Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Kenneth Lonergan's latest film is "Manchester by the Sea." It stars Casey Affleck as Lee - who gets by doing odd jobs and working as a janitor.
Then, Lee's older brother Joe dies, and his world turns upside down.
He returns to his home town of Manchester by the sea, about an hour north of Boston, and discovers he's been tasked with taking care of his 16 year old nephew.
Throughout the film, more is revealed about Lee and his family - why Patrick's mom is out of the picture, why Lee no longer lives in Manchester by the Sea - and how a horrific tragedy created a permanent rift between Lee and his ex-wife.
But it's all told out of order…
Stringing together this difficult narrative was editor Jen Lame.
Her work includes films such as "Mistress America" and "While We're Young."
On how she got her start as an editor
I went to school and majored in film and everyone was making their film final thesis projects and I ended up doing a documentary because I didn't love being on set. The whole production aspect of it just made me anxious. And I found it really stressful. I just became obsessed with putting it together. My professor... happened to be an editor and i remember Spring Break I skipped going away [on vacation] and just stayed to edit. He was around and just spent a lot of time with me. I just fell in love with the whole process of editing.
On why she wanted to work on this project
I've always been a huge fan of Kenny's work. His plays and his movies. When I found out he was making another movie I just was like, 'Oh God, what can I do to get on this." I just became obsessed with it. I tried to get drafts of the script from various avenues. I tried through various friends and my agents to get an interview. I just felt like "I have to try to get on this one."
I finally got an interview, but I was in LA working on a film, so it had to be over the phone. He didn't want to facetime or anything... Even my agent [said], 'I don't think you're going to get this, but you should do it and see what happens!'
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above