INTERVIEW WITH LAURA CAHILL
HBO
Welcome, Laura Cahill. To start, let's talk about the genesis of the project - where it came from.
LAURA CAHILL
Well, it was a play at first. It was something I started writing a pretty long time ago, in 1993. I wrote about fifteen or twenty pages. I was doing readings of my work every Tuesday night at a theater company called Naked Angels, downtown. And I started having actors read it at their reading series until I had a whole play.
And then it was first done at Naked Angels in 1994. It had three characters then. It was just Debbie, Beth and Rick. And then I worked on it on and off for a couple of years and added Virginia and Nick and Bobby, the bartender. And then the play was done again in 1997. And that's where Uma (Thurman) saw it.
HBO
And that was a very small playhouse?
LAURA CAHILL
Very small, yeah.
HBO
That's very exciting. This is what writers hope will happen when they write a play.
LAURA CAHILL
Yeah. Yeah, it's what you imagine will happen.
HBO
What happened next, in terms of your being approached about turning the play into a movie?
LAURA CAHILL
Well, first I talked to Ethan (Hawke). He called me the morning after he and Uma had seen the play. And we talked about it. And he had seen actually the production at Naked Angels, and readings of it over the years as I was working on it. But we talked about it the next morning. And he said it would make a good movie. And we just talked about it a couple of times.
Then about a year later, I was doing another play in Indiana and Ethan called me at the hotel where I was staying. And that was the first time we had a real conversation about turning it into a movie. When I got back to New York, Ethan, Uma and I met and drank lemonade and talked about the possibility of turning it into a movie. How we would approach the play to turn it into a movie, and how we would proceed. And we made some decisions.
Then we started to meet and read the play, the three of us would read the script out loud, all the various parts and then just talk about the scenes and talk about, you know, how you translate something that's a play into a movie. And there's a lot to that.
After a short while it became just me and Uma - just she and I working on it. And we did the same thing. We would read and read and read and talk and talk and talk. And Uma has made a lot of movies and she's a brilliant person. And she knows- she just has really good instincts and made it easier for me to open it up into something that I already knew as a play, and translate it into something bigger. And then I started writing.
HBO
So, chronologically, how long did it take to develop the play into a screenplay?
LAURA CAHILL
We did the play in 1997. It was about June of 1998 that Uma and I met in New York and started working on it. So it took two years, from the decision to turn it into a movie.
HBO
Were there any particular challenges or difficulties with turning the play into a movie?
LAURA CAHILL
Yeah, there were a lot of them. At first there was the overall structure of the last quarter of the play, the end of the play, which was a problem. We went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth about that. Because it's different from the play. The same things happen, but they happen in a different order. You do things in a play because you're going to be on the stage and you want to keep the action going and keep the lights up on the stage.
In a movie you almost want to do the opposite, because - you do want to keep the action going, of course - but in a movie you want to show lots of different sides of things. And you can go different places and let things play out. So that was a big challenge - the whole structure of the end.
HBO
Where did these characters come from? And what were you trying to convey through them?
LAURA CAHILL
One of the biggest things that motivates me to write, when I sit down, is what people say. I'm always fascinated with what they really mean to say and what comes out of their mouth, and what people say in, in sort of boring, every day life is really fascinating to me.
These characters are people that I grew up with in New Jersey. They're not real people or any particular people, but they're just sort of the kind of people. They're sort of me and my friends.
HBO
So you're writing from experience.
LAURA CAHILL
I'm writing from experience and I'm writing about things that are really real.
HBO
So you're not writing from a tourist's point of view, so to speak?
LAURA CAHILL
No.
HBO
And what were you hoping or expecting audiences would take away from it?
LAURA CAHILL
[PAUSE] That's a hard question. Because I don't - because when I write I never think about the audience. So it's kind of an after effect, after the fact kind of question. When I write, I write just what I, I don't even really know what it's going to be in the end. I just write people talking, really.
HBO
Let's talk a bit about the director, Mira Nair. What did her coming on board mean for the project?
LAURA CAHILL
Well, we were looking at a list of directors and Mira was someone that I was really interested in. And I was hoping that we would end up with Mira directing the movie, which we did. So I was very happy with that. I was kind of pushing for her. She, she's a wonderful director. And she deals with a lot of, you know, these really tiny, tiny moments. Very character driven stuff.
And when we first met Mira, when she was in India working on Monsoon Wedding, and when she came back and we first met her, I was thrilled because the first few things that she said about my script had to do with little funny things. And I'm always really happy to know that someone gets the jokes, 'cause sometimes they're very subtle. And she did. And so I knew I was in good hands.
I worked with her on the shooting draft, and got notes - lots and lots of notes, from her. Over and over again. And I thought that she was very helpful in getting me to do the movie I wanted to do.
HBO
Interesting.
LAURA CAHILL
I was really pleased with the shooting draft. I was actually thrilled with the shooting draft. And she, she got me to do things that were, that were a little bit tough, just because it is tough to turn a play into a movie.
She knew what she wanted to see in the script, but she trusted me. She wouldn't tell me at all what to write or think. She really, she put a lot of trust in the writer. But she knew that there had to be a certain level of emotion that we could feel and see in the script all the time. So she was very honest with me with what was too subtle. And she had no problem telling me.
HBO
Now about casting, beyond Uma's being attached, how much were you involved?
LAURA CAHILL
We talked about all of it, actually. Mira was great. She told me everything. She asked my opinion. Mira really knows what she wants, and knows what to do. She let me put my two cents in. And I thought all her ideas were good. Juliette (Lewis) I think was probably the first person we got. And that was a big coup. You know, we all wanted Juliette desperately. And then the same thing with Gena.
HBO
Wow. What can you say?
LAURA CAHILL
Yeah. [LAUGHS]
HBO
Gena Rowlands.
LAURA CAHILL
Yeah.
HBO
FACES.
LAURA CAHILL
Yeah. Exactly.
HBO
A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE. Unbelievable.
LAURA CAHILL
Unbelievable, yeah.
HBO
And then, of course, Ben Gazzara.
LAURA CAHILL
And Ben Gazzara, yeah.
HBO
It's the one-two punch - Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara.
LAURA CAHILL
Yeah. He was really perfect for the part.
HBO
Is there anything else you learned from the process of turning your play into a movie?
LAURA CAHILL
You know, to me, I thought I was writing much more of a comedy. And I was really surprised when we did the play the first time and I found out that - I mean, people laughed through it, from the very first time. But I was surprised at people crying and saying how depressing things were. Because I just thought it was funny. I just thought the whole thing was funny. And I think that the situation of those people in that world, to me, when I first wrote it especially, 'cause I had just left that world - was normal life. It was just so normal life to me.
HBO
Sure.
LAURA CAHILL
This little town where I, I just thought that was the whole world. And that's how I found out. Because I didn't think of it at all as depressing. The one thing that became important when we did the play the second time - which stands true for the movie - is that usually when you see that kind of world in a movie, it's about people who want to get out. And Debbie doesn't want to get out. I mean she wants to get along better at her job. She wants to get along better with her boss and do better at work. And she wants to find the right guy.
But it's not, she doesn't look at it as, "I'm in this dead end world, this dead end job and I have to go live in California under the bright sun" or something like that. She loves her, she loves Bayonne. She loves her town. And she loves her mother, she loves her friends. She just wants to find something that will make it all make sense.
HBO
Laura Cahill, thank you very much for your time.
LAURA CAHILL
You're welcome.
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Uma Thurman
(Executive Producer, Debby)
Juliette Lewis
(Beth)
Mira Nair
Laura Cahill
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