List: Sarah Lawrence College and Movies

Posted on June 7, 2014 at 5:59 am

This weekend my husband and I are attending a reunion at our alma mater, Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Our son also graduated from Sarah Lawrence, and our niece will enroll in the MFA program in writing there in the fall.

Characters in movies like “Diary of a Mad Housewife,” “Baby, It’s You,” “The Notebook,” and “10 Things I Hate About You” and in the television series “Will and Grace” and “Entourage” attend or have attended Sarah Lawrence. By the way, any alum immediately spotted that “Notebook” scene set in a Sarah Lawrence classroom as a fraud. But Brian De Palma’s “Home Movies” had scenes actually shot on campus. Some very talented people in the entertainment industry are fellow alums, including:

1. Brian De Palma, director of films like “Blow Out” and “Scarface”

2. Oscar-winner Jane Alexander (“All the President’s Men”)

3. Cary Elwes of “The Princess Bride,” “Twister,” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pmfl2NXkVg

4. Julianna Margulies of “The Good Wife,” “What’s Cooking,” and “City Island”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_3SxeR6d6s

5. Jill Clayburgh of “An Unmarried Woman,” “Rich in Love,” and “Bridesmaids”

6. J.J. Abrams, director of the two most recent “Star Trek” films and the creator of the television series “Alias,” “Lost,” and “Fringe”

7. Joan Micklin Silver, director of “Hester Street”

8. Holly Robinson Peete of “For Your Love” and “Celebrity Apprentice”

9. Writer David Lindsay-Abaire of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Rabbit Hole”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxl39czBhsQ

10. Téa Leoni of “Spanglish”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvu1EorWGgQ

Other alums include Barbara Walters, who just donated her archive to the school.

John Green and Nerdfighters

Posted on June 5, 2014 at 11:35 am

John Green, author of Fault in Our Stars, and his brother Hank have created a terrific series of videos called Nerdfighters to “increase awesome and decrease suck.” It’s a great place to hang out. DFTBA

Oh, and watch John Green’s awesome graduation speech, too.

Tribute: Maya Angelou

Posted on May 28, 2014 at 11:02 am

A mighty voice has been stilled. We mourn the loss of the magnificent author, memoirist, activist, and poet Maya Angelou. Her books include seven autobiographical works, from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to Mom & Me & Mom. The majesty of her poems, gathered in The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou has inspired generations. She inspired leaders from Oprah Winfrey to Dave Chapelle (both of whom did superb interviews with her, as did Bill Moyers) to President Bill Clinton, who invited her to present a poem at his inauguration.

Ms. Angelou was also a filmmaker. I highly recommend Down in the Delta, which she directed, starring Alfre Woodard, Mary Alice, and Loretta Devine.

She also tweeted. Her last tweet was something for us to hold near our hearts as we pay tribute to the fearlessness and humanity she brought to the world. She wrote: “Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.”

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Interview: Gia Coppola of “Palo Alto”

Posted on May 18, 2014 at 4:12 pm

Gia Coppola is the 27-year-old writer/director of a new film called “Palo Alto,” based on a book of stories by James Franco, who appears in the film. Other performers in the movie are, like Coppola, Hollywood-bred. Coppola is the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather”) and niece of Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”), and her young cast includes Emma Roberts (daughter of Eric, niece of Julia), Nat Wolff (son of “Thirty-Something’s Polly Draper), Christian Madsen (son of Michael), and Jack Kilmer (son of Val). “Palo Alto” is the story of high school students, centering on the vulnerable character played by Roberts. Coppola spoke to me about the cast — including her own mother — and about what it was best that she didn’t know before she started.

You have a superb cast in the film. Tell me a little bit about the casting process.

That is 90% of the job. It was really just kind of going with my gut. When I met Nat Wolff, he just seemed to really understand the characters. And even though he had not really played that sort of part before, it just seemed like he understood it more than anyone of the other kids I met and had the sort of skills to kind of go there. I saw him in a movie “Stuck in Love” and you could see he was sort of capable of going there. And then with Emma, she kept coming up in the conversation and I kept running into her randomly and it just felt like there was some sort of cosmic pull. I was a big fan of her work and she was super supportive and really fun to have around. So I was glad to have her as part of the project.

She’s got a wonderful vulnerability.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She’s very complex in a sense. It was great to work with her, she’s really talented.

And you cast your mother in the film?

It was a lot of pulling us as many favors as I could and kind of get everyone to get together. I always knew my mom was a good actress. She didn’t want to do it but I begged her.

Was it hard to give her direction?

No. It was fun. She just kept always looking at me after the take and spiking the lens . (Laughs) It took a while to get her there.

How did you work with the costume designer and what did you ask for?

Courtney really got it. We really wanted something that was realistic. We just let the kids they wear their own close. We were low-budget so a lot of it was my clothes or my friends clothes. Just kind of letting them put the outfit together. Jack already had great style and our goal was dirty Converse rather than brand-new, clean ones.

I understand that you read this book before it was even published.

When I met James he had just finished his book and he wanted to make it into a movie. He thought from my pictures that it could be a good fit. He presented a few different ideas and this appealed to me most. I hadn’t really made a feature film before so it was to my advantage to not really know that working with short stories might be harder than it is. It was great because Jame really set the tone to give me freedom and have my own interpretation but then also very supportive and he kind of took me through it. He said, “Pick the stories you like the most” and then we made a test film of one of the stories to hear the words off the page and see what wasn’t working and what was working. I was able to discover that it should be an ensemble piece and combine the characters and make it fit for the screen.

I thought the music was especially good.

I mean I wanted something that was modern but also still classical and I was a big fan of Devonté Hynes. He took the kids’ emotions seriously and didn’t try to belittle it even though in hindsight it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.

You came from the world of photography, moved to short non-narrative films and then now this narrative film. What was the biggest challenge in doing that?

It really felt like a collaborative experience and I was working with the same people on my smaller projects and so it was very comfortable and we all pitched in and we were all very enthusiastic. It was my first film and the boys was at my mom’s house and we are very much like a family. So the hardest part was saying goodbye and not getting to see these people every day after we kind of were in this grueling schedule of working six-day weeks.

Because of your background in photography, what were you looking for in terms of the cinematographer?

I worked with Autumn Durald who I worked with on my smaller films and we have a great kind of working relationship where we kind of communicate beyond words and it was just a lot of sending each other pictures. She really knows my aesthetic. My mentor in college was Stephen Shore. I loved his color palettes and his taking mundane things but finding them fascinating. I like the camera to be still and not very shaky and have everything happen within the frame.

The author of the stories, James Franco, also appeared in the film. Did he give you much feedback about the screenplay or about directing?

He really wanted me to have my own interpretations so he gave me a lot of liberty to do that. I kind of kept him updated, sending him pictures of what we were doing. And whenever I had a question I would email him or something and he was always very helpful. It was great to have him on set because he would tell us the inspiration behind all the characters. And he is a director so he could help me when I got stuck on set. It was really nice to have him, he’s a great teacher. He was really able to capture what it felt like to be a young teenage girl. I really connected with it and I was really impressed because it is not an easy thing to do.

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Interview: Priest Tyaire of “Mrs. Independent”

Posted on May 5, 2014 at 8:00 am

It was a very great pleasure to talk to writer/star Priest Tyaire about his new play, “Mrs. Independent,” currently on tour and opening in Washington D.C.’s Warner Theater May 8-11 for Mother’s Day next weekend.

Can a woman still be submissive to her husband and allow him to lead her household if she is the primary breadwinner? Does the role reverse? These are the questions explored in Priest Tyaire’s critically acclaimed stage play, “Mrs. Independent.” While Trey, maintains an honest and respectable salary of $40,000 a year as a head mechanic, his wife, Carleena, climbs the corporate ladder as an attorney and advances to a six figure salary. This creates not only a financial imbalance but also raises a question of Trey’s intellectual compatibility in Carleena’s mind and pushes their once equally yoked marriage further off course. With such a significant gap in their salaries it becomes increasingly impossible for Trey to satisfy his wife and this leads to a downward spiral of emotional and spiritual conflicts in their relationship. The play stars Robin Givens, Christopher Williams, Shirley Murdock, Tony Grant, and Trisha Mann-Grant, along with Tyaire himself as the husband trying to understand what it means to be a man in this relationship.

Tyaire is often referred to as “the new Tyler Perry,” because he was inspired to start writing because of his own struggles, because he writes and stars in his own plays, and because he has attracted a devoted audience primarily made up of African-American women. Tyaire spoke to me about what got him started and the messages he hopes to send with his writing.

You were trained as an electrician. Why did you start to write?

In 2006 my mother was diagnosed with cancer and the Lord laid it on our spirit to write about her. That show sold out. We did 24 tours, over 90% seats filled. Still, my father told me it was time to go back to being an electrician. But the Lord kept changing my path and he understood that. Before he passed, he apologized for discouraging me. But he was just trying to protect me.

My first play was a tribute to my mother. It was called “Tears of a Teenage Mother.”

In the show, a girl does not want to tell her mother she is pregnant, and she almost dies. A young lady brought a group of teenagers to the show. One of them ran out of the show. She was pregnant and did not know how to tell anyone. I hope my plays will help people have those difficult conversations they do not know how to begin.

I wanted to write about my father next, so my next play was “Torn Between Two Fathers.”

With no background in writing, how did you begin?

I bought every Tyler Perry DVD, listened to the backstage commentary, and learned everything I could about blocking, sets, pacing. When I was growing up, I did not think it was manly to go to plays with my mother. But she took me to Mama I Want to Sing and I was so touched by it. I love to get a phone call from a guy asking, “What do I wear to a play?” I know he will find out that he will connect to the story and want to come back to see more.

And you also became an actor. How was that?

The funny thing is, I’m shy. People say that is hard to believe. As long as I feel the audience is with me, as soon as I hear the first laugh, I’m good. I know you’re not supposed to break the fourth wall and interact with the audience, but we do it all the time. I always try to include the audience in, make it an experience. That’s our mantra: “not just entertain but experience.”

Tell me about this new play.

In “Mrs. Independent,” the woman is the breadwinner and the man has insecurities behind it. It’s always a topic of discussion. There is a mother who pushes them but it is not bashing anyone, women or men. It is uplifting. But bring your tissues — you are going to cry. And you are going to church.

Do you pray before the show?

Always. We have someone I call our prayer warrior. She gets us going. And you will always see God throughout my work. I’ve been through so much I felt like Job at times: “God said you can do what you want to him but you can’t kill him.” I needed to make sure it was God’s voice and not my own. God will test you and push you. God gives everyone a gift, but just like it says on Christmas, the batteries are not included. You have to provide your own.

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