relatively unknown actor in your own film do you want the world to start recognizing sooner rather than later?
1) Anybody who can get my next film financed; 2) Aaron Stanford and especially Agnes Bruckner, who should be getting all the parts they're currently calling Scarlett Johansson for.
The festival circuit: what could be improved, and what couldn’t be?
More government support for the arts like they have in socialistic European and Canadian countries. In other words: airfare and hotels for the filmmakers.
Have you ‘made it’ yet? If not, at what point will you be able to say ‘yes’?
When my film opens with a credit that says "a film by..."
A movie is made by a lot of people in addition to the director, but often films will open with a credit that says “a film by…” – Did you use that credit in your film? If so, defend yourself! If not, what do you think of those who do?
If your name means something, then it makes sense to use it. If nobody knows who you are, then it's masturbation, like practicing your Oscar speech in the bathroom mirror.
Rick, directed by Curtiss Clayton from a screenplay by Daniel Handler, features Bill Pullman, Aaron Stanford, Agnes Bruckner, Sandra Oh and Dylan Baker, and has its U.S. premiere at the 2004 South By Southwest Film Festival. Click here for more info!
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originally posted: 03/10/04 10:14:46
last updated: 03/11/04 08:31:22
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