Jay DiPietro

IONCINEMA.com’s “IONCINEPHILE of the Month” puts the spotlight on an emerging filmmaker from the world of cinema. This October we are profiling one more Sundance class of 2009 filmmaker, who transformed his play into a feature film. This month we feature: Jay DiPietro romantic drama, Peter and Vandy. To see Jay’s top ten films of all time as click here.

All couples are defined by their collective experiences together. But if they could go back in time and look at those experiences again, would they be the same as they remember? Would those moments have the same meaning? Writer/director Jay DiPietro explores these questions in Peter and Vandy, a story about love with no beginning and no end….Playing with memory versus reality, as well as subtext versus surface meaning, DiPietro fashions a spellbinding story about love… that is not a love story. – Sundance

Eric Lavallee: During your childhood…what films were important to you?
Jay DiPietro: I remember watching television more as a child. And my mother was really big about not letting me watch violence. She wouldn’t let me see Star Wars because she thought it would be too violent. My cousins and I would sneak into the movies a lot. That’s how I was able to see Porky’s and other R rated fare. My uncle brought me to see Hannah and her Sisters when I was young, but it was over my head. I don’t really associate films with my childhood. My childhood was like a big gestational period.

E.L: During your formative years what films and filmmakers inspired you?
J.D: I guess David Lynch was the first filmmaker I really got into. Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart were big movies for me. I liked that his films had all of these contradictory elements. They were bizarre yet naturalistic. They were twisted yet moralistic. And I loved that he would bring you on these twisted roller coaster rides and then deliver the sweetest – fairytale ending he could.

E.L: At what point did you know you wanted to become a filmmaker?
J.D: I went to acting school and acted in a few things and that’s what made me know I needed to direct. I’m usually pretty good at being cool and knowing when to keep my mouth shut – but when I was acting on a film set or a stage and could see how to better block a scene or cover a scene or fix a script… I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. I would re-write entire scenes that someone else wrote – and then I had the balls to actually give the new scene to the writer. I quickly realized that I needed to be doing this myself or I would alienate everyone I would work with.

E.L: What is the genesis of Peter and Vandy? When you conceived it as a play, were parts of you thinking cinematically?
J.D: I learned under a very talented guy named Tom Noonan. Tom would write plays – perform it at his theatre – and then make a film of it. His film “What Happened Was…” won at Sundance. So when I did Peter and Vandy as a play in his theatre, there was already a pretty rich tradition of moving plays to the screen. And all of the work we did at that theatre was hyper- realistic. It was a small theatre and people sat around the set and felt like they were eavesdropping on this couple.

E.L: What kind of characteristics/features were you looking for your main characters? How did you come to cast Jason and Jess?
J.D: I cast Jess first. I knew her work and I knew that she was talented. But better still, I knew she had a lousy poker face. If she feels something it reads on her face. That was important to me. The script is very sub textual. They are usually saying the opposite of what they are feeling. Then I cast Jason. I knew Peter needed to be funny and charming to cut against what an A-hole he’s acting like most of the time. So when I met Jason I realized that I had found the funny A-hole I was looking for.

E.L: How did you prep for the performances (was there a rehearsal process?). How did you prep for each scene (was there storyboarding involved?)
J.D: We only had a couple of days of rehearsal. But we were able to finish our days early. That was important. Jess and Jason would have time to rest at night and prepare for the next day. We shot listed and story boarded but after a few days, Frankie Demarco (our DP) got into a rhythm and stopped looking at that stuff. We would get to the set – see how the light was falling – find the most beautiful angle and start blocking around that – trying to hit as many angles as we could.

E.L: What ideas did you have for the style of the film? What inspirations (other films, location, paintings etc…) did you draw upon for the look/style, aesthetics of the film? J.D: I knew that we had a lot of interiors and I didn’t want to see a bunch of white walls. So I went back and watched some Almodovar. Talk to Her. I remember thinking, “That’s a talky movie – but it’s visually brilliant.” And sure enough, there are scenes in the hospital but the walls aren’t white. They’re a beautiful mustard color. I also noticed a color palate to the movie. One story was deep red and the other story was this mustard color. And at the end of the film, when the stories converge, so do the colors. So I brought that idea to Peter and Vandy.

E.L: Can you discuss the collaborative process you had with your Production Designer?
J.D: I sat down with the Lucio Sexias, and we split the story up into 3 time periods – A. When they fall in love – B. When they begin to fall out of love – and C. When they come back together. And we have each a color palate A. Sea foam green (like the Statue of Liberty). B. Deep red and tan (the colors of the PB and J the fight about). And C. A combination of A and B.

So even though the film is told out of sequence, the whole production team had a really clear idea of where we were. We gave everyone a hand out about the palate and everyone was on the same page. The costume designer would give us a punch of the right color when necessary. Frankie would look through the lens and see a dead spot and say, “This is an A scene, right? Someone give me a green candle over here on this empty table.” 

It was very helpful. And it was a metaphor for the film as a whole. You start to realize that that A time was not as different than the B time. Even when you are falling in love, you are telling the other person exactly how you want to be treated in the future. A and B are more related than we think. They figure this out a bit and when they do – the two palates live together.

Strand Releasing releases Peter and Vandy in theaters on October 9th.