sundance 2006 - Zoael

All She is Saying
The actress-turned-director’s sophomore outing again seeks to explore the artist’s life
INTERVIEW BY SCOTT BAYER
THE FOLLOWING CONVERSATION
took place at this year’s Tribeca
Film Festival where Ms. Arquette
was screening her second documentary
feature in a similar vein.
SCOTT BAYER/FILM FESTIVAL REPORTER:
The title of your film is All We Are
Saying. What is the significance of that?
ROSEANNA ARQUETTE: When I was
trying to come up with a title, I realized
that I was making an interview movie
about musicians but there wasn’t any
music in it. They were just talking, so it
just came to me to call it All We Are
Saying.
SB/FFR: You have a lot of musicians in
the film.
RA: Sting, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bachrach,
Radiohead, Willy Nelson...
SB/FFR: I really liked the way you presented
Ricky Lee Jones, for example, as
she was getting ready, getting made up
and making that transformation.
RA: I was just sort of looking at the state
-of-the-art of music which I wanted to
explore with musicians. I really love
music. I think it is a powerful force to be
reckoned with and I wanted to talk to
some of the great artists that we all
know and love and have been inspired
by. I wanted to see what they had to say
about what was going on in music and
balancing your life with your art, how
they deal with their muse or state of
inspiration and what keeps them going.
SB/FFR: It seems from the film that you
have been to a lot of special shows?
RA: One of my favorite concerts that I
ever saw was Neil Young acoustic. It was
just him with all of his guitars and two
pianos. One of the greatest shows I’ve
ever seen in my life.
SB/FFR: How many guitars does he have?
RA: I don’t know, twelve maybe. It was a
lot. That was one of my five favorite
shows ever and then Radiohead, any
Radiohead show, for me.
SB/FFR: You’ve premiered this film at
Tribeca. Have you ever been here before
and what you feel about the flavor of the
Festival?
RA: No. I hadn’t been here before. It”s
a huge festival. It runs well over a
week, like Cannes, it’s a big festival. Its
got great movies and I think it’s growing.
I haven’t had a chance to see any
other films because I’m working with
this one, promoting it and doing all the
special meetings. I’ve been really
bummed that I haven’t been able to see
any movies, but I hope to see Griffin
Dunne’s movie tonight.
SB/FFR: Well, I hope you do because
we will be shooting the red carpet
tonight. We play paparazzi every once in
a while.
RA: Oh, that’s okay, speaking of which,
look over there. Turn around. [Two photographers
have appeared out of
nowhere at this privately arranged
interview on a bench on a side street in
Tribeca.]
SB/FFR: Are you paparazzi? Do you
know where the term came from?
PAPARAZZI: La Dolce Vita.
SB/FFR: Right, Fellini. Well, he’s a real one
anyway. Fellini is my favorite filmmaker.
RA: Me too. Favorite in the world. I’ve
seen every movie that Fellini has ever
done. He’s the ultimate director. I got to
meet him once. I met him in Cannes. He
was getting into an elevator and he
grabbed my cheek and he pinched it and
said, “ I very much like your face.” I was
dying! “I love you! I want to work with
you!” He goes, “Ah, someday I make a
movie with you.” And the elevator door
shut. And it was like ah, it really happened
and I said to everybody, see, see
what he said. It was one of those dream
things. I was like twenty-eight.
SB/FFR: Was this before you broke out?
RA: No. It was after. I was doing the big
loop. It was such a great moment for me
and I actually have photographs of that.
SB/FFR: Later you went to Cannes as a
filmmaker?
RA: I did a film called Searching for
Deborah Winger. That was a documentary
where I interviewed actresses. That
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PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW
ROSANNA ARQUETTE
premiered there, actually the second
night of the Festival.
SB/FFR: You had a red carpet?
RA: Yeah. I went up the huge red steps,
For a documentary! I went with my sister
and Sharon Stone came. It was really
neat. I always enjoy Cannes. I love
Cannes. They had wanted this one but it
wasn’t ready in time when they made
the selection.
SB/FFR: How long have you been working
on the film?
RA: A year and a half.
SB/FFR: And you had over two-hundred
hours?
RA: And it was really hard to cut into an
hour and a half. That was very frustrating
for me, and I would love to do a
longer version because that to me would
be my director’s cut.
SB/FFR: It looks like you have three
DVDs there.
RA: We are hoping to be able to do that
because how do you cut Joni Mitchell?
SB/FFR: I was so glad to see you
include somebody like Meryl Haggard.
RA: I know. Isn’t he great? You know,
he’s touring with Dylan right now? I just
saw the show. He was fantastic.
SB/FFR: You could see the sparks
going off. He’s saying, “People don’t
know how good I am.” (She laughs.) “
It’s all I do. What should I do? Quit and
spend more time with the wife?” That
was very intense. How long was the
interview?
RA: Most of the interviews I have done
are usually an hour, an hour and a half,
but that one was only twenty minutes,
maybe a half hour.
SB/FFR: What are you doing in front of
the camera now?
RA: I haven’t even been thinking about
acting because I’ve been really concentrating
on directing. I have two features
that are being set up. Two movies that
deal with music. Not green-lit yet, butthey
are getting made.
SB/FFR: Speaking of women directors,
the first film I ever saw you in was
Desperately Seeking Susan and you
were so great in that. I thought Susan
Seidelman was going to be our next
Lena Wertmuller.
RA: She directs a lot of TV, like Sex in
the City.
SB/FFR: Well, those are pay days .
RA: It’s hard to get a movie made.
SB/FFR: Do you feel that there is a
glass ceiling for women directors?
RA: I think its changing. I think there
are more and more women directors
coming out, and they are talented, taking
center stage. It’s exciting! There
were some negative things said about
my making Searching for Deborah
Winger, but all in all I have women coming
up to me everyday who loved that
movie, so that’s what really matters to
me. I don’t read good or bad reviews.
SB/FFR: You shot this movie digitally.
How do you think that’s affected filmmaking?
RA: Technology is changing everyday
and is getting better and better, and its
great! I know people who love film and
the look of film. I know Panavision is making
a new camera that is digital that looks
like film. I might just end up shooting my
next film in digital. Did you see
Anniversary Party? Jennifer Jason
Leigh and Allen Cumming’s movie that
they co-directed. It was shot in hi-def and
it was great looking and it’s a great movie.
SB/FFR: You shot this film in DV but I read
that you did a digital intermediate on it.
RA: Yeah, we did an intermediate thing
at a company called IVC in Burbank. It
was transferred to 35 mm film. The first
time I saw my movie was on a giant digital
screen they had there.
SB/FFR: You looked like you were having
a great time shooting the film. This
was actually shot pretty steadily. You’re
not actually supposed to shoot these
cameras that steadily, but I guess
nobody told you.
RA: I got a pretty steady hand but were
times that I messed it up.