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William H. Macy & EDMOND
Written by Filmshi
Sunday, 12 March 2006
The California was packed for CineQuest's special screening of EDMOND
and the appearance of the film's director and star, Stuart Gordon and
William H. Macy.
Based on a David Mamet play from 1982, EDMOND is the story of a disaffected, middle-aged man who decides his marriage, his life and his work has lost all value. He speaks with a tarot reader who tells him he's "not where he belongs" and so he decides to leave his wife and turn his back to the life he's built. He goes out into the nameless metropolis (one of the NY boroughs) and tries his hand at doing and becoming all that he fears. Later, when he's punished he says: "Every wish, hides a fear". The film is astounding and controversial in so many ways. It's an impressive and meaningful work and represents a 15-year long labor to bring the story to screen. Cinequest marked the West Coast Premier of EDMOND.
When the production company credits hit the screen, it read like a laundry list and got a laugh from the crowd. One of Stuart Gordon's first statements was to respond to that laugh: "Each production company gave us $20". However, that list of nearly a dozen production companies is worth more than just a laugh. The legacy of the play led to a swell of faith by a number of film producers, each of whom chose to share in Gordon's vision. The film is also filled with another long list: a list of notable actors largely performing small parts throughout. Debi Mazar plays a Madame; Mena Suvari, a prostitute; Joe Montegna plays a bar fly prophet; George Wendt is an Eastern European pawn broker; Frances Bay is a tarot card reader and the list goes on. Thoughtfully cast, the smallest roles are carefully filled by big personalities while Macy, the world's biggest small man, plays the lead.
Risky as this endeavor is, it's a wish fulfilled for Macy. "I've been waiting all my life to play this role...a role like this threatens an actor on every level. The racial hatred is so disquieting. Edmond tested me to the max and this is one role I'll remember for the rest of my life." Edmond's characterization is simple yet complex and a big questions posed by the crowd was the nature of Edmond's sanity. Gordon and Macy both weighed in on the subject.
Gordon said, "He's not insane. He knows what he wants: A world where people are kind and honest with each other - he asks ‘how much of our lives are we really alive'. These are things everybody wants and wants to know." Macy supported that by mentioning the degree to which he understood the character and his plight. "All the scenes have a truth to them, at face value. They're true to the human condition...what it adds up to is "I don't know". I think the message of the film is that anybody is capable of anything under the right circumstances".
Gordon wanted Macy for the part and Macy repeatedly stated that he really "got Edmond". However, when the play first premiered, there were apparently not many who could say the same. Both Gordon and Macy reported audience members fighting in the theatre and yelling at the actors. When asked why Mamet, a seasoned director in his own right, chose not to direct the screen adaptation, Gordon communicated no anxiety about the controversy. Rather he identified the bad memories associated with the script. "Dave wrote it during a hard time. He was divorcing his first wife and living in NY. He just didn't want to return to it...I can tell you a secret, though. The kernel of the play is the scene with Glenna." Glenna, the character Julia Stiles plays, has a short role but her place is of lifelong importance within EDMOND's arc. So the secret: "We took her name from the Chicago Sun Times critic who hated all of Mamet's plays."
Gordon's work, which includes a number of horror and sci-fi films, most notably, the RE-ANIMATOR, said his friends thought this was his best horror film yet, to which he responded, "The most horrifying things are the things that really happen. My daughter said it was like Alice in Wonderland and I think she's right."
Macy, who has been working with Mamet since they met at Godard College in Vermont, considers Mamet the great writer of our generation. "There is the world of writing before Mamet and the world after." And EDMOND is a perfect example of a piece that will have an enduring effect on the audience's expectations of film and what we consider film-worthy content.
Gordon explained that the film's long production period had everything to do with the timidity of financiers and distributors. "Distributors and financiers are timid people. It's not the audiences that keep these controversial films from coming out; I think it's the powers that be. People are afraid to distribute and finance because they don't realize how tired we are of seeing the same film over and over again."
The film has screened at the Venice Festival, where they received a 15 minutes standing ovation. Gordon said the European audience seemed to be saying, "Yeah, we expected this of Americans".
Macy mentioned some of his expectations for the immediate future. Humble and kindly, he called himself "the luckiest palooka" and rattled off a short list of what is to come for him. "I was going to work on a pilot with the Cohen brothers, a comedy about homeland security...but I don't think that's working out. I'll be directing this summer, I hope, and what I'd really like to do is a Tracy/Hepburn style romantic comedy with Felicity, my wife. I'd play Spencer".
Closing the Q&A, the ever gracious Gordon and Macy thanked the crowd and Macy closed reminiscent of his presence at the 2003 CineQuest festival, at which he won the Maverick Spirit award. "This is a great festival. It's my second time here and I'll be here next year, God Willing."
