Q&A With Director John Dahl: You Kill Me
On June 4 DC Film Society members had a rare opportunity to talk with director John Dahl after a screening of his newest film You Kill Me at Landmark's Bethesda Row Cinema. DC Film Society's director Michael Kyrioglou moderated the discussion.
Michael Kyrioglou: There seems to be a sub-genre of hit-man films. Any comments on that and how did the screenplay come to you?
John Dahl: I found it interesting that a person would be paid to eliminate someone. Many of us would like to get rid of someone; people think of themselves only. Some years ago I read that someone in Chicago had paid someone $1,000 to kill someone and I thought--human life is only worth an insignificant amount of money. I became intrigued by hired killers; they have always fascinated me. The screenplay was written by Christopher Markus who is Polish and from Buffalo and Stephen McFeely from San Francisco. They moved to Hollywood and spent a year writing it while working at day jobs, but no one wanted to make it and the script got set aside. But it led to more work for them--they wrote Narnia I, II and III. The script was given to Ben Kingsley who liked it. We made the film for $4 million. It was shot entirely in Winnipeg in the spring. Winnipeg is the ice skating capital of Canada--it looks like Buffalo and there are tax advantages to working there. In April the rivers were covered with ice but within a week the now was completely gone. In the film, all the snow is done digitally except for the scene in the beginning of the film where Ben Kingsley is shoveling his walk.
Q: Could you comment on the editing, cinematography, especially the AA scenes?
JD: Scott Chestnut did the editing on this film and some of my previous films. The AA scenes were shot over two days in San Francisco. Some of the 30 people were extras and some had speaking parts. It's difficult to get a random group of people and get their reaction shots but Scott put them together and timed the reactions. Jeff Jur, who shot some of my other films, did the cinematography. I wanted to shoot some of it hand-held, especially the AA scenes where I wanted spontaneity. You try to create a world in which something absurd can take place but that would seem believable to an audience. I look for depth in sets and the ability to light it properly. For the house in Buffalo, most scenes took place in the kitchen but the light came from all around. It gives the set a three dimensional quality. I like to control the light on faces--it's intresting to see a face but not see all of it. I wanted to give Ben Kingsley's face a gritty feel.
MK: You play it straight which makes it funnier.
JD: I'd compare it to a dry martini. The Polish music helps--it's happy and sorrowful at the same time.
Q: What was it like to work with Ben Kingsley?
JD: Ben Kingsley is such an imposing figure--he's very intense but he loves acting. He comes to the set and sits in his chair rather than running off to his trailer to make cell phone calls like most actors when the scene is over. When we shot the AA scenes, he spent the day talking to the extras, chatting with 30 people. It's exhausting but he spent most of the day with them. He said, "When I was doing Gandhi I needed those people there to do my performance; I need to engage with people.
Q: Will this film go to art theaters or will go into general release?
JD: It would hope it would play here [Bethesda Row]. We are going to start in five major markets. Releasing it at the beginning of summer, it will compete with big summer blockbusters but hopefully it will be counter programming to the bigger films.
Q: What format was the film shot in?
JD: Super 35. It was edited on an Apple computer. We did the effects with After Effects; there are 250 visual effects shots. We did a digital intermediate and then colorized it. It was all done with Apple products. Super 35 is a popular format. It's versatile and you can use flat lenses and fast film.
Q: With only a $4 million budget, how did you get people to work without much money?
JD: No one got paid a lot. They liked the script and wanted to work with Ben Kingsley. Ben and Tea Leoni were producers and were paid a low rate. If the film succeeds, they succeed also. It's a great way to make movies; I'm an advocate of working low budget.
Q: Will you write more films?
JD: What I like about using other people's writing is that it gives you objectivity. You can refer to the novel if you get stuck. We kept to the original script for the most part, took out some scenes we couldn't afford it do, added a few lines, for example, the bowling shoes.I was trying not to use so many "f" words but it wasn't as funny.
You Kill Me opens in theaters on June 22.
Calendar of Events
FILMS
American Film Institute Silver Theater
The AFI shows the remaining films in the "Korean Film Festival DC 2007" with A Dirty Carnival, Murder Take One, The President's Last Bang and A Bittersweet Life. Other screenings for DC's third Korean Film Festival will take place at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
"The Best of Buster Keaton" with live music accompaniment continues through June 24. To commemorate John Wayne's centennial is a series of Wayne's westerns including The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Rio Bravo. More John Wayne events take place at the Smithsonian Associates, the Archives, and Films on the Hill.
Films from Northern Ireland can be seen early in June including Shellshock Rock with director John T. David in person, Mickybo and Me with director/screenwriter Terry Loane attending, The Crying Game, director/screenwriter Pearse Elliott in person with The Mighty Celt, screenwriter Daragh Carville in person with Middletown, Breakfast on Pluto and Omagh.
"50 Years of Janus Films Part I", a series of classic international films brought to the U.S. by the Janus Films distribution company, started in May and continues into July with greata classic films such as The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Makioka Sisters, La Strada, Walkabout and High and Low. Plus there is one more film in the Shakespeare Project, Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Check the website for exact titles and showtimes.
The annual Silverdocs film festival of documentary films runs from June 12-17 with a huge selection of documentary features and shorts from all over the world.
Freer Gallery of Art
To accompany the exhibition "Encompassing the Globe," about Portuguese exploration of the world, is a series of films involved in Portugal's Age of Discovery--seafaring, history and immigration. On June 1 at 7:00pm is the silent film Maria do Mar (Leitao de Barros, 1930) with Jose Manuel Costa from the Cinemateca Portuguesa attending and with music accompaniment by Burnett Thomson. On June 2 at 2:00pm is Silvestre (Joao Cesar Monteiro, 1982); on June 3 at 1:00pm is Another Way of Life (Paulo Rocha, 1966) shown with A Bee in the Rain (Fernando Lopes, 1972) at 3:00pm. Some films by Portuguese women directors include The Mutants (Teresa Villaverde, 1998) on June 8 at 7:00pm, The Lady of Chandor (Catarina Mourao, 1998) on June 10 at 1:00pm shown with The Murmuring Coast (Margarida Cardoso, 2004) at 2:30pm. Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal's prolific director, still working in his nineties is represented by Aniki-Bobo (1942) on June 15 at 7:00pm, Passion of Jesus (1962) on June 17 at 2:00pm, "No" or the Vainglory of Command (1990) on June 22 at 7:00pm and A Talking Picture (2003) on June 24 at 2:00pm. Pedro Costa introduces his new film and his first film: on June 29 at 7:00pm is The Blood (1990) and on July 1 at 1:00pm is Colossal Youth (2006), currently awing audiences around the world.
National Gallery of Art
The Czech series of films concludes in June with Virginity (Otakar Vavra, 1937) on June 2 at 2:00pm; The Kreutzer Sonata (Gustav Machaty, 1926) shown with Such is Life (Karl Junghans, 1929) on June 3 at 4:00pm; Tonka of the Gallows (Karel Anton, 1930) on June 9 at 4:00pm; The Strike (Karel Stekly, 1947) shown with Crisis (Herbert Kline, 1938) on June 16 at 2:30pm; and The Distant Journey (Alfred Radok, 1948) on June 17 at 4:00pm.
A new series "Modernity and Tradition: Film in Interwar Central Europe" begins on June 24 at 2:00pm with a lecture "Between Surrealism and Constructivism: Avant-garde and Film in Central Europe in the 1920s and 1930s", followed by a program of short films at 4:00pm.
Special events include Manoel de Oliveira's new film Belle Toujours (2006) on June 2 at 4:00pm (see the Freer above for other films by Manoel de Oliveira). On June 15 and 16 at 12:30pm is Blockade (Sergei Loznitsa, 2005), a compilation film based on footage of the seige of Leningrad during WWII, shown with Amateur Photographer (Irina Gedrovich, 2004), about the recollections of a German private serving on the Estern front.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
A series of B sci-fi femme fatale films is introduced by film scholar David Wilt beginning with Queen of Outer Space (Edward Bernds, 1958) on June 14 at 8:00pm. On June 21 at 8:00pm is Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (Nathan Juran, 1958); on June 28 at 8:00pm is Barbarella, Queen of the Galaxy (Roger Vadim, 1968) with Jane Fonda.
National Museum of African Art
On June 29 at 6:30pm is Rwanda Rising (C.B. Hackworth, 2007) about the reconciliation and rebuilding of Rwanda after the genocide. A moderated discussion follows.
National Portrait Gallery
Louis Malle's thriller Elevator to the Gallows (1958) will be accompanied by the Thad Wilson Quintet on June 16 at 4:00pm. As part of the "Reel Portraits Film Series" is a trio of Alfred Hitchcock films with guests to add some insight: on June 21 at 7:00pm is Shadow of a Doubt with author Tappan Wilder leading the discussion afterwards; on June 22 at 7:00pm is Strangers on a Train with Geoffrey O'Brien, historian and author; and on June 23 at 2:00pm is To Catch a Thief with Amy Henderson discussing Hitchcock's Hollywood and "Cool Blondes." While you're there, see Hitch's portrait in the new exhibition "Harry Benson: Being There."
National Museum of Women in the Arts
As part of the "Korean Film Festival DC 2007" is The Grace Lee Project (Grace Lee, 2005) on June 13 at 6:30pm, a celebrated documentary about dozens of women with the same name. On June 13 at 8:00pm is In Between Days (So Yong Kim and Brad Rust Gray, 2006) a hit from Berlin and Sundance. More Korean films can be seen at the AFI.
A series "Women Directors at the Oscars" looks at two films by Italian women directors. On June 20 at 7:00pm is Seven Beauties (Lina Wertmuller); on June 27 at 7:00pm is Don't Tell (Cristina Comencini).
Films on the Hill
Cecil B. DeMille's film Adam's Rib (1923) will be shown on June 13 at 7:00pm. To celebrate John Wayne's centennial is Tycoon (Richard Wallace, 1947) on June 20 at 7:00pm with Duke as an engineer building a railroad in the Andes. On June 22 at 7:00pm is Lillian Hellman's adaptation of her controversial hit play The Children's Hour, now renamed These Three (William Wyler, 1936) with Bonita Granville, Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea.
Washington Jewish Community Center
A double feature: Taqasim (Duki Dror, 1999) is a documentary about the immigrants from Arab countries who brought Arab music to Israel. This is shown with Voice Without a Face (Assaf Basson, 2005), a documentary about Yitzhak Basson, a musician who was also a Mossad spy. Both are shown on June 4 at 7:30pm. Another double feature: The Ashkenazim (Dani Dothan and Dalia Mevorach, 2005) is a documentary about Tel Aviv hipsters embracing Yiddish culture, shown with Young, Jewish and Left (Konnie Chameides and Irit Reinheimer, 2006), a documentary about Jewish radicals ranging from anarchists to the modern labor movement and social justice, queer consciousness, and multiculturalism. Both are on June 11 at 7:30pm. Sisters (Julia Solomonoff, 2005), on June 18 at 7:30pm is a drama from Argentina about two sisters.
Pickford Theater
More in the "Screening Shakespeare" series: on June 7 at 6:30pm is Richard III (Laurence Olivier, 1955); on June 12 at 7:00pm is Romanoff and Juliet (Peter Ustinov, 1961); on June 19 at 7:00pm is Shakespeare Wallah (James Ivory, 1965); on June 28 at 7:00pm is The Taming of the Shrew (Franco Zeffirelli, 1967); on June 29 at 7:00pm is Romeo and Juliet (Franco Zeffirelli, 1968). See the website for more.
Goethe Institute
The series "Politics in Film" continues in June with 89 Millimeters (Sebastian Heinzel, 2004), a portrait of 6 young Belarussians, on June 18 at 6:30pm. The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez (Heidi Specogna, 2006) is about one of the 32,000 Green Card soldiers, non-Americans serving in the Iraq war, shown on June 25 at 6:30pm.
A program of three children's films is on June 3, celebrating International Children's Day. At 11:00am is The Story of Little Mook (Wolfgang Staudte, 1953); at 1:00pm is The Magic Flute (Curt Linda, 1997); and at 3:00pm is The Flying Classroom (Tomy Wigand, 2002).
French Embassy
On June 12 at 7:00pm is Poison Friends (Emmanuel Bourdieu, 2006), about a manipulative college student.
The National Theatre
"Katharine Hepburn: A Centennial Celebration" is the topic of this summer's series of films. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) starts off the series on June 11 at 6:30pm. On June 18 at 6:30pm is Stage Door (Gregory La Cava, 1937), and on June 25 at 6:30pm is Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938). More in July and August.
National Archives
To celebrate John Wayne's centennial is a screening of Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939) on June 15 at 11:00am. More John Wayne events can be seen at the Smithsonian Associaties, the AFI, and Films on the Hill. In conjunction with Silverdocs is a program "Why Democracy" with documentary film selections and a panel discussion on June 15 at 7:00pm.
National Museum of Natural History
On June 8 at noon and June 10 at noon is Sisters in Law (Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi, 2005), an award-winning documentary about two progressive female judges in a small town in Cameroon. On June 15 at noon and June 16 at noon is Blue Vinyl (Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold, 2004), a humorous documentary about the dangers of PVC at every stage of its life cycle from factory to incinerator. On June 29 at noon is Churning the Sea of Time: A Journey up the Mekong to Angkor (Les Guthman, 2006), a film odyssey up the Mekong Delta.
The Avalon
As part of "The Lions of Czech Film" is Return of the Idiot (Sasa Gedeon, 1999) on June 13 at 8:00pm, inspired by Dostoyevsky's novel.
As part of the "French Cinémathèque" on June 20 at 8:00pm is The Exterminating Angels (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2006), about a filmmaker researching eroticism.
Smithsonian Associates
A Simple Curve (Aubrey Nealon, 2005), a film from Canada about a small-town entrepreneur, will be shown on June 10 at 1:00pm.
Busboys and Poets
On June 4 at 6:00pm is a film and book discussion program on Africa and the African Diaspora. The Price of Oil features a series of interviews of people in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria explaining in their own words the harmful effects of oil exploration in their areas. The book Where Vultures Feast: Shell, Human Rights and Oil by Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas presents a case against the oil company.
Smithsonian Institution
On June 26 at 7:00pm is a documentary A Bronx Tale (2006) about the musical culture of the Puerto Rican community of the South Bronx. Location: S. Dillon Ripley Center.
FILM FESTIVALS
