sundance 2006 - Zoael

Allegra warms to Phillip (Justin Kirk).
time. He convinced me to bring the
film to Indigent. I was given total freedom
as a writer and director—
totally. I doubt I’ll ever have that
much freedom again, and who knows,
maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
EGH/FFR: How was the experience of
directing Puccini for Beginners different
than directing 2Girls?
MM: We made this film in eighteen
days, three days less time than I had
with my first film, 2Girls. Whoa. I got
to shoot in my neighborhood in New
York, the West Village, and I got to
work with amazing actors, all of them,
Justin Kirk, Gretchen Mol. Julianne
Nicholson—whom I’d met when I
wrote The Love Letter for Dreamworks—and
Elizabeth Reaser who
plays Allegra, and who is a wonderful
actor and person. I had no time to
think because we had to move so fastsometimes
seven pages a day! That
was hard, but the good news was that
I had had this film inside me for so
many years that I seemed to know
what I was doing most of the time.
Once I got into the editing room
of course, I wanted to kill myself.
My editor, Sue Graef, was my editor
on 2Girls and she is my true creative
soul sister. She and I worked
seven days a week from October
1st until December 26th to get the
film finished. She worked a lot
harder than I did. I mostly smoked
and drank and worried. But occasionally
I had some ideas about how
to bring the story to life on screen.
It was a spectacular experience and
a hellish one to work so quickly,
especially for no money, but this is
what one has to do sometimes-sacrifice.
Also, we cut 2Girls on a
flatbed, and this was my first experience
with the Avid. That was
interesting. There’s nothing to do
in the cutting room when you work
on an Avid. I mean, for the director.
At least with film I could organize
13
bins or something. Sue told me I
should take up knitting. I never did
figure out what all those buttons
were that she would push.
Also, we shot this film on digital
video. It looks okay. Better than
most. Eden Wurmfeld, my producer,
got these amazing cameras from
Sony. They had prime lenses which
was delicious. However, I can’t help
but want to make at least one film
with a big, huge 35mm camera. I
just want to look through that
viewfinder!
EGH/FFR: You did a commentary
extra for the 2Girls DVD release. What
new revelations will we hear from you?
MM: Buy the DVD of 2Girls! The commentary
was designed for filmmakerswhy
I shot what I did—no time, no
money—and how I made the film.
EGH/FFR: You’ve been writing
Without a Trace for CBS Television.
Can you discuss your favorite work or
episodes? Did you work as a show-runner,
staff writer or autonomously?
MM: I wrote for Without a Trace for
three seasons, from 2002-2005, and I
had a great time. I was a staff writer. I
loved working with other writers, a
new experience for me, and it was fantastic.
However, my particular ego
problems made it obvious to me that I
wasn’t born for being on a TV writing
staff. Hopefully, this feature directing
idea of mine will take off...
EGH/FFR: You were doctoring screenplays
for a living in Hollywood. Can
you name names?
MM: I worked as a screenplay writer
for ten years and a number of the films
I worked on were produced by big studios.
I’d be happy not to have to name
any of them! I will say that I was able to
pay my rent and student loans on time,
thanks to those jobs, however.
EGH/FFR: What other screenplays are
bubbling up in your imagination?
Allegra and Grace discuss geometry. More specifically, the triangle.
MM: New ideas? Tons. None. I don’t
know. I need a job mostly. I don’t want
to sit around alone and write for a
year. it’s too lonely. Writing is hell. I
like doing it, it’s better than temp
work, which is what I did before I got
the film thing going, but I’d rather be
directing. Then, at least you get to
work in collaboration and that’s what I
like the most about it. And I love the
weird hours and drinking coffee at 5
a.m., while standing on a street corner
waiting for a shot to be set up. I like
running around. I’m too hyper to sit at
home anymore. That was in my youth.
Old folks need to be up and out.
Eddy Gilbert Herch was dramaturge for
the Fifth Night Reading Series where he
worked with Maria Maggenti.