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Q & A with director PHIL MORRISON
& writer ANGUS MACLACHLAN
ABOUT THE STORY
Q: What was your inspiration for making a film?
Morrison: I've never had that feeling of "this story must be told." That's sort of a prose-based inspiration, I guess, and thank God people have it. I've been inspired more by moments, or by phenomena, in movies. It makes sense to me that some movies are called transcendental. Just a couple transcendent moments are enough to make a movie worthwhile to me; and if there are more, and they work together in some mysterious way to create the moral-mystical-delirious experience that's unique to movies, then I'm inspired. So I'm inspired by an obvious list of great directors: Demy, Demme, Minnelli, Cukor, Burnett, Imamura, Kiarostami, Bresson, Sturges, N. Ray, Ozu, Renoir, Leigh, Spielberg, Zhang, Makhmalbaf. It seems like a good idea to look to them for guidance.
Angus's script for Junebug was appealing to me primarily because I could see opportunities to attempt those moments. And hopefully those moments converge to become something worthwhile. Not a something we planned in advance, but an alchemical something that's an unforeseen result of our planning in advance.
Q: Being from North Carolina, how did your experience living in the South inform you as a director and inform Angus in shaping the story and these characters?
Morrison: Well, living in the South absolutely informs the pace of the movie. I don't find the cliché of Southern slowness to be inapt. What I hope we reflect is the contemplativeness that sits in the slowness. We aimed for Junebug to feel contemplative.
Certainly the politics of the South and the relationship between the South and the rest of the world are of great interest to me, and lots of choices in the movie are informed by that interest. Making Junebug has been interesting to me as a means of discovering ideas and raising questions, as opposed to asserting a formed outlook about the South.
One idea that arose is a phenomenon of the South reflexively defining itself with traits that are perhaps interesting or evocative, but are essentially uncommon. Peculiarities are pridefully presented as if they are quintessential. And so we become complicit, even eager in the furthering of biases and clichés about our own selves. I'm interested in how this can overwhelm a connection to, or exploration of, what is actually "common" (good things, and evil too). I don't suggest this is particular to the South, but that's where we were thinking about it.
MacLachlan: There was a lot of discussion about whether we could afford to film in NC and Phil felt very strongly that it was important to the project. The characters, the house, the land, the story was very specific in time and place. Although the cast had three southerners (Celia, Scott, and Ben) all of the actors got to spend time here, encounter the extras, the town, and the weather. Since both Phil and I are natives we know the people we were trying to portray. We know those kitchens, those church suppers. The basic story of someone coming from the outside could, I suppose, be set anywhere, but this family with this dynamic and socio-economic make-up lives in a specific neighborhood in the town we both know. The delicate line of of non-denigrating humor and true feeling and depth that I was aiming for in the script and Phil illuminated in the film may be specifically southern, may be North Carolinian, I don't really know. But for this story it was very important to be true to the people I live with.
Q: Briefly explain the relationship between George and his family? What makes him different? Why would anyone in his family have reason to resent him?
Morrison: Cosmopolitan country music has lyrics about rambling, hitting the road, etc. But nearer the mountains you get songs like "No Desire to Roam" and "I Long To See the Old Folks." To be in the family is to stay near. George's desire to be gone is a betrayal. That desire was probably evident since he was a kid, and the family flattered him and wooed him to stay. But he still left.
MacLachlan: I believe George is the Golden Boy. The first born who always shown bright, always succeeded, always glowed. He has what the Italians call "The Seven Beauties". People have always been drawn to him and his smile. Consequently they project what they imagine their idea of "A Star" is on George and very few actually know him. I think he is troubled because he realizes he is not perfect. He is not what people see. He got out, by his charm, his talents, and has "succeeded" in the larger world. And he wants to stay away.
Q: Turning specifically to George's brother Johnny, the one family member that has experienced the most change since George left home, what is the root of his anger toward George?
Morrison: There might be an idea in the family that if George wanted to, he could have Johnny's life. But Johnny could never be George. (And toward the end of the movie, George takes it upon himself to, in a way, stand-in for Johnny at an important time). This is enough to make Johnny feel that George is an obliterating presence, or at least an asshole.
MacLachlan: Johnny is a grown man living back in his old bedroom in his parents house with his pregnant wife, attempting to get his high school diploma by studying for his GED. He has never been the favored son, and he currently feels like a failure, so the arrival of the Golden Boy and his beautiful new wife throw all his perceived weakness in deep relief. At the same time he sees through his brother's p.r. He knows George isn't perfect, isn't what his mother, his wife, his pastor declare him to be, and, he feels, no one else sees this or will acknowledge it.
Q: Madeleine is an outsider to this Southern family and there is an intentional metaphor in the story that parallels the sought after "outsider" artwork and artist as something special and valuable. How does this metaphor relate to the story and this family's ability to accept an outsider like Madeleine into their family?
MacLachlan: Sometimes distance and perspective allows one to appreciate something. Sometimes it means one can not really know the thing being perceived. This dichotomy is one of the touchstones of the story. Madeleine says she has "loved the South" since she was a child living all over the world, and felt an affinity to it. This draws her to the art and culture. But she is challenged when she becomes entangled in trying to get to know, and help, Johnny when he tells her she's no better than they are. Is a certain superiority inherent in her, and our, love of 'folk art'? And at the end of the film, has she come to an emotional place feeling, indeed, she is not any better than they are, while her husband may still feel that yes, he is?
Q: Ashley, the newest member of the family, is the only one determined to make Madeleine feel welcome. Explain why you chose this character to be the most dynamic? Why is it so important to her that Madeleine is accepted by George's family? What does she stand to gain or learn from Madeleine?
MacLachlan: I think for Ashley, Madeleine is everything she dreams a woman should be, albeit a little more eye shadow would help. She is beautiful, thin, smart, kind, cultured, successful, continental, and speaks beautifully. She has George, the icon. Ashley truly loves George, and immediately loves Madeleine. For her, she now has a new sister. If the masks were to slip and Ashley were to be able to see the weakness and darkness that exist in Madeleine and George, she would still love them, it would not change anything for her. Ashley's heart is mighty and courageous. It may blaze forth naively, but it is still true.
I think that Eugene, in his almost silent way, accepts and welcomes Madeleine as well. Of anyone he sees the members of his family clearly, and, like Ashley, accepts them for who they are. He may perceive the match between George and Madeleine even better than they do themselves. Perhaps intimidated at times into silence by Madeleine, he still loves her as part of his family.
Q: George does not appear to be an insensitive character yet seems to be the least concerned with his family's "cold shoulder" attitude toward Madeleine. Do you think George would have visited his family at all if it hadn't been for Madeleine's art scouting trip?
MacLachlan: I believe George would not have come back if Madeleine had not needed to see the Artist. He would have found more excuses to stay away. It has been three years since the last time he was home, and maybe only a family crisis or illness would get him to return, if it wasn't for Madeleine.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Q: What is the history of the project and your collaboration? Did Angus bring the script to you when finished or did you collaborate on the screenplay along the way?
Morrison: Angus has always been a hero of mine. When I was in college, we adapted part of his play "Behold, Zebulon" into my junior project "Tater Tomater," a 20-minute short. The short was in Sundance in 1992. It took a long time to be able to make a feature. Angus wrote "Junebug," and then we worked together on it off and on for a long time, while trying to figure out how people actually find the money to make movies. (It was hard to figure out what to call it. At one point Angus called it "Divertimento," which I think connects to the answer above. At another point we called it "Look Away, Look Away, Look Away," in reference to "Dixie.") I showed the script to Mindy Goldberg and she believed in it and started to help. And it still took a long, long time. Meanwhile, we did other things too. Angus' play "The Dead Eye Boy" was produced in New York and I directed "Upright Citizens Brigade" for Comedy Central. Certainly, the movie would be very different if we'd made it when we first started thinking about it.
Q: How did you end up teaming with these producers?
Morrison: I've known Mindy Goldberg a long time. We've worked together making music videos and commercials at her company, Epoch Films. I had no idea if she'd be interested in trying to make a movie, but I knew she'd be great at it. And she seemed to see in Angus's script the same things I did. So we agreed to try to make Epoch's first movie, and keep it small. Angus and I had been trying to get Junebug made for a while, but it only became a real movie when Mindy got involved.
Mike Ryan, fresh off "Palindromes" and "40 Shades of Blue," agreed to join us and show us the ropes. He was excellent at reminding me when I strayed from our Ozu-derived principles (which was often).
Q: Describe the casting process for this film?
Morrison: Celia Weston went to Salem College in Winston-Salem, and Angus has known her a long time. She agreed to be Peg early on (which blew my mind and gave me hope). She was very loyal to our struggle. For a few years, she would call to check our progress before agreeing to be in some huge movie. It felt funny to say, "No Celia, it doesn't look like we're quite ready to get started, so you can go do ÔThe Hulk'."
In my first meeting with Mark Bennett, our casting director, I started to talk about the character Ashley. He said "There are a lot of good people for that part, but, mark my words, it's going to be Amy Adams." And sure enough there were a lot of good people, but no other Amy. During her audition, it struck me that she was really teaching me about the movie. Not just her character, but the whole movie. That continued until the day she wrapped. While we were in Winston-Salem, we went to Green St. Methodist Church. One Sunday the minister said "God loves you just the way you are, but too much to let you stay that way." There was no way were were going to let the shoot end without Ashley repeating that.
I hadn't seen "The O.C., " so when Ben McKenzie read for Johnny, his Texas/Virginia essence was unmitigated. When we were doing the scene where Johnny tries to tape the television show about meerkats, I had to stop the audition and pounce on him at one point because he was about to destroy someone else's audition tape. I'm confident he was in character and it was not a ploy to diminish someone's chances.
I knew we were in good shape with our Ben/Johnny transformation when Ben could walk around the stock car races at Bowman Gray Stadium and not get recognized (and I don't think it was just his mustache).
Watching Scott Wilson's harrowing performance in "Monster," it occurred to me he would be a great Eugene. I hadn't seen "In Cold Blood" in quite some time. I think it's funny that my experience of Scott was bookended by these horrible murders, and yet he seemed so perfect to be the gentle character of Eugene.
I also think it's funny that when we cast Alessandro Nivola as George, so many people said, "Oh it's interesting that you're having an English guy play that part." Our shooting schedule got a little screwy so Alessandro had many days free before we ever got around to shooting him. He was very patient. At one point he drove four hours to watch Italians play soccer via satellite. I hooked him up with a nice family in town so he could go to their house during the day and watch matches on pay-per-view. (His accommodations did not have such frills). I think he had his own key to their house. I'd like to believe he would've stayed in the movie even if we hadn't made this arrangement.
The aforementioned screwy schedule required Embeth Davidtz to spend her first day half-naked and her second in the strange, difficult book report scene. I knew from our meetings that she had Madeleine's beauty and grace and that she had her own clear understanding of the character's inner life. But I almost got teary when she arrived in Winston-Salem and I saw her script. I have no idea how, in the short time she had the script, she managed to get it so dog-eared and fill up every margin with notes.
Frank Hoyt Taylor almost never let me see him out of character, which was inspiring and unnerving (and therefore appropriate to his part). The dialect Frank uses for David Wark is very particular to a part of northwest North Carolina between where I grew up and where Frank lives at the Virginia border. Wark's accent is particularly inspired by N.C. storyteller Ray Hicks.
I saw Joanne Pankow in "Love Liza" and thought she'd be perfect to play David Wark's sister. Little did I know she'd be in two other movies in competition at Sundance this year ("Loggerheads" and "40 Shades of Blue").
Q: How many locations and shooting days did it take to make this film? Where was the film shot and why did you choose this/these locations?
Morrison: We had 20 shoot days. We shot mostly in Winston-Salem, N.C. and near Pilot Mountain, N.C. Both Angus and I were born and raised in Winston-Salem. Angus lives there with his wife and daughter. At the beginning of the movie, George says he's from Pfafftown, which is nearby. Many people think he's saying "Pufftown." I guess we should have thought of that. Pilot Mountain, incidentally, is the "Mount Pilot" often referenced on the "Andy Griffith Show." It's just down the road from Mt. Airy, which was the model for Mayberry. You can see it in one shot toward the end of "Junebug." I'm happy for the movie to pay its respects to the "Andy Griffith Show. " I don't think anyone has better captured western N.C. than the people who made that show. And while their genius enabled them to do it on a back lot in Hollywood, I wasn't ready to try anything like that. We didn't have much time or money, so there was talk of saving both by shooting near New York. But that was too scary. I didn't have the confidence to fake it. I didn't want to assert my memory of home, but for the environment to assert itself.
Our dauntless location scout, Corey Walter, found a perfect neighborhood in Winston-Salem. Most of the houses were empty because before too long the city will be expanding the nearby landfill. So for a couple weeks we had a back lot after all, right there in Piedmont North Carolina. The landfill crew were our friends and liaisons. It was tranquil and a couple days before we started shooting, all the lawns were covered with junebugs. You can see them flying in some shots. That location may have been the greatest fortune our movie had.
Q: Q: What equipment did you use to shoot the film?
Morrison: Peter Donahue (Director of Photography) shot Super 16mm film from Kodak with an Arriflex SR3 camera and an Aaton A-Minima (for inside the car).
Joe Klotz (Editor) cut the movie on an Avid System.
We finished the movie as a digital intermediate at Version 2 and Technicolor, both in New York.
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