On Wednesday, Gus Van Sant screened the U.S. premier of his new film Restless at the Museum of The Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. The director of such films as Drugstore Cowboy (1989), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Goodwill Hunting (1997), Elephant (2003), and Milk (2008), was there for a Q&A after the screening, along with his long time collaborator, cinematographer Harris Savides. Gus Van Sant described the theater at the Museum of The Moving Image as very “Kubrick” in its design.
Gus Van Sant
The screenwriter of Restless, Jason Lew, began working on Restless initially as a play, while he attended NYU in Manhattan. His then classmate, producer Bryce Dallas Howard, would later go on to be one of the producers of the film version. Gus Van Sant approaches directing the writing of another differently then as he would his own, “When shooting someone else’s script, it is my job to stay out of the way, not screw it up, and interpret the script. When I’m working with my own writing, I already know what’s going on.”
The film explores death, a common theme for Gus Van Sant, which he says is not a conscious choice. “It’s not intentional. Gerry (2002) and Last Days (2005) were specific about moments of death. Paranoid Park (2007) is about the obsession about seeing someone die”. The main character of the Restless, Enoch Brae, played by Henry Hopper, is struggling with his acceptance of death, which has grown into an obsession. This leads him to cross paths with Annable, a young girl who is dieing of cancer, played by Mia Waskikowska. Together, they make an attempt to affirm life amongst terrifying circumstances. Henry Hopper, the son of the late Dennis Hopper, was undergoing a similar experience in his own life during the shooting of the film, as Dennis Hopper was losing his battle to cancer during this time. “It was intense for Harry Hopper. [The character] Annabelle was going through something that his father was going through. It was progressively intense.”, described Gus Van Sant, “It’s about Annable trying to have an honest end of her days. Not a good time – but not one of grieving. Kids with catastrophic disease in real life befriend unlikely people and undergo strange relations at the end because their family is often too preoccupied with grieving.”
Harrison Savides and Gus Van Sant said that they spoke about shooting on 16mm before the start of production in order to achieve the visual grain of films produced in the 1970s, such as The Godfather. They admitted to having this conversation before each of the films that they’ve made together, but that they always end up shooting on 35mm regardless.
They came close to filming Milk (2008) on 16mm, but the studios wouldn’t allow it. They also hired documentary cameramen to achieve a documentary style, but this proved to be too expensive as they charge much higher fees then narrative cameramen. Finally, Gus Van Sant pointed out the irony that The Hurt Locker (2008), which was shot on 16mm, won the Oscar that year. Mr. Savides said, “I don’t think the look of the film has to stand out. Nothing is ever too strong and it feels right.” When asked to clarify what he meant by “too strong”, he explained, “Not so that the style stands out beyond the story, it exists as part of the fabric.”
This is the sixth film that Gus Van Sant and Harris Savides have collaborated on. They met on a Levi’s commercial where previously, Van Sant had heard that Madonna wouldn’t shoot a music video unless Harris was available, which had sparked his interest. They immediately got along well together. “Those were the days”, said Harris Savides in regards to his period of working on Madonna’s music videos.
Gus Van Sant has been exploring new methods in directing; one being a method used by Terrence Malick where he would have the actors act out the scene without dialogue. Van Sant explained that he started doing this for coverage during the shooting of Milk (2008). “We did the same thing on Restless and edited a silent version of the film because we have so many silent takes. When I saw Tree of Life I saw that Malick was doing a whole different thing. He has a specific plan for those silent moments.”
Van Sant explained that he does not storyboard, though it is something that he would like to try. He storyboarded Drugstore Cowboy (1989) but he did not have enough time during shooting to follow them. Since then he has chosen the camera angles during the blocking of the scene. “Things kept getting simpler and simpler. Mostly two or three angles. I haven’t storyboarded since 1985.” Harris Savides responded by saying, “I hope he doesn’t go back to storyboards. I like it simple.”
When Van Sant was called “the real deal” of independent cinema, he responded by saying “I always thought I was a sell out. On Drugstore Cowboy (1989) we had very demanding producers so we didn’t feel independent. So ‘independent’ is a weird thing.” He explained that the landscape for up and coming independent filmmakers is changing, that money used to be able to be acquired through overseas and VHS distribution deals and now that has changed. He explained, “things are shifting for modern filmmakers, but not going away.”
