TRIBECA FILM FEST 2014: AN INTERVIEW WITH "MATCH'S" PATRICK STEWART AND STEPHEN BELBER

BY LIZ WHITTEMORE

In the arts, like other career paths, but especially in the arts, one must sacrifice quite a bit to succeed. Putting off kids, working extra crappy jobs, and being selfish are all things most artists must do in order to live the dream. Eventually, those decisions can creep up on you, leading to regret.

Stephen Belber has adapted his Tony-nominated stage play MATCH for the silver screen. The story centers around just three characters; Tobi (Patrick Stewart), an aging dance teacher, and the Seattle based couple, Lisa (Carla Gugino) and Mike (Matthew Lillard) who fly in to interview him. The setup is simple, Lisa needs info about what it was like during the 1960’s in the NYC dance scene. Hubby, Mike, is just along for the ride. They meet at a quaint neighborhood diner where Tobi is a regular. Once the three are comfortable enough, he invites them back to his apartment for drinks and continued conversation. Slowly, and under the influence of alcohol and a little pot, the hard questions come out. Mike, being a cop, begins to use what seem like interrogation tactics in inquiring about specific sexual partners. Tobi is compliant until it becomes clear that there are ulterior motives in this supposed dissertation inquiry. Finally, at the end of his polite host rope, he attempts to end the ruse. Mike’s aggression escalates as he demands a DNA sample from Tobi. He is certain that Tobi is his father. What happens from there is a startling scene of betrayal and crossed lines.

Gugino is earnest and vulnerable in her portrayal of Lisa. She is a woman who has lost her self-worth due to her husband’s emotional damage. Her one-on-one scenes with Stewart are breathtaking. Lillard, who I will forever associate with Scream, seems uncomfortable in his own skin, and I do mean that as a compliment. He struggles with his own identity, not sexually, but as a grounded man and caring husband. The dynamic between the three actors worked so well for me. The tension on screen is strong and each beat is carefully timed by Belber’s adaptation and in his direction.

Patrick Stewart is a legend of stage and screen, both large and small. No matter what role he takes on, he is perfection. Playing Tobi, in particular, seems to be more personal by his own admission. I was able to chat with this incredible talent, alongside writer/director Stephen Belber.

Being that this is the second time he's adapted one of his plays for the screen. Belber speaks to the challenges of moving a stage play to film:

Stephen Belber: Obviously, theater is about the dialogue and I was interested in getting in between the words. The dialogue is what it is, but I wanted to use the camera to get in between and chart the emotional landscape of the faces and what's not said, and where they're conveying emotion without words. So that was a fun challenge just to set myself, and to know that I had actors who were able to give so much without having to speak it. To be up close in Patrick's face when he is lying, and to compel the audience to know whether it is a lie or the truth. And to see him hear certain information that is thrown at him and to non-verbally register it, and deal with it, is very filmic and cinematic in a way you can't get in a theater. There's a great exchange that obviously takes place with the theater and a live audience so for this it's a whole different ballgame. So that's something I wanted to concentrate on.

On casting Patrick as Tobi:

SB: I wanted someone to go away from the broad comedy and the bigness of it and go to the humanity of it and I knew that Patrick could do that hands down.

Patrick Stewart: This morning has been curious for me, because every interview that I've done I have been asked, “So what were the challenges of taking on what was a stage play and now putting it in front of a camera?” I had never realized until this morning that I never actually gave your stage play a thought and people express real surprise when I said, “I didn't see the play. I never read it. I never thought of reading it”. Well, what I had was a screenplay and it was always a screenplay but furthermore I had the author behind the camera every minute of the day so why would I need to access something that we were not doing, anyway. It was very successful as a screenplay. I had no answer to these questions I've been asked all morning.

SB: I'm glad that you didn't read the play because it is a different piece. I wrote (the play) 10 years ago so I think I'm a more nuanced writer and I knew that I wanted to be different so it is a different ballgame and not a great reference point probably.

PS: The role and the story resonate strongly for me because a powerful theme in the film is about the choices that people can make in their lives, especially if they are people who are passionately, ambitiously building a career and how those choices require that some things get put aside or left behind, forever. The life of an actor, particularly an actor working in the theater, as I was working for decades, 6 nights a week I was not there to tuck my children up and sing a song. It was only Sunday night I could do that exclusively and so there was a huge part of my life... I was not making choices; those were just the conditions that you had to accept to work, so this theme in the film has related to me. How you feel you've made the right choices. You feel that you are where you want to be, but you don't know until the shock of what happens in the movie comes up, that actually the choices you've made were not the best ones and that life could have been very different. You know, the path not taken. I put my work first, always. I remember once at a dinner party in my own home sitting around a table 6, 8, 10 people, some actors, directors, but all people in the arts, this was the topic of conversation. Somebody at the table said, "I love my job, I love what I do, but my family always come first" and I heard a voice in my head, quite distinctly, saying, "Not me! Not me." I think it was shocking because it was true.

Liz, The Artswire: I had a question about theatre culture in the UK versus the US and since I have you both here, this is the perfect opportunity. I have found that the respect for theatre acting is so much greater in the UK. That is really where you hone your skills and then maybe from there you are plucked to do movies and television. I feel like it's the opposite in the US. I'm a theater kid and a writer so to have you both here with your perspectives, I was just curious where do you think that comes from? Why do you think theater maybe isn't as respected or wide as it is in the UK?

PS: First of all I'm not sure that that's true, but I think tradition has a great deal to do with it. There's been Theater on stage in England for 700 years and particularly a lot of classical theatre, as I've done. You look over your shoulder and you see all these actors going back in time who has been standing exactly where you been standing saying the same lines. I think it is different now in the UK. Most actors leaving drama school, as I hear this from the casting department of the Royal Shakespeare Company, say its not what it was. We don't have first pick, anymore, of the cream of the drama school because of these guys, they are not interested in doing theater. They see the careers that can be made in film and TV and that's where they want to be. So it's different from how it was. All I ever wanted to do was to be on stage. Everything that ever happened to me on film and television was an accident it. I fell over it rather than pursuing it. And it just so happened that you guys are so much better at film acting than we are. For the most part, you are. I loved the cinema when I was a kid! It was, for me, the absolute escape from my really rather not very great life. I don't recall seeing British movies. If I thought they were British I wouldn't go see them, and I sort of lost myself in this world that used to be overwhelmed with sadness. The curtains would close and I would have to go back to real life again. So working with American filmmakers and American actors, as with Matthew and Carla, both superb actors, was such a joy to me. I mean we do OK, we got a few actors that do OK. We did not have one hour of film acting in our drama school in 2 years. I think we once visited a television studio which is to say, "That is the camera.”

SB: I think he's right in the tradition and “Who is royalty?” and I think that film actors became royalty with kids growing up, but "These (referring to Patrick) are the icons,” and they value their skill. But there are enough kids here that catch the theater bug. Matt has weekly play readings in his living room, in his house in L.A., because he's a theater nerd. And you grab those people and then cross them over into film.

Liz: What has been your proudest moment, thus far, in your career?

PS: I think, as I said all I want to do was be on stage but I couldn't narrow that down to say what I really wanna be is on the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. That was actually my ambition and everything I did for the six years that led up to that wasn't going into that direction so I did one season with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford upon Avon playing quite small roles, supporting roles, and understudy roles. And thank God, never, ever, ever had to go on. But at the end of that 10 month season, all the company, one at a time, were called to Peter Hall's office, it's like meeting the headmaster, "We will review your work", and I didn't think mine had been very good or overly interesting or of any real quality but all I wanted was to be asked, given one more chance to come back and do another season, and that's all I wanted. And it was my turn to go in, and I went in and Peter Hall said, "Well this isn't going to take long." And I thought, “Oh no, this is it.”  And he said, "Look, are you aware that we have three year contract here?", and I said, "Yeah, I had heard of that." And he said, "We wanna give you a three year contract." I was speechless and outside the theater in Stratford there was a telephone box and I went down and I called my wife and she said, "How did it go?" .... and finally, getting the silence she says, "I take it it went well." That was it for me. Nothing has been quite so thrilling a feeling as that moment.

Match is a beautifully intimate film. It dares to go places that some might be scared to approach.  How have our decisions in our lives affected where we are now? I think that remains to be seen.

VERDICT: MUST SEE

Written/Directed  by: Stephen Belber Starring: Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino, Matthew Lillard Runtime: 94 min

BOTTOM LINE:  It's a contemplative film. You will, perhaps, reexamine your choices when you leave the cinema.

TRIBECA FILM FEST 2014: AN INTERVIEW WITH "GARNET'S GOLD'S" GARNET FROST AND ED PERKINS

BY LIZ WHITTEMORE

Meet Garnet Frost, a 60 something, caricature of a man. He paints, he sings, he reads, and building things, he writes poetry, he does magic. He is an epic human being who thinks very little of himself. 20 years ago, Garnet went on a hike to Scotland’s Loch Arkaig and nearly died. Just before he was rescued he discovered a wooden staff sticking out of the water. He believes that the staff is a marker for hidden treasure, secretly buried 300 years ago. The experience has haunted him and he is determined to recreate his journey in hopes of striking it rich. Really, this is just the surface of this film. Garnet takes care of his 90 year old mother, still seeking approval for a life filled with extraordinary pursuits. She is an absolute love of a woman. She clearly adores her son, as does his best friend Ann. There is an unrequited side on Ann’s part, admitted so. Though Garnet doubts his value to anyone, everyone he comes in contact with is immediately enchanted.

We get to follow Garnet’s journey in retracing his steps. He tells us what he remembers about the terrain and the difficult journey it had been in his forties. Now, 20 years later, we struggle alongside him as he makes the trip by memory and on foot. We are compelled to cheer for his every step, hoping that he finds a massive reward in the end. In the end, it’s not really the gold that is important. We’ve already fallen in fascination with this man, this genuine human being. You long to hug him when he feels down. He captures the heart of every viewer.

The views are stunning. Scotland’s natural landscape takes your breath away. The amount of rain is alarming. We often find Garnet shoeless, simply because everything was soaked through. Director, Ed Perkins, has put together a beautiful narrative. The two have become fast friends and their mutual respect for one another is palpable. I was fortunate to be able to sit down with both Garnet and Ed last week. Here is a bit of what they had to say about the film.

Liz, The Artswire: Congratulations on this wonderful film. It was so well done, and I loved it.

Ed: It’s very strange for us to hear this. We’re so sure that people are just being nice to us!

Liz: No, no! It’s fantastic. How did you meet each other?

Garnet: Well, it was almost entirely by coincidence, it sort of came out of nowhere. It was in a pub in London talking about my experiences and this guy asked if he could relay my story to a guy in film… May I send a guy round your house? And there was Ed, at my house, in my kitchen.

Ed: In Britain, everything good starts in a pub.

Liz: That’s what I hear.

Ed: I met with Garnet and I was completely taken into his world, I mean very quickly. I just heard that there's amazing, eccentric, extraordinary man looking for lost treasure, in a London pub. It's exactly what you want to hear as a documentary filmmaker. It took four years to get the still made but in the beginning I had no idea what the film was actually going to be about. I knew that even if we didn't find literal gold there is definitely something interesting and maybe even more important from a storyteller's point of view than literal gold. I got addicted to the process. I got addicted to Garnett. I would turn up at his house and he was building contraptions and buying boats. I was taken aback by Garnet's house, all these books of poetry, all this art. That was a starting point of making something slightly more lyrical.

Liz: It seems like it was built around Garnett as a person, all of his stories, all of his hobbies, his amazing paintings.

Ed: Garnet is a bit of a dreamer and most of us are too busy to build our lives around these dreams. The idea of going on an adventure is something resigned maybe to your childhood and here's this man that wants to grab life by the scruff of his neck and while the same time thinks he's possibly wasted much of his life.

Garnet: I'm so grateful to Ed for coming and making this possible.

Ed: there wouldn't be a film unless Garnet was brave enough to allow me into his world. The documentary filmmaker it is such a responsibility and a privilege to get invited into someone’s world especially with these kind of films. and I are very, very close now we probably broke one of the rules this is my first film but I suspect often you try it advisable to stay detached from your subject. That way you can most objectively tell the story and I kind of put my hands up and said "Well I didn't." I did, for better or worse, become emotionally involved in the story. And in my own special way love Garnet. I did care about him and wanted him to succeed. And if it feels different from any other documentary maybe because emotional investment on both of our parts.

Garnet: And although it's my story and Ed is totally invisible to the camera, when I see the film, I see that Ed is there an every shot and he's brought as much to the party as I have. In an understated way it's his story as much as mine. It speaks to his courage as well to take on something like this.

Ed: Although Garnett is this extraordinary man, in a way he's really every man. Second guessing ourselves and wondering if we've made the most of our potential that's pretty key to the human psyche and Garnett was bold enough to go there and ask those questions on camera. I suspected that if there was a way to get that across, then audiences would find a way to emotionally relate to the story. That was the aim anyway.

(Ed also told me about the amazing collaboration on the music for the film.)

Ed: The original cut was 3 hours long and each character had their own narrative introduction and it was a horrible. I realized less is more and I was inspired by Josh, our composer, he did a stunning job with the score in trying to tell the story through music and sound design and allegorical imagery versus traditional dialogue and vérité scenes. He has written 3 amazing songs, the last performed by Liza Minnelli and Wynton Marsalis.

Garnet: Showbiz royalty writing songs for me?

Ed: We had a Q&A session last night and he got a standing ovation from 200 people.  I'm so proud that Garnet is getting the recognition for this beautiful mind and artistic values.  People come up to him and want to shake his hand and want to give him a hug. It's all he's ever wanted for so long and hasn't got. You can finally do that.

Liz: I hope at some point you get to take in all the validation and feel like "my life is amazing, extraordinary" and please know that everyone that's telling you that everything you've done is so incredible and different and wonderful, take that in and I hope it sticks with you because it's really very true. It's amazing. I loved it. It's a gorgeous film and I feel so honored to talk to you about this.

Ed:  That is so kind. Thank you so much.

VERDICT: MUST SEE

Directed by: Ed Perkins Starring: Garnet Frost Runtime: 76 minutes

BOTTOM LINE: This story isn’t really about finding gold. This story is about finding ourselves. It will make you rethink the way you perceive your own life’s accomplishments.

TRIBECA FILM FEST 2014: AN INTERVIEW WITH "GABRIEL'S" RORY CULKIN & LOU HOWE

BY LIZ WHITTEMORE

Many of us deal with anxiety on a daily basis. Some of us have sleep disorders. Others battle with being OCD. Mental illness tends to be a taboo subject. It's something we usually hear about when it comes to the increasing number of mass shootings in this country. Why do we avoid the issue until something goes wrong?

In Lou Howe’s writing and directorial debut, he brings us the story of Gabriel. Played flawlessly by Rory Culkin, Gabriel is a young man struggling with a form of mental illness. On his way back home from some sort of facility, he stops to check up on an old girlfriend in her dorm room, only to find that she has gone home for the holiday. All this happens while avoiding calls from his worried family members. The rise in his agitation both emotionally and physically is a real punch in the gut for audience members. I think we all had a sigh of relief when she wasn’t available. Finally meeting up with his family, Gabriel is not deterred in his path to find her. He disappears on a bus and makes his way into NYC to track her down. During his journey we are witness to the quiet moments in this young man’s life. These seem to be the most disturbing and painful for both Gabriel and viewer alike.

Howe has created a fully fleshed family dynamic without spelling out everything in the script. He treats each character with honest care. It is quite an impressive feat for this first time writer/director. There is actually pretty little dialogue, but what there is, is very astute. Rory’s performance is like watching a masterclass in character study. His focus and mannerisms are perfection. Not to mention that in person, his humility gives you pause. He is quiet in person but eloquent and clearly very bright.I was fortunate enough to attend a round table with Writer/Director Lou Howe and Rory. Here are some of their thoughts on the film.

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Liz, The Artswire: Normally in Hollywood when we deal with mental illness everything turns out alright in the end. For example, Silver Linings Playbook. This is the extreme opposite. So what was your motivation in telling this story?

Lou: I think I just wanted to be as truthful as possible. I like Silver Linings Playbook. I like positive movies but I don't find them to be as honest about life as I hope to make my movies. I wanted to stay true to Gabe and his experience and try to make it as authentic as possible.

Liz: And if the character based on anyone specific?

Lou: No, not really. The original idea to create a character came from the experience of seeing a close friend get diagnosed with mental illness. The character is purely fictional.

Liz: Rory, you are constantly on all the time, everything take. Were you and everybody onset thinking, "I just need a break for 5 seconds?"

Lou: I think were so in it we are just running the race, like Rory said, it took a minute after we wrapped to realize how intense the whole process had been. But at least for me, when you're in it, you try to focus on the next step.

 Liz: Can I ask about the body language in the film?

Rory: When we went and spoke with people and did those sort of things, there was one young man that really stuck out to me. He said he couldn't entirely trust his own hands so they always had to stay within his line of sight and so the point of the hands in my face was to make sure they're behaving.

Liz: Was there any specific research you did maybe speaking to doctors or speaking to patients affected with mental illness?

Lou: My own friend was sort of the start of it. There were two organizations here in New York that were very helpful with research; the Child Mind Institute read early draft of the script and helped me make sure that this felt accurate and true. And another place called fountain house which is a community center for people struggling with mental illness. I visited several times and took Rory there as well just to meet people struggling with mental illness and hear their stories directly.

Rory: For me it was almost entirely hearing about hearing firsthand accounts and their perspective. Learning from the outside, the medical aspects and all that, is great as a foundation, but as soon as we start shooting I just sort of throw that all that all the window because as Gabriel, your diagnosis is bullshit. he doesn't buy into any of that so I sort of had to not think from the outside.

Lou: I was sort of trying to maintain that, too. Rory would be out there with the rest of the cast thinking about it from their point of view. First person memoirs for Rory or talking to people with illnesses and for the actors playing the family members in the film, having them talk to people in their position.

Liz: Rory, was the character hard to shake off at the end of the day?

Rory: Yeah, I thought I left him behind once we got done. But when I got home I was like kind of fragile and really sensitive and I didn't realize it. But it took a while to shake it off. When I came home, my friends said that my face had aged years. It's weird, you know, at the screening last night, it brought me right back and I was afraid I was going to, as soon as it ended, get emotional. It's almost embarrassing, getting emotional watching myself. It's almost like I'm praising myself but really I'm back there. It's not easy.

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Gabriel will leave you thinking about this intense story. You will want to know what happens long after the screen blacks out. It is certainly a wonderful conversation starter, and that one that we need to address more often.

VERDICT: MUST SEE

Writer/Director: Lou Howe Starring: Rory Culkin, David Call, Deirdre O’Connell, Emily Meade, Louisa Krause, Lynn Cohen, Alexia Rasmussen Runtime: 88 min

BOTTOM LINE: Bring family members to see this film. It was give you a safe place to start talking to one another, no matter what ails you, inside or out.