Director Peter Hedges and Actor Oliver Platt sat down at the Four Seasons to discuss their new film, Pieces of April, starring Katie Holmes.
Street: Peter, what was it like directing a film for the first time?
Peter Hedges: I'm so pleased with how the movie turned out and everyone who worked on the movie. It was one of those rare special experiences where there was a lot of good will. I felt like I was doing the job I'd been preparing 20 years for.
I felt like often I didn't know what I was doing; I didn't feel in control in the way that I thought you should feel in control, but I always knew the story we were trying to tell and I always felt supported by the people who were trying to tell it. But I feel spoiled in a way because I'm now going to expect every movie to have that much love on it and that much goodness.
Oliver, how did you get involved with this movie?
Oliver Platt: Peter and I were lovers once.
PH: Yeah, Oliver broke my heart.
OP: No, I got sent the script, and Pete and I had a chat, and that was that.
PH: It was pretty simple. What was amazing was that he'd be willing, knowing the conditions. We made the movie very quickly. What was moving to me was people knew the lay of the land; it was going to be 16 days; it was digital video and they wouldn't get paid what they're worth.
OP: He's all righteous and noble about it but the fact of the matter is, people like us are dying to get sent material like that and when you do you usually find that you'll show up for work.
Do you guys think it says something to have a low-budget, independent film that keeps high profile actors loyal to its production?
PH: It says a lot about the actors and it also says a lot about the project.
OP: You can make a bad movie out of a good script. But I'm absolutely convinced you can't make a good movie out of a bad script. You get yourself involved in various capacities with stuff you believe in, and I'm really lucky that even the big movies that I've done I've always seen some sort of value in them. I've never ever, or very rarely, done a movie purely for the money. I'm just lucky that I've never had to really prostitute myself.
PH: As an actor, but as a person...
OP: As an actor. As a person I prostitute myself all the time.
PH: That's why we go on these road trips.
OP: But the answer, and this is really important, is that you never know. That's why you have to really concentrate on getting joy out of the process, because you have no idea what's going to happen.
Peter, how'd you come up with the story?
PH: It came in a couple of different ways. Years ago I heard about a group of young people that had a turkey they were trying to cook for their first Thanksgiving in New York. The oven in the apartment didn't work, so they had to go around the building to borrow other people's ovens. I thought that'd be a terrific way to throw people together. Then, my mom, five years ago, was diagnosed with cancer. She had been very adamant that we all continue our lives.
In my case, she said, "Please be writing. Make something," and so I opened up the file on the computer and found these notes for a girl that was trying to cook a turkey and the oven didn't work. This movie was supposed to be a comedy and the reason she was cooking the turkey was because her mother had cancer. I called my mom and told her what I had found. She said, "Peter, this sounds like something you're supposed to write." So, after she passed away, I wrote the script.
Oliver, is it risky for you as an actor to make a movie like this?
OP: I think it's actually riskier to not make a movie like this. If I could pay my rent and just do movies like this for the rest of my life, if I could sign something that would guarantee that, I'd happily do it. These are the films you have to do, the films you want to do.
Review
As a film that exudes both comedy and heartbreaking realism, Pieces of April is able to achieve more in 80 minutes than most Hollywood blockbusters achieve in twice the time. Hedges takes a simple story and constructs it into an illustration of the power of cooperation and acceptance. No sign of Joey Potter in Holmes' believable portrayal of the difficult but caring April Burns. In fact, the entire cast succeeds in depicting the subtle emotions that characterize a dysfunctional American family. The film doesn't say anything particularly original, but it conveys its message beautifully enough to be worth a look. -- Cassidy Hartmann
