A Kansas University alumnus reflects on his first experience as a screenwriter.
James Still, who grew up in Pomona and graduated from Kansas University in 1982, is making his mark in the theater, television and film worlds.
His plays have been produced at theaters through the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and the United Kingdom. The October edition of American Theatre Magazine features him on its cover. He writes for several Nickelodeon television series.
His first movie, "The Velocity of Gary," has played in several countries and was recently screened in Kansas City, Mo. The movie, set in New York City, is the story of a Gary (Thomas Jane) and Mary Carmen (Salma Hayek) who fall in love with Valentino (Vince D'Onofrio). When Valentino dies of AIDS, Gary and Mary Carmen, then pregnant with Valentino's child, put aside their animosity and agree to raise the child together.
Saturday night, Still will speak at a FRiends of THeatre fund-raiser at Fifi's Banquet Connection. Last week, he took time out to respond to an e-mail interview with The Mag.
What or who inspired you to write "Velocity of Gary"?
Inspiration: an eclectic bunch of images " Living in New York. Doing volunteer work for four years in an HIV clinic for women and children. Losing many friends and colleagues to AIDS. Catching a glimpse of a guy wearing a leather jacket. Riding a train to Long Island to teach writing at a high school. And sharing the train car with three people (two guys and a girl) who were loud and funny and high and fragile and clearly in love with each other. ... The writings (structure/style) of novelist Louise Erdrich (poetry in her language) and Norman Mailer (passion).
How long was it from when you wrote the work and when it made it to the screen?
The first thing I wrote was a one-page short story, a kind of sketch about this guy named Gary (not his real name) who wore a leather jacket and seemed to have some secrets. That was in 1990, I think.
That one-page sketch became 300-400 pages of writing that looked like a novel. But I wasn't a novelist so I didn't know what to make of it. Then I decided to perform some of the pages as a solo piece. Premiered the play in New York at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in 1990. " I wrote the first draft of the screenplay in 1993, I think. It kicked around Hollywood between 1993-1996. During that time it was going to get made several times with lots of different people attached -- directors and actors. By 1996 I gave up on the project.
Very soon after I gave up, Dan Ireland called me up, invited me to see his director's cut of his first movie, "The Whole Wide World," told me he wanted "Velocity" to be his next movie. A year later (fall of 1997) we were filming the movie. "
You were on the set when the movie was being filmed. How much input did you get to give in the way it was filmed?
While I was on the set every minute of every day and had input on everything from blocking to set decoration to costumes, at the end of the day it's Dan Ireland's film. He's the director and what you see is finally his vision of the screenplay. Film is a director's medium.
" Dan was incredibly generous in terms of including me in so much of the process (including post-production, editing, sound, etc.). And he also took advantage of having me around. I was able to do quick cuts and rewrites on my feet (while 50 crew members, actors and producers stood around waiting for me to "fix it"). So I had a lot of input and I fought for things I believed in.
What were your feelings while watching the movie being made?
Utter disbelief, shock, joy, pride, fear, love, protective. I felt a lot of responsibility to the characters I had written, so a lot of my emotions were about seeing them being "lived" by wonderful actors.
Where has the movie been shown now, in Europe and the U.S.? Was there a difference in how European audiences reacted and U.S. audiences reacted?
Europe: San Sebastian, Spain; Turin, Italy; London. South America: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mexico: Guadalajara. Canada: Vancouver. U.S.: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Austin, Houston, Miami ... and some others I'm probably forgetting. I hear that they're now getting ready to play the movie in Asia (Thailand and others). And Salma has huge followings around the world so the movie will play in those markets as well.
" I was surprised when I saw "Velocity" in Spain (with Spanish subtitles). I had thought we had made this very American movie, or least that the characters were very American. But the audiences in Spain were very passionate about the movie and its story. They read a lot of religious significance into the movie. I spent a week in San Sebastian and people were constantly stopping me on the street because they wanted to talk to me about "Velocidad de la Vida" ("The Velocity of Life" -- the Spanish title of the movie). Audiences there really wanted to talk about it -- here (the U.S.), I find that less true.
At San Sebastian it was one of the top five films (out of 30) in the voting for the Audience Prize. In Seattle when we premiered it at the Seattle Film Festival, the audience gave it a standing ovation. I'm telling you this because it seems surreal now, given how hostile much of the American press was toward the movie when it was released this past summer. " I guess what I think now is that we probably made a kind of "foreign American movie." " I think European audiences were -- for whatever reasons -- more open to it.
Is there anything you'd change about the movie, now in hindsight?
Sure. But I believe that all art is flawed. That's one thing I know for sure. Or at least it seems flawed to the artist who created it.
But you know what? The movie was made with enormous commitment and love by a creative team of people who worked 18 hour days for little money. It was made for all the right reasons. And we were always under unbelievable pressures because of the budget of the film (about $2 million). "
There is an important difference between movies and theater that I've thought about a lot. There are always things I want to change about my plays after I see them. And so I do -- I make changes even after they're published (much to my publishers' chagrin).
But in movies you can't make changes. The movie is the movie, forever and ever. That is so huge! But again, it's just part of what you agree to when you make a movie. It's a given. So rather than be destroyed by regret, I choose to celebrate what we accomplished.
What have you learned from this experience? Are you eager to be involved in another movie?
Learned: Movies are hard to get made. Movies like "Velocity" are even harder to get made. Making movies and intense pressure seem to be intertwined. Making movies is addictive, it's a rush. Movies and theater are very different animals. Shooting out of sequence does make sense in its own weird way. You can read about making movies, and listen to people tell about it, but you have to experience it to really understand it. "
Eager to be involved in another movie: "Eager" isn't a word I'd use. I do feel like I'm seriously in the business for the long haul, that as a writer, I'm going to last. But I don't think I'm ambitious in a Hollywood kind of way. I mean, I'm not giving up everything else (theater and television) just to get a crack at doing another movie. "
I will continue to write screenplays when I'm engaged by a story that has to be told as a movie. I try to let the stories lead me to the water rather than the other way around. Not all stories are movies. Not all movies are movies.
Do you have any new projects in the works? How's the Bill Cosby project going?
I'm a workaholic. I always have lot of projects going on. Part of that is about surviving a fickle business, part of it is my personality. I'm currently the story editor for "Little Bear" on Nickelodeon. I work with all of the writers and producers on all of the scripts (39 new ones this season -- gulp).
I've finished writing for the new Cosby series called "Little Bill." I wrote four episodes for this first season that will begin airing in November on Sunday nights on Nickelodeon.
I have a TV movie in the works. It's a family holiday special. It's been on-again, off-again for a year, so who knows? I have a couple of feature films in the works. There's a new TV series that I may be part of.
In the theater, I'm just starting my second year as the playwright-in-residence at the Indiana Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis where I spend 5-7 days a month. I'll be directing my play "Amber Waves" there in January. I have lots of productions of several of my plays being done this season: Minneapolis, Philadelphia (2), Indianapolis (2), Nashville, Cincinnati, Lexington, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Atlanta, New Jersey, Las Vegas, and some others I'm forgetting.
I'm working on a big, new play that is a co-commission with Indiana Rep and People's Light and Theatre Company (Philadelphia). It will hopefully premiere in 2001. It's about the 20th century, and I'm developing it by doing workshops and interviews with senior citizens in both Indy and Philly.
One of my plays is about to be published ("And Then They Came For Me"). And the stage solo version of "The Velocity of Gary" played off-Broadway this summer with the actor Danny Pintauro. We're now negotiating for that production to move to London to open in May 2000.
What would you like to do that you haven't done yet?
A) Take a vacation. B) Raise the rest of the money to fully fund the LeWan Alexander Spiritship Guest Artist Fund at KU. C) Take another vacation. D) Continue to work on projects I care about with people I respect, in partnership with communities.
-- Jan Biles' phone message number is 832-7146. Her e-mail address is jbiles@ljworld.com.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.