Well you know, I do believe this is an honest to goodness first for me. I don't believe I have ever SAT down to do an interview with anyone. And I tried my best not to here. But damn the setting and the situation, it was hard to do this the way I like to... but... hey... that's the way it goes.
A couple of weeks ago I got a call asking me if I wanted to go to the 'Texas Premiere' of AMERICAN BEAUTY with Thora Birch and Mena Suvari in attendance. "Well... Ummm Sure," I said. I was then questioned about my desire to do an 'interview' with these two young ladies. Figuring that this was my only chance to get up close enough for either of them to figure out if they instantly love me or not, I decided to take em up on the offer.
So out I drove to the METROPOLITAN THEATER... The same theater that I camped for over a week at for STAR WARS EPISODE ONE: THE PHANTOM MENACE. It's like a homecoming. All the management and staff loathe the sight of me. I mean... day and night we camped. They had to put up with that crowd, drunk, stoned, sober even... But here we come again.
Luckily through a separate source I was able to score 10 passes to the event, so I was able to give them to my whole crew... all of whom hadn't seen the film that I consider the best film I've seen thus far this year.
As the crew arrived: Hooper and Quint, Johnny Wad, Copernicus, Captain Blood, Flash Gordon, Annette Kellerman, Robogeek, El Cosmico and Father Geek all lined the far side of the ropes. The folks at the event lined me and my little Sony Mavica digital Soul Collector on the south side of the ropes. On one side I had the folks from the local access tv show, The Reel Deal, and on the other side... two short ladies that didn't say 2 words in my direction so I could never figure it out.
The funniest part of the event was the red carpet. Literally noone was allowed upon it. Not the people with tickets to the premiere or the folks that were here for the University Screening. It was reserved for the two ladies coming in the one limo that was en route. Very strange really. I don't know to whom the invitations were sent for the premiere, but they must not have been familiar with the movie, because if they weren't... they sure as heck should have known.
So while we waited I bugged Corey and Martin and took a picture of Annette's ass from across the red carpet. She gasped in horror when I showed her, but it was too late. My Mavica had collected the soul of her ass. Ahhhh... wallpaper.
Then they arrived and the masses began chattering real loud and trying to fight for a glimpse. And I'm not kidding. There had to actually and for real be guards there. I was kinda surprised because while I'm a bit of a fan of both these young ladies... it was not my impression that they were widely known at all. But hey... Never underestimate popularity... it's strange. As I pondered this I decided this was the last bit of reality that I would see.
I decided that I was going to become the character of Ricky Fitts from AMERICAN BEAUTY. I wanted to study Thora and Mena whilst they handled and played the red carpet. Using the digital zoom I would get closer than any person has any right to be. Watch the minutest of reactions in their faces as they talked to the various press people and fans. I've never done this before so... have patience with me.... This is when I got the first shot of Thora
It was a tad dark. Barely any available light. My little camera would have to try it's darndest to catch the magic. I didn't want to use any flashes. That captures a deer in headlights. I wanted to get these two and see if what I found was different from the movie's video footage.
I noticed a strange thing as I looked through the lcd screen... I noticed that I wasn't really listening to anything that was being said... To tell the truth I can't remember a sound. It was strange. Like that above shot of Mena... I remember thinking how incredibly young and beautiful she was, but at the same time I thought that she had to be very tired of this type of thing.
Then I turned the camera to Thora and with her I saw some one that was just being very straight forward with people. Answering questions... Not really playing to the cameras... Not doing an overly exciting laugh quite like
Mena was playing the crowd. At one moment she'd be stone faced, then suddenly burst out into laughter like above... or suddenly she'd have a very muggy look of surprise...
Of course at the same time she is incredibly sexy in person. And that is effortless. I remember thinking that she had to have been a model at some point.. something that was confirmed later when I interviewed her.
Meanwhile, I really was being drawn more and more to Thora's face. It seemed to be telling more of a story. Now I don't know if that is risidual prejudice left over from watching AMERICAN BEAUTY... or if that was just something I was seeing in the camera. I think... it was in the camera. A couple of times my focus was broke by one of the publicity people asking me if I wanted to speak to them out here... and I merely pointed inside... not wanting to talk to anyone right then.
It was so strange looking at these two girls through a camera. Once you see AMERICAN BEAUTY you will understand what I mean. The film is almost a calling card for voyeurism. And I understand the appeal. You can sit back... stand in a crowd... stare and never feel like you are staring. You can see flashes of emotion that otherwise you would miss. and as you look at your palms you hold a living live image of the person that you are getting closer and closer to without even moving.
And you can control the brightness and the focus... automatic airbrushing. It's a separation from reality. And... I think it is that aspect of both this movie and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT that I so dearly latched on to without even thinking of it at the time. There is something very pervasive about the video image. It seems like it is reality. Whereas film creates the illusion of reality... but you always know... That is staged. I automatically drop my instinctual 'this is film' when looking at pixels. I don't know why that is. It's strange. I think it has to do with the lighting. It isn't so perfectly balanced.
I had no idea what I would ask them. What do I have to say to two people that were not alive when STAR WARS opened. People that were not living when SUPERMAN opened. People who's life times have known only Reagan, Bush and Clinton as Presidents. That's weird to me. I don't know these girls. I mean. Thora was Jack Ryan's daughter.
But that was years ago... She has changed quite a bit. In fact she's moved from being cute to being attractive. It's amazing what a few years does to a vocabulary and use of adjectives.
Meanwhile, with Mena... Well I've seen her in film for a few years now, but my primary thoughts of her are as a girl that a lacrosse player and middle aged man wanted to fuck. I mean. That's weird memories to have as a starting point. What would I say?
Inside we had to wait for them to introduce the screenings... then they came out... and began to do their interviews... of which I was just one of. So while I waited, I just watched them talking to other reporters. While watching them with Chris Garcia... local newspaper reporter and film reviewer, I saw that they and he were strictly business. It seemed so serious. And I was set to nod off. Thankfully this charming lady came up to rescue me. Actually she just came up and said, "Hi, I'm a big fan of yours, I'm Thora's mom, Carol."
Oh man. Thora's mom. Well, this was something I wasn't expecting. So I just ducked my head and blushed as she talked about a couple of different things I've written... strangely things that didn't concern Thora. So, I decided... AHA, this was my chance to do a pre-interview. After all, Thora was 17 which meant everywhere that she went on set... and everything she did... MOM was watching. So I began talking to her about her daughter. And like the other child actor mom I've met, Elijah Wood's mom Debbie, she was incredibly proud of her daughter. I asked where Thora was on filming with DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. And I was told that Thora had completed shooting on that film. That was wrapped up in Prague this summer and she had a lot of fun on it. When asked about it, she seemed to think it was a fun role for Thora. She had a great time with John Malkovich. At first she couldn't remember Tom Baker (our cool sorceror from THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD) and she mentioned Thora really being keen on the idea of riding atop a dragon in the film.
Carole told me about how she was a physical trainer that helped pregnant women get back into shape after birth, when Thora first started out acting... but she had to drop out of that in order to be the 'stage mom'. We then talked about the stage that Thora is at in her career. Where suddenly she is going to be looking at playing parts that are older. And how not many child actors can successfully make the transition.
In all... I found Carole to be a very nice lady that cared quite a bit about Thora and believes with absolute certainty that Thora will be acting for quite some time to come. Also... It was a bit strange, but both she and Thora don't think that Thora has been portrayed as being beautiful in film yet. I disagree. In AMERICAN BEAUTY... I felt that she really captured the screen wonderfully... especially when Wes Bentley's character begins paying her some attention for her and not her best friend.
Finally it was my time to sit down with the girls and frankly... this was waaaay weird. So, as I sat down I decided I should be talking. Quint had given me this tape recorder of his. I had my little reporter tablet. And I only had a 15 minute length of time to interview them. Doesn't sound like very much time.
So I did a bit of small talk. "So I take it you two are happy with the movie." What an incredibly stupid thing to say. I'm suuuuure they would say, Oh no... I hate it. I mean, this thing had only just won the audience award up at Toronto, as well as a couple of awards at the Boston Film Festival. Yeah... It was doing just terrible.
In their response they talked about how they had each seen the film multiple times now and they are still happy with it, so that provoked the thought to ask.... "Do y'all like watching yourselves on screen, I know many actors hate it"
Mena responded first with a very enthusiastic, "Yes, I really like to watch dailies, and they really begin to shun me because they don't want me to become 'mannered', but it's not that really.. I'm just looking at the photography"
"Right, to get an idea of what the film's looking like," I slid in.
"Yeah, when I watch myself it's completely third person, you know," Mena said as Thora interupted with..
"I hate watching myself. I can stand to watch everyone else but not me."
Then Mena dodged in with, "Well, I find that I have all these different mannerisms and facial things that I'm not even aware of and when I see it I'm like 'whoa I didn't know I did that'."
Getting an idea about what Mena gets out of watching herself, which strangely I found a direct parallel to her character as well as the behavior that I caught outside. Her reactions seemed a bit 'mannered' She seemed a bit... self concious... So I decided to ask Thora, "So when you look at yourself of film, what is it you don't like that the camera sees?"
"It's not anything self concious, it is just that I go like... What am I doing up there? I'm just a big ugly thing up there. I don't know how to describe it really. When I was younger I was so much better, I was like.."
Suddenly from out of the bathroom came this primoridial scream. It was as if a woman was giving birth to a baby calf. Which caused Thora to say,
"Uhhmmm... COOL... I would watch the whole thing (film) and look at myself as a character. But I think that as my style changed as I got older as an actress I find that I'm more aware of what I'm doing, so I criticize it more."
This was interesting to me. Thora, who has been acting on film since a very young
age (6 in fact), feels that she just gets critical when she looks at herself, whereas Mena
who is still relatively new (4 years now) to the game is still entranced by every moment
that she is on camera. Constantly studying herself. Very excited.
Hearing this, I wondered if they saw themselves as getting set to change in the type
of roles, because they were both coming out of the ‘Child’ age and entering the ‘Adult’
age. And I wondered if they were looking for adjustment roles. Films to grow themselves
up on film.
Hearing this, I wondered if they saw themselves as getting set to change in the type of roles, because they were both coming out of the ‘Child’ age and entering the ‘Adult’ age. And I wondered if they were looking for adjustment roles. Films to grow themselves up on film.
Mena responded first... I must say Mena was alway very agressive in answering first. She was hungry to answer the questions, “No not really. I still look very young so I’m still taking and going out for those roles...”
”Well, You do have SUGAR AND SPICE coming up with New Line... Have you finished shooting that?”
”Oh.. yeah yeah” -- Mena
”So are you playing the insane pregnant cheerleader that goes wacko?” I say in my most charming of voices. She paused and looked at me like I was some sort of wacko myself, then...
Mena said, “Have you read the script?” I shook my head no, “Ok... well basically there are 5 main girls and they each have different style personalities, but I guess you’d say our main girl is Marley Shelton (or Marla Sokoloff, I couldn’t tell on the tape). I play the tough one named... Kansas”
”Did you hear about that squad of Texas Cheerleaders or Pep Squad girls that pulled a series of gas station robberies, but,” as I’m saying this poor Thora is thrown into a laughing fit, while Mena look concerned, “got nailed when one of the girls got drunk and started talking about it to a bunch of people who turned them in.”
Mena asked, “Where was this?”
”Right here in Texas somewhere, my father told me about it one morning. The girls were wearing masks and dressing like guys... using guns... and being really tough.”
”That’s scary... that has a lot in common with the film.”
”Well, that’s just the way it is now days, people in our age just go a bit wacko now and then.”
Mena - “Well, access to guns is awful easy.”
”Agreed. Let’s see here. Well Thora, I’ve already heard everything about how you grew up... all the embarrassing details from your Mom, like the first pimple, and” at this Thora began scouring the lobby of the theater with death in her eyes, “Oh... I’m just kidding you, “
”That’s good, besides she doesn’t know that story. I kept it a secret.” Thora responded.
Mena laughed and I chuckled, and to Mena said, “But with you.... I just know that your mom was a nurse and your father was a psychiatrist, but”
”That’s scary... It’s like you already know me.” and folks... This really spooked her. It felt obvious that noone that had interviewed her had known what her parents did. So.
”Well, I just went to Internet Movie Database and clicked on Trivia.” Which instantly caused Thora to chime in with...
”Oh... The Trivia on me on that thing is Wrong. All wrong.”
To which I responded, “Well, they must’ve figured it out cause it ain’t there any more. All I could find on you was that really cute Thora.org.” You should have seen her blush. The closest image I have to it in my library of Thora and Mena images is this one.. that I took when she had a private tickled moment... you know... Some thought triggered a totally and completely happy face. And here it is....
”Alright, so where is it that you two are wanting to go next... in your careers? What type of roles, etc?”
Mena responded first, of course, with, “I’m going to take some time off and go on vacation.”
”Where to?”
”Oh, I’m going to go to Germany and travel around Europe for a while.”
