10th Annual Nevada Woman's Fil Festival Filmmaker Q&A. "The Italians"

[Music] play right and I was sort of gathering I I wasn't quite able to understand but it seems like this is not yet a play but it's going to become a play this screen Play No it started as it started as a play okay so I misunderstood that um so this began as a play okay that makes even more sense now right um so the dialogue is incredible um and can you talk a little bit about then adapting this being a playwright adapting your work obviously to be a a film and what that kind of dynamic is well that is actually the most difficult part because there are two different um species um the play of course is more limited and your film is more cinematic and you know you have the characters which are essential but you know the dynamic changes completely and it has to be more open and Broad and I think we accomplished that with a lot of Michelle's help and everyone's help actually I mean it was such a learning learning thing for me as far as you know the whole filming process because it was new to me and I just realized that you know everyone contributes everyone and it makes all the difference can you talk about just the physical space like and and how the play was staged and what maybe the main locations were of course we know the house but how did you open up physically in terms of the space um well basically um we didn't do the play but we did play readings and so then we we branched out you know and we took scene for scene and then we branched out from there and I actually you know was kind of cute the condo was actually my son's condo when I wrote it in the play my son's like a need freak you know it's like it's like more like a hotel than it is an apartment and I I specifically I like I just described it like completely so when I saw told Michelle to come over there she was like oh this is like perfect you know because you know she had invisioned it the way I'd written it and you know it was wonderful the first day of the set to go to my son's condo and to start it from there so can you can you talk a little bit about the Genesis of the story idea so it how did you come to it Michelle like was it it was a play first you became aware of it like how did this all happen yeah it was interesting we we went back I don't even know if you know in 2012 I sent Michelle another play and usually you're lucky if you even get an email back from a playhouse and I'll never forget this for the rest of my life I was coming into my kitchen and arn away and the phone ran and she says oh this is Michelle Danner and I was like uh seriously myself and I was like so shocked that she called and she basically said theas reason why I love this project is because it has heart and that that play I also have written into a screen play and we weren't able to actually achieve doing that play together because of our circumstances and projects but bottom line is I reached out to her again on this and it has heart and we both really you know we gravitate to pieces like that laughter pain heart and and really bottom line is love and you feel the love in this movie I think throughout yeah I mean this is a family that bickers but it's so clear How Deeply they they love each other absolutely um and on that note of family we have Michelle's family member here and so Nicholas I am a mother of two adult sons myself so I must ask what is it like to work with your mother to produce a film I'm assuming it's the happiest time of your life um my mother is my hero and I don't mean that with any exaggeration she she directed and she starred in this incredible crible film that Lisa wrote I I she never pushed me I I love many things about my mother and one of my favorite things about her is that she never pushed me into the world of film or theater storytelling or anything she let me find my Foo in and realize on my own that that's what I'm passionate about that's what I love doing uh and once I did it's you know I I oh I recently graduated from uh USC I was studying film and theater and uh there was a phenomenal educational experience but there's nothing like being on a set and being as close to the main driving creative force on that set as I was to my mom I I joke that my role in all of her films is the emotional support son I'm I I do whatever is is needed of me at the time in the um the uh singing scene the big uh scene where she singing up in media so my little brother who's up there who you may recognize as the uh boy in the blue jacket behind um uh s and Luchia in the church uh he so we needed a speaker for her to hear the song so she could sing along to it the speaker we ended up using is his which is shaped like a helmet from a robot suit from The Fallout video games um and so I'm you're seeing below below camera out of frame I'm sitting there with the speaker at my feet and just holding up the iPad teleprompting the lyrics just in case she needs to follow along um you know I I'm in awe of her honestly she's such an inspiration to me I'm with her you know in the editing booths I'm with her with what every project that she has coming up next and I learned so much every single like moment that every coming to every single Festival here in her speak this is a rather recent experience of getting to be up on these Q&A on usually the one taping or watching her speak and it's an endless endless Trove of learning about this art form and just seeing the passion on display you know she when she wants to do uh a project when she sees something that connects her to this in this case not just being you know this family that is very reflective of our family but of course this connection with my grandmother her mother um that drive to tell that story to achieve that Vision that does not go away that always that that doesn't even just stay at the same spot of like I'm not stopping until we see this happen it intensifies it develops it finds its way into every angle of pre-production production post- production and it's really just always incredibly inspirational to see let's take a moment every

Channel: The LV Experience

Views: 88

Keywords:

Id: kxxzITvydLc

Length: 6min 56sec (416 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 23 2024