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40 DGA QUARTERLY PHOTOS: (TOP) PHOTOFEST; (BOTTOM) EVERETT "We fought that moniker—'dysfunctional family,'" says Faris. "We feel all families are dysfunctional. But looking back, that VW van represented the dysfunction—it was apparently functional, but all along things started to break down, and it was that breakdown that brought the family together. With hindsight, maybe you could see the van as a symbol of the dysfunction, but we really didn't think about it that way." The family's volatile chemistry, says Dayton, "was the thing we worked on the most, whether in the van or at the dinner table. We knew that we had to get that right." In order to do so, Dayton says that "building a history" over the course of a week with a series of exercises was part of the process. "We did writing assignments where we'd have people write to each other and then read them aloud," he explains. "We'd do dodge ball games, where—if there was resentment between particular charac- ters—we applied that. If you play and get hit by a fast-moving dodge ball, you remember that. We also took a day where we went on a road trip. There was no script, it was just 'Stay in character all day.'" Adds Faris: "It's funny to think about that, because we were building the family, as opposed to thinking about the things that would tear it down. The only time we read the script was the very last day, when we did a read-through, and it was really incredible because after that week, they were all exactly where we hoped they would be; they all had completely embodied the characters." For Robespierre, the rehearsal process on Landline lacked that luxury of time. "Everyone's schedules were so all over the place," she says. "We had only two days to rehearse, and do a wardrobe fit- ting. We were just really scrambling. "What we did was pair off family members—then we did a whole table read. Not 'acting,' really, just reading, talking through the script, talking about everyone's characters. Then we paired off—Jenny Slate with Abby Quinn," who were playing sisters, and as their father and mother in marital meltdown, Jon Turturro with Edie Falco. Robespierre's bond with Slate had been well forged in the years of making her first feature, Obvious Child. "I'd met Jenny when she was part of this ultra-alternative comedy scene—she was more 'al- ternative' than anybody I saw; she lit the space up. She was a story- teller. She wasn't just going in for the punchline—she was going for the heart and soul of human nature, observing it, encouraging the audience to feel like a family member." Robespierre admired Slate's beauty and "vulnerable charis- ma," which were essential to her lead role in Obvious Child. That strong collaborative spirit held even as she shared draft after draft of Landline with Slate, even though the part she was offering was, strictly speaking, a supporting role. "Jenny was really able to lock into her character early on. Edie and Jon only had the script a couple of weeks before we started shooting. But everyone was and is so professional. Everyone got it, despite everyone's process [being] different." With respect to the crew, a family-friendly dynamic would ap- pear to be key. In addition to having each other, Dayton and Faris rely on editor Pamela Martin. Robespierre has worked with editor Casey Brooks and cinematographer Chris Teague on both her films to date. Holofcener not only bonded creatively with editor Robert Frazen when he cut Lovely and Amazing (2001)—about the com- plex relationship between a mother and her three daughters—they became a couple, and are still together. "Usually a first assembly is very frightening, and looks very strange," Holofcener recalls. "You feel weird, and ask yourself, 'Why did I make this?' When I saw his first cut it was just so moving to me, and so much what I already wanted it to be, that I felt, why not just keep having that collaboration?" "Personal stories and original screenplays are not getting the same kinds of bud- gets. The releases are smaller." —Valerie Faris