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HBO:
The world first discovered "Big" and "Little"
Edie Beale through the Maysles Brothers'
landmark 1975 documentary. Their story was
later turned into a Broadway musical, and
now you've created a movie version about the
Grey Gardens story. How did you get started
on this project, and what did you hope to
bring to the story that was new?
Michael Sucsy:
I knew about the Beales and their home, Grey
Gardens, because I spent part of my
childhood in Long Island, and it's part of the
lore out there. In 2003, about a year after
Little Edie died, I finally saw the documentary
on DVD for the first time. When I got to the
very end, I just sat up and I thought, "My
gosh, there's a movie here, a bigger movie, one
that explores how they got there and why."
So the next morning I watched it all over
again - this time with a yellow legal pad - and
just began writing down all these questions
that came up.
I felt I could add value to the [documentary]
experience by expanding the story. Those
questions formed the basis for my research,
which I did a ton of - conducting first-hand
interviews with friends and family, pouring
through loads of archived newspaper articles
on microfilm, sifting through transcripts of
interviews Edie had done over the years, and -
the best of all - carefully reading all of Little
Edie's never-before-seen private letters,
poetry, and journals.
HBO:
So you weren't a "fan" when you started out
on this project?
Michael Sucsy:
No, but through that process of uncovering
their story I became one.
HBO:
Since the documentary first came out, Big and
Little Edie have become icons for many.
Where does that enduring appeal come from?
Michael Sucsy:
Despite all the adversity that surrounded
them, these women were strong and were
confident in who they were, true to
themselves. We all go through a journey of
trying to find our identity and our place in
this world - it's a universal experience, in my
opinion. As messed up as their
circumstances may have been, the Edies had
a home and they had each other. Little Edie
wrote in her 1936-37 journal, "To love is to
nourish with hope...we look for nourishment and
our fulfillment in others; we live for another who
is living for us. And in this dual reciprocity
existence is carried on. Life cannot be lived alone
- each must breathe hope into another." I think
we all want that in our lives, that sense of
belonging.
HBO:
The relationship between Big and Little Edie is
extremely complicated, and there are many
questions about their life together that remain
unanswered. Was that intentional?
Michael Sucsy:
Absolutely. Real life is complex and looking
back everyone has their own view of events -
what happened, when things may have gone
awry, and why, how life could be different
now. This was true for Big Edie and Little
Edie. They had different takes on what
happened. I wanted to present enough
evidence so that both of their perspectives
were credible.
HBO:
You said you didn't want to simply recreate
the documentary, that you sought to "add
value" to the experience, so how did you use
the documentary in presenting their story?
Michael Sucsy:
The central question I wanted to explore was,
"How did they get there?" This riches to rags
story didn't happen overnight - it occurred
over some forty years, and my original draft of
the script covered that whole period in a linear
fashion, moving straight through from the mid
1930s to the late 1970s. But that script was
very expensive to produce and needed some
focusing. When we tried to get down to just
the essence of what we needed to tell the
story, we found we would have had to skip
time - decades in most cases. And one of the
ways I thought we could do that would be to
use the documentary as a vehicle to frame the
movie and to be able to jump back and forth
in time without feeling lost.
HBO:
How do you think these two women, who
came from such high society beginnings,
could end up living the way they did?
Michael Sucsy:
We called it their "slow slide." The Edies were
extremely intelligent, very well educated, but
not in practical ways. They grew up in a
world where they were taught to draw up a
menu, not cook. So when you no longer have
servants to prepare the meals, well... I mean
they still "ate" but the certainly didn't "dine" -
not the way they used to. And they certainly
didn't have handyman skills, so when
problems developed around the house, they
didn't know how to fix them. But it's not like
they didn't notice what was happening; I just
don't think they realized it would ever get as
bad as it did --- again, it was a "slow slide" -
there wasn't one big incident, like a huge fire
or a hurricane. It was really a series of small
things that contributed to their downward
spiral - a loose shingle that lets in rain that
rots the wall and deteriorates the plaster.
Eventually that leads to a hole and so on.
Of course, this notion of the "slow slide"
applies to their psyches, as well. It was a
gradual drift into the state we see them in
the documentary, and as much as Big Edie is
thought of as something of a rebel she was
actually more conventional than Little Edie.
She married, had children, ran a household.
Sure, she just liked to sing, thumb her nose
at the "rules," and was a bit of a free spirit,
but it was Little Edie who really rejected the
conventions thrust upon her. Edie held onto
her dreams of being an actress and a dancer
and never committed to a man. She never
married. When her "career" didn't pan out,
she had to come home to live with her mother.
Things didn't work out for either of them the
way they intended., but they made the best of
it, I think.
HBO:
Are you excited to see the film finally
premiering on HBO?
Michael Sucsy:
It's incredibly satisfying. This project started
out six years ago with me in my apartment
sitting with a yellow legal pad, watching a
DVD of the documentary. And to be able to
share it with people - well, I'm thrilled. The
entire experience has been beyond rewarding.
Through this film, I hope the Beales' story will
be expanded to new audiences, and these two
incredible women will continue to inspire and
touch many more people the way they have
for decades. And being part of that is a reward
in and of itself.
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Taking Chance
Pick up the soundtrack or Pre-order the Taking Chance DVD, available May 12.
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