Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/760821
DGA QUARTERLY 55 For some reason, [writer] Jim [Taylor] and I early in our careers have been attracted to a protagonist who somewhat resembles this arche- type you're suggesting, and for us it's a comic figure. [But] I don't wish to be pigeonholed as to the types of stories that I'm interested in. These are people with a lot of tragic flaws, whose foibles can add up to either an epiphany or a sense of defeat. What great literary character doesn't have tragic flaws, or human be- ings who don't have flaws which may turn tragic? I don't know if all of our characters have had epiphanies. If they have, they're not nec- essarily equipped to do anything with them. People have known for years that they should stop smoking, but do they? Some critics have suggested that you can be a bit condescend- ing to your characters. I know from time to time accusations have come from whom I feel are trying to get their first films made: Write a great part for a lead ac- tor or actress. And then Cary Woods, who finally got involved as a producer; he had a deal at Miramax at the time. So between Cary Woods believing in the film and Laura Dern, I was able finally to get it made, for $2.3 million, something like that, which went a long way in those days. For $2.3 million I shot 41 days, six or seven months in post. That would be unheard of today. A lot of filmmakers today are expected to make a film in 24 days, and they're lucky if they get 35 days. Your films seem to be populated by protagonists who are disaf- fected or unfulfilled—people who have lost control of their lives. Why is that? It's relatable and it's funny. Is it grounded in anything else? "What's beautiful about being a filmmaker is that our clay is actual human behavior."