TORONTO -- Little Rock native son David Gordon Green has found himself very far from home in the making of his new film, a sort of bio-pic of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman. Set mainly in Bauman's hometown, a Boston suburb, the film is thick with Bostonese, and a chaotic swirl of characters who feel like they were born and raised in the smoky bar everybody seems to frequent. It's not the first time the eclectic Gordon Green has veered outside what might be considered his comfort zone. His impressive filmography covers everything from absolutely dire dramas (Snow Angels), to stoner comedies with his bud Danny McBride (Your Highness), and now, this big studio prestige picture, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Bauman, and the supremely gifted Tatiana Maslany as his wife, Erin. On the eve of the film's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Gordon Green spoke with us about his talented cast, the complications of shooting at live sporting events, and how to make a predictable story of uplift into something more indelible.
Q. The story is so steeped in Boston-ness, the city's history, and its attitude. Was it intimidating to have to conjure up an authentic-feeling production in a place that's so difficult to get right?
A. I think it would if I was making The Departed. But the reality of our story is Jeff is from Chelmsford, which is 45 minutes outside of Boston, so it's not like we're going for a Southie accent. Don't get me wrong, it was technical, but it wasn't the standard dialect that we're going for. Then we brought in the greatest dialect coach in the world, Tim Monich, who has worked with the best of the best. It's not just about pronunciation of a word. It's about how you hold your face, the mannerisms and expressions. We [also] had the resource of the real subjects hanging out with us very often, so we could see where we wanted to hit technical specificity and when it would be distracting.
Q. There's a scene about midway through, after Jeff has lost his legs, where he's asked by the Bruins to come out on center ice before an NHL playoff game and he's out there, waving the flag, and the crowd is cheering. It's where a lot of these sorts of struggle/redemption movies end, and yet, here, it's really the beginning.
A. Definitely at the beginning of a downward spiral psychologically for him. And that was Day One of production.
Q. Wow! Really?
A. Yeah. It was tricky because we didn't know if the Bruins were going to make the playoffs that year. We were shooting in a real game. It was the last home game on the calendar, so we had to race into production and start with that scene, really starting with one of the heavier scenes out of the gate, which became cool. We were all nervous and vulnerable and uncertain about it, and then asking fans about to stay after for our re-creation and it was amazing how many people stayed. That's kind of when we knew we were onto something, to see the support of the city. A lot of Jeff's friends and family were there, so that was a big night.
Q. So, did you do a similar thing with the Red Sox?
A. Yeah. Same thing. Then we had Pedro [Martinez, former Red Sox pitcher] come out I mean, I'm not a huge sports fan myself, but I have that passion for film, and in those moments, I understand everybody's enthusiasm for those arenas, those spaces, those celebrations and victories and defeats. Those environments are just so empowering. You just see, when an icon like Pedro walked out, it was like a gladiator in this beautiful, heroic sense. Those were spectacular moments. To think that you could actually have the support of a major franchise and an incredibly vocal and opinionated city there to say, "We support what you're doing," was a huge empowerment for our project.
Q. In both cases, you get a real sense of just how terrifying it must be to go out there and stand in front of 20,000 people, even if you're totally psychologically healthy.
A. Well, it's a perfect way into what I think makes this story unique: It's not just a character overcoming a disability. Just as you could be a great baseball player, but maybe you have stage fright and you can't throw the perfect pitch in front of those people. Imagine you're an unlikely victim in this situation and then not only do you have to deal with the fact that you don't have any legs and the emotional and physical aftermath of that, but you also are in the spotlight. There are a lot of people looking at you. Where you go, people know who you are, so you're dealing with that kind of personal growth and awkwardness in front of a lot of viewers, which, as I've grown close to Jeff [Bauman], is a really difficult thing. For a guy that wants to work at Costco roasting chickens and watch baseball in a bar with his buddies, it's a different thing.
Q. Obviously, the film is really powered by the two lead performances. Jake Gyllenhaal is very much a known quantity now, but Tatiana Maslany is relatively unknown beyond Orphan Black.
A. [That show] is really good. I mean, from a performance standpoint, it's extraordinary. That's one of the reasons I was interested, because I'm sure you know that she plays a lot of different characters, and you don't know which one is her. Then you meet her, and you're like, "Oh, none of them are her." She worked closely with Erin Hurley, the character she plays, and they became close. I mean, it was funny. As I cast Tatiana, I just assumed it's not a character that needs a specific physical resemblance to the person she's playing. Erin is not a high profile person. Then by the end of it, I was like, "She does look a lot like her." Just became kind of something that's inherent in their connection and communication and Tatiana's ability.
Q. A lot of these kinds of high-drama movies have a kind of predictable rhythm to them, we know the regular beats, but here you keep cutting out of scenes before they reach their natural climax. I thought that was fascinating.
A. That was our ambition: "How do you make an inspiring movie without falling into a lot of the clichés of inspiring movies?" Honestly, the story was so good and the script that John Pollono had written was so strong, that's what I was drawn to about it in the first place. I'm a cynic about a feel-good inspirational tale more than anyone, but this one just got me, because there were layers of humor in it. There was such darkness and kind of grit to a lot of it, so I became less afraid of falling into those traps.
Q. Were you ever tempted to hit those notes in some of these scenes? Was this a difficult process of stripping them down to their essence?
A. Not really. I guess the real consideration came with the ending. That really was a triumphant realization that the individual had, and I think it works for the story. Anybody who's been craving those type of moments, I think gets what they need out of it, but it was a balance. I wanted to leave on an uplifting note, because [Jeff] is a character that still deals with a lot of difficulty to this day, but there was a point where he realized, recognized, and embraced the profound power of the human connection that he had. I wanted to kind of go for it. I've never gone for it like that before, but I wanted the music to swell, and I wanted that audience to start to straighten up in their seats a little bit and lift their chin. That's the goal. If I'm taking someone to a pretty brutal place, I don't want to just [keep them] in that oppression. I want to keep a sense of humor and wit and sometimes absurdity about it, but then we get to what the real message of this movie is: If this normal dude can [experience] something this profound and devastating, but he can come out with a smile, a sense of humor, and as a better person, it's not just can you get through this, it's that you will get through this and you will be better for it.
MovieStyle on 09/29/2017