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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Los Angeles’ Cinephile: Curtis
Hanson
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF hho@media.ucla.edu Before directing "Wonder Boys" and "8 Mile," Curtis Hanson won an Oscar for his screenplay "L.A. Confidential," a film he also directed. In 1999, he became the chairman of the UCLA Film and Television Archive, where he created the "Movie That Inspired Me" series in which celebrities present and talk about movies special to them. dB Magazine: How did you get involved with the UCLA Film and Television Archive? Curtis Hanson: I've been a long-time user of the archive. Over the years I've gone to countless screenings at the James Bridges Theater. When I was invited to become involved, I jumped at the opportunity to give something back. dB: Are you mainly inviting personal friends to the "Movies That Inspired Me" series? CH: More often than not they're people I don't know. That's actually for me the fun part, having the opportunity to talk with people about movies that otherwise I wouldn't. dB: The talks tend to be low-key affairs, not publicity events. Does that help you get people to come? CH: The people I've invited have been happy to come because they're not selling anything. They're just sharing something that they love. dB: How do your guests choose their films? CH: Often their choices are surprising and often it does come from their childhood. Diane Keaton picked "Stagecoach," which is fun because you wouldn't think that her work had much in common with John Ford and John Wayne. When Robert Downey Jr. picked two silent Charlie Chaplin movies, we actually asked the audience how many had seen a silent movie projected before and over half the audience had not. Robert was elated that he was introducing that room full of people to something that he cared deeply about. dB: Also they get to see the movie they requested on the big screen in the James Bridges Theater. It's almost like a request-a-film service. CH: I love seeing movies on the big screen. I very seldom watch them on television. dB: How do you watch them? Do you have a theater at home? CH: No. Fortunately in Los Angeles we have opportunities between the UCLA Archive, the American Cinematheque, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the New Beverly to see old pictures projected. dB: Do people recognize you at those screenings? CH: There are often filmmakers in attendance. Alexander Payne has come to a number of ours, and by the same token, I've run into Alexander at the Cinematheque for the same reason. dB: The sense of film history really permeates your films, such as "L.A. Confidential." How does that fit in with the cutting edge appeal of "8 Mile?" CH: The parking structure where Eminem first meets the leaders of The Free World was once one of the great movie palaces in Michigan. I loved that symbolically because you see this movie palace that was a place of entertainment and now it's a parking lot but here are the kids of today hanging out there and creating their own entertainment through rap battles. dB: In a DVD special feature, you actually start a rap battle between your extras. CH: Being around those extras was like being in a basketball game where literally everybody in the stands wishes they were on the court. To give them the opportunity to get out there and show their stuff just seemed like an appropriate thing to do as a thank you for their hard work. dB: Having worked with film scorers such as Jerry Goldsmith, how was it working with Eminem on a film score? CH: "8 Mile" actually has no score. We had the opportunity to do something I couldn't remember seeing before, which was to watch a character struggling to create and to hear fragments of his efforts and then at the end of the movie to hear it performed by the artist who's evolved to a point where he's able to channel his emotions into his art. Eminem worked on that song, "Lose Yourself," while we were shooting. dB: And you worked with Bob Dylan on "Wonder Boys." CH: On that film, the challenge was to write a song that the Michael Douglas character would write if he were a poet. Dylan ran with it and far exceeded my hopes and expectations by writing a song that not only fits the movie but also is one of his many great songs. dB: Is your real life personality like your role as Susan Orlean's husband in "Adaptation?" CH: You'd have to ask Spike Jonze. He told me he had seen me speak about film preservation and that's where he got the idea to cast me. You get invited to say dialogue written by Charlie Kaufman, be directed by Spike Jonze, and act opposite Meryl Streep. Who's going to say no to that? Interview conducted by Howard Ho, Daily Bruin Senior Staff. |
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