One of the most talked-about and admired films that premiered at Sundance is a teen love story called “Me & Earl & the Dying Girl.”
It’s adapted by screenwriter Jesse Andrews from his young adult novel of the same name and it was directed by Alfonso Gómez-Rejón.
“Me & Earl” stars Thomas Mann as a witty and creative but isolated high school senior named Greg. He’s forced by his mother to visit a classmate named Rachel, played by Olivia Cooke, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Needless to say, Greg and Rachel don’t just hang out that one time. The Earl in the film’s title, played by RJ Cyler, is Greg’s only other real friend.
Critics have compared the film to other teen hits such as "The Fault In Our Stars" and "The Spectacular Now," but "Me & Earl" is a wholly original story told through the lens of a director going through his own personal tragedy.
From standing ovations to audiences sobbing in unison, Gomez-Rejon’s highly personal film is generating highly personal responses. The Frame's host, John Horn, caught up with the director after he screened the film for high school students in Salt Lake City during Sundance.
Interview highlights:
How long as this movie been finished and ready to premiere?
We just finished the movie Wednesday morning [Jan. 21]. I saw the final [digital print] at 7 a.m. in New York — exhausted from pulling all-nighters just to make the deadline — and then I flew straight here. I didn't sleep for three-and-a-half days. Because I'm an introvert, the anxiety of having to go up and introduce the movie with no idea of how it was going to be received — we haven't had a test screening, only small things for friends and family — made us all nervous. But people rose to their feet and there were a lot of tears and a lot of love. Every crew member, every actor, everyone put their heart and soul into this movie, and I think people are feeling that.
And then on top of all that you spark a bidding war, with Fox Searchlight winning your movie. Are you able to separate each little distinct thing out? Or are they all blending together?
It all happened very fast, and it all happened at the same time. There's a lot of laughter too, and I think that it's about finding the balance between the bitter and the sweet; sometimes the funniest moments come from great despair, that's just the way life is. And so the idea was to try to incorporate loss into your being and be able to move on.
That's the reason for making the movie — it was for me to process something and come out of it stronger and happier. But as far as the [business] stuff, it just kind of happens and now it's in the hands of Fox Searchlight. They handle these movies quite well.
You mention processing something, and the very first credit at the end of the film is a dedication to your father. Is that what you're processing through this film, and how did that play a role in the making of it?
Thank you for asking. My dad was my best friend, the most incredible person I'll ever meet, and the funniest person I'll ever meet, and so losing him quite suddenly about a year before I read the script was making me, little by little, become a shell of who I once was and who I wanted to be. I was dying to do something personal, to say something and express myself the only way I knew how, and when I read this script I was laughing and laughing.
And then that wonderful scene with Jon Bernthal when he says, "Sometimes when people die their stories continue to unfold. You just have to pay attention." That was such a beautiful, simple idea and one that I really needed to believe at that point. And from that point I was hooked in the script.
I said, If I can make this big movie for my dad, then maybe I can come out the other end a better person. It's not about loss, but of my great love, and if I could do that with a movie then maybe I'd have something.
In this movie, Greg is challenged by the obligation or opportunity that he has to create a film for Rachel, and it's something that weighs heavily on his mind. As a filmmaker who's also making a movie for another real person, are your emotions at all similar to what Greg is going through in the film?
Absolutely. That's what was so terrifying about making the movie, and also why I needed to make the movie. If you're scared, it's always a good thing. It means you're growing, hopefully.
That's why I took it on: it wasn't going to be autobiographical, but it's about an emotion that I was trying to process. So if I could make a movie that was very, very funny, but that was hopefully an honest journey of mine that other people could relate to, I could indirectly make it about what I was going through. I could bury myself in this character and hope that, by the end, the journey would be an honest one.
What would it have meant to you if your father could have been with you in Park City to see the film?
You know, it's hard, and I'm not going to even look at you because it's such an emotional time. [laughs] This is what's so beautiful about this: we're talking about him, so his story is unfolding. The fact that we're discussing him and that people are asking me about him gives me an opportunity to tell the world how much he meant to me, and there are no words to describe that.
The only way I can really express myself is through images and movies, and hopefully people would feel the love that I have for him. And that underscores the theme of the movie: that people's lives continue to unfold. So here we are in Park City, talking about him. It's kind of beautiful.
So much of the Sundance experience is racing from screening to screening, going from interview to interview, talking to your sales agent about the deals — it's a whirlwind. And part of the message of this movie is that, in all the scurrying about — and all the worries about college applications, grades and friends — you have to stop, step back and look at what is happening to you in the moment. Are you able to do that at Sundance?
I'm constantly being reminded by the people closest me to take a step and savor every second, because this isn't the kind of thing that happens that often. And they know I've been working very hard to make a personal film and be here at Sundance.
I am trying to relish every second, and I'm surrounded by the people I made the movie with. We became so close and we're going through this phase of exhibiting this film together. I don't really worry about the [business] deal; I just know that it looks like it's going to have a chance to be seen.