Interview: Steve Buscemi

Lonesome Jim moves at a deliberately slow but tolerable pace. It’s one
of those films that critics will not appreciate much because it isn’t
challenging enough for an American director and it’s hard to find a
reason why a film like this should be made. Well this film is for anyone
who has tried and failed, which is probably more than have tried and
succeeded. So it’s undoubtedly identifiable. It’s about a writer and
it’s for writers, filmmakers, actors, musicians, chefs, whoever, who had
to try and find something else that made them happy when the daily grind
of trying to “make it” becomes too hard to deal with alone.

Lonesome Jim is autobiographical and it is not afraid to be. The
screenwriter is James Strouse and the character is named Jim who is a
writer. The whole script was set in the real locations in his hometown
in Indiana. And the characters, from his family to his neighbors, are
born from not his mind but from his reality. It’s hard to look at your
own life in all its normality and absurdity and write an entertaining
film, but this film tries and succeeds at doing that.

The digital video by Phil Parmett is sharp and not as grainy as Jack
Matthews the film critic for the Daily News would have you believe. The
movie has a nice feel to it. It is always amazing when a cinematographer
is able to make the format we see on television (which is a lot nowadays, especially with reality T.V.), new again and more importantly cinematic.
He has worked with Buscemi before as the D.P. on Animal Factory as well
as a few films that Buscemi acted in – 13 Moons and more importantly In
the Soup – a film that plays well alongside Lonesome Jim.

Jim is played effectively by Casey Affleck. His monotone voice fits
right in with his lack of emotion – an unlikely hero. Other notable performances come via Seymour Cassell, Mark Boone Junior, Liv Tyler and Mark Kay Place.

Sometimes actors make interesting directors as history has proven
(Cassavetes, Eastwood) and Steve Buscemi is no exception. He has been
practicing his craft directing episodes of The Sopranos between working
with great directors as an actor. If you are familiar with Steve
Buscemi’s work as a director (Trees Lounge and Animal Factory) then it’s
important to note that this fits right in as a thread moving back toward
Trees Lounge. It’s about a small town and its inhabitants. It has
interesting characters who find themselves stepping on each others toes,
causing unnecessary chaos. No wonder why he was attracted to the script and decided to direct it.

Here is my interview with Steve Buscemi.

Justin Ambrosino: How did you find the screenplay?

Steve Buscemi: It was sent by Plum Pictures
to my agent. My agent thought that I would like it and I did, then I met with the producer and screenwriter, James Strouse, and took it from there. I liked him, I
liked what he wrote and then we worked on it a little bit together.

JA: How did the script change from when you first got it to your final cut?

SB: Not much. It didn’t change in tone. I was just adding some thing
that I thought were missing, changing or taking away stuff that I didn’t
think was necessary. In editing it was tricky trying to find that line
for Jim’s character, also for the Mom too, of how far can you push it
with this character before you don’t want to follow him anymore? So
there was a lot of experimentation of taking out lines, taking out
scenes, rearranging scenes so you don’t totally lose interest in this
guy when he’s doing these unlikable things.

JA: What were some of things you took out that you felt where too much?

SB: In the script there was a lot more of Jim’s character commenting on
how bad he was and how he’s not worth being loved and we just took a lot
of those lines out because it was just evident. You didn’t need to hear
him talk about it.

JA: There is a certain pacing in the film was that in the script or did
you bring that to it?

SB: That was definitely in the script. The tone of it reminded me of
Trees Lounge, but also of the Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki. I was
sure that James Strouse was influenced by him but he didn’t even know
who he was. Aki’s films move at that pace as well and they have that
kind of humor.

JA: Was there any debate on the ambiguity of the character back story,
in the sense that we never learn what he wrote out in New York, or why
he failed?

SB: Well I talked about it with Casey (Affleck) and the writer but we
weren’t that concerned with why he didn’t make it. I think people
generally know that New York is a tough town and it’s easy to get lost
here.

JA: How do you make a smart, quirky film as opposed to making a sappy
romantic comedy?

SB: I didn’t think the script was sentimental and certainly the actors
bring a lot of weight to it. My concern was that the characters were real.

JA: Do you do any improvisation on set, or do you come to the set
knowing exactly what it is you want in terms of camera?

SB: We designed shots as much as we could and we rehearsed as much as we
could, which wasn’t a lot, but I never want to be too rigid in saying,
“this is how we designed it, this is how we are going to do it.” If
someone has a better idea on how we can do it, once we are on set, be it
the D.P. or the actor or anybody than I am open to that.

JA: Do you have a set crew that you usually work with?

SB: Certainly the actors Mark Boone Junior and Seymour Cassell so far
have been in everything I have directed on film and Phil Parmett, the
D.P., I have worked with before over the years. Yeah, I like working
with people I know and trust.

JA: You always find a special part for Mark Boone Junior. In Lonesome
Jim his character is appropriately named Evil. Can you talk about your
relationship with him?

SB: What I love about him is that we are so different, His energy and
his take on things is really different than mine. So I appreciate what
he brings to the work that we do together. I would have played the part
of Evil, if I thought I could of done what he did but I don’t think I
could so that’s what I like about him. He is always believable, he
always real and funny. I don’t think he tries to be funny, he just is.

JA: Is directing a film that you aren’t acting in less stressful?

SB: Certainly. Because we had to do a lot in a short amount of time, I
think it helped to not be in it. But I didn’t act in it because I didn’t
feel like I was right for any of the parts. I was apt to play the part
of Evil but I didn’t think I could do it any better than Mark.

JA: Can you talk about scouting for locations, in particular the bar scenes?

SB: That was easy because those bars are real bars. The script says, he
goes to Riki’s 1, Riki’s 2 and Riki’s 3. And their really are a Riki’s
1, 2 and 3. We shot it in Jim’s home town, so all the locations that he
wrote about we shot in. Once we shot it we dressed it with people, we
didn’t go in and shoot it with the people who were there. But for
instance when we scouted the Riki’s 2 bar it was exactly like the script
– there was one guy at the bar. That’s how it was.

JA: Were people open to you guys shooting in the neighborhood?

SB: They were very open, really supportive. Jim’s parents gave us the
use of their house and the factory and their nieces. Sarah and Rachel
were the real Sarah and Rachel. We actually used the whole family.

JA: What it a challenge to work with the digital video?

SB: Phil Parmett really experimented with what he could do with it. With
the exposures, what he could get away with the lighting, not lighting. I
never expected it to look like anything. I was really impressed with how
good he was able to make it look like.

JA: Would you use digital video again?

SB: Yeah, the next film that I am going to do will be shot, not on
MiniDV but, on DV.

JA: What is the next film?

SB: It’s a remake of a Theo Van Gogh movie called Interview. He wanted
to remake it in New York, so his Dutch producing partner and the
American producing partner are honoring that wish. They came to me with
it. I didn’t know his work. I knew of him only when he was killed. They
showed me some of his films that they wanted to remake and I really
liked his work a lot.

JA: Do you think you will ever stop acting and just direct?

SB: I supposed if I thought I could make a living only from directing I
might entertain that thought but I think that the movies that I want to
direct will make it hard for me to make living. So I think I’ll always
be acting.

IFC Films released Lonesome Jim on March 24th in New York and Los Angeles with a wider release to occur in the weeks to come.