Fisher Stevens

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000500dvldtc.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Reel Movie Critic.com</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reel Movie Critic.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id1672.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Charles S. Dutton"><U>Charles S. 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HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="588"><div> Interview with Fisher Stevens</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> Director: <I>Just A Kiss</I>, Paramount Classics</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> By Shelley Cameron</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> SC:  You have played a lot of character parts in film and on stage but this is your first time in the director's chair for a feature length film.  What was that like?</div> <bR> <div> FS:  I love character parts and I've been lucky to play in some really good movies, but I've been doing it for so long.  As a character actor, I'll never have the control I'd like.  Even if you're a leading man, but not Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise, you won't have control over the project.  So, I decided to get together a film company.  I love acting but also I love mixing it up and wearing several different hats.  I have to say that I find it very satisfying juggling the different roles of acting, directing and producing.  It can be painful too, because as a director, I take criticism of the film much more personally than when I was acting and not directing.   </div> <bR> <div> SC:  How did you get involved in this particular project?</div> <bR> <div> FS:  I love black comedy.  It's my favorite genre and very few are made, I think because it is very difficult to pull off.  I was very intrigued by the idea in a play that I saw, called <I>Markings</I>, written by a good friend, Patrick Breen, about how having an affair can turn your life around, or if you choose not to have the affair, what would have happened.  Patrick and I had worked together on Broadway in <I>Brighton Beach Memoirs.</I> I really enjoyed the characters that he had drawn. </div> <bR> <div> SC:  I found the visual style interesting for a couple of reasons.  It's a New York City movie and the flavor is certainly there but the narrow focus shots do not draw attention to the location very much.  The other standout feature was the use of the rotomation, animating the real images on the film as in <I>Waking Life.</I></div> <bR> <div> FS:  Well, I have to say that it upsets me that absolutely everyone who is talking about the film mentions <I>Waking Life</I>.  We shot the film a couple of years earlier and I was totally unaware of it.  I thought the rotomation was a really great way to set the tone I wanted for the black comedy because there are parts of the film that are just too tough, like the slashed wrists or the coffin scene.  We went through the film and added the rotomation in specific parts.  If we'd had more cash, we would have finished and released the film sooner and people wouldn't be constantly asking me if I did it because I liked it in <I>Waking Life</I>.  </div> <bR> <div> As for the New York setting <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Symbol" >¾</FONT> some of that was budgetary, but mostly there are just seven main characters and not a lot of peripheral characters.  There is not a lot of time to tell this weird story so we needed to stay focused.  We shot the film very quickly, in just 20 days, so we had to make sure that we really got in everything we needed to say about these people.  It is only about 90 minutes long.</div> <bR> <div> SC:  Were you trying to say something wise about relationships or was the main intent to have a bit of fun?</div> <bR> <div> FS:  I definitely have always been fascinated by the fact that sex is just one of the greatest things in life and of all the six billion people on the planet, we have to choose just one to be with.  I have always felt that marriage is sort of a death in a way, the end of freedom to explore sex with someone besides your mate.  It's not really what the movie is about but we certainly get into that and it is a fascinating subject.  To cheat or not to cheat is a subject that I've often talked about with friends, married or not married, and I wanted the film to raise questions about it.  </div> <bR> <div> SC:  Do you mean its sort of a cautionary tale?</div> <bR> <div> FS:  That's exactly how I've been describing it.  It's saying `Think hard and long before you go beyond just a kiss, Marisa Tomei may be just around the corner.' That's the fun of black comedy.  I mean she's killing people.  And why does a nice guy like Peter, who is so sweet and so in love with Rebecca, get dumped for this not nice guy?  Patrick's play was actually much more judgmental and more of a morality tale but that's not what I wanted to say, it's not my real opinion.  I knew I wasn't making a really risky film, but it's funny and it's making people laugh and I'm proud of it. </div> <bR> <div> SC:  What's next for you?</div> <bR> <div> FS:  I'm looking to find the next movie and I'm producing.  We're making a movie called <I>Molly Gunn</I> with Brittany Murphy.  It was great to be involved with <I>In the Bedroom</I> and <I>Pinero</I>.  It's exciting to own a company and I try to get as involved as I can in the creative part.  There are a lot of headaches on the producing end but it's also very satisfying. </div> <div>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="588"><div> Shelley Cameron <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Symbol" >Ó</FONT> 2002</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> <A HREF="mailto:shlcameron@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:shlcameron@aol.com"><U><U>Shelley@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>