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HBO visited director Nelson George on location, during the
filming of 'Life Support' to talk about the film.
HBO:
Can you tell us where we are?
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Nelson George on the set of Life Support
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Nelson George:
We're on the roof of the Trey Whitfield
School in East New York, bordering on Brownsville, very close
to where I grew up. In fact, if you look that way, you can see
most of my past: first, the Samuel J. Tilden Projects where my
sister and my mother and I lived from about 1960 to the early
'70s. I spent most of my childhood there. We moved from the
projects straight down that way, towards East New York to
Spring Creek, where we lived from the time I was in junior high
school 'til I went to college. When we came up here to location
scout for the film, aside from it being a great school that gives
a great education to underprivileged children out here, I said,
"Wow, I have to have this shot."
HBO:
'Life Support' is based on a true story?
Nelson George:
'Life Support' is based on my family's
story. There are characters based on my sister, my mother
even a couple of my nieces. But it's not just a family story.
The issues that my family is confronting are American
challenges. It's a story about the community of people in
America who are dealing with the [HIV] virus. And not dying
with the virus, but living with the virus. Very few movies have
been made about living with it. The past continues to live with
you. I think the true strength of the film is that it's about how
difficult it is to forgive. Everyone in this film, for the most part,
is engaged in the struggle for self-esteem; the struggle against
AIDS; the struggle of life. Wendell Pierce plays a character who
has the virus, but he has a couple of jobs and works in the
grocery store. The women -- Sandra, played by Gloria Reuben,
Andrea, played by Queen Latifah -- these are people who are
doing things, who are building families, having a life. Maybe
not in the best neighborhoods, but with a lot of dignity and a
lot of class. It's not "the hood" movie; it's a working class poor
movie. And that's a very important distinction.
HBO:
How has it been, working on a story that's so personal?
Nelson George:
The more we work on the film, the less it's
about my sister. It becomes an independent story. As Latifah,
and Gloria Reuben, Anna Deavere Smith, and young Rachel
Nicks and Wendell Pierce take over the characters, it gets
farther removed. I don't feel like I am directing my family saga.
I feel like I am directing a film that I have a lot of knowledge
about, but there is definitely a distance. It's almost like I have
done an incredible amount of research on these people, but we
are all building a fictional thing on top of this foundation of
reality.
HBO:
Most people probably associate Queen Latifah more with
comedy than drama.
Nelson George:
In conversation, Queen Latifah would
rather tell a joke than be serious. But when the camera is on,
she does it. And she brings an incredible level of emotion. We
did an improv scene with real women, and she began crying in
the middle of the improv -- which was unexpected -- and it was
quite powerful. That led the other women in the room to
respond to her. And it became this incredible scene of
exchange that wasn't scripted at all, but was based on the
themes and the characters in the script. My sister is in the
scene--there are many levels of reality versus fiction in this
film--and that was a deep moment for me to be watching from
the sidelines.
And Latifah knows East New York. When we sat down and talked
about the script, she knew the streets that I was talking about.
She knew this world and she knew characters like my sister, so it
hasn't been as far a leap for her, as it would have been for some
actresses. She embodies a kind of strength and dignity in her
work. And though she is very playful, she has delved into some
deep areas and created some indelible moments of strength,
anger and frustration. I have been really impressed by her. I
think you are going to see a performance here which is gonna
open people's eyes. We all knew this was in her, but this is one
of the first roles she has had that's allowed her to project the
totality of her being.
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Nelson George and Queen Latfiah on the set of Life Support
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HBO:
You cast real people from the support groups you visited.
How was it working with both nonactors and actors?
Nelson George:
I went to a couple of meetings of the
organization that my sister works for and saw these ladies in
action - and knew I had to have them in the film. These were the
real ladies of the real life support world; the people who are really
out there, giving out condoms, counseling women and dealing
with the epidemic. These women are not actors, but they make
presentations before groups of people all the time. And often
they make presentations before groups of people who are
somewhat hostile or reluctant to what they are saying. So they
have big personalities, they have lived life. And it doesn't take
much for them to get going. The area where we are shooting right
now in East New York, Brownsville, has some of the highest
infection rates in New York City and in the United States. But
these women are not statistics. These are real people. Look at
how they laugh. Look at how they joke. Look at their spirit.
HBO:
Initially, you didn't have the role of Sandra, played by
Gloria Reuben, in the script.
Nelson George:
Gloria Reuben has a strong history in AIDS
activism, from her role on ER, as one of the first characters in
primetime to have the HIV virus, to her real life work. When we
were casting the movie at a facility in Manhattan, she was across
the hall working on a project with her boyfriend. I had met her
and we chatted and she was interested in auditioning. I didn't
have a part for her, so I added this Sandra part. Sandra only had
a few scenes, so I put her in the improv scenes and that gave
Gloria a chance to be a bigger part of the process. She is such a
great actress and has a great spirit and presence.
HBO:
Who does Anna Deavere Smith play?
Nelson George:
Her character is kind of modeled on my
mother, a former New York City school teacher who has been
retired for about 10 years and now lives in Newport News,
Virginia. Anna Deavere Smith is an artist who has two elements
that are interesting about her performance. First, she has a very
particular style of movement that I have noticed from her stage
work. And she does an amazing job of bringing that style to this
film. Second, she is known for doing these one-woman shows
where she plays multiple characters - male or female. She
interviews people, and she captures their vocal inflections. Well,
she did that here. She interviewed my mother on the phone and
came in one day and said, "I had this little thing that your mother
said that I want to use in the script." And we worked it in. And
in another scene, she actually uses words my mother said to her
in a phone conversation. So she used her art, to create more art.
It was a beautiful thing.
HBO:
Is there a favorite scene that you have shot so far?
Nelson George:
NELSON GEORGE: I have been working on this project for about
four years. So I have replayed and thought about these scenes
often. When I first got the idea to do the film, I followed my sister
around for a month or two. On Worlds AIDS Day, at one event
not far from here in Bed Stuy, we attended a support group
meeting and at the end everyone went on the roof with red
balloons with the name of someone who had died written on
them, and released the balloons. I said, "Whatever I am doing,
this is in the film." And it became the ending.
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