One of the weird things about making a movie is that while it seems to me pretty obvious the whole thing is a large, complicated exercise in self-expression, as a filmmaker I am constantly called upon to talk about my film. The very thing I made to explain myself, I now must attempt to explain (again). I mean, can't you just watch the trailer and get the gist?
HOWEVER, I am a big ham who secretly wishes I were a stand up comedian, and I can't resist any opportunity to speak into a microphone. So as part of the release of my new film, The French Italian, I agreed to do 16 Q&As over a period of two weeks to support screenings in New York and Los Angeles. Here's how it went.
Favorite Question: “Can you talk more about the visual style of the film, and the use of wipes and split screens?” What a nice softball question, because it gave me a chance to talk about the wonderful artists who made it happen. The look of the movie is the result of collaboration with cinematographer Charlotte Hornsby, costume designer Nell Simon and production designer Kit Sheridan as well as makeup/hair artist Dawn Campbell. We had so much fun playing with color in every scene, telling the visual story to compliment all the jokes. And the split screens are a reference to my favorite Doris Day movie Pillow Talk.
Least Favorite Question: “Do you think the main characters, Doug and Valerie, actually have a good relationship?” I'm sorry, I am not a couples therapist. I can’t, like, psychoanalyze my fictional characters. I was trying to write complicated, funny, semi-realistic humans who would be interesting to watch as they repeatedly affirm each other into mistakes, so as to motivate the plot. They are not meant to be role models.
But also, yes, because I basically just wrote myself and my partner exactly the way we talk to each other, and we’re doing just fine, thank you.
Most Frequently Asked Question: “Where did you get the idea for this movie?”
Honestly, a lot of the time I interpreted this as, “Why did you make me watch this?” but that might be my own insecurity. It's probably just an innocuous starter question.
Second Favorite Question: “Tell me about the music in the film?” I am so proud of the original score by Simon Hanes and I love talking about how he managed to wrangle a string quartet to record the score for the finale live in the studio while the scene played on the monitor, just like they did for The Phantom Menace.
Highlight of the Run: Unprompted, a semi-famous filmmaker whose movie restoration I had just seen at the IFC Center came to the screening and introduced herself after the show. And she said she liked the movie!
Low Point of the Run: The lights came up for the Q&A on a weeknight show and there were only two people in the audience. One was my friend Sharon. I had to tell the moderator (the hilarious Spike Einbinder) that they could leave. Sharon did stick around for a few minutes and asked me some questions, so that was nice at least.
Most Adversarial Moment: A woman in the audience asked if the theme of the film was “If you pursue doing something you love, good things will come to you.”
And I was like, “Uh, actually I think the lesson of this film is the exact opposite. My life took a real downward turn when I decided to be an independent filmmaker.”
And then she was like, “Well you seem pretty happy.”
And I was like, “Yeah now, at my movie release doing a Q&A. But what about next week?”
And then the woman frowned and I felt like she wanted to rebut, but she didn’t say anything else. I feel guilty for shitting on her positivity!
Biggest Accomplishment Overall: I didn't get a cold, even though I went out for drinks with friends after almost every show.
Bonus Private Question: A lot of people are too shy to ask their real question in the auditorium, but given an opportunity at the afterparty will ask me what they really want to know. A lot of times these were like, “How much did you pay for [blank]?” or “Is this character/situation based on [our mutual friend]?” which, of course, I love to answer with complete honesty. (Respective Answers: “Nothing” and “Yeah, duh.”)
Also after one show, a person I did not know and who seemed a little drunk asked, “Is the guy, the boyfriend, is he gay?” I did not understand the question or which guy they meant, so I just said yes, everyone is gay in this movie.
