Fine Line Features | Wild Man Blues

What moment are you proudest of in WMB?

Probably the most incredible moment for me was filming Woody's parents. Seeing the age-old feeling that when you go home you're a kid again. Here's this world-famous actor, filmmaker, writer, musician, and his parents don't give him any respect. He brings home all these wonderful awards from Europe and all his dad looks at is the quality of the engraving. When she's asked about his love affair with Soon Yi, his mother says she'd prefer him to be with a nice Jewish girl. About his success, she says "Well, he didn't get there alone, he had a lot of help from his upbringing." That was a very revealing moment.

Was this your first time filming another filmmaker? Was there anything difficult about it?

It was the first time, but it wasn't difficult. Woody wasn't interested in controlling it, and he wouldn't have known how. Plus he was too busy dealing with his own demons. We were in a different European city every day, and when Woody isn't sure he's going to be comfortable, it makes him fragile. He was more worried about "how am I going to do my laundry", "where am I going to eat", and "are we going to be barraged by paparazzi". The only thing we established was that I was going to have total access or I wasn't going to do it.

We were with him over sixteen hours a day, so I don't think he could have stayed very aware of us. Anyway, my style is to be very unobtrusive, to be intimate with my subjects.

That seems to fit the atmosphere of Woody's entourage, as we see it in the film. Very familial.

Absolutely. He likes to be surrounded by people he trusts. He doesn't like strangers.

What about all the adulation you show him receiving in Europe. He has fans here, of course, but there the reaction seemed to hit another level.

The Europeans just love Woody. They really get his films, his sense of humor. All the shows were sold out in three hours, standing room only. People just wanted another piece of him. Wild Man Blues has already opened in France, and in the first week there were 23,000 admissions.

I think also that Europeans don't bring the same agenda to his work that Americans do. As I was filming, the whole Soon Yi -Woody thing was very much in the American news, and then Mia Farrow's book came out. People here have very definite opinions about things -- we may not understand the whole story, but we're opinionated.

Did you discuss the public image of Soon-Yi when you were preparing the film?

No, there was no discussion or preparation.

Was there something that struck you about their relationship?

It felt very natural. I felt comfortable with them. For me, it turned out to be a relationship about youth and age. Woody's idea of a good time would be to hit his hotel room, read, go out to a fabulous dinner. But Soon Yi is always on the go. She wants to go swimming, on gondola rides, shopping, to parties, to fashion shows. She keeps him out there.

She's the kind of person who has her own soul, she's very truthful. She doesn't say what he wants to hear -- she says what she feels and he can take it or leave it. She chides and teases him. I think he appreciates it, especially when he's out of his element. At home or on stage he's very much in control. But when he has to deal with an unfamiliar crowd outside his window, she's the one who tells him to go out and wave. Then he'll decide if he wants to do it.

What are you working on now?

I'm trying to finish this film called Generations. Which is about the two Woodstocks, '69 and '94. It looks at who we are today and who we were twenty-five years ago. We're not so very different, in that we're still looking for a sense of community and ritual. It looks at the original Woodstock promoters who are in their fifties now and are still doing Woodstock. Get a life! You get to know the bands -- Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Red Hot Chile Peppers, Metallica, Crosby Stills and Nash, Salt 'n Peppa, Peter Gabriel, Santana -- and it looks behind the scenes at Polygram -- who put up the money for the festival -- and their corporate decisions like how many condoms should be sold, who the sponsors should be, what kids are allowed to bring in. No drugs, no alcohol, no tent poles. No nothing. And it takes a look at Generation X, who they are. They did bring in drugs, tent poles, anything they wanted. It shows that despite the differences in the times, two generations aren't as different as they think they are.

I'm also working on two feature films: In the Boom Boom Room, with Patricia Arquette in the lead, and a film called Joe Glory which is a love story set against a background of racism, anti-semitism and anti-communism as the country was moving into the Cold War. We're about to start casting on that.