Lea Thompson made her name as one of the most popular and talented young Hollywood actresses of the 80s, with her performances in films such as BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) and its two sequels, JAWS 3-D (1983), ALL THE RIGHT MOVES (1983), THE WILD LIFE (1984), SPACE CAMP (1986), HOWARD THE DUCK (1986), and SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL (1987). She has continued to work successfully as an actress in film and on TV (most notably as the lead in Caroline in the City and Switched at Birth), whilst also breaking out as a director of episodic television and TV movies (the Jane Doe films). This year sees the release of her feature debut as a director, the comedy drama THE YEAR OF SPECTACULAR MEN, which also sees her collaborating with her daughters Madelyn and Zoey Deutch. In the first part of my three-part interview with Lea about her career, I spoke to her about the making of the film.
I see the movie as a
coming of age story about a girl who is lost and trying to find her
way in this complicated world that we are living in right now, where
it's so hard to make a connection with someone. It's also about
learning how to face your secrets and your past, and how how hard it
is to maintain family. The film has a good sense of humor, which is
unsurprising since taht's how my family gets through things.
The film is really is
a family affair, isn't it?
It's a real
collaboration between myself and my daughter Maddie and also my
daughter Zoey. Although Zoey didn't write it or score it, she starred
in it and helped me produce it and get us a lot of the actors and
locations that we got. My husband (Howard Deutch) gave us a lot of
moral support. Maddie and I have been working for four years on this
project. It's the only piece of art that I have created from the
ground up. It feels about time, since I have just turned 56, that I
create something of my own! I haven't directed a lot per se, but I
have been directing television for 12 years. Directing a movie was
always something I wanted to do, but the rest of life just always got
in the way. This movie is an independent movie and was such a
Herculean task to get made. It was much longer and more difficult
than having a baby!
I liked the fact that
Maddie's character, Izzy, was a very rounded character, and not some
kind of Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
Manic Pixie Dream Girls
are usually created by men, and this film was written by a 23-year
old woman about her real experiences. The script was based on
Maddie's feelings about being rudderless and not really understanding
what is going on with men. It was a conscious decision on Maddie's
part to make Izzy rounded and culpable. I learned from my husband
that if you like a script, you should honor the writer, and I tried
to do that as best as I could. Maddie is very strong and opinionated.
Even the language is specific to her and her generation. She had to
write in the script ''If you see what you think are typos, they're
not typos. They're abbreviations or slang. '' She has a really good
ear for how people of her generation speak.
Izzy actually reminded
me of a character Jeannie Berlin might have played in the 70s.
That's awesome! I love
Jeannie Berlin. Maddy talked about how there's a hole in the market
for people of Izzy's age group. You get lots of movies about 17 year
old girls walking around smoking and getting into trouble, or films
about 30 year old women, and then nothing for women over 35. After
that women just fall off the movie world. There are no movies about
women in their 20s, but those stories are interesting because it is
so difficult for young girls to break out on their own after
finishing college or university. Life is so expensive these days.
The pace of the film
is very snappy, and the script balances a lot of tones and has a lot
of witty dialogue. Did these things represent a challenge for you?
It was actually the
locations that were the biggest challenge, and the different times of
the year that we had to shoot..We didn't have a big budget, but we
shot in New York and San Francisco in the spring, Los Angeles in the
summer and the fall, and Tahoe in the winter. We shot from late
September to early May with three different units. There were 52
locations, which were really expensive. Most little movies are shot
in one house! I never thought we'd be able to get exactly what was in
the script but somehow the producers and myself manged to do it
through sheer tenaciousness. We also somehow ended up with a really
long movie and I had to cut about an hour out. It's not one of those
movies where the doe-eyed girl walks around looking at things!
There's a lot of talking and things happening and comedy. I just
didn't realise we had shot so much of it!
It sounds like you had
to think a lot on your feet. Did you find yourself thinking back to
advice or things you had observed other directors doing?
There was a little of
that but so much of it is just taste and the fact that I have been
doing it for so long. I didn't second guess myself. I really know how
to break down a scene and when a scene is not working. I've had to
fix things so many times as an actor and also as a director that it's
second nature now. I've worked with so many good directors and logged
so many hours on movies big and small that I know how to roll up my
sleeves and get it done.
But there are some
great directors that I worked with that I aspire to, especially Bob
Zemeckis who did BACK TO THE FUTURE. He had such an economy of style.
Every shot was jam packed with information. He didn't waste a lot of
time or visual depth. When I worked with him I loved how he kept
filling the frame with story. I was definitely inspired by that. My
movie is very lush. I worked very hard to make the locations
multi-layered and full of character to help tell the story better.
This is a visual medium, so that's important. I also loved how
cognizant Bob was about taking out things that didn't further the
character or the story or simply weren't funny. I tried to do that as
much as I could.
What films or
filmmakers influenced THE YEAR OF SPECTACULAR MEN?
My visual inspiration
for the film was ANNIE HALL (1977). I love the way that film is shot
and Maddie's sensibility definitely has its roots in Jewish humor.
She loves jazz music so when she wrote the score it kind of echoed
that New York feeling, We were careful to not have too many clarinets
though! We didn't want too much Woody Allen. Also, SOME KIND OF
WONDERFUL, which my husband Howard directed and I acted in, was an
inspiration to Maddie growing up, as were many other John Hughes
movies. The music was so great in John's movies and we tried to do
the same on our low budget. Maddie wrote a lot of the songs and the
music is very integral to the film. I spent six months trying to find
the right music and Maddie wrote two songs at the end specifically
for the movie.
Absolutely. Maddie is
the star of the movie and I had no idea she had those kind of comic
chops. She's very funny and she does a lot of 40s/ 50s classic
comedienne stuff in the movie with the looks she gives and the double
takes. Her whole way of being in the film is so adorable. It's
interesting because the way she plays Izzy is not who she is in real
life at all. Even though she wrote the script I was really impressed
with how she inhabited the character.
Zoey has been acting
longer than Maddie. She has been a spectacular actress since she was
a little girl playing with her Barbies. She's so verstile so I'm
usually not much surprised by what Zoey does, and also I have been
working with her for a very long time. But I was surprised by how
game she was to play this prissy movie star. I was incredibly
impressed by both of my daughters's work ethic. I knew already that
they had strong work ethics from their school days and watching them
work, but for example, Maddie did rewrite after rewrite and Zoey did
two movies during the times we closed down.
Zoe wanted to become an
actress when she was 15. That's a really difficult time for girls.
That's when they tend to get really wild and crazy, so I was just
happy she had something she really cared about that kept her from
partying! It's really important to keep your kids focussed. Maddy
wanted to be a musician at that age, and the music business is
something I know very little about. Like with Zoey, I was just happy
she had something she was passionate about that would keep her out of
trouble. It didn't hurt that they both got off the payroll darned
early either! Some parents end up paying for their kids till they are
35! I was concerned about the rejection both girls would have to
face. It's horrible and we all have to live through it. Both me and
my husband have had our hearts broken a million times. It's hard to
watch it happen to your children and to see them having to get up and
start again. I know my husband and I have set a good example. When
you get knocked down you just get back up and keep walking!
I feel honored that my
daughters are willing to walk in my footsteps and peek out from my
shadow. That makes me feel proud that I haven't made it seem so
terrible to be a movie actress or made it seem so fabulous. My career
has been a huge blessing. I never realised I would be able to touch
people as far away as Japan as example. I went there to promote
HOWARD THE DUCK, and I got off the plane and there was this huge
throng of people. Without me knowing I had become a big star over
there because of BACK TO THE FUTURE. I did all these interviews and
chat shows. I never thought anything like that would happen to me.
Part two of the interview.
THE YEAR OF SPECTACULAR MEN will be released in US theaters in November 2017.
Interview by Paul Rowlands. Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2017. All rights reserved.
Part two of the interview.
THE YEAR OF SPECTACULAR MEN will be released in US theaters in November 2017.
Interview by Paul Rowlands. Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2017. All rights reserved.
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