 |
HBO:
How did you come to the project?
 |
Director Joseph Sargent (center) on set with star Kenneth Branagh.
|
Joseph Sargent:
Well, coming to this project was a fairly easy journey simply because I grew up at the tail end of Roosevelt's tenure, just in time to hear how this icon suddenly ceased to exist. He was dead, and I didn't know what they were talking about until I began writing, reading and catching up years later.
And it struck such a spark with me, because he represented so much of the humanity that I was beginning to be conscious of in my own life. I grew up in Jersey City (New Jersey), during the time Frank Hague was mayor. Hague stood for many of the things that Roosevelt was against. Hague represented the authoritarian kind of politics that were in vogue those days, and that Roosevelt had to work with, but was so diametrically opposed to. Hague's the guy, by the way, that said "I am the law." And that phrase became the metaphor for so much that's corrupt, and almost... unforgivable.
So Roosevelt was a hero of mine. I just felt that I was close to his kind of person. And so he was a hero all this time, and I was just delighted that HBO asked me to do this.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"He was a spoiled rich kid from upstate New York who didn't give a damn about anything but some good booze and some good women, [LAUGHS], who wasn't the icon that I worshipped all those years. What fascinated me was where that rich kid from upstate New York started, and where he ended up." |
|
|
|
— Joseph Sargent
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And then I was shocked at how little I knew of this man... I was shocked to find out, for instance, that he was a spoiled rich kid from upstate New York who didn't give a damn about anything but some good booze and some good women, [LAUGHS], who wasn't the icon that I worshipped all those years.
And then I realized the human dimensions of every one of our heroes. Things that are never really looked at closely we tend to deny them, or sweep them under the rug, or just... be totally unaware that these are human beings we're talking about, and not icons. And so, we're dealing with a non-icon version of Roosevelt and Eleanor. What we're really dealing with in the picture -- and this is what fascinated me -- was where that rich kid from upstate New York started, and where he ended up.
And it became the basis, the foundation of some damn good dramatic material, simply because it's the drama of a man who is hit at the peak of his political career, at the age of 39; a man used to a very good life, and a very free life, and a very happy go lucky life, is suddenly transformed into a pathetic victim of this incurable disease, and what it did to him, and the growth that came out of all that. This is what created the guy that I looked up to as a hero. And so, for me, it was quite a journey, one that I had a lot of personal investment in it.
HBO:
How do you approach working with actors?
Joseph Sargent:
Well, one of the first things was, how do we approach the intimate moments between Roosevelt and Eleanor, and of course, Roosevelt and Louis, and Roosevelt and mama? What were they like? Because the image we all carry of Roosevelt in our heads is the popular icon, the man with the cigarette holder and the big toothy smile, and wonderful, robust quality that he had as a personality.
|
 |
|
Joseph Sargent on the set of WARM SPRINGS.
|
But what was he like in different moments? What was he like at home? What was he like in the morning? And so the challenge for Kenneth (Branagh, who plays Roosevelt) was to delve deeper into the man, because he was not playing the man that we all knew and loved. He had to deal with a man in his 20s and ultimately in his 30s, who was anything but an icon. So, how did he and Eleanor talk to each other? That was an interesting challenge for the actors, for me, and it worked quite specifically to avoid falling into the mimicry trap.
HBO:
How was it working with Cynthia Nixon, Kenneth Branagh and the rest of the cast?
Joseph Sargent:
Well, I've said often throughout this entire project, that this was undoubtedly the sweetest cast, and the sweetest crew I'd ever worked with, and that goes back a few years. [LAUGHS] And I'm just as excited these days with walking on a sound stage as I was 40 years ago. It's a pretty lucky life I've had.
HBO:
This is your fifth film with HBO?
Joseph Sargent:
Yes, it is.
HBO:
You mentioned working with Kenneth and Cynthia to avoid falling into 'the mimicry trap'. What other techniques do you use as a director?
Joseph Sargent:
Well, I was very fortunate in starting out as an actor. I majored in theater arts at the New School, so my training is basically as an actor, which plays heavily on my ability to communicate with actors, and to know precisely what their problems are, and to help avoid the traps, along the lines of what I just mentioned. Like how to play the icon in moments that we've never seen and can only guess at.
And see, another thing about what Margaret (Nagle, the writer) brought to the project was her humor. She didn't deal with just the heavy dramatic context, she leavened it with the necessary dimension of the humor of the man, the humor of the woman, the humor of Louis Howe. And that's what gives it, interestingly enough, an additional emotional context. So, those are the things we worked for. And I like working heavily in rehearsal.
HBO:
How long did you rehearse?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We rehearsed two weeks, and that's a joy. Because usually, for features for television the concept of rehearsal is either unknown entirely or restricted to maybe four or five days. I've demanded two weeks for a long time, but to actually get it... I think it can only happen at HBO. Which is why we have such high regard for this outfit. " |
|
|
|
— Joseph Sargent
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joseph Sargent:
We rehearsed two weeks, and that's a joy. It's a rare gift, because usually, for features for television the concept of rehearsal is either unknown entirely or restricted to maybe four or five days. So to have two weeks... [LAUGHS] I've demanded two weeks for a long time, but to actually get it... I think it can only happen at HBO. Which is why we have such high regard for this outfit.
So we worked for as much of the interior values as we could find, as we break down the needs of the characters. The relationship those needs have to the theme of the scene and ultimately, the theme of the entire piece, working always with the idea that nothing happens without proper motivation. And that essentially is pretty much what the trained actor today is working from.
So it makes it rather an enjoyable collaboration with most actors. And of course with actors on the level of Cynthia and Ken, it just came together beautifully. And was a kind of collaboration I would wish on every director, including myself, all the time. [LAUGHS]
HBO:
You shot at the Warm Springs resort. How did working at the actual location impact on the film?
Joseph Sargent:
It impacts beautifully in this case, because we felt we were literally rehearsing and ultimately shooting with a lot of collaboration from some ghosts: the ghosts of Roosevelt and Eleanor and Louis Howe and Helena. It was very pervasive, because we were shooting in the actual cottage, dining room, and inn, the Merriweather Inn -- all the places that the real life people were involved in.
So it was interesting, because when you walk onto a set, you inherit a certain sense of reality, and a certain level of context. But, in this case, it was more than just the usual creating of reality that a set tends to inspire. It came with the history, the fullness of the people actually being a part of that reality. So, it was an added gift as far as we were all concerned.
HBO:
How do you think Roosevelt would feel about the state of government today?
Joseph Sargent:
Well, I think we're getting a taste of that in the headlines every day, watching the dismantling of so many of the humanitarian entitlements that Roosevelt was responsible for in his administration. I mean, it... [LAUGHS] I couldn't help but be additionally delighted to realize that a lot of the stuff that we're looking at on the screen resonates so specifically with what's going on today.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I hope it's a good introduction to the man himself as a man, as opposed to somebody in a history book. It's a man who grew from something other than what he ultimately became famous for being. And I hope it's inspiring." |
|
|
|
— Joseph Sargent
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HBO:
It's been said that the film is about Roosevelt finding his personal and political soul. What are your thoughts on that?
Joseph Sargent:
Well, quite obviously, good drama really represents a certain amount of growth, one way or another. If the character grows right before your eyes that usually means it's pretty damn good theater. This is really a story of growth, it's not only singularly his growth, but also Eleanor's. And again, you see, we have an icon that is revered by men and women across the world as a powerful woman, expressing powerful ideas, and humanitarian ones for the most part. But what does Eleanor start out being? Where does she come from? Was she always like that? Of course not. And we see that growth parallel to Roosevelt's growth.
But also, we have to remember that Roosevelt wasn't just a guy with a wonderful set of ideas and then all he had to do was just get on the radio and spill 'em out, and everybody just adopted them, joyously. There was an enormous backlash. There was enormous resistance by the same folks who are right now enjoying a certain kind of power that they've been [LAUGHS] waiting for for years.
And so there was a lot of hatred directed at Roosevelt and his administration... and he made a lot of enemies. So in the context of where the man ultimately winds up would be portrayed in, say, a sequel; naturally, we don't deal with that particular era, that would be the sequel for the picture, really. You would have quite an exciting, dramatic, and a very turbulent period that produced a giant like Roosevelt . And one that was so necessary for the times, just as Hitler was necessary for Germany... in a whole different context.
HBO:
What do you hope the audience will take away from the film?
Joseph Sargent:
Well, of course I hope that for those people who barely know who Franklin Delano Roosevelt was, I hope it's a good introduction to the man himself as a man, as opposed to somebody in a history book. It's a man who grew from something other than what he ultimately became famous for being. And I hope it's inspiring. I hope it may get some thinking done, or started, in terms of ultimately what values really add up to, and not just the values that people are fabricating these days. So again, it's how much influence any of our films have on the consciousness of young minds growing into an awareness of what constitutes elements of humanity.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
HBO Store NEW!
Something the Lord Made starring Alan Rickman and Mos Def. Buy the DVD now at the HBO Store!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
