CHICAGO– Simply one of the best movies of 2014, “Whiplash” has a tone, energy and sensibility all its own. Damien Chazelle wrote and directed the story of a jazz drummer prodigy at a prestigious New York City music college, tortured by his tyrannical instructor. The drama is scintillating, in rhythm with the natural story flow.

Director Damien Chazelle (center) On Set with J.K. Simmons for ‘Whiplash’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Damien Chazelle’s script for “Whiplash” was on the so-called “black list” in Hollywood, the catalog of the best yet-to-be-produced screenplays in show business. He took a portion of the script and created a short, featuring J.K. Simmons as the profane and exacting jazz “professor.” This got him the green light for the feature film, so he took Simmons along for the ride, and gave Miles Teller the part as the drummer prodigy.

Chazelle sat down for an interview with HollywoodChicago.com. His unassuming nature belies an abiding passion, as he riffed on the path it took to get his remarkable film made, and the inspiration it took to get there.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since this began as a short film, what was the process from creating the short into evolving it into a feature?

Damien Chazelle: It was a back-and-forth process, because the first thing I had was the full length script. We took a stand alone scene and filmed it as a short. Pragmatically, it was a way to raise financing for the feature, but it was also a way to get my feet wet with the story. I worked with J.K. on the short, and we got to get to the bottom of his interpretation of the character, and I got to play around with the visual style. It was a do’s-and-don’ts process.

We premiered the short at the Sundance Film Festival, and met with financiers afterward. After we nailed down the money, not only did I have the full script, but also all that I had learned from doing the short film. I met my editor on the short, the team was pretty much in place, and we were ready to hit it once we began filming the feature.

HollywoodChicago.com: So much of the film hinges on the interplay between Simmons and Miles Teller. What did you detect in Teller that told you that he had both the verve and the vulnerability to play a jazz drummer prodigy?

Chazelle: Vulnerability was what I saw in him with ‘Rabbit Hole,’ his first film. But ever since in his career, he’s played more confident characters. Some people were wondering why I cast him, because they thought he would stand up to J.K. For one thing, he’s a lot taller.

HollywoodChicago.com: He seems smaller in the film…

Chazelle: Movie magic. [laughs] Miles really has a star aura as well, but I could never let go what I saw in him in ‘Rabbit Hole,’ so I knew he still had it. I knew we could do the full arc – we could go from ‘Rabbit Hole’ vulnerability to the kind of cockiness he needed by the end of the film, just a darker version of his natural confidence.

HollywoodChicago.com:J.K. Simmons is a character actor that has risen to prominence in his later career. How do you think you used him differently than what he is known for in the marketplace?

Chazelle: First it was about giving him more of a platform. He’s the type of actor that dominates even small scenes, so here he was able to build a character over the course of a full film. Because he has developed a skill set from his character work in film, TV and stage, he came in and delivered. I wanted him to be larger than life and iconic, and looms over the whole atmosphere. It became clearer rather quickly that not only was he the right fit, but nobody else could do it better.

HollywoodChicago.com: How was Miles Teller able to convert himself from a band drummer to potentially one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time? What tricks or certain energies did you have to manage to accomplish this characteristic?

Chazelle: The first thing was to identify how much he knew about drumming, which turned out to be not that much. After that, it was a crash course in jazz drumming, and worked with Nate Lang, who played the other drummer Carl in the film. They became a duo, because Nate is a real drummer. But Miles was also a quick study, and picked up the rhythms from watching videos of old timers like Buddy Rich. He wanted to get the ‘look’ correct, as much as anything. As soon as he got that, everything fell into place.

Miles Teller Portrays the Prodigy in ‘Whiplash’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics

HollywoodChicago.com: The legendary Charlie Parker, the jazz saxophonist nicknamed ‘Bird,’ was the muse and spirit of the project. Why do we as human beings seek the perfection behind Parker, in your opinion, and why was this perfection ultimately to doom Parker himself?

Chazelle: There is that romantic idea behind the artist who is destroyed by their own art. I think issues surrounding Parker are a bit more complicated, but he remains a mythic figure because how his life was, and how he died. Certain elements of his life seem to personify the way J.K.’s character wants music to be, in the sense that you give all to it, your heart and soul, even though it may f**k up everyone else in your life and kill you.

Also Charlie Parker was forged by fire. He just didn’t roll out of bed and become Charlie Parker. There was a process of being broken down and built back up. It was nice also to have the film’s figurehead not be a drummer, it was more about universally being a musician.

HollywoodChicago.com: The script for ‘Whiplash’ was on the ‘black list’ of Hollywood, as one of the best un-filmed screenplays. What do you think of the psychology of an industry in which such a list exists?

Chazelle: I think the black list is one of the best things to happen to Hollywood in the last decade or so. We live in the age of the franchise from the bigger studios, and the black list helps to value more original content. It doesn’t mean that every script that lands on the black list is a masterpiece, but what it does is shine a spotlight on potential and creative content – writers at their desks writing something. There is something very democratic about that, yes there are the Aaron Sorkins and Quentin Tarantinos on the list, but you also have total newbies with their first script.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is most ‘American’ about ‘Whiplash’? What characteristics about the dreams of this country are played out in the psyche and interplay of Andrew’s [Teller] quest morphed with Fletcher [Simmons] and his destiny?

Chazelle: That’s meaty. [laughs] It’s a film about the quintessential American art form, jazz, but it’s also about the idea – that is very American – which is excellence at all costs. If you have to reduce America to a nutshell, it is that idea, both in the sense of what is good about it and what’s wrong with it. It’s a country that you can pull yourself up, go rags-to-riches, and make it if you just work hard enough. That’s so motivational and has become a big part why this country has produced so much in a relatively short time.

But on the flip side, that does produce less compassion in this country. If you are seen as someone who didn’t achieve the dream, then it is your fault. There is the feeling that the burden is entirely on you, and not much of a sense that the state or your fellow brothers and sisters are actually helping to support you. There is social damage when success is all that matters.

HollywoodChicago.com: Jazz is dying, according to the J.K. Simmons character, yet it is celebrated as a central music theme in the story. What are we losing in America if Jazz continues to expire in the background, and how can ordinary citizens appreciate the Jazz culture without intimidation?

Damien Chazelle in Chicago, October 9th, 2014 Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Chazelle: The main problem with Jazz is that it’s a bit like old movies, it becomes encrusted. From what I observe, younger people listen to Jazz because they feel like they’re ‘suppose to,’ and not because they are fans. My hope is that people can find their own way to the music, and we have to provide an avenue to do that. If it’s not a personal journey to the art, the appreciation can’t be taught. You have to find what it means to you.

Jazz isn’t that different from other forms of visceral music, like rock or dance music. To me, it’s not the type of music where you’re sitting in dark club, dressed in black, and sipping martinis. [laughs] To me, it’s a joyful, angry, visceral music of high energy and high emotion, like punk rock.

HollywoodChicago.com: You wrote the screenplay for ‘The Last Exorcism, Part 2.’ How were you able to go beyond ‘The Last Exorcism,’ to create the ‘last last’ exorcism? Basically, what is it like to do a script assignment like that?

Chazelle: It was my entrance into Los Angeles, as a writer for hire. I did a lot of rewrite work in those days, most were not made, but this one was. And ironically, not one word I wrote made the final screenplay, but I got the credit. [laughs] I was just starting out, and the people I worked with on the project were fun. It felt like an internship, but it’s fun to take something that’s mapped out and formulate it.

HollywoodChicago.com: Who are your director heroes, and how did you morph those influences into the unique feel and signature of ‘Whiplash’?

Chazelle: There are directors that don’t watch movies and just are natural storytellers. But there are others, like me, who approach it as a fan and their love for what has come before them in cinema history. Martin Scorsese is a perfect example of that type of director, as his movies are tributes to other movies. I love movies, and the stuff that it’s made out of just seeps into me.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– There are few better opportunities for a filmmaker than directing Bill Murray in a character role. Theodore “Ted” Melfi got that assignment, after pursuing Murray with his screenplay for the new film, “St. Vincent.” The effort to convince the veteran comic actor to take the title role paid off, and other notable actors joined in.

Director Ted Melfi On Set for ‘St. Vincent’
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company

When Ted Melfi wanted to show Bill Murray his script, he had to call an 800 number. After that was met with silence, the screenwriter/director was able to reach Murray’s attorney, who suggested that he call the 800 number. The connection was finally made, and Murray delighted Melfi with this interest in doing the film. Once Murray was on board, the production was also able to secure Naomi Watts, Melissa McCarthy, Terrence Howard Chris O’Dowd as the supporting cast.

Melfi had made a feature called “Winding Roads” in 1999, while doing his primary work as a commercial director. He warmed up to features again by doing some short films, and wrote the script for “St Vincent” in 2011. This story of a Vietnam veteran whose life starts to decline, was a perfect match now for Bill Murray’s career tendency to do character roles. HollywoodChicago.com caught up with Ted Melfi, as his film made its Midwestern debut at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival.

HollywoodChicago.com: You had an epic journey to Bill Murray, during which he agreed to take the role. What gravitated the actor to the part once the script was in his hands, and what elements of Vincent’s character did he modify the most in his notes regarding the character?

Ted Melfi: He gave the script to one of his golf buddies to read, after he had read it, and his friend told him that the dialogue sounded like the way Bill Murray talked in real life. What he gravitated to was the piece within himself that connected to the character, a guy who is disenfranchised from the way the world is run. Bill is an outsider himself, and he related to the injustices that Vincent faced in trying to make things right, and that there was no payback for the character.

He didn’t have a lot of notes, but what he had was very specific. He noted that I wrote the dialogue in ‘backhand,’ to use a tennis term, and he likes to work in ‘forehand.’ He would take a paragraph of dialogue, point towards the last two lines, and tell me to place them up front, to come right at it. At first I thought it was nuts, but it worked when I actually did it, and made the script sharper, funnier and better.

HollywoodChicago.com: What part or subplot of the script was the last touch that you added, that allowed for the drama and comedy to flow, and established the overall story?

Melfi: The last thing we figured out happened on the set. Bill Murray and Jaeden Lieberher, the kid actor playing his neighbor, had become really close friends during the making of the film. About half way through, we decided we needed scenes of them together, just practicing pure joy. So we added these scenes, and none of them were scripted. The running through the parking lot scene, the bets, and dancing in the bar together were all moments we added in, because of their chemistry.

HollywoodChicago.com: It seemed important to infiltrate the Catholic nature of the film early. What were you intending to say about the Catholic Church in your portrayal of the school, Chris O’Dowd’s priest and the character of Oliver?

Melfi: I was born Catholic…

HollywoodChicago.com: Why do you think I asked the question, brother…we’re fellow travelers…

Melfi: My experiences growing up Catholic were all positive, and the priests I met were all fantastic human beings, who dedicated their lives to God and the parishioners. The Church has taken a tremendous beating in the last 15 years, deservedly so in focusing on those unconscionable few.

But to take the whole thing and throw it out the window because of those few is very disturbing to me, because of what the Catholic Church does for humanity. I wanted to show a Catholic teacher who was moving the Church into today, and accepting of all religions, and that’s where Catholicism is heading, finding peace in the whole existence. I wanted to show a positive Catholic experience.

Melissa McCarthy, Bill Murray and Jaeden Lieberher in ‘St. Vincent’
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company

HollywoodChicago.com: The dissolution of the character Maggie’s marriage was in the background, but is catalyst for her moving next to Vincent. How did that life tragedy play into how you and Melissa McCarthy wanted to interpret the role?

Melfi: When Melissa read the script, she connected to being a single mother right away, because she has two children of her own. She imagined and understood what it would be like to do that motherhood role on her own. She knows plenty of single mothers, so she was able to draw on that. We looked for the drama in the role, which I believe is the real strength of Melissa McCarthy.

HollywoodChicago.com: You had an all-star cast, with intense character actors Naomi Watts and Terrence Howard part of the mix. How much leverage will you give to an actor’s feel for a role, and how much will you push back if you feel they are not delivering what you want?

Melfi: I gave them the ultimate freedom to go wherever they wanted to go, within the parameters of the character. I do believe that character and script come first, and then the actor is second. I have a strict philosophy about directing – I’m a person who doesn’t want to put my ‘stink’ on something, meaning that the script is the boss.

The script tells you everything you need to do and how you need to do it, including how to shoot it and what’s working. The flaw is making the script all about the director, slapping their stink on it instead of listening to what is in the script. When the actors listened to the script and became their characters, that works as well. When they didn’t, I would just remind them of where they were within the timing of the story.

HollywoodChicago.com: Vincent is a Vietnam veteran, and they are all approaching senior citizen status. What character traits does Vincent possess as a veteran, that both motivate and indicate his overall persona?

Ted Melfi in Chicago, October 14th, 2014 Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Melfi: As a Vietnam veteran who experienced combat, first and foremost he is a fighter. He approaches the world with the sense of whatever is not right, he will fight it. He confronts the bank when his finances dry up, and when they don’t match what he wants, he closes his account. That’s what a fighter does. He constantly lives his life in battle, and he fights to get ahead.

HollywoodChicago.com: Now that you’ve worked with him intimately, what do you think the general media and public misunderstand about a late career and late life Bill Murray?

Melfi: They always want to access his fun and games side, because of his earlier comedic career. But Bill Murray is also very intelligent, in tune, in touch, serious and smart human being. He’s just not a joke guy, he’s so much more.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is the best advice someone has given you about directing, and what example in St. Vincent is a direct result of that advice?

Melfi: The best advice I received, quite a while ago, is to separate ‘writer’ and ‘director’ as quickly as you can, because once the film starts shooting the writer has to go away, even though ‘St. Vincent’ was my own script. The director must then appear, because if the writer is on the set, even mentally, the words take precedent over the acting and characters. Once the filming process starts, the words don’t matter. You have to allow the actors freedom to roam, and if you focus just on the words, you’ve put a lid on the pot and stopped it from boiling.

HollywoodChicago.com: You are at the cusp of the end of the St. Vincent journey, which began three years ago when you wrote the script. Besides the casting, what moment of the production process keeps coming back to you, as an indication that this journey would come to the point at which you are at now?

Melfi: During the shooting, when Bill Murray sang Bob Dylan’s ‘Shelter from the Storm’ towards the end of the production, we were all watching him, and moved to tears by it. That was the moment when it was really good for me.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– “The Good Lie” is a honorable film overview of the Sudanese “Lost Boys,” who were refugees from a horrific civil war in that African country. Many of those boys came to America, and producer Molly Smith (“The Blind Side”), with actors Ger Duany and Emmanuel Jal, were part of the team that brought the film to life.

Ger Duany, Arnold Oceng and Emmanuel Jal in ‘The Good Lie’
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

The feature film is inspired by many stories of survival, both in Sudan and America. Jal and Duany portray the adult refugees, trying to make it in America, where everything is different. Reese Witherspoon also stars as a facilitator for these newborns to the U.S., and gives a passionate performance without overshadowing the main story of the boy’s plight. Producer Molly Smith is used to interpreting these stories of inspiration, as she previously was Executive Producer for the hit film “The Blind Side.”

Ger Duany made an amazing debut in “I Heart Huckabees,” and this is his fifth film. Emmanuel Jal – a child soldier in Sudan when he was a Lost Boy – is now an internationally known hip-hop artist, who uses his songs as a bridge to peace and harmony. The producer and two performers of “The Good Lie” sat for an interview with HollywoodChicago.com and told of their experiences and emotions in regard to living and relating this illuminating story.

HollywoodChicago.com: Ger and Emmanuel, we saw examples of what your characters went through when they first came to America. What stories do you both remember as examples of what you had to go through when you first came to America, and how weird it was?

Ger Duany: I came to America in 1994, and I landed at JFK Airport in New York City from Kenya. When I got to New York, I never had seen a city so lighted up that you couldn’t see the stars in the sky. I was just amazed with everything, the movement of the people, how fast they seemed to go. What my character experienced in the film was very close to what I experienced.

Emmanuel Jal: My experience was different, I was smuggled to Kenya by a British aid worker, and was disarmed at that point as a child solider. What was fascinating for me was how fancy everything was. For example, I was given a piece of soap that smelled like pineapple, so I ate it. [laughs] Another thing that was fascinating to me were toilets, the flushing toilets. I couldn’t get used how it worked, I would sit there and think a snake would come up from the water. I thought about that for awhile, but now I trust the toilet.

HollywoodChicago.com: Molly, what was the impetus and origin of getting French director Phillippe Falardeau to direct his first English language film, and why was he the right choice for this subject matter?

Molly Smith: I had seen his film ‘Monsieur Lazhar’ and I was blown away with the tough subject matter he tackled in that film, and how beautiful and poignant his storytelling was. We met all kind of directors for this project, and it was his agent that called and said he wanted to give us five minutes about the project, and would fly in at his own expense.

Phillippe told us he had tried to do a documentary in the Sudan in the 1990s, and was run out. He felt that this was his mission, his way to give back to southern Sudan. I loved that passion, and I also felt that Margaret Nagle’s screenplay was half art film and half ‘Coming to America.’ I knew that Phillippe would tell it with a delicate hand, because Margaret’s screenplay was complete. The key was tone, and I felt if he could nail that and make it one film, then he was going to be gold.

Ger Duany (right) and Emmanuel Jal (far left) Adjust Their Characters to America in ‘The Good Lie’
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

HollywoodChicago.com: Emmanuel and Jai, how did you both want to honor your past as Sudanese citizens and ‘Lost Boys’ in your performance, and how did it honor the Sudanese who didn’t make it through the civil war?

Jal: We had to keep ourselves as real as possible and be the voices of those who are not here, be the voices of the dead. In the past, I’ve shared my story through my music and books, and now there is this movie, which has given us the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the story. Because I believe when you put a spotlight in a dark place, the evil perform less. When a human being is knows what is in the light, you don’t have to tell them to do something about it, they will just do it. It’s about letting them know.

Duany: Most importantly, we came from the generation that was lost in war. And to define that, there are several layers. The Sudan has been going through civil war since 1955, and is still going on as of today. Many people around the world have many questions, which have never been answered by the Sudanese.

To do a film like this, that sat right in our laps, gives us the responsibility to tell the story of the two Sudans, and what is really happening, this place where 4 million people have died. For us to survive, that responsibility of telling our story belongs to us and our people, but if I define Sudan it is a country that is hopeful.

HollywoodChicago.com: Molly, how did the production team, in partnership with screenwriter Margaret Nagle, deal with the question of making the film too Americanized, as in making sure that the story doesn’t just focus on the ‘rescue’ from American white folks?

Smith: Therein lies the reason the script wasn’t made for ten years. Many studio executives told Margaret to tell it from the Reese Witherspoon character, and do it in flashback. When my partners and I got it, it was perfect timing, because we were starting a new independent film company. What I loved about is the way she told it, and I thought if we could find the right tone, everything else would fall into place, because it felt real. What everyone else rejected, I thought made the film unique.

HollywoodChicago.com: Now the you both know the origins of the war that caused so much pain to you and your families, who or what are most angers you about the conflict, and how do you think it could have been avoided?

Duany: You can’t point fingers at one person. We are actors, and art is our way to go forward. We don’t want anyone to feel sorry for us, we are here, and we have a long journey ahead. We understand that the world has problems, and after this movie will will begin another struggle ahead of us, and we are prepared.

Jal: In my perspective, when I was trained as a child soldier, I was trained to hate Muslims and Arabs. My plan at the time was to kill as many Muslims and Arabs as possible. So my understanding about the war now is that it took away my family, destroyed everything, stole love and peace. When i got an opportunity to escape, all my hatred fell away, and my understanding changed, and I discovered the truth. What was killing us were not Muslims and Arabs, it was the colonies. People will extend their empathy to others with the same faith and the same color, and exploit the other.

I don’t have anybody to hate, sometimes I wake up in the morning and wonder, ‘who can I hate?’ [laughs] It’s hard to understand, but there must be reason that this has happened to me. I am for peace. Peace is justice, equality and freedom for all. Peace is food in my belly. Peace is creating opportunities. Refugees run to other countries because they see the beauty and possibility of it, and that is peace.

HollywoodChicago.com: Molly, What fascinates you about the circumstances of poor outsiders getting another chance through interaction with unlikely sources, since that was the theme of both this film and ‘The Blind Side’?

Emmanuel Jal, Molly Smith and Ger Duany in Chicago Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Smith: It comes down to stories that inspire me. I remember reading both screenplays, my first reading of each, and I think it’s the inspiration and the perseverance in both stories. I had the unique experience to know about ‘The Lost Boys’ before I encountered this story, one of them became my family’s adopted brother and my parents helped him through school. He’s now a PhD engineer in Memphis, and I love him. He’s part of my family. I knew how amazing the Lost Boys were in general – what they went through, how they persevered, and how they give back – that to me was the motivation to tell this story.

HollywoodChicago.com: Emmanuel, what song do you perform that encompasses your whole life, that communicates to the audience what you pain was, and now what your optimism is for world peace?

Jal: Each song that I do communicates that differently. There is one song, ‘Forced to Sin,’ tells of my childhood. I have another song called ‘Emma,’ about the British aid worker that rescued me. And now, there are two songs on the soundtrack of the movie, one is ‘We Fall, We Get Up’ and one called ‘Scars.’ Every song has a moment as to why I am. I also have a new album called ‘The Key.’

HollywoodChicago.com: Ger, you grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, and I attended college there at Indiana University. What do you find most American about that particular city?

Duany: Bloomington taught me how to become a child again. I defined myself as a teenager there. My uncle was a professor at Indiana University, and they welcomed me there. It was America for me.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– The opportunity to sample new filmmakers is one of the true pleasures of the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, and this year’s crop of City & State short films, made in either Chicago or Illinois, was no exception. Directors Lonnie Edwards, Joel Benjamin, Meghann Artes and Robert Carnilius represented the area.

Lonnie Edwards, Director of “Parietal Guidance”

Parietal Guidance
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

“Parietal Guidance” was a shot across the bow of the difficulties facing certain neighborhoods in Chicago told through the filter of a young girl just trying to walk home without harassment.

HollywoodChicago.com: What was the incident, or series of incidences, that inspired your film?

Lonnie Edwards: I’m a single father, and take my kids to school every morning. I just started to observe interactions between them and other kids. And while my kids and I are close, there are some things I know they don’t tell me – just like I didn’t tell everything to my parents. I imagined following the girl [Edward’s daughter portrayed the character] as she experienced things individually. The question becomes, who will know any of this, and how is she feeling inside about it?

HollywoodChicago.com: What’s the best advice someone gave you about directing, and how do you use that advice in your filmmaking?

Lonnie Edwards & daughter Alinah of ‘Parietal Guidance’ Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Edwards: I got some great insight from a really good friend of mine, who lives in Los Angeles, and he told me the best thing to do as a director is not to listen to anything. Do what you’re going to do, allow people to give counsel while you’re shooting, but do what you’re going to do first.

This is my first film, and we’ve gotten into 18 national and international film festivals, and have won eight awards. When I first started it, I was looking at director’s blogs, panels and advice forums, and they all specifically told me things about the filmmaking process, and how hard it was to get into festivals. You just need to make a good film. You put the work in, and it just works out.

HollywoodChicago.com: What’s the first thing you talk about when you talk about your love for film and filmmaking?

Edwards: Perception. My connection to film as art is about perception, because art in all forms is about that. Just being able to do that, and show my film to the masses, is a great thing. I’m blessed and happy to be able to do that. My love for film allows my get everything out of my head, like going to a shrink. [laughs]

Meghann Artes, Director of “Speed Dating”

Speed Dating
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

“Speed Dating” is a true original as a film, through the concept of coupling at a speed dating session. Live action actors are used as stop motion puppets, and the director mines new visual territory.

HollywoodChicago.com: What was the visionary inspiration for the look of ‘Speed Dating’?

Meghann Artes: It’s hard to say because so many things came together at the same time. I experienced speed dating ten years ago, and pitched the idea to my husband, and it came out totally different than what I remembered. He told me to go and write it, and had the opportunity to use the facilities of the DePaul University Film School, where I teach film and animation. They have amazing grants, opportunities, and the timing was perfect to create what I envisioned. It all came together from there, it became an amazing collaboration between the staff, faculty and students.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since you are an academic and artist, what do you think the role of academia is in the creation of art?

Artes: In the instance of filmmaking, it’s very supportive. In my role as an instructor, I get the opportunity to actually make a film – the administration expects it, so I really need to do it to keep my job. I love that. The support was amazing and I’m in the best filmmaking atmosphere at DePaul.

HollywoodChicago.com: Which screenplay in the history of cinema would you like to direct, and why?

Artes: It would have to be something visual, like ‘The Wizard of Oz’ or ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ That type of film lends itself to an imaginary, behind-the-curtain element that makes you want to dig deeper.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is the first thing you talk about when you talk about your love for film and filmmaking?

Artes: Making the impossible possible. Stop motion is my baby, and pixellation is the technical term for it, there is a whole new world of possibilities. And it gets me excited for the future.

Joel Benjamin, Director of “Drifting”

Drifting
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

“Drifting” is an unforgettable piece of animation, combining cartoon animal archetypes with a horrific plane crash, and a sense of emotional longing.

HollywoodChicago.com: What Is your fascination with plane crashes, since the crash in ‘Drifting was so specific?

Joel Benjamin: [Laughs] This is more than you probably need. I got a school assignment when I was 15 years old, in which I had to write about a fake vacation. So instead of using a fake car, I imagined a fake airplane. I called a local airport for research, and the proprietor said I could come down and take a lesson. I went up in the air in a tiny Cessna with the guy, and afterward my Dad and I started taking flying lessons. I got all the way to the point where I would solo, but I was 16 years old and thought, “why am I getting my pilot’s license?”

Joel Benjamin & Meghann Artes Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

It was always terrifying, when I was in these small planes and would shake around. I guess it always stuck with me. I’m also interested in the power of water. When I was growing up in Iowa, and the farmlands would flood, I was fascinated with those fields underwater.

HollywoodChicago.com: What were the animation influences of the design of the cartoon animals in your film?

Benjamin: British animator Julia Pott – I love her character design. She did ‘Belly’ and ‘The Event.’ I used animals because they were easier to animate than people, and they fit in the context of the story.

HollywoodChicago.com: Which screenplay in the history of cinema would you like to direct, and why?

Benjamin: Maybe because I was just talking about it, but Chris Sullivan’s ‘Consuming Spirits.’ His dialogue is fantastic, but his version is so good I can’t imagine directing it.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is the first thing you talk about when you talk about your love for film and filmmaking?

Benjamin: That’s easy, storytelling. I just want to tell stories. It’s a stock answer, but for me it’s really true.

Robert Carnilius, Director of “Jaspa’ Jenkins”

Jaspa’ Jenkins
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

“Jaspa’ Jenkins” is a surreal dream, commenting on racial stereotypes over the years, through the filter of another time and space.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is the core layer of your piece, the truth that everything emulates from in the film?

Robert Carnilius of ‘Jaspa’ Jenkins’ Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Robert Carnilius: You have to be really critical of what is being sold to you in the media. Personally, I dealt with internalizing those messages, such as African-American characteristics like frizzy hair, dark skin, wide nose and lips are bad. They’re not, but the media has always portrayed it in that way. I took those messages that I had to work hard to get rid of, and turned them into this film.

HollywoodChicago.com: Which screenplay in the history of cinema would you like to direct, and why?

Carnilius: I love ‘Imitation of Life,’ the Douglas Sirk remake. I can’t say I’d do it justice, but I’m so passionate about that film it’s the first answer that comes to mind.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is the first thing you talk about when you talk about your love for film and filmmaking?

Carnilius: Social issues are my passion, and I’m very emotional about it. It’s hard to me to get involved in something if I’m not passionate about it, so all my previous and future films have a special place in my heart. So passion is the first thing I talk about, and that involves dealing with social issues.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Love him or not, Oliver Stone is one of the most important directors of the last generation. The creator of “Born on the Fourth of July,” “JFK,” “Platoon,” “Nixon” and “Any Given Sunday” was at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival to introduce his director’s cut for “Alexander” and “Natural Born Killers.”

Oliver Stone at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com was on the Red Carpet – with photographer Joe Arce – to get a few questions with the amazing Mr. Stone, and as usual he delivers the goods.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is it about Chicago and the Chicago International Film Festival that is ideal to showcase your director’s cuts of ‘Alexander’ and ‘Natural Born Killers’?

Oliver Stone: The festival idea from [Founder] Michael Kutza means that Chicago was the forerunner of other big city film festivals, and he did it long before them. I first came in during 1991, and in 1995 when I received an honor here. As far as Chicago in general, Roger Ebert played a very important role in my early career, he was very supportive when my early films were being ignored. The first critic’s prize I ever received was from the Chicago Film Critics Association, and probably my last. [laughs] That really raised my spirits.

HollywoodChicago.com: Because of your film ‘JFK,’ you participated in many of the recent 50th anniversary forums. What did the media get wrong about that anniversary, and how does that continue a pattern of wrongness since the assassination itself?

Stone: The treatment was incredibly shabby again, and I felt that the coverage was more fair when the film first came out in 1991. The reaction to the film has always been intense, and ‘conspiracy’ in association with the film has become the media mantra. The point is the original information that was released about the assassination in 1963 was off, every single fact that the media said was a fact was off. The case was never made, and it’s going back to the original evidence that was never examined properly.

The best source I have read recently is ‘Reclaiming Parkland’ by James DiEugenio. He takes apart Vincent Bugliosi’s ‘Reclaiming History.’ Bugliosi is a prosecutor, but he’s not a honest man.

HollywoodChicago.com: There was a recent documentary by Rory Kennedy called ‘The Last Days in Vietnam.’ As a veteran yourself, where were you and what was your reaction to the Fall of Saigon?

Stone: In 1975 I was a struggling screenwriter, and I was in New York City. I would say my reaction was numb. It was over. I’d seen the war as a mistake but at that time I wasn’t coming to terms with it.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– She was the Queen of 1980’s femme fatales, who later became a memorable stage and character actress. Kathleen Turner wowed audiences back in the day with hits including “Body Heat,” “Romancing the Stone,” “Prizzi’s Honor,” “Peggy Sue Got Married” and “War of the Roses.”

’An Evening with Kathleen Turner’ at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Ms. Turner was the chairperson of the International Feature Film Competition Jury, which awarded the Gold Hugo – the top prize – to “The President,” from Iranian director Moheen Makhmalbaf. The actress was also honored with a showcase on October 14th, “An Evening with Kathleen Turner.” Before that event, HollywoodChicago.com got to ask her a couple questions on the Red Carpet, and photographer Joe Arce captured this Exclusive Portrait.

HollywoodChicago.com: Film actress Lauren Bacall just passed away, and you were always favorably compared to her, what memories do you have about your encounters with her?

Kathleen Turner: Lauren Bacall and I used to have a great game. Whenever we met each other at a restaurant or an event, she would always greet me with ‘Ms. Turner,’ and I would reply, ‘Ms. Bacall.’ That exchange would gravitate downward as our voices got lower and lower. (Deepens voice] ‘How are you?’ ‘Nice to see you.’ How low could we go? It was great fun.

HollywoodChicago.com: Your brand of sexuality on film was very unique, and almost freeing. Why don’t you think actresses today can access that part of themselves as readily, is it today’s restrictions or how the business had changed?

Turner: We certainly broke ground with ‘Body Heat.’ I think it depends on the level of filmmaking. If you’re talking about the studio, I think it’s all rather predictable. But as we stand here, we have a thriving festival growth and risk in independent films. It has picked up strength over the last 15 years, across the country and across the world. It’s very exciting, and I’m happy to be a part of it here.

HollywoodChicago.com: What film of yours do you believe culturally will still have resonance in the future?

Turner: I would hope that would be ‘War of the Roses.’ But I also think ‘Body Heat’ and ‘Prizzi’s Honor’ will last. I think I’ve made some pretty good choices, don’t you?

HollywoodChicago.com: You have.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Jason Schwartzman likes to portray writers – he was one in his HBO series “Bored to Death” – and he portrays one in his latest film, “Listen Up Philip.” He also has played many characters in director Wes Anderson’s universe, and did a fantastic turn as composer Richard M. Sherman in last year’s “Saving Mr. Banks.”

The laconic and dryly witty Schwartzman was born in Los Angeles, the son of actress Talia Shire (Adrian in “Rocky” and director Francis Ford Coppola’s sister) and producer Jack Schwartzman. He was discovered at age 17 by director Anderson, when he starred in the cult epic, “Rushmore” (1998). He has continued in the Anderson acting company, also starring in “The Darjeeling Limited,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Moonrise Kingdom” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” for the director. He’s also done memorable work in “I Heart Huckabees,” “Funny People” and “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”

Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss in ‘Listen Up Philip’
Photo credit: Tribeca Film

Schwartzman plays the title role in “Listen Up Philip” – written and directed by Alex Ross Perry – as a writer with a darker personality than his character in “Bored to Death.” Philip is a full of angst as his second novel is about to be published, and he takes solace not in his live-in girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss), but an older, burnt-out writer named Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce). This conflict steers his life for several months, until the experience provides fuel for his art.

HollywoodChicago.com talked to Schwartzman last week, as his film opened in Chicago. “Listen Up Philip” is also available online, at the popular sites VUDU, Google Play and Amazon. Schwartzman was enthusiastic, virtuous and engaged in the interview, counter to the brooding character of Philip.

HollywoodChicago.com: It’s important for the character of Philip to maintain a certain direction in the film. What characteristic did you want to make sure came through in maintaining that direction?

Jason Schwartzman: One in particular is he never exhibited signs of backing off from his behavior, or tried to patch it up with people close to him. Alex and I would talk about the beginning of the film, where the narrator told us that this behavior is new to Philip. So we were thinking that Philip was experimenting with coldness and directness almost like a drug.

After using this behavior on some former friends, he’s actually buoyant, and I think that is the start of his mishandling of these emotions and his becoming narcissistic to a fault. By the end, I don’t think he knew he’d become addicted to that behavior.

HollywoodChicago.com: Were there any other books, plays or movies that mirrored what you were doing with the character of Philip?

Schwartzman: This will sound strange, but “American Gigolo.” In the beginning, Richard Gere’s character is riding in a convertible and feeling good, but by the end he’s behind bars. I saw a similarity in Philip, in the beginning on the cusp of releasing his second novel and by the end locked out of his own house. This emotional journey has no arc or trajectory, it’s just relentless.

In rehearsals, Alex and I talked about adding some jokes or a scene of sympathy for Philip, but that just made him seem passive aggressive. The main characteristic for him became his directness, and the other was that he was disappointed by people. He has impossibly high standards for his relationships, and he never let anybody off the hook.

HollywoodChicago.com: Philip is also a eunuch in a harem. Women adore him for his art, but he can’t seem to consummate. Where do you think his sexual energy has gone?

Schwartzman: Philip has an idea of how he wants to be perceived, and he won’t let anyone in, and anything that is to be known in exploring him deeply will simply never be known.

HollywoodChicago.com: Philip is a romantic archetype of the angst, joylessness and solitude of the ‘famous reclusive author.’ Did you have a real author in mind to help you create Philip, and how did that author influence the character?

Schwartzman: He’s his own kind of character. When people ask that question, I usually say ‘I based him on Philip.’ He’s such a singular character. But in terms of his personality or history, there is no one in particular. When he reveals something very personal in the film, to me it’s a clue that he is a ‘diagrams and numbers’ writer, and not autobiographical.

Jason Schwartzman in ‘Rushmore’
Photo credit: The Criterion Collection

HollywoodChicago.com: Philip seems to be a living embodiment of the old saying ‘the thing that makes you great also has the power to destroy you.’ Since there is an offscreen narrator who tells us of his eventual fate, how do you think Philip would be remembered after he was gone in our current culture … as a great novelist or a sad loner, and why?

Schwartzman: Probably both. He decided he wanted to be a novelist at age 14, mapping out things like publishing, moving to New York City and having torrid love affairs…and he was going to be alone. He grew up without parents, and people like that are always looking for someone to learn from and worship. He’ll probably be remembered as a good novelist who nobody ever really knew personally.

HollywoodChicago.com: What does Wes Anderson give you as a performer that both created your “brand” and allowed you to evolve as an actor?

Schwartzman: I think a lot of it had to do with our ages at the time we met. I was 17 years old and he was 27. He definitely is a mentor, and there is always that person that comes along at the right time in your life, and steers you in the direction you need to go, and that was Wes. He was the kind of guy that turned me onto the French New Wave cinema and grittier American films.

When I got the script for ‘Rushmore’ I remember reading it and thinking ‘this is exactly what I think is funny.’ I never realized it until then, and never knew that someone could articulate it so well. I remember thinking I wasn’t going to get the part in the film, but I couldn’t wait to see it. To this day, he makes me laugh. I don’t know how it ‘shaped’ me, but I’m with my friend, and we’re brothers in arms.

HollywoodChicago.com: At what point in your life did you realize that your mother was a classic movie star and that you had a heritage of filmmaking on her side of the family, and how did that revelation change the outlook of what you eventually ended up doing?

Schwartzman: We weren’t really ‘movie people’ when I was growing up, we’d go to the movies as a family, but would see the mainstream stuff. My memories of my family is not sitting and talking about movies per se, it was more about the boisterous loudness of the clan, singing and cooking.

HollywoodChicago.com: Even though you grew up in a mixed marriage household, and I read that you grew up with no religion, you tend in your characters to identify with your father’s Jewish roots. How do you think that side of yourself defines your life’s outlook, and what traits come through regarding the Catholic side of the equation?

Schwartzman: My parents would probably hate the part about no religion, because we would do Christmas and Chanukah, and Passover, but more of the traditions rather than the religion itself. There is beauty and tradition in the Jewish and Catholic faiths, and the idea that families come together over those traditions, in the act of unifying people over something positive, that is a great thing.

As far as the Catholic side, my mother is into the ceremony, and is a deeply spiritual person. I always been told that you always need something to believe in, because that is what saves you in the end, the belief in something bigger. I definitely feel that in our lives, if we’re feeling low or depressed, a beautiful piece of music or a great performance or even a news story that makes you cry is amazing. That is what I know.

HollywoodChicago.com: How strange was it for you to live in another era for time while portraying Richard Sherman in ‘Saving Mr. Banks’? So much of the energy of the film comes from the two brothers, what do you admire about their songwriting skills, as a musician yourself?

Jason Schwartzman in Chicago, October 24, 2014 Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Schwartzman: For me, that film was not only a chance to work on a great story, but Richard Sherman is still alive and I got to go to his house and learn how to play the songs as he played them. It was a master class in songwriting. When we were together he’d walked me through not just the chords, but the way he manipulated those chords within the song. There are only a few of those guys left, so on a musical level it was a dork session. [laughs]

The first time we got together he wanted to know what type of music I was into and could play. The first song I performed for him was The Beatles song, ‘Your Mother Should Know.’ He was blown away by that, and afterward we just kept exchanging different songs that went on for hours. I apologized for dorking out, but he said that he could dork out like that for the entire day.

HollywoodChicago.com: How did he influence the production once you started filming?

Schwartzman: During the ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’ scene, he did a great thing. He sat at the piano and played it, and everybody started singing along. I mean everybody, like big muscle-bound crew members with tears in their eyes. And it was amazing and emotional.

HollywoodChicago.com: You’ve done so many classic and cult films over the years. If someone was to find a collection of them and a working DVD player 200 years from now, which film do you think they will keep watching the most and why?

Schwartzman: I don’t know. I would hope it would be the films of somebody else. [laughs]

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Some say, to use a FOX News term, that America is “post-racial.” The election of Barack Obama is supposed to have ended the debate on race, and any marginalization because of race. Of course, that is not possible in society and culture, and it’s articulated in writer/director Justin Simien’s new film, “Dear White People.”

The film is set at a fictional elite college, where the African-American population is small and highly educated. The stereotypes still dog them, especially from the clueless – and also supposedly well-educated – white students on campus. With a talented cast, the breakdown of how farcical “post-racial” is becomes apparent within the film, and Justin Simien creates a statement of principle that echoes beyond the production.

Tyler James Williams (center) and the Cast of ‘Dear White People’
Photo credit: Lionsgate

HollywoodChicago.com met with writer/director Simien during the Chicago International Film Festival earlier this month, and talked at length about his expression regarding the film, especially as a representative of a younger and more personal voice.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since this is your feature film debut, how long has this story been percolating within your soul, and what was the major step in the path that led to the production?

Justin Simien: It’s been percolating since college. I was having conversations that were similar to the ones the characters are having in the film, not only about being black in a white college space, but also about the awkwardness and hilarity that ensues when navigating identity. This was also in a space where people have hard-wired assumptions about us as black people, and the identity we have about ourselves – which includes the things that we hide and the things that we show. I just thought it would be a great subject for a film, in the tradition of the black films I loved that played the art houses. I wanted to contribute to that genre.

HollywoodChicago.com: One of the most famous lines from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’ How do you think you’re creating that type of empathy in ‘Dear White People’?

Simien: I think that by creating characters that are human. In many films about race you get the ‘tragic black character,’ which is more about sympathy than empathy, because they are so downtrodden, and you feel good about yourself because you cry over them. Or you get other types like the inner city interpretation, or the flawless and holy black character. We don’t get anywhere with those idealistic images. There are certain film tragedies, like ’12 Years a Slave’ and ‘Fruitvale Station,’ that do create empathy because it crafts real human beings, but those are exceptions.

For my film, it was about creating human beings that are part of the human condition. They are black, and I complicated their experience, and the narrative is through the lens of myself as a black person. But what the film is actually about is something that everybody faces. Everybody at some time in their lives has to confront the way people see them, the way they see themselves, and who they really are. It’s part of the human condition, and it’s part of our birthright in being born on this planet.

HollywoodChicago.com: In casting the vital roles for ‘Dear White People,’ what kind of actor were you looking for, beyond just interpreting the emotions of your characters, and what did you talk about as an ensemble to create the themes in the production that were your goal?

Simien: I wanted actors who could deliver dialogue, because it is a written piece. Like the film ‘Network,’ there is no doubt that [screenwriter] Paddy Chayefsky wrote every single line, but the actors deliver those lines with such a slice-of-life ease. I wanted to find actors who could do that, and also to give something more – who could breathe some complexity in the characters. With a multi-protagonist script, we didn’t have time to get into everyone’s back story, or to develop the characters. I wanted actors where you didn’t have to do that, because their presence gives context to the role.

When Tyler James Williams came in to read for Lionel, we gave him the scene with the Dean of Students [Dennis Haysbert]. He was the only actor who came in and made me laugh out loud during that scene. I suddenly realized I had written a comedic scene, but it took Tyler’s interpretation to make me realize it.

Justin Simien at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com: As a nation, we continue to suffer from the karma sins of slavery. What elements of those sins do we find in ‘Dear White People’?

Simien: The most reductive way to say it, if I go back a few grandfathers, they were all slaves. Your great-great grandfathers maybe weren’t so well off, but they weren’t slaves. So, in a sense, you were set up to do better than me. Your family line over the years has more wealth and more access to education, healthcare, opportunities, etc. Also history and the past is a factor, because African Americans have no touchstone to the distant past.

There are so many circumstances having to do with all of that, and it’s generational. For example, my parent’s ‘black experience’ is starkly different from mine, but the battles of their experiences is something I can’t escape from – there is no way I can tell my mother a story of what happened at school, without it reflecting back upon me from her version of the world.

HollywoodChicago.com: How does that fit in with the ‘post-racial’ argument?

Simien: Well, of course now there is a black president, obviously you’re not racist, and I’m wearing a nice blazer and not running from a lynch mob. [laughs] There are some things solved, but still there are covert issues currently, due to what has happened in black history, and that was not too long ago.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since there are both outspoken African-Americans in the film of both genders, what differences are faced vis a vis racism for black women versus black men, in your opinion?

Simien: Well, first off being a woman is harder in society, period. They are placed in a box, and they’re conditioned in many subtle ways to expect and not expect certain things out of life. You place race on top of that, and then there is another set of things you can and cannot have access to. Black men in certain circumstances – like white men – do have a more powerful voice. Black women are also much more ‘exotic-sized’ when they’re successful – it becomes a vixen thing in society’s viewpoint, and it’s more multi-layered, and complex.

HollywoodChicago.com: There is a song in the old musical ‘South Pacific’ regarding prejudice entitled ‘You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught.’ What kind of fear is being manifested when white parents teach their children to separate themselves from their African-American brethren?

Simien: First it teaches them that there is something different or wrong, in looking at a group of people. But black kids are taught the same thing, not to trust the other. Black kids grow up knowing that they are black, but at the same time a white person will grow up accepting their version of color blindness that comes off as glib, especially in viewing the experience of the other. In that view, there is a denial that a person of color is having a different experience.

It comes back to empathy, which is important to teach our kids. To see themselves in the other, instead of assuming anything about another person’s experience – whether the assumption is positive or negative.

HollywoodChicago.com: Describe your feelings regarding the night that Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, and what have you felt since about both his legacy and his representation of African-Americans as a governmental and historical figure?


Simien: Like most Californians, I had the split reaction. It was, ‘yay Barack,’ but now we also had Proposition Eight [banning gay marriage in California]. Recently I was asked if black persons were responsible for voting that Proposition through, because of their numbers at the polls that year. That was another piece of covert racism, because it put too much of a responsibility on a so-called ‘conservative and homophobic’ black population, and polling proved it to be untrue. Like what was expressed back in 1915 with the film ‘The Birth of a Nation,’ it was a subtle declaration that if black people get a hold of the country, it will be messed up.

I believe Barack Obama has been treated unfairly. He has done great things and not so great things, like all other presidents. And considering what he had facing him when elected, to where we are now, it doesn’t make sense that his approval rating is so low. His successes tend to be glossed over, and his faults are ripped apart. I don’t think that would be the case for an equivalent white president.

HollywoodChicago.com: There is a rite of passage for all African-American males in our current culture, in which they are marginalized as the ‘other’ or as a person who is treated differently or negatively. Can you recall your rite of passage as a child or adolescent, that stuck with you and eventually came to the surface in the creation of ‘Dear White People’?

Simien: Yes, it was in elementary school. My best friend had a birthday party, and I wasn’t invited. When I asked him why, he told me because I’d be the only black kid there. It wasn’t the first time I realized I was black, but it was the first time I realized that being black restricted access to certain things.

Also, since I went to a mostly white elementary school, my teachers would marvel on how ‘articulate’ I was, and of course in my black neighborhood I was shunned because I spoke like a white man. That was all around the same time. I realized, well, I might have some trouble in this life. [laughs] Not enough for this, too much for that, and what would I have to do about it? That is what found its way into the film.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Cindy Crawford is one of the great supermodels, and while she acknowledges her one-of-a-kind beauty, it was also her intelligence and hard work that created her successful modeling and business careers. Ms. Crawford is also the Charity Challenge Ambassador for the Art Van furniture stores.

Ms. Crawford was born in DeKalb, Illinois, and was working in the prairie corn fields as a teenager, when her picture appeared in the local newspaper. The feedback from that photo convinced her to join the modeling profession. She was valedictorian at her high school as well, but pursued her modeling career by moving to New York City two years afterward. Her profile exploded, and she became one of the most popular supermodels in the 1980s and ‘90s, with visibility on magazine covers such as Vogue, People, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Allure. She even did a cover shot for the short lived political magazine called George, dressed as George Washington.

Cindy Crawford For the Art Van Charity Challenge in Chicago, October 29th, 2014
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Ms. Crawford also runs many successful businesses, promoting exercise videos, beauty products, furniture, and hosting an MTV show called “House of Style.” She also took a shot at acting, having been featured in the 1995 film “Fair Game.” She has been named by People Magazine as one of the “50 Most Beautiful People,” and fashion designer Michael Kors once said she has “brains, charm and professionalism to spare.”

HollywoodChicago.com got to speak with Ms. Crawford, right before her introduction as Charity Challenge Ambassador for the Art Van furniture stores.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is the origin of your association with Art Van, that morphed into your representation as the Charity Challenge Ambassador? 


Cindy Crawford: I’ve had a furniture line for the last ten years, and I started selling it in the Art Van stores in Michigan seven years ago. When I first met Art, we got to know each other, and he asked me about my philanthropic efforts, and telling me about his contributions.

I was very impressed, because Art gives back a lot in his community. Because he’s been in Chicago for a year, he’s including Chicago in that charitable community. This event is to raise awareness that Art Van is in the city, and also to kick off their charity, and they intend to give away a million dollars in the next year, to many different organizations.

HollywoodChicago.com: You’re a Midwestern woman by birth and early life, what characteristics do you possess from that background that allow you to survive the modeling and business jungle?

Crawford: I think when I first moved to New York City, I had that Midwestern work ethic still with me. I also feel – if you ask me how I relate to this question now – it’s about how real and grounded the people are here. That has helped to keep me grounded, even though I’ve had a crazy career.

HollywoodChicago.com: You made a transition to actress with the film ‘Fair Game’ in 1995. What was the biggest challenge in that transition?

Crawford: I never wanted to be an actress, but I was friends with this producer and he decided he wanted me to do this movie, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I did it, and it probably wasn’t one of the best decisions of my life. I wasn’t an actress, and I hadn’t studied acting at all. But I tried it, to see if I would like it.

The great thing about doing that movie was I learned I wasn’t an actress, and I didn’t particularly like it. I’m very comfortable in front of the camera being me, when I’m hosting ‘House of Style’ or doing commercials when I’m Cindy Crawford – I’m very comfortable doing that. When I’m trying to be someone else, I feel inauthentic. It was a gift to do ‘Fair Game,’ because I was able to put the attempt at being an actress to rest.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since you have traveled the world in your career, what place is most spiritual to you, and what spirituality do you derive from it?

Crawford: It would be my home, I live on a beach in Malibu. When I’m down on that beach, either by myself or with my husband or kids, you can’t hide there and you’re at your most natural self. It’s also a great place to talk, something about it that makes for deeper conversations.

Cindy Crawford Sits on Top of the World
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com: From DeKalb to Malibu, God Bless America.

Crawford: [Laughs] The American Dream right there.

HollywoodChicago.com: You were a top student before your modeling career, and had a relationship with academia. What disciplines from your student years did you use most in your early modeling days and subsequent business dealings?

Crawford: In my early modeling days, it was about the discipline. What I applied to my first jobs working in the corn fields, I applied to modeling. I was always on time and always prepared. The unexpected second act of my career has been my business career, and I feel my love of learning has helped me in that area. When I go to a meeting and I don’t know what they’re talking about, I want to learn, and I have the tools to absorb information. I know how to learn.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since extreme beauty attracts a whole range of people and business offers, what parameters on your ‘B.S.’ meter did you develop in order to determine who to trust?

Crawford: Well, if you ask my husband, he’d tell you I’m still not very good with that meter. [laughs] It goes back again to the Midwestern roots, we like people, we want people to like us, and we trust people. I would choose to be that way any day of the week rather than being cynical and mistrusting.

I can only judge what I see about another person. I feel like the truth reveals itself. What is the old saying, ‘if someone shows you who they are, believe them.’ I also think I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, until proven otherwise.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you think of the karma of the right moment? Meaning that you happened to be at the right place, at the right time, with the right look. What do think about the energy it took for that to happen?

Crawford: Lucky. [laughs] No, it’s true. The expression I use is that the stars were in alignment. Sometimes it’s just meant to be. And there is that other saying, that luck and success is preparedness meeting opportunity. I worked hard, but I also acknowledge that I was given a good envelope, the luck of the genetic lottery.

HollywoodChicago.com: Finally, in your long and adventurous life, what was the first instance you can remember in which you thought to yourself, ‘how did I get here?’

Crawford: It was early in my career, and I was going through an airport. It was the first time I had a Vogue cover, and I went to a newsstand to buy it. It was surreal, taking my face off a rack and purchasing it. And it went from there.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– What better way to get over the post-election hangover than hearing from the progressive lion, Michael Moore. Moore was on the Red Carpet at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, and ran into an old friend, Chaz Ebert.

Michael Moore has had an adventurous career in the media, shaking up the power structure and questioning social morality. The man from Flint, Michigan, dropped out of college to start a magazine in 1976. In the mid-1980s, he was hired by Mother Jones Magazine as editor, but was fired from that position only after four months. This led to the next phase of his career, and his film “Roger & Me” (1989), about Moore’s pursuit of GM executive Roger Smith – who presided over the decimation of Flint when he closed the GM plants there – became a cult sensation. Since then, Moore has tilted at the windmills of guns (“Bowling for Columbine”), the Bush administration (“Fahrenheit 9/11”), healthcare (“Sicko”) and Wall Street excess (“Capitalism, A Love Story”).

Michael Moore at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, October 23rd, 2014
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Moore answered questions for HollywoodChicago.com on the Red Carpet before introducing the 25th anniversary print of “Roger & Me” at the film festival. While there, he ran into producer Chaz Ebert, who was screening the excellent documentary about her late husband Roger, “Life Itself.” So many filmmakers own their reputations to a great write-up or TV mention from the legendary film critic, and Moore took the opportunity to express his gratitude to Ms. Ebert.

HollywoodChicago.com: What does the conservative movement fear about you, since they’re constantly using you as a scapegoat for all that is wrong in the progressive movement?


Michael Moore: They fear one thing from me, and that’s the fact that I’m one of the few people on the left whose work doesn’t necessarily speak to the ‘Church of the Left,’ but to a vast and wide Middle American audience. My work is good, okay, but the point that it reached so many people with my point-of-view, and people like it, and they leave the theater thinking about it.

Here we are, 25 years after ‘Roger & Me,’ in a very different world. If I had told you on this carpet in 1989 that we would have a black president from Chicago and gay marriage in Iowa, I would have sounded like a crazy man. Those are things I believed when I started my filmmaking, and they all happened. Back then I looked like I was on some left wing limb, but now I’m much more mainstream. The majority of Americans are evolving and progressing to what I’ve saying, not FOX News.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you think the conservative movement has been doing as a result of this shift?

Moore: The gerrymandering of districts, and the suppression of the vote, is conservatives admitting that the majority of Americans no longer agree with them. What you hear is a sound of a dying dinosaur. And it’s too bad, because at one time there were good Republicans, and there are conservative principles that work.

HollywoodChicago.com: It’s been 12 years since ‘Bowling for Columbine,’ yet the gun issue remains most divisive than ever. What do you think motivates an individual to be more concerned about those rights than how a sane background check would do for the safety of humanity?

Moore: Let me answer that with a question – why is it only Americans that obsess over gun rights? I could give you a flip answer, that it’s men with ‘shortcomings,’ [laughs] but there are men all over the world in those conditions. There are years in the whole country of Japan when there are NO gun murders. The question that has to be answered in our souls, is what is it about Americans that need those rights?

HollywoodChicago.com: What project are you working on right now? What will be it’s subject.

Moore: You’ll have to listen carefully. The film deals quite deeply with [Moore mimes silence]. I don’t know what kind of trouble I’ll be in once people see this movie. You’ll have to decide whether you print that or not. [laughs]

Chaz Ebert Joins Michael Moore on the Red Carpet…

HollywoodChicago.com: As a documentary maker, what was your opinion about the Roger Ebert biography, ‘Life Itself’?

Moore:‘Life Itself’ is one of the best documentaries of the year, I encourage everyone to go and see it. It’s a powerful film, and we as filmmakers know what Roger Ebert did for us. He was a force for good in this world, and is sorely missed, and it’s wonderful to turn around and see you here.

Chaz Ebert at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, October 23rd, 2014
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Chaz Ebert: I remember the first time Roger saw your film, ‘Roger & Me’ at the Telluride Film Festival. He was so impressed with it.

Moore: He was the only critic that came to my first screening ever of ‘Roger & Me,’ he was the only one I could convince to come. He had tickets to another bigger opening, with a big gala, and at first he told me he’d see it the next day. So I kept pressing, telling him to come to that opening night. He looked at me and replied, ‘I said I’ll come tomorrow.’ [laughs] I thought that I’d upset him. But 20 minutes later, when I was about to start the screening, he came into the theater. He gave up his big gala opening to come to my opening. I profusely thanked him, but all he said was, ‘don’t say a word.’

Later he said there was a crazy look in my eyes that told him he had to be there. He was the only film critic in that room to see the first screening, and the first time the public ever heard about me, was when he wrote about it the next day in the Chicago Sun-Times. That’s how my life in this world began.

Ebert: That’s my Roger.

HollywoodChicago.com: Chaz, I just wanted to ask you, since you’re going around the country and world with ‘Life Itself,’ what kind of thematic reaction are you observing as a collective spirit?

Ebert: It almost makes me want to cry as to how ‘Life Itself’ has been received. Because I think it highlights the filmmaking quality of director Steve James, but it also understands a respect for Roger and what he did in the filmmaking industry, yes as a reviewer, but also as a human being. He was a great guy who cared about people, and he saw film not just as entertainment, but as an art form that could touch our hearts and make us feel like better people.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– The show business life is ripe for drama, and the new film “Beyond the Lights” explores the difficulties of the the superstar reaches of the music business, through a Beyoncé-type singer. Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Noni, and the film’s director is Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Love & Basketball”).

Minnie Driver and Gugu Mbatha-Raw in ‘Beyond the Lights’
Photo credit: Relativity Media

Gugu Mbatha-Raw is making a name for herself, with two major releases this year, “Belle” and “Beyond the Lights.” The English actress is probably best remembered as the quirky student friend of Tom Hanks in “Larry Crowne.” Director Gina Prince-Bythewood is back in the spotlight after the well-received “Love & Basketball” in 2000. Since that time, she has directed HBO’s “Disappearing Acts” (2000) and “The Secret Life of Bees” (2008).

HollywoodChicago.com sat down to speak with both women during the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, where “Beyond the Lights” was the highlighted film during the “Black Perspectives” Gala night.

HollywoodChicago.com: Gugu, you’ve been around super famous people, and I’m sure you observed reactions to them. How did you apply that to your interpretation of the Noni’s character, in the sense that she becomes lost in that fame?

Gugu Mbatha-Raw: That’s one of the things that drew me to the project, the idea of fame – and how it impacts you psychologically – when all eyes are on you. You can’t do anything unobserved, which means you have to be ‘on’ all the time. For me, it was piecing together the research, through what we see everyday in the media and the old Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe, whose life was warped by the public’s perception of her persona and star identity. The challenge on this film was to humanize that glamor, and find the real soul beneath it.

HollywoodChicago.com: Gina, what fascinates you about fame? What dark side of it did you want to place on the character of Noni that prevents her from being fully present in her fame?

Gina Prince-Bythewood: I don’t think what happens in the film happens to every artist, I just thought it was interesting for this character. I really wanted to explore what happened to this little girl, whose dream was just to be a singer. She finds her passion in that, and what happens next when that drive becomes about success, and the consequences of it. When she followed that path, and created a hyper-sexuality – which is the circumstance of many artists today – what does that do to your soul, when it’s not your authentic self? And what happens when you can’t turn it off?

HollywoodChicago.com: There is a certain tone and a certain flavor that permeate your films, that seeks to create an overall atmosphere. Does that intentionally become part of the planning when you’re writing a screenplay?

Prince-Bythewood: Absolutely. I think what makes a film work – especially a love story – is to make it just not about the love story, but also about the background story going on. For this film, it is the music world, and what the character of Noni is going through within this world. After that, it’s simply about the research and filling that world with the authenticity. I realized that the audience sees this type of world on a daily basis, and I wanted to bring that world to life in a honest way.

HollywoodChicago.com: Gugu, we see in the film the use of hairstyles and wigs to create the character of Noni. What is your opinion about the psychology of hair for persons of color – such as wigs, weaves or just going natural?

Mbatha-Raw: It was great to work with Kim Kimball in the film, the hair designer, she would talk about stage hair, power hair and the idea that hair was part of Noni’s persona. And ironically, it’s the most artificial thing about her. For me, it represented the artificiality of the world she is in.

That was a very powerful scene that Gina wrote, when Noni takes out her fake hair, because in that is a reclaiming of her natural self. With my hair, it’s just about the joy of playing characters, and exploring the different identities through this ‘dress-up.’ In my real life, I wash my hair, tie it in a bun and head off to yoga. [laughs] I don’t think about it much outside of my work environment.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, ‘Black Perspectives’ Gala
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com: Gina, you’ve worked with the mostly middle class and upper middle class African Americans in ‘Love & Basketball’ and ‘Beyond the Lights.’ What challenges in society did you see or experience yourself at that socio-economic level, and overall with persons of color in our current environment?

Prince-Bythewood: I was adopted by white parents, and I grew up middle class. I have another brother who is black, and another sister who is blonde and blue eyed – so my upbringing was very interesting, and really fuels how I see the world. Just seeing the reaction of people around us looking at our family was an experience, but for me it was natural to look around and see people who were different.

The leads in my films are persons of color, but the films themselves are not about race. It’s about putting characters on the screen who are mostly invisible in the media, and telling universal stories about them. I want people of all races to come to my films, and identify with the characters.

HollywoodChicago.com:Gugu, you’ve moved so quickly up the show business ladder in the last ten years. At what point during that time did you have the most significant leap, as far as the attention it gave you and the opportunities that came afterward?

Mbatha-Raw: Since I left drama school, I’ve been working fairly consistently, it’s just been in different media, and they have different levels of profile. I worked initially in Britain for the theater, which doesn’t reach a big audience. I then did British television, and made an American stage debut as Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’ – that was a big leap from the West End to Broadway. And I didn’t have my career set for working in America, that’s just where the stage production ended up.

The more choices you get in this business, hopefully the more opportunity you get for being selective. In the last couple of years, what has been great about being in ‘Belle’ and ‘Beyond the Lights’ was working with female directors of color, telling female-centric stories. The ‘leap,’ to use your term, was about those two films.

HollywoodChicago.com: Gina, after the success of Love & Basketball in 2000, you worked sporadically in television until ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ in 2008. What was behind that eight year layoff from features, and what happened to you professionally after ‘Love & Basketball’ that prevented the next feature from happening right away?

Prince-Bythewood: I did HBO’s ‘Disappearing Acts’ right after ‘Love & Basketball,’ and then I had a child, so I took a year off. And the reality is, I developed a couple of projects, and both of them didn’t get picked up. It wasn’t about me slacking, [laughs] it was about the circumstances of raising kids and finding a passion project.

Gina Prince-Bythewood at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, ‘Black Perspectives’ Gala
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com: Gugu, you were so memorable in ‘Larry Crowne,’ up against some real star power. What do you think Tom Hanks learned from you, especially as you created your key scenes together?

Mbatha-Raw: I have no idea, that’s a question for him. [laughs] How about what I learned from him? He’s such a generous actor, and particularly with that film, it was light and romantic. His comic timing is so precise, and he had co-written the film, directed it and starred in it. With all those hats, he was a consummate professional, and really inspired the set, and it was a joyful place to be. And with his experience, he taught me how to lead a scene, and play a major role. It helped me subsequently to be a lead actress in a film. He also is a nice person on the set, and I want to be like that, otherwise nobody will want to work with you. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com:Finally for both of you, since this movie is about a singer, what song best defines you, either in your connection to it or what it says about your life?

Prince-Bythewood: As far as what was playing in the background when I wrote the film, and what becomes a central theme in it, is the song ‘Blackbird’ by Nina Simone. And honestly, you’d think it was written for the film, it’s so perfectly attuned to what we were trying to say. That, and ‘Pretty Hurts,’ by Beyoncé. It also spoke to what the film is about.

Mbatha-Raw: Gina actually introduced me to a song that has become by new mantra in life, and it’s in the film. Because when I was prepping this role, I had to listen to a lot of misogynistic music – and it was part of the research – but in my real life I’m very wary of what I plug into my subconscious mind – I want to be uplifted. So the song I became attached to was ‘I Am Light,’ by India.Arie. It was featured in the film very briefly, and was actually a significant moment for Noni, because she was at home and at ease.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Portraying Stephen Hawking, as Eddie Redmayne did in “The Theory of Everything,” required an intense physicality and emotionalism that was projected from different angles, much more challenging than a usual biographical role. In this instance, Redmayne projects the feeling of Hawking’s time and space.

Eddie Redmayne has been on a quick ascension path in his film career, while also conquering television and theater in his native England. After notable roles in the last three years in “My Week with Marilyn” and “Les Misérables,” Redmayne has took on the difficult task of playing Stephen Hawking from a healthy, genius-level university student to the wheelchair bound and computer-voiced theorist with a degenerative nerve disease (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The performance is remarkable on many levels, but especially in communicating the soul and love – beyond a physical handicap – upon which a human being exists.

Eddie Redmayne is Stephen Hawking in ‘The Theory of Everything’
Photo credit: Focus Features

HollywoodChicago.com interviewed the actor, as he promoted “The Theory of Everything” during the 50th Chicago International Film Festival. Eddie Redmayne is up and coming, with perhaps some Best Actor consideration for this year’s Academy Awards.

HollywoodChicago.com: You experienced as an actor the physicality of Stephen Hawking. Did this experience give you an idea of how his brain would think differently than a normally abled person?


Eddie Redmayne: What was complicated about the physicality, is that when ALS manifests itself into you, it’s a withering of the muscles. But some of those muscles end up spastic and in rigid state. The irony is I’m portraying a degenerative disease, but everything I was doing with my muscles was intense. What I found is that when you have less ‘tools’ to use, even the muscles of the eyes and the smile, and as it became limited, you use the ones you have left with as much vibrancy as possible.

HollywoodChicago.com: You had conversations with Stephen Hawking. What insight to his character were you most curious about, and what did he offer you that surprised you?

Redmayne: When I met him, he was down to using a sensor in his glasses, which his eye muscle controls, which stops on one letter at a time on his voice box computer – so it now takes him even longer to respond to a question. I spent three hours with him, and he maybe said ten sentences. So what I gleaned overall was a character image, he has one of the most charismatic faces. There is a joy of life, a vibrancy and a mischief to him that struck me, and that’s what I took away from our meeting.

We did talk about his voice, before the machine. He told me that it became very slurred, and those were the specifics that he wanted accounted for in the protrayal. But basically it was his energy that I took away.

HollywoodChicago.com: After doing this film, what do you think of deep thinkers, persons who use their training in high level academia to create new realities? Since this kind of work can be a happenstance of time and place, what advantages – despite his handicap – do you think Hawking had as this type of thinker?

Redmayne: One of the more interesting elements is that Stephen would say in some ways – because he always finds the positive – is that the disease somehow catalyzed him to make the exploration he did. He admittedly was a lazy and complacent young man, and coupled with the fear of the atomic bomb at that time [early 1960s], the idea of wasting time doing work was different.

His initial diagnosis gave him two years, and that’s when the intensity of his work began. And he also has said because he couldn’t talk, he didn’t have to lecture at Cambridge, and could work on theories even more. He always found a positive from it, and I found that extraordinary.

HollywoodChicago.com: The scenes of a younger, before-ALS Hawking have a deeper poignancy knowing what is coming next. Your performance of that era was profoundly correct in showing the depression and vulnerability in the early stages of the disease. What was the key to getting the right tone for the young Hawking?

Redmayne: The right tone was about reading around what he was like at that time. It was about his ex-wife Jane’s book, it was about meeting people who knew him then, and it was about the line in the film about his ranking at Oxford – a 2.1 borderline achievement. That was fine, but not for the extraordinary man that was to come.

And of course, he said ‘send me to Cambridge and you’ll never have to see me again.’ Having the balls to say that to those guys at that time, was a great indication of how confident he was in his ability, combined with that laissez faire attitude. He was in his own world, but he had great belief in that world.

Co-Star Felicity Jones, Stephen Hawking and Eddie Redmayne During a Set Visit to ‘The Theory of Everything’
Photo credit: Focus Features

HollywoodChicago.com: The scientific community will continue to expand the legacy and theories of Stephen Hawking for many generations to come. What conclusions of his brand of genius did you come to as a layman, and what did you want to communicate regarding that genius through the character of him that you’re playing and to other layman?

Redmayne: First off, I want to say that yes, I’m a proper layman. [laughs] I knew next to nothing, and gave up science at an early age. I suppose what I find most riveting is that science is an ongoing discussion. Some of the early notions that Stephen has theorized has kept those conversations continuing – with international scientists throughout that community. The idea that these people are still thinking big, and looking beyond anything that we think is possible is awe-inspiring to me.

And above and beyond anything, it’s about perspective, looking at things from such a distance and realizing we’re just tiny specks in the universe – even though our individual lives are filled with import. The idea that there is those people who are brave enough to think that big is inspiring.

HollywoodChicago.com: You began your career notably on stage, and naturally morphed into film and television. What stage techniques do you use in the stop/start nature and time shifting of film and TV, and have you found some technique in TV/film that you’ve applied back to the stage?

Redmayne: I often encounter people saying [affecting an important voice] ‘theater acting, that is the only proper acting a person can do.’ I find that I do my best stage work right after I do a film. In theater, especially when I started out, I was taught to project to the audience. The honesty that a camera has, in proximity to what happens on stage, trains me better and makes me more centered.

Certainly the theater training helped me on this film. We had four months of rehearsal, and we did not shoot chronologically, I had to reverse in – in a vacuum – as a play all by myself. When it came to working with the other actors, I wasn’t consciously playing a physicality. All of that was already embedded. Then I could play the human story, which was at the forefront of the story.

HollywoodChicago.com: You also delved into the biography of another well-known figureMs. Marilyn Monroe, in ‘My Week with Marilyn.’ What do you think Monroe understood about herself that her lovers and the outside world would never understand about her?

Redmayne: I think she knew who she was, but at the same time knew what she presented as her ‘Marilyn persona.’ I think her constant fear of people falling for that icon rather than her as a person – even though those two came together in come way – must have been crushingly difficult to deal with, and that was her life.

It was interesting that Stephen Hawking was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe – there is a picture of him in his office with an impersonator, and he always said if he could travel back in time he would go back to meet her. I put that photo on set in the design of his office, for my own in-joke in the film.

HollywoodChicago.com: You did an oddball independent film called ‘Hick,’ in which you portrayed an United States southerner. Besides taking on the accent, what did want to get right about that brand of American swagger?

Eddie Redmayne in Chicago, October 13th, 2014 Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Redmayne: I’ve done two road trip American movies, which were very different, the other being ‘The Yellow Handkerchief’ with William Hurt. In ‘Hick,’ which was intense, I did spend some time in North Carolina – where we filmed – and took some time to get my Stetson hat made properly and to get the specifics of the character, by hanging around where people go in that area.

Weirdly, the two things that connected ‘The Theory of Everything’ and ‘Hick,’ was that I used James Dean as a model. They were both aspirational in that James Dean swagger, both effortlessly cool. For both films I had a picture of Dean to inspire me.

HollywoodChicago.com: So much of the film industry relies on the ‘tentpole’ movies, which increasingly involve comic book movies. How do you think this business model either harms or strengthens the industry, and as a commodity within that business – as an actor – where do you see the future of it all developing?

Redmayne: I think it’s very complicated, and I do love the comic book movies. I grew up loving Spider-Man, and even auditioned for the recent set of films. What I struggle with, because I am – as you said – a commodity, all these auditions are top secret. There is no way to develop anything for a character, because they won’t let me read a script. For me, I find that complicated, because I would have to sign into something for six years potentially, with no idea of what it is.

It’s tricky, because we’re all storytellers, and I’m want to put context into a scene. It’s about the proper mode for the acting, and getting what I need. In many ways, this film is the antithesis of the blockbuster, it’s about seeing the story and telling the story, and whilst there are many interesting stories being told at all ends of the budget scale, I feel like there is still a market for ‘The Theory of Everything.’

HollywoodChicago.com: What gift about the meaning of life has portraying Stephen Hawking given you, and how do you think you will or do apply it to your everyday existence?

Redmayne: Certainly, from meeting Stephen and other people who suffer from ALS, it’s about maximizing our time. Stephen was diagnosed at 21 years old, told he had two years to live, and he’s now 72. He has said that every minute after that two year period has been a gift, and he makes sure he has made the most of those minutes. I feel as if I’m a person who gets caught up in the foibles of everyday life, and I respect the idea of living life fully and passionately as he does. He’s a great role model.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Journalists are under fire, both in the hot zones of the world’s conflicts, and within the economics of the shrinking news business. One journalist – Maziar Bahari – became part of the drama in the 2009 Iranian presidential elections, and that story is told in writer/director Jon Stewart’s new film, “Rosewater.”

Stewart, of course, is the host of “The Daily Show” on the Comedy Central TV network, and it was a 2009 report on the show that played into the Iranian-born Bahari’s imprisonment shortly after the election. The journalist was covering the story, but became part of it when he was detained by Iranian officials, thrown in prison and interrogated as a spy using “enhanced” techniques. The film called “Rosewater” was based on Bahari’s book, “They Came for Me,” and Jon Stewart came full circle with the story by adapting the screenplay and directing the story.

Gael García Bernal Portrays Maziar Bahari in ‘Rosewater’
Photo credit: Open Road Films (II)

HollywoodChicago.com talked to the journalist while he was in Chicago to promote the film. The unlikely path from reality to film version all centers on Maziar Bahari.

HollywoodChicago.com: The first thing that blows my mind about the whole story is how ‘The Daily Show’ was part of what they used against you when you were incarcerated, how it resulted in Jon Stewart adapting and directing the film. What you find strange about the karma of all of this?


Maziar Bahari: First of all, I want to make it clear that my appearance on ‘The Daily Show’ did not result in my arrest. It just happened that they used my interview on the show as evidence against me. They wanted to say I was a spy, in absence of any evidence they used ‘The Daily Show’ sketch. I had a couple choices when I was released. They threatened me to stay silent, but I chose to write the article for Newsweek and chose to write the book. I reappeared on ‘The Daily Show’ as part of the book’s publication, I became friendly with Jon, and the rest is history.

HollywoodChicago.com: Psychologically, was it difficult to relive the incarceration through the film version, was it a different type of closure than the book?

Bahari: Writing the book, talking about what happened to me in Iran, and what still happens to my colleagues and friends there – in addition to the film – was all part of the process. It’s a selfish healing process, because I am in a position to be able to talk about it, and I’ve used the platforms available. I also believe I have a responsibility to communicate what is going on in Iran with other people. Yes, I was there during the filming and saw the final results, but my personal emotions are nothing compared to my friends and colleagues that are still there.

HollywoodChicago.com: The title of the book that was adapted for the movie, “They Came for Me” is part of the famous Martin Niemöller quote. How does this quote inform your activism regarding other political or journalist prisoners?

Bahari: It expresses that we are part of the same profession and we have to support each other. I am here talking to you because of the actions of all my friends and colleagues at Newsweek, the BBC and other news organizations took on my behalf. I believe it is my responsibility to do the same thing for others as was done for me.

HollywoodChicago.com: It’s pretty obvious that the 2009 Iranian election was fixed for President Ahmadinejad. Should a fixed election still shock us in 2014?

Bahari: I think the Iranian government regrets that they fixed the election to that degree. If Mousavi, for example, had come to power, he wouldn’t have toppled the government at all. They were just afraid of any kind of change, and these governments will bend until they break. So this is the tragedy of totalitarian regimes, they never learn from history. They could have reformed themselves in 2009, but they chose to make it look too obvious.

HollywoodChicago.com: What moral spirituality does the state lose when it dominates its will over individuals for perceived or real dissent. Is the bureaucracy of such a society doomed to failure?

Bahari: Of course. Whenever a government allows itself to interfere with every aspect of a citizen’s lives, then any act is perceived as anti-government. Beyond the essentials, government should not be concerning itself with everyday aspects of people’s lives – how they dress, what they eat, how they live – it becomes a political act.

The resources spent on monitoring all this and the paranoia created by these perceived threats damages the government much more that the people. The people adapt, and the new generation of Iranians don’t even care about the government. The actions of this extreme government oversight then become counterproductive.

HollywoodChicago.com: Is the tribalism associated with religion – for example in the so-called Islamic State and Judaism – unfair to the society at large, especially in the age of information, or is is just connected to a sense of wanting to belong?

Maziar Bahari in Chicago, October 24th, 2014 Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Bahari: What we are going through in the information age is difficult to comprehend for many 20th Century dictatorships and religions, who are used to controlling communications. They can’t necessarily do that with the new technologies, so they resort to these tribes again, and still try to shut down the internet, as they formerly did with broadcast and print. But people find a way to reconnect much easier than before, and this is the age in which tribalism battles this new globalism. Iranians, for example, want more to belong to the globe, not the tribes.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is a major concern now for journalism is the shrinking funding for real investigation, as newspapers lose revenue and media control is in the hands of fewer people. Of course, the internet is making strides, but the funding is different. How can modern journalism make a difference in today’s new climate?

Bahari: We’re entering an era in which professional journalists are becoming less prevalent, and they become more like editors in the age of citizen journalism. I compare what is happening to journalism now as what happened to modern art in the early 20th Century. You had a deconstruction of form and new masters like Picasso emerged. Of course there were many others producing crap. I think the new citizen journalists need curators. However, it is difficult to make a living doing it now. This new model may have to be funded by foundations or corporations or even governments. It will be difficult, but it will evolve.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you fear that your child will have to face in the evolution of our modern world?

Bahari: She will be bombarded by information, and as a parent I worry about all those choices, And besides the many information choices, with social media she will become a separate medium herself. That is a big responsibility, and she will have to both consume this information and disseminate it.

HollywoodChicago.com: With your overall life experience, what can you say to me and your fellow travelers about how we can achieve peace, and implement that peace upon the powerful?

Bahari: Whenever you make educated decisions, whenever you think before making a decision, you are doing something positive for this world. Whenever you doubt governments or institutions regarding their monopolizing of truth, and try to find out something about what you don’t know, you are doing something good for this world. All governments would love their citizens not to make individual decisions or doubt them. The best way to change the system peacefully is to keep doubting those types of institutions on a regular basis.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– There are many categories of film director types – facilitators, tacticians, framers, to name a few – but there are few real artists. Bennett Miller has guided three films in his career, “Capote,” “Moneyball” and his latest “Foxcatcher.” All three have a purposeful artistry, and explore the soul within the humanity it portrays.

Having brought on that analysis, Bennett Miller is also a pragmatist, who can’t reconcile some of the interpretations involved in the following interview – which also sets him uniquely apart. He was born in New York City, and in his youth knew both writer Dan Futterman – who fashioned the story for “Foxcatcher” – and the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who magnificently portrayed Truman Capote in Miller’s 2005 directorial debut, “Capote.” Miller next took on the complex “Moneyball,” and made it into a baseball movie that communicated more about the game than past films that dealt directly with the sport. With “Foxcatcher,” he goes back into the sports world, but with a background about the American Dream and the differing elements within it.

Channing Tatum and Steve Carell in ‘Foxcatcher’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Steve Carell portrays John du Pont, the scion of a wealthy family lineage, one of the most prominent in American history. John du Pont sought more from his life, and in the late 1980s sponsored the U.S. Olympic wrestling team, which included two top performing brothers, Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave (Mark Ruffalo) Schultz. The somewhat incongruous story, like the eccentricities of “Moneyball” and “Capote,” speaks to larger themes about the characters, and are not conclusive. “Foxcatcher” won the Best Director for Miller at the most recent Cannes Film Festival.

HollywoodChicago.com wrestled rhetorically with Bennett Miller, as the artist spoke truth to the promotional Q&A format.

HollywoodChicago.com: This was such a bizarre American story, full of contradictions and lost souls. What do you think is the most American of emotions in the story, based on how this country is structured and how the citizens respond to it’s so-called American Dream?


Bennett Miller: Holy cow, I just woke up from a nap! I think within your question is one of the most American things, and that is to measure something against something else. What is the most? Let’s race them. Who wins? The question encapsulates everything I wanted to say about the story.

Somebody once told me that people who do not grow up with fathers have two dominate qualities. One is the belief that everything is possible and the other is a perpetual insecurity. I feel that those are two very American qualities. We got rid of our father, the king, when we were founded – we eviscerated that authority. So as a result, we are all on the same playing field. The fundamental belief that anything is possible, with great ambition and hope. But also it comes with a great anxiety, and your station in life is determined by your talent, abilities and efforts. It’s your entitlement, if you deserve it, but there is always a station above you.

HollywoodChicago.com: You have been developing this film for close to eight years. What drew you to the story initially and how many phases of the story did you have to shift through in development until you found the right tone for the story?

Miller: Part of making films is developing this ability to communicate in this other medium. Perhaps out of necessity, because in my case, there is an inability to express yourself that well when you’re sitting on a hotel couch with a mike in your face. [laughs] Having said that, what drew me in was the notion of this extremely wealthy lost soul and his absurd ambition to lead wrestlers to glory. All my films have characters in worlds where they don’t belong, and this film has it in spades.

There are two characters who have grand ambitions about themselves and their destiny. They allow themselves to believe they are part of a common cause – which is another American thing. It’s the ridiculousness, the comedic absurdity, of people who don’t realize that they don’t belong. It might have been the foundation for a great comedy if it hadn’t ended tragically. That is the answer for the tone, and the way I found it was to work on the story long enough, until the tone expresses itself.

Tatum and Mark Ruffalo in ‘Foxcatcher’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics

HollywoodChicago.com: So you find tone or style to be inherent?

Miller: Truman Capote said that you don’t really choose what style you work in, it’s innate to you, it’s like the color of your eyes. This is a film that doesn’t tell a story so much but observes a story. The tone and the style comes to reflect the manner in which the filmmaker themselves are exploring the thing.

HollywoodChicago.com: In your preparation for the film, what kept coming back you thematically regarding the du Pont family and their legacy? And do you believe that behind every great fortune is a great crime, and that rich families eventually, through karma, pay for those crimes?

Miller: I am not a politician. The film and I resist making conclusions, because there is the pursuit of understanding. The moment you conclude, your thought process ends, a conclusion means the end of thinking. I really don’t know about these bold statements – behind every great fortune is a great crime – is fair.

Whether it’s true or not, it’s a conclusion and it stops you from further understanding of the circumstance. It designates good and evil, and it allows you to take a position for or against. And that’s why I think it’s a political statement. The style of the film is much more unflinching and scrutinizing of something that’s not easy to look at, while resisting the temptation to conclude. Just keep looking past it.

HollywoodChicago.com: It’s obvious that the John du Pont character is basically looking for love within the context of ‘Foxcatcher.’ How do you think that desperate and necessary emotion defines each individual, both in its quest and its loss?

Miller: I think you have fully formed your opinions on all of this. I made the goddamn movie, man, and if you’re able to see that in there, I say run with it. if it stimulates your opinion, I’m all for it.

HollywoodChicago.com: Well, like in ‘Moneyball,’ I felt it was all about the love, and how people position themselves to create a new energy within that love, by redefining it. In an age in which everyone is cynical. You’re not a cynical man. You seem to be a lover, not a fighter…

Miller: In ‘Moneyball,’ after Oakland wins the 20th in a row, I remember Brad’s character saying it doesn’t mean anything, we’re living in a cynical world. That’s a guy who is trying to win baseball games and realizes it’s about something else.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you think baseball has lost, that it can never regain, during and after the era of unrelentingly obscene salaries and performance enhancing drugs?

Miller: I loved Ken Burn’s documentary about baseball. In one of episodes, one of the interviewees said, ‘every so often, someone steps forward and pronounces baseball dead.” But it always comes back, and reincarnates itself into something else. That is how things evolve.

HollywoodChicago.com: You knew Philip Seymour Hoffman as a personal friend. What do you think the culture has lost with the passing of this great artist, and what parallels do you find between him and the slow decline and demise of his most famous portrayal, Truman Capote?

Miller: He was an artist. He was a truth seeker. As a personal friend, he was a truth speaker. We were brutally honest to each other in our collaborations.

In a time where relationships between creativity and money has shifted so that the power differential has tipped strongly in favor of the economic interests in the arts. The art of Phil’s level requires investment, and must have that happy coincidence between those who are risking money and those who are creating. Phil was an extraordinarily uncompromising person when he came to his art, he was constitutionally incapable of bullshit. In these times, it’s increasingly challenging to be unaffected and truthful in our art. That is what we lost with Phil.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (left) and Bennett Miller on the Set of ‘Capote’
Photo credit: MGM/Sony Pictures Classics

HollywoodChicago.com: And the Capote parallel?

Miller: I’m going to take a pass on that one.

HollywoodChicago.com: You were quoted as saying that you are a tumbleweed, and eschew ownership in your life. At what point have you observed that possessions start to destroy people, and was that a factor in keeping your own possessions to a minimum?

Miller: People are just different. From the time I was a kid, I didn’t really have a focus on that. I don’t really have a judgement on it. I don’t want to condemn anyone or anything in any general way, because I don’t believe it. For me, personally, it’s more a matter of remaining light and agile, and not having a responsibility to those things. The possessions become a burden, and restrictive, and that’s just the Thoreau in me. But who knows? If I get right offer for the right thing from a person who has things, it might change the conversation.

HollywoodChicago.com: You began your career with a documentary, and each of your subsequent films are based on real subjects and have a sense of performed documentaries. When comparing a great and precise documentary, say on Truman Capote, to a narrative film that you captured, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Miller: I bet you could write a thesis paper on that. The problem with your questions is that each one of them could be term paper. [laughs] You could take these three films, teach a class, and each one of these questions could be a term paper assignment – and don’t forget the reading lists alongside them.

HollywoodChicago.com: [Laughs] You might have changed my life today. I appreciate your simplicity in viewpoint. So much of working in film criticism is ‘see this, see that, analyze this,’ and when you encounter someone who is just a natural artist like yourself, you just appreciate it.

Miller: Listen, part of me is like that cat wanting to hit at that dangling feather in regard to your questions. We could line up five coffees and really get into it all. They are valid and fascinating, but I can’t answer them in soundbites.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Filmmaker Darryl Roberts has been on an eight-year journey to chronicle the influence of corporations, advertising and images on today’s teenagers. After releasing the first two “America the Beautiful” documentaries, his latest – and potentially most controversial – is “America the Beautiful 3: The Sexualization of Our Youth.”

The subject matter of the latest film is curious, given that Roberts went more specifically after the beauty industry in the first “America the Beautiful” (2007) plus body image and dieting in “America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments.” (2011). In the third chapter, which deals with sexual imagery and sexual advertising images in society, the focus is not as clear, and the filmmaker acknowledges the intensity of the subject in the interview below, and even the backlash it had on the production.

Darryl Robert’s ‘America the Beautiful 3: The Sexualization of Our Youth’
Photo credit: Harley Boy Entertainment/Brainstream Media

HollywoodChicago.com has followed the path of all three films by Darryl Roberts, and you can access his comments on the first two films here and here. He sat down again with his latest chapter, one that perhaps is most personal for the filmmaker.

HollywoodChicago.com: The first “America the Beautiful” documentary was more of an exposé of corporations that catered to beauty. The second was about weight issues, with much of it about your struggles with weight loss. And now the third is about sexualization of youth. How did the first film morph into the subsequent next subjects, and how did your interest in these subjects evolve into ‘America the Beautiful 3’?


Darryl Roberts: From the first film to the second film, I was thinking about issues that affect primarily high school and college kids. After the first film – which was about how this audience feels about how they look – directly related to it was about the weight issues and their bodies, which became the second film. From there, since the first film was about beauty, and the next was about health, the third subject naturally became about sex. And to be honest, it was a lot more intense than I realized.

HollywoodChicago.com: One of the potentially interesting topics – that was not necessarily explored after the initial interview – was with the group of African American girls who had sex and pregnancies at an early age, because they didn’t feel loved. How much, in your opinion, is early sexuality and teen pregnancy a self esteem issue rather than a transition-into-sexuality issue?

Roberts: Teen sex is about low self esteem on one end of it, and when guys start telling a girl that they are beautiful and they are attracted to them, someone with low self esteem can get the feeling that they are craving, and it can turn sexual. The biological/hormonal end of it is about curiosity and the search for ‘mating,’ and when that happens teens will most likely find it. That’s when the advertising comes in, with sexual images that can lead a teen further down that path.

Chicago Filmmaker Darryl Roberts, November 14th, 2014
Photo credit: Harley Boy Entertainment

HollywoodChicago.com: Sex sells, as many of the experts claim in your film. How will the economic engine of pornography and sexual advertising images ever be stopped, if it makes money for people?

Roberts: As long as porn and sexually themed advertising makes money, it will not stop. What can happen is we can change. We can change the way to parent children, and insert more values regarding the issue. Kids have also become too homogenized, dressing and talking the same, and that is catnip to an advertiser. We need to teach more individuality – the more individual a child is, the harder it is for an advertiser to trap them into their commerce.

HollywoodChicago.com: Much of early sexualizing occurs because parents are absent trying to make a living – making it a socio-economic issue – and teens are left to their own devices. One of your main themes is about not failing the children, but our economic structures and need for material success says otherwise. How, in your opinion, can that be compromised?

Roberts: My opinion is about having quality time, even if there is not quantity. I would posit that doing qualitative value-based parenting, the temptations would become less of an issue when parents are not there.

HollywoodChicago.com: When you transitioned into your own sexual identity, how did your success in that transition inform you about the subject matter of this film?

Roberts: It was different, and it wasn’t successful. When I was 16 years old [in the 1970s], I was consumed with finding my place with the opposite sex, so in the context of the film I realize that things today are different for teenagers as in the images and advertising they can access. In figuring it out in those days, I had to do a lot more to get at those images, and I can see how much more difficult it is for kids today because the access is easier.

HollywoodChicago.com: Finally, towards the end of the film we find out that someone on your production staff allegedly sexually harassed one of your interns. Given the subject matter of your film, how did this person react to the allegations when confronted?

Roberts: He didn’t deny it, and his reasoning – even though he’s in his fifties and the intern was 18 years old – is that she engaged in the conversation. I countered that he should have been setting an example as a grown man, and shown some respect. So to have that happen in the midst of doing this film, and the subject matter, did allow me to see how pervasive this attitude is. It was terrible that it happened on my watch.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Women in Film (WIF) Chicago is a advocate group for women filmmakers, on-set professionals and executives in the creative arts, and every year they present their Focus Awards to significant contributors in those arenas. The honorees in 2014 were Shira Piven, Susan Credle, Erin Sarofsky and Christina Varotsis.

The event took place on November 5th, 2014, at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, and was hosted by marketing executive Melissa Thornley. Each of the recipients were feted with a video tribute, and each told their stories when they accepted the award. HollywoodChicago.com spoke with three of the honorees, with a diversity of voices for women in the film and creative industries.

Shira Piven, Film and Theater Director

Shira Piven is part of theater royalty in Chicago, as her parents Byrne and Joyce founded the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston, Illinois, and her brother Jeremy is a notable film, theater and television actor. She has written and directed in theater, television and film – including her upcoming directorial effort, “Welcome to Me,” featuring Kristen Wiig. She also is married to filmmaker Adam McKay (“Anchorman” series).

Honoree Shira Piven on Set for Her Latest Film, ‘Welcome to Me’
Photo credit: Women in Film Chicago

HollywoodChicago.com: Since you are from this area, what does this local honor mean to you, and how do you think Women in Film Chicago creates and helps the community of filmmakers?

Shira Piven: I think that any organization that helps women connect with other creative people is great. The business can be intimidating, and Women in Film Chicago provides a great outlet for networking and to meet like-minded people. It’s more important in Chicago, because the business is smaller and less concentrated.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is the origin of your interest in directing ‘Welcome to Me,’ and what about Eliot Laurence’s script most intrigued you?

Piven: I was told about his script through a mutual friend, and although I read a lot of scripts, I love Ellot and I think he’s amazing. I fell in love with the script right away – it was alive and original – with the character of Alice being one of the finest woman roles I’ve ever encountered. It’s an ‘Annie Hall’-type role; Alice is the movie.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since your parents were and are dedicated to the art of acting, what characteristics have you picked up about that particularly art that is best used when you are directing film or theater?

Piven: Everything. What I bring to a film is about that training that has been ongoing my whole life, both in performance and working with actors. My strength as a film director then becomes getting to the emotional center of the film, and then to bring out the performances in the actors around that center.

HollywoodChicago.com: Also your family history is embedded in the roots of The Second City. Since your husband was also involved in the institution, what do you this the greatest legacy is of the ‘Chicago school’ of what The Second City has contributed to the comedic arts?

Piven: The Second City was the first of its kind and it brought comic improvisation into the public vernacular, and introduced it as a viable creative form. It influenced so many improvisation comedians, like Robin Williams, and that is very significant.

HollywoodChicago.com: What past or present film directors directly influence you and have you ever put embedded a tribute to them with any of your films?

Piven: With ‘Welcome to Me,’ I wanted it to light the scenes similarly to ‘Being There,’ directed by Hal Ashby. I loved that film, and this film has a similar tone. The production designer and I watched the opening to ‘Being There’ a number of times.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is the best piece of show business advice you’ve ever received, and how have you applied it to the philosophy of your career?

Piven: Make the other person look good.

Christina Varotsis, Film Producer

Christina Vartosis is an award-winning film and television producer, who most recently finished work on “Lost River,” an official 2014 Cannes selection. Her past film work includes “Death of a President” (2006), “The Rite” (2011), “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” (2011), and the TV shows “Sirens” and “Shameless.”

WIF Chicago Focus Award Honoree Christina Vartosis
Photo credit: Women in Film Chicago

HollywoodChicago.com: As a producer based in Chicago, what does this Women in Film Focus Award mean to you?

Christina Varotsis: It’s very humbling, and I’m very grateful for the award.

HollywoodChicago.com: On a scale of 1-10, with 1 meaning the movie scene is not working in Chicago, and 10 meaning it’s working completely, what number would you assign to where we’re at and why?

Varotsis: We’re not doing that well, but I won’t give a number. It’s not only Chicago, but it’s the overall independent film industry. The problem is the production model is completely different now than it used to be, as the budgets has gone from five to fifteen million to under a million for the same level of films, or there is a movement to called 20-40 million dollar films ‘independent.’ The medium level independent film doesn’t exist anymore. It’s hard also because Chicago has become more of a TV series town, which for me is not as exciting.

HollywoodChicago.com: You were the line producer in 2006 on the controversial film ‘Death of a President.’ What do you think was misunderstood about that film, and the message it was sending about its subject matter?

Varotsis: Many of the harshest critics didn’t see the film, they just assumed what it was about. There were death threats when we were in production, and the negativity kept people from actually seeing the film. We were not condoning the killing of the president [in this case, George W. Bush], that’s not what is was about. It was about the modern environment we’re in, and what would happen in that kind of assassination, given the events of the post 9/11 world of that time.

HollywoodChicago.com: What was your first job in film, and what did you learn on that set that you have kept with you as you’ve worked on the evolution of your career?

Varotsis: I began as a producer on a TV pilot, and what I learned most of all is that you have to gather a great team. If you pick the right people, and you give them your trust, they will give you 1000 percent.

HollywoodChicago.com: You’ve been on large scale studio sets and small independent film sets. How does an indie film often use their resources better than the large scale production?

Varotsis: Both types of sets offer challenges, in whatever we’re doing there is never enough money. [laughs] Even on studio productions, I use my team, because I think it’s important to have a cohesive group around you, to work well and quickly. We make it work together. I always like to hire locally, the more you do that the better the product will be, because the community-at-large embraces the project.

HollywoodChicago.com: You mentioned your father in your speech and how he wasn’t sure your career choice. What’s the best compliment he eventually gave you?

Varotsis: It happened indirectly, as he had already passed. I was doing a miniseries in Moscow. My mother and brother visited the Red Square set, saw the large scale of the production. It was my brother that said, ‘Dad would be so proud.’

Erin Sarofsky of Sarofsky Corp.

Erin Sarosky is the president, owner, and creative director of Sarofsky Corp., which specializes in live action production, visual effects, 3D development, design, animation and editorial for film, TV and advertising. Sarofsky Corp. has produced the main titles for TV shows “Shameless,” “The Killing,” “Community,” “Happy Endings,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and the recent films “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” 

WIF Chicago Focus Award Honoree Erin Sarofsky
Photo credit: Women in Film Chicago

HollywoodChicago.com: Since you run your own Creative Factory in Chicago, what does the Focus Award mean to you, and how do you feel Women in Film Chicago complements the filmmaker scene in the Windy City?

Erin Sarofsky: They are a resource for all women producers, not only in films, but also commercials, from young women just starting out through professionals later in their careers. The fact that they would call attention to me in any context, really means the world. I’m committed to being in Chicago, even though I’m originally from New York, I want to build something here.

HollywoodChicago.com: Your company’s specialty is creating opening sequences to film and television shows. With the lessening of time in network shows to the lessening attention spans, how do you think that art has evolved, and how do you approach that evolution in what you create?

Sarofsky: First, we are hired by the producers, directors and marketers of the film or TV show, so it depends on what they want. And yes, with a sitcom that only has 20 minutes of storytelling time, they just might want to brand the show and then start it up. But with pay cable shows like ‘Shameless,’ we had the opportunity to create a mini-narrative – they are less concerned with running time. Feature films are a whole different form, it’s based on fully realizing the concept, whether it’s at the beginning or the end. It’s about flow if it’s in the beginning or wrapping it up if it’s focused on the end.

HollywoodChicago.com: Are you familiar with the great title masters, like Saul Bass?

Sarofsky: Absolutely. Our ‘Captain America’ titles were a direct homage. Because the main film played like a 1970s spy thriller, we wanted to capture a Saul Bass 1970s feel, illustrated like a comic book.

HollywoodChicago.com: On you way up the corporate ladder, and as a person who represents and owns a company, what push back toward women do you still find in the professional atmosphere?

Sarofsky: I’d like to say it doesn’t matter, but I’ve definitely lost jobs because I’m a female creative lead, especially in a boardroom with white-haired Fortune 500 men, who are more comfortable in a male environment – it’s different for them when I roll in as a bawdy, younger woman telling them what they need to do with a distinct point of reference. It’s scary for them, but they will eventually go away and be replace by fresher thinking. Being a woman will never be a reason I get a job, and moving forward I hope it isn’t a reason I don’t get a job.

HollywoodChicago.com: Since you work closely in the power of the image, what do you think about how images become less important the more you see them on your mobile devices, social media and broadcast channels? How do you get more people to pay attention?

Sarofsky: What is interesting about what you just said is that I don’t think of any of those media as separate anymore. If it’s a strong idea it will cut through. If it resonates with a brand, and speaks to the audience it’s suppose to speak to, it will cut through. People get information how they want to get it, and it can come from anywhere. The delivery is up to the user, and with demographic use of media more specific, I think it’s a bit easier to reach certain groups. It’s always about the concept.

HollywoodChicago.com: Finally, what is the best piece of advice you’ve received during your professional quest, and how do you apply it to what you do?

Sarofsky: It’s mileage, not age. The more you do, the more you learn. It’s cumulative, and it allows you to get to the point where you know what you’re talking about. It’s about having confidence in your concept, and that comes with experience.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Evoking the name Liv Ullmann is to bring back one of the more glorious and creative periods of Scandinavian cinema, especially the films of Ingmar Bergman. The actress has directed her seventh film, the passionate adaptation of an August Strindberg play, “Miss Julie,” featuring Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell.

Ms. Ullmann’s film was the opening night feature of the 50th Chicago International Festival, and will be released in New York City on December 5th, and selected cities thereafter. Written by famed playwright August Strindberg, and adapted by Ullmann, the three person drama takes place in 1890 at an Irish baron’s estate. Two characters – a male valet and mistress of the manor – have a sexually tense struggle to reconcile their feelings for each other. Ullmann conjures up a charged and tragic atmosphere, and the three actors – Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton – give memorable performances.

Liv Ullmann at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Ms. Ullmann was the daughter of a Norwegian engineer, and lived in Toyko, Oslo, Canada and New York during her childhood. After doing stage work in the late 1950s, she began a notable film career and collaborated with the virtuous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman (“Persona,” “Cries and Whispers”). She was often called the director’s muse, and worked closely with him until his death in 2007. She directed her first full length feature in 1992 (“Sofie”), and “Miss Julie” is her first directorial effort since 2000.

HollywoodChicago.com got a few moments with Ms. Ullmann, the legend and the muse, at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival. Her thoughts on directing, Bergman and men are contained in this brief encounter.

HollywoodChicago.com: When you adapted the play into a screen treatment, what were you understanding about how you were going to take it from stage to film?

Liv Ullmann: I thought there were possibilities that you can’t have on stage, because you can see the whole thing, as you experience it on stage, but the camera can also see the full face in close-up, and expose the duality. If a wide shot or a full body shot can show one angle of a claustrophobic kitchen, the face can perhaps show the opposite.

And in adapting it into a screenplay, I can use Strindberg’s words, but also put a few of my own in, and not go against what he said. Strindberg hated women, and expressed this before he wrote the play, so it was easy to add in something he didn’t write, when she said she felt like a nobody..

HollywoodChicago.com: This is your fifth feature film, but first in 14 years…

Ullmann: Yes, I was surprised that so much time had gone by. I was doing a lot of stage acting in that period, and have directed a number of stage plays.

HollywoodChicago.com: Okay, so what motivated you to this project? Was it something you’d always wanted to do or did you just gravitate towards it?

Ullmann: I wanted to direct a film adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House.’ I had the funding and Cate Blanchett, but she got pregnant and couldn’t do it, so Kate Winslet stepped in for a couple years. But then Norway didn’t come through with their portion of the funding. I just withdrew from it.

I got an offer to do a part of a three-director movie, and each of the short films had to be about a femme fatale. I couldn’t do that, but I went back to them with ‘Miss Julie.’ Maybe they thought she was a femme fatale, I don’t know. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: So why that play in particular?

Ullmann: I had directed Cate Blanchett on stage in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and so much of that play was colored by ‘Miss Julie.’ I thought I’d love to get into this character. That’s how the decision became ‘Miss Julie.’

HollywoodChicago.com: Since you began as an actor, what traits have you picked up from film directors that you’ve applied to your technique?

Ullmann: I’m very good for actors, because I was a bit embarrassed by being an actor – this world of need and here I am being an ‘actress.’ [laughs] I never took it too seriously as a title, but I did love to act, and loved working with good directors. When I wrote one of my first scripts for a Danish company, they also asked me to direct it. I never even thought I could be a director.

I actually called Ingmar. He said, ‘oh yes, you can direct.’ So for the first week or so I was on the other side of the camera, watching the actors, and just imagined the possibilities. It was about the creation. That’s when I realized what acting really was. And I’m a good director, because they know they have the freedom to be creative, and can trust me. What is best for them, that is what I use.

Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain in ‘Miss Julie’
Photo credit: Wreckin Hill Entertainment

HollywoodChicago.com: In your years of experience, what do you love about the personalities and sensualities of men, and what do you dislike most about them?

Ullmann: Men are not good at listening. You’re good at listening. You’re not interrupting me so maybe you’re listening, you see me and understand me. I find that men will interrupt me a lot, and not understand what I want to say. Since my father died when I was six years old, my early impressions of men were about how they provided for us and gave us safety.

As I had more experience in my adult life, I found them to be more vulnerable than women. And if you can learn to understand them, they are wonderful people, if they don’t have to macho and do all that. I believe they are more vulnerable and get in touch with that side of themselves much easier, if they dare to open up for you. That is why it is fun to be a director. Ingmar used to say it was easier to work with women, because they undress their feelings more than men. I find that men will do the same thing for me, as a woman director, and we can find things about them that are just so beautiful.

HollywoodChicago.com: Did you have that relationship with Colin Farrell in ‘Miss Julie’?

Ullmann: Yes. I looked into an incredible soul. He dared to do this film without being a macho man, but by showing the real vulnerability of someone who wants to move up in life, and dares to really show it.

HollywoodChicago.com: Was Ingmar Bergman the type of person where the thing that made him great, also had the power to destroy him?

Ullmann: If he had been a woman, that greatness would have destroyed him. No woman could have lived their work as much as he did, and demanded so much without consequences, and have someone else take care of the children. He lived a very self-forgiving life. Because he was a man he could do that, and everyone respected him and thought he was great, including me. He gave everything to the creative work, as a writer, director and caregiver for actors.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you think now about your legacy in association with him, as his muse, and the effect on cinema history?

Ullmann: I’m very proud, and still don’t understand why he wanted to work with me so much, after we met each other. I asked once and he said. ‘don’t you understand, you’re my Stradivarius.’ I do believe he was a genius in his art, and as I read a script now to adapt for the stage, he was also a thinker and a philosopher – that is why he will last. The art of cinema will always come back around to him.

He did need me, and probably because I saw in him what I just described. That connection won’t be as recognized in his overall work – but he gave me a creative life, because of my life with him.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– Every year, HollywoodChicago.com explores the state of the Chicago film actor through Grace McPhillips and Steve Scholz, the president and vice-president of the Chicago Acting in Film Meetup Group (CAFM). The group’s 2014 “Holiday Hurrah” will be at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago on Monday, December 15th.

CAFM is a group that was founded by Grace McPhillips in 2007, and has grown to encompass the actors that work in features, independent films and television in the Windy City. With seminars, programs, networking and connections created for actors with agencies and productions, CAFM has become a vital link in the Chicago acting community. The December 15th Holiday Hurrah is also open to the public.

The CAFM‘Holiday Hurrah’ is December 15th, 2014
Photo credit: CAFM

Also, in an exclusive announcement to HollywoodChicago.com, Grace McPhillips and Steve Scholz are announcing that they are stepping down as top officers of CAFM. Their contributions as executives were in close proximity, but they made the decision together. At the event, they will announce the details of their transition from the organization, and the future of CAFM.

The two CAFM officers are veteran actors and performers in Chicago. Scholz has a theater and Chicago improv background, including The Second City Conservatory, Annoyance Theater and iO Chicago. McPhillips is from Alabama, and moved to Chicago specifically to pursue a career in independent film, TV, voiceover and stage. She spent a year steering and promoting her latest film, “The Other One,” which was picked up by the Chicago International Film Festival this year and for distribution.

HollywoodChicago.com talked to the two actors, about their life in CAFM and their acting careers.

HollywoodChicago.com: The easiest question to begin with for both of you…what have been the biggest accomplishment of the Chicago Actor’s Meet-up Group this year?

Grace McPhillips: We did ‘General Auditions’ again, and this year we brought in Jen Inguilli, an agent who casts shows in the Southeast, like ‘Under the Dome.’ She had been one of the four casting directors we worked with last year, and had given us feedback on the General Auditions we sent her last year. This year she actually came in for a weekend, and we had a brunch for all the local agents in town, to build those working relationships. We had 60 actors do the auditions, and created a booklet, and that is available to the industry and the public on line.

Steve Scholz: What came to mind for me was our partnership with CIMMfest [The Chicago International Music & Movies Festival]. We found kindred spirits in their staff, and we’re both non profits. They allowed us to sponsor four diverse panels. It was cool to see a bunch of people from the categories in the industry, sit down to have discussions, in an environment where they don’t normally get together. That was fascinating to watch, and it was led, created and produced by the acting community.

HollywoodChicago.com: You began this event in a modest Irish pub on the Northwest side, and morphed it into a downtown event in the last couple of years…what have you learned in that transition, and where do you see the evolution in taking it to the Bottom Lounge in the West Loop?

McPhillips: We’re meeting in the middle between those elements. It’s still going to be classy and cocktails, but we’re reducing our costs, because in the end it’s a fundraiser.

HollywoodChicago.com: You have a major announcement coming up at the CAFM event, having to do with changes in your executive board. What can people anticipate regarding that transition?

McPhillips: We decided to step down from our executive positions, both individually and jointly. We wanted to step away together because we wanted to make sure that one of us wouldn’t have to step up, and it’s important for the health of an organization if the leadership changes. You either grow or you die.

Scholz: As we came to an independent decision, we also felt it was nice to leave some room for more people to come in. We don’t fear a vacuum in leadership.

McPhillips: We created a list of potentially 40 people to bring into leadership roles, and most of them said yes. It was so gratifying.

HollywoodChicago.com: In your opinions, what is the state of production and again, evolution for the Chicago film actor, as far as production and infrastructure in 2014?

Scholz: It’s been cool to see the continuation and growth of television, with the new show ‘Empire’ about to launch, which has brought in a different selection of actors to the city. I was talking to a member of our group, who jokingly said he heard a casting director say, ‘it stinks to be a white male actor.’ [laughs] There is more diversity in roles here now, which is fun and exciting.

McPhillips: What I’ll say is that the independent film world is in a challenging place right now, there needs to be a real major shake up. There is one director in town who is teaching a class in ‘Rocking the Independent Film Audition,’ just so he can get his fellow directors to see the talent here. The directors tend to say in their cages, and getting them to come out is part of the shake up.

Scholz: And one of the things that has been nice about our events and parties, like the Holiday Hurrah, is that we work to connect those people in the industry.

Grace McPhillips in ‘The Other One’
Photo credit: Indican Pictures

HollywoodChicago.com: There are indications that Los Angeles is not necessarily the only destination for film actors in the United States, with Chicago, North Carolina and Georgia stepping up. What factors have driven these relocations in the last five years?

McPhillips: Money. I would love to think it had to do with talent or location. [laughs] I was in Atlanta recently, and found out they did five billion in production revenue, about seven times what was done here – there are 29 shows being done there. People were saying, ‘I guess they’ve discovered Atlanta.’ I thought, no, they discovered your tax incentives. The state and city did a good job.

HollywoodChicago.com: Chicago Fire, and now Chicago PD, are becoming symbolic for the revival of production in the city. Are they still using too much of a source from the West Coast in employing actors, or do you observe a viable use of Chicago actors, beyond extra work and a knock off line?

McPhillips: There are larger opportunities beginning to happen, which comes with time. Chicago Fire is doing more local casting, because they’ve become an established hit.

Scholz: And besides just casting ‘the victim of the week,’ there seems to be opportunities to get recurring roles on those shows. And now there are crossovers between ‘Fire’ and ‘PD.’

HollywoodChicago.com: Has the union presence in Chicago improved since the merger of SAG/AFTRA, and is it easier now to become part of it than when you began as actors?

Scholz: The costs are a bit more, because of the merger, but it can be just as easy to get in, but we do need more education of members once they get in. What is happened with the TV shows, is that more people are getting an opportunity to join.

McPhillips: There are always politics involved, The Chicago office has always tended to be under the control of Los Angeles and New York City, so the area often becomes a bargaining chip. I also wonder when the offices were separate here if they had more independence. It’s now more of a corporate entity, and getting things done takes a bit longer.

Scholz: I don’t necessarily agree with the term ‘under the control.’ Post-merger, the impression that I’m getting, is that there is a period of adjustment. It also means more review of Chicago, but it is a slower process, simply because there are more people involved. I don’t think it diminishes the strength of the union here, but it is an adjustment.

Steve Scholz and Amy Dorris in ‘Foreclosure Solider’
Photo credit: Steve Scholz

HollywoodChicago.com: What are your opinions regarding the characteristics of what a casting agent – from outside the city – thinks when they look at a resume and see that an actor has worked primarily in Chicago?

McPhillips: They always look for the theater background from here, because we’re known as a notable theater town. And the second thing is improvisation, either at The Second City, or iO, or Annoyance. They’ve all grown and made names for themselves. But there don’t think of us for film necessarily, and I would like it to be more like New York City actors, who are thought of for theater and independent film.

HollywoodChicago.com: Grace, you’ve had a whirlwind year with your film “The Other One,” culminating in a premiere showing at the 50th Chicago International Film Festial. What has this year taught you about the business of filmmaking, the marketing of a film, and the marketing of your name as a brand?

McPhillips: You asked me a similar question last year, I wish I could read what I said. [laughs] Last year, it was about making the film and finishing it. This year was about an amazing learning process, good and bad. Good, as in its totally possible, I’m signing the distribution agreement now. We are making DVDs and are premiering on VOD this upcoming spring.

What is bad, sadly, is that the business model is broken and is in flux. I saw grown men in Cannes wetting themselves over that fact, and are now opening television divisions. The film world is on this interesting precipice, where there is more opportunity than ever to make a film because of technology, but also it’s stuck in an old-dog mentality that you have to have an established celebrity attached, it has to have action and nudity – even though these old rules that are not applicable any more. As far as independent film today, it remains a rich white person’s game.

HollywoodChicago.com: Steve, your most notable acting credit in the last year was ‘Foreclosure Soldier.’ What is your opinion of how your ‘type’ is viewed, both in the body of your work and in the casting community?

Scholz: I still struggle with what my ‘type’ is – there are a lot of different things, but they’re not in a general category. I’ve done comedy, but I can also talk about dramatic things I’ve been cast in. Being a type helps for marketing purposes, because if they know that, they know I can deliver what they need. Typing will get people in the door, because if you’re typecast, you are cast. It can get you to something else, a door opening device. It’s a step in the process, but it doesn’t define the process.

The way to be seen, as you want to be seen, is of course to produce your own content. As I do things for myself, I don’t have to wait for others to cast me, and I create an impression of the strength of what I can do.

Steve Scholz and Grace McPhillips of CAFM Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com: Both of you are sitting at a magical casting room and can portray any film, stage or television role in history. Which one would it be and why?

McPhillips: Since we recently lost director Mike Nichols, I’m going to with the Elizabeth Taylor portrayal of Martha in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?’ I performed the ‘Daddy’ monologue in college, and even though I was too young for it, the feedback was that it is in me.

Scholz: I would like to try the Peter Seller’s Chauncey Gardner in ‘Being There.’ It occurred to me because it’s a very subtle character exploration, and I like the presence that role has in the film. It would be fun to play something that has an intellectual quality to it, but is seen in the outside world as ‘we have to take care of this man.’

HollywoodChicago.com: Finally, what defines 2014 through the filter of the state of the Chicago actor>

McPhillips: We had a lot of unexpected death in the Chicago acting community. It began with Molly Glynn, through a bike accident. During the same storm, Bernie Yvon passed in a separate car accident. It was all very sudden and unexpected. I feel like I have gained a greater perspective through this loss, we should acknowledge it and not waste our time.

Scholz: Because of the passings this year, there was a discussion about reconnecting with people, that this acting community shouldn’t lose it’s sense of togetherness. What I love about CAFM is our community, and how we collectively mentor each other. If there is a struggle, we know we’re not alone. I would love see our community come together to share and connect, because that’s how we make the change.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– The Chicago independent film scene keeps thriving, and a local production that just wrapped up will soon be a part of it. “The View From Tall” is based on a play written by co-director Caitlin Parrish, who along with her directing partner Erica Weiss brought the story to the screen.

One of the key roles in the film is portrayed by Chicago actor Michael Patrick Thornton. Thornton is a veteran performer, who most recently appeared as Dr. Gabriel Fife in the ABC-TV series “Private Practice.” Thornton suffered a spinal stroke in 2003, and is now mobile via a wheelchair, but has still forged a full acting career which also included an appearance in “The Dilemma” – directed by Ron Howard – in 2011.

Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss on the Set of ‘The View From Tall’
Photo credit: Tyler Core for the ‘The View From Tall,’ LLC

The crew of “The View From Tall,” which includes producer Amanda Pflieger (of last year’s notable film “Animals”) and co-producer Mary Kay Cook, invited HollywoodChicago.com to the set to watch some scene work and interview directors Erica Weiss and Caitlin Parrish, as well as actor Michael Patrick Thornton.

HollywoodChicago.com: Michael, tell me a bit about your character in ‘View from the Tall’ and what qualities do you want to emphasize about him in your interpretation?

Michael Patrick Thornton: My character is named Dr. Douglas Cecil, a psychologist, recently suffering a spinal cord injury and dealing with family trauma. This is the first time he is treating an adolescent, and is challenged by her intelligence and precociousness. There is a real moral center to this guy which serves as his North Star – adhering to this anachronistic moral code was important to me.

HollywoodChicago.com: Caitlin, what was the idea genesis for the play, and what were the biggest challenges of transforming it into a screenplay and a cinematic vision as a director?

Caitlin Parrish: I wrote the play when I was 18 years old, and it was the first play I ever wrote, so I didn’t really know how to do it. It came about when I was working as a stage manager, and one of the actors challenged me to write a play, because they said I couldn’t do it. I don’t like being told what I can’t do. I started with a funny line – my joke in high school was that I wasn’t a lesbian, I was just tall. As I wrote that down, the character came out of that. The rest of it was about high school, and the number of slights I felt, which I guess I had to work out. [laughs]

When it came time to adapt the play to film, a decade later, the main challenge was to taking a three character, bottled play and transform it into a cinematic world. Also, it was about rewriting the character to not make her right all the time, which was my attitude at 18 years old. I embraced the gray areas more.

HollywoodChicago.com: Erica, as you are both theater veterans, how do those skills translate for you in creating that cinematic world for this story?

Erica Weiss: The thing I’ve learned is that it’s like doing theater in reverse, because in theater you start with the text, working on it, get it to its feet, add technical blocking elements and bring the audience. With film, you work backward, from the picture, to the day-of shooting and then giving performance notes on the text.

That was intimidating at first, but I realized that I had done those processes before, just in a different order. Then it became easier to wrap my mind around it. In the end, it is about storytelling and collaboration, and it’s figuring out the shared language of the actors and crew. It was closer to theater than I imagined.

HollywoodChicago.com: Michael, I just witnessed your scene in which you get some bad news about the character’s injuries. How do you relate back to your real life in absorbing this type of news, since you’ve heard it before in your own personal journey?

Thornton: Personally after I got ill in 2003, I stopped working on literal translations of scripts, they all kind of tend to have become challenging, but ultimately healing types of a ‘Trojan Horse’ scenario. It unloads opportunities to relive some of my stuff, and to forgive – bury the dead and honor the ghosts. There isn’t much acting these days, [laughs] but at the same time it’s exhausting. I rather be doing that kind of thing, though, than putting on a f**king hat and doing a drawing room mystery.

The fact of the matter is I was told I would never talk again, and did after nine months of speech therapy. So to be on a set and to tell a story, is an incredible gift, in whatever package it comes in. If I enter into an acting challenge with that sense of gratitude, it makes the day a lot easier.

Michael Patrick Thornton and Amanda Drinkall Share a Scene in ‘The View From Tall’
Photo credit: Tyler Core for the ‘The View From Tall,’ LLC

HollywoodChicago.com: Let’s talk a bit about the actor’s palette for you, since you’ve worked on stage, film and television. What is different between the three, as far as energy level, and what is the most common preparation that works best across all three media?

Thornton: It’s such a strange environment, the film and TV world, There are all these machinations going on, and many things vying for your attention, and can seem a bit antiseptic to anything inspirational. I’ve come full circle with it, and love it as much as theater, because if we believe in all the acting techniques we use – especially in television, where a lot of money is on the line to make a day’s shoot – then no amount of preparation can get you to the point in which you actually trust that.

On stage, the script doesn’t change that much, the place you perform the play is not going to change. If we look at a film or TV set as a science experiment, the constant that we know in theater is a variable in the other media. Locations change, chronology is out of whack and the shot order changes – which means you might have to switch emotional paths depending on what is coming up. What are you going to do? The answer is that in film or TV, on a very sneaky level, has given me a beautiful opportunity to practice what I preach. To simply trust the truthfulness of what is documented, and that it is enough. More than enough, actually.

HollywoodChicago.com: Erica and Caitlin, what is the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you about directing, and how do you apply it into this production?

Parrish: Hire Stephanie Duffords as Director of Photography. [laughs] I made friends with other female directors, and I went to them because we were first-timers, and the paradigm shifts when women are in charge. I got a piece of advice from a friend who said, ‘under no circumstances cede your power.’ Also she said set the tone from day one, so Erica and I both have put a premium on creating an environment that is fun, efficient and respectful. We know when to play around, but we also make sure that everyone on the set will feel that respect, and that won’t change – there was no ego tolerated.

Weiss: The other piece of advice was ‘you can do it.’ That was just enough for two creative collaborators – Caitlin and I have been working together for 12 years – and this is a major step for us, but we were told when describing the project, that everything would be fine. That made it so much less scary.

HollywoodChicago.com: Michael, at what point in your career have you turned around and wonder, ‘how the hell did I get here?’

Thornton: Everyday? [laughs] Seriously, last night we were outside in this weird parking lot in LaGrange [Illinois] and of all the things you could be doing on a Friday night, it was the only place I wanted to be. It was a wonderfully written scene, guided expertly by two directors and with a fantastic scene partner. The challenge for this type of career, in which the end goal seems to be a cover of a magazine, is that if you can cultivate a spirit of gratitude on the way to work, people will want to work with you, and the day will just go that much faster. Honestly, it’s all about today.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com

CHICAGO– December 9th is the 2014 second season premiere of “Ground Floor,” the TBS workplace comedy featuring John C. McGinley (“Scrubs”), plus Skylar Astin and Briga Heelan (seen in the film “Pitch Perfect”). Chicago native Cindy Caponera is a writer and Co-Executive Producer on the show.

In a variation on the “Slobs versus the Snobs” scenario, “Ground Floor” is set in a financial company that features a romance between an occupant of the upper floors – where the master-of-the-universe financial consultants hold court – and a worker on the “ground floor,” where the operations and maintenance crew resides. A big part of the hilarity is provided by John C. McGinley, playing a mentor character as in “Scrubs,” but in a softer and gently funny way. The chemistry between the featured couple, portrayed by Astin and Heelan, provides the conflict between the two parts of the company.

The Second Season of ‘Ground Floor’ Premieres December 9th, 2014, on TBS
Photo credit: TBS

Cindy Caponera was born on the Southside of Chicago in the Back of the Yards neighborhood,. She honed her comedy with two stints in at “The Second City” here, and began her television writing career with the early Comedy Central series, “Exit 57.” She landed a writing gig on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 1995, and after three seasons on that show, has worked since as a freelance TV writer. Her credits includes “Norm,” “My Boys,” “Sherri,” plus Showtime’s “Shameless” and “Nurse Jackie.” Earlier in 2014, she took a position as Co-Executive Producer on “Ground Floor,” and published her collection of essays, “I Triggered Her Bully,” now available both in an online and print version, after being named a Kindle Top Rated Humor Book.

HollywoodChicago.com talked to Cindy Caponera earlier this year, and caught up to her as the second season of “Ground Floor” is about to begin.

HollywoodChicago.com: A sitcom’s second season is a time when it came come into its own, with a more relaxed style because the origin story is done. What can viewers of ‘Ground Floor’ expect for Season Two that will progress the characters and story?

Cindy Caponera: First, we have a new character named Lindsay, portrayed by Emily Heller, who works upstairs in the executive floor. She winds up being an integral part of our ensemble, portraying a kind of nerdy smart girl. The two relationships on the show, the one between Brody and Mansfield [Astin and McGinley] – which is more father and son – plus the romance of Brody and Jenny [Heelan], will be explored much deeper.

HollywoodChicago.com: How can viewers catch up with the situations on the show?

Caponera:TBS has made the whole first season online until December 10th. When I was hired onto the show, and caught up with it, I found it hilarious. You know John C. McGinley from ‘Scrubs,’ you know Skylar Astin from ‘Pitch Perfect’ and you know comedian Rory Scovel, along with Rene Gube and James Earl. Those are all great performers who are all on our show, and Briga Heelan [Jennifer] is one of the most talented young women I’ve come across in a long time. Her and Skylar have a video out right now singing “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” and she’s so funny.

HollywoodChicago.com:‘Ground Floor’ has a terrific young cast, and the great ‘Scrubs’ veteran John C. McGinley, performing a similar but softer role on the show. How much easier is it to write for an established character type like McGinley than characters that are not as defined?

Caponera: That character in any sitcom is fun to write for because they’re mythical. Once you establish the myth, the jokes become funny. On the ‘Norm’ show, we used to do that for the Max Wright character. You can put things on them because they can hold it all.

HollywoodChicago.com: At what point were you brought into the show’s production staff, and what does a person who comes in after a show starts have to learn about it, for example what source materials besides the shows themselves to you use to get up to speed?

Caponera: Really, it’s about reading the scripts and watching the show. When I was brought on, they also brought on two new staff writers. I had a bit of a learning curve, but one of the first things I did was just support the female characters on the show – just to make sure they are super dimensional.

HollywoodChicago.com: This is a workplace ensemble comedy, with strong ‘Slobs versus Snobs’ appeal. How does your life background help to inform what you contribute to this theme?

Caponera: Well, obviously I identify more with the ‘ground floor’ people. I did work in the parts department for Schiller and Houghton Elevator in Chicago. [laughs] In one of the episodes Mansfield offers Jenny a scholarship to go back to college. When the idea came up at the table read [first script reading] I threw my arms in the air in celebration. The idea that someone that rich would pay for somebody’s college actually made me teary-eyed.

HollywoodChicago.com: The show has a laugh track, which is not being used as much anymore. What is the decision today behind laugh track or no laugh track on series comedies today?

Caponera: I believe it is almost entirely the live studio audience but I’m sure it’s somewhat mixed. Our audiences are great — very enthusiastic – so much so that sometimes we actually have to mix the laughs down. My general feeling is that the laugh track is a dance of sort, to cue the jokes, especially since our series is a multi-camera [shot live and in sequence, on set with multiple cameras]. We have the stuff, and the response has been great. We did do some shoots last season without an audience, and they brought in some “professional laughers” because it helps in feedback and pacing the show.

Cindy Caponera, Co-Executive Producer of ‘Ground Floor’
Photo credit: Cindy Caponera

HollywoodChicago.com: There are some pretty big TV names attached to the show, like Bill Lawrence of ‘Scrubs.’ In creative decisions for shows like ‘Ground Floor,’ what is the hierarchy in the show’s executive staff in regard to those decisions?

Caponera: We have a show runner named Jeff Astrof, who by the way is the funniest man I’ve worked for in a really long time. He and Bill made all the major decisions, Jeff made them first and kept Bill into the loop, with input from the executive staff. I want to give a shout-out to just a great production staff, writing team and cast.

HollywoodChicago.com: We first met you here in the middle of the year, as you promoted your new book ‘I Triggered Her Bully.’ What is the status of how the book is performing, and are there plans for another one?

Caponera: The book is doing very well, as I still get my royalty checks from Amazon. [laughs] Since work on the show was so intense, I’m just getting back to the book, doing readings and going back to my social media. I have an idea for a new book, originally entitled ‘Vehicles for Butter,’ because it was going to talk about women and food, But recently I talked to my brother Bill, and I may entitle it, ‘I Forgot to Ask How You Are.’ [laughs] Also what I’d like to do next is adapt my 1989 one woman show about the Chicago fire strike into a full length play. I actually workshopped this play in the 1990s, and I’d like to get it done.

HollywoodChicago.com: On the cusp of the 40th anniversary of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and since you were part of that ride, what is your opinion on the current state of the show, and is it a format that has actually outlived its appeal?

Caponera: No, I don’t believe so. ‘SNL’ is like mashed potatoes and gravy. When it’s good it’s really good, and when it’s not but it’s still kind of good. I have a lot of compassion for sketch work, and I understand the process. I know the rug can be pulled out at any time, and I understand the rewrites, the changing of concepts and just plain bad execution. I can relate. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: what is your fondest Chicago Christmas memory, and do you actually miss any elements of the Chicago winter?

Caponera: Believe it or not, I do miss some elements of the weather. That first fresh snow, when it’s not so cold, and you’re walking in it. I liked walking fast in the winter, running from house to house, drinking warm coffee and wearing big sweaters.

HollywoodChicago.com: It gets old real fast, though.

Caponera: Yeah I know. I just want people to come and visit me because I miss them so much. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: Well, how about a Christmas memory?

Caponera: My mother’s dad, ‘Jumping’ Red Cassidy, was a singer in Chicago. He sang at all the political rallies, and recorded seven records. My grandmother and he were married on Christmas Day, and at their 50th Wedding Anniversary – which was before the holiday – he sang a song to my grandmother, then dropped dead. The song he sang to her was ‘Because of You.’ [laughs] I was in high school at the time, and he just had open heart surgery. He sang the last note, and then expired.

HollywoodChicago.com: And you wonder why you became a comedian.

Caponera: [Laughs]

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com