Alfonso Gomez-Rejon used his film, "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" (pictured), to process his father’s death; a long-lost silent cartoon by Walt Disney finally gets a musical score; Rupert Murdoch takes the next step for his sons' future at 21st Century Fox.
'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl': How the director's personal loss connects with the film
The film “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" set off a bidding war at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film’s protagonist, Greg (Thomas Mann) meets high school classmate Rachel (Olivia Cooke) after his parents force him to hang out with her because she has leukemia.
The film is directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who previously made the 2014 horror film "The Town that Dreaded Sundown." Gomez-Rejon has mostly worked in television. Perhaps it was the teen cred he acquired from “Glee” that put him in a position to direct “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” — a movie based on a young adult novel of the same name by Jesse Andrews, who also wrote the screenplay.
The last time we talked with Gomez-Rejon about the death of his father
Gomez-Rejon’s biggest hero was his father, to whom he dedicates the movie. When we first met Gomez-Rejon at the Sundance Film Festival in January, he’d just completed the movie — and we were one of the first interviews he did after its world premiere. Almost a half a year later, we picked up where we left off from that conversation.
"The fact that I had lost my father was something that was very private, that had been a secret of mine and kind of the engine getting me through this movie, that I only shared with a few people close to me," Gomez-Rejon says. "I was going to bury that dedication at the end of the film, and my producer Jeremy Dawson actually encouraged me to make it the first credit we see at the end of the film, before my 'directed by' credit."
Gomez-Rejon conceded, and it ended up creating an emotional moment for the director.
"What I didn't expect was, to me, that screening at Sundance was so cathartic, because just getting the film out there and letting it go, and all that anxiety and the fear that goes into that, and thinking that that was going to be the end of this journey. But what happened was, it began a whole new journey that I wasn't expecting, because now that loss was very public. And you were the first interview to ask me to talk about my father, and who he was. And I wasn't prepared for it."
Talking with the Frame about his father was the first of many interviews where he's talked about his father since. He says he's thankful about being asked about his dad to begin with.
"There's guilt associated with it, because sometimes you're not feeling as much as you want, and you want to feel more. But then sometimes you feel, when you least expect it, you just break down. And that's all part of the journey, because it began this process of integrating a loss into your life and moving forward. But it was very unexpected, and I didn't really understand it until you made me talk about it, and then the connection, this beautiful cosmic rhyme, just appeared, and I hadn't really planned for it. I was a taken aback by your question, but I felt very good about it, and it began a process for me, so thank you."
Leaving a legacy and being inspired
In the film, a teacher says, "Sometimes when people die, their stories continue to unfold. You just have to pay attention." That line is something that meant a lot to Gomez-Rejon as the son of a man he truly admired.
"It was a line that I wanted to believe, but did not believe before taking on the movie. And then, the making of the movie, I started to believe that. And now I really do believe it. That there is some sort of continuum. Not in the traditional sense, or a religious [one], because I sadly think I lost my faith a long time ago."
In the story, the characters of Greg and Earl make amateur movies inspired by their cinematic heroes. Gomez-Rejon has some real life heroes beyond his father who also influenced his directing on this film. In his career he’s worked with Martin Scorsese, writer Nick Pileggi and Nora Ephron.
"As a filmmaker, obviously we spoof a lot of movies within the movie, or they watch movies within the movie," Gomez-Rejon says, "like 'The Tales of Hoffmann' by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, or 'Peeping Tom' that they spoof as 'Pooping Tom.'"
Gomez-Rejon says that by making what could be obscure references for younger people, it encourages young people to seek out these films.
"By them seeking out these movies and discovering these directors, you keep them alive as well, and their story continues to unfold. And that, as a filmmaker, is a way to give back to the heroes that either mentored you, or the filmmaking, the director heroes that shaped me as a filmmaker, or the people that I aspire to be, or hopefully when I die have a body of work that comes close to something of theirs, but it never will, obviously."
He credits Scorsese's work with inspiring him to go to New York University and eventually getting the opportunity to work with him directly. He also introduced Gomez-Rejon to his longtime editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, who Gomez-Rejon describes as his "guardian angel" ever since.
Meeting the people who inspired him led to him meeting other inspiring people, he says.
"One begat the other, and little by little, they began to change my life and start nurturing me, and having such faith in me, even when things weren't going well. So this film is an opportunity for me to thank them — almost directly, with references. Thelma Schoonmaker is Greg Gaines's screensaver. Two scripts on the desk were 'Casino' and 'Heartburn,' and that's Nick [Pileggi] and Nora [Ephron]. Marty's everywhere, on posters and T-shirts."
How making a real film and a fictional film connect
The book the film is based on drove home the idea that Greg is challenged by the obligation and opportunity to make a film for dying girl Rachel, with the responsibility weighing on him. As a filmmaker, Gomez-Rejon had to go through something similar, which he says made his story and the character's story inextricably linked.
"They become linked before you know it. Because I knew, and Jesse and I spoke about this a lot, that the film that he makes for Rachel originally was a montage of all the bad films that they've made throughout the film, but I knew that it had to be something different — that it was him dealing with these abstractions in a way that he had to do so without relying on his words or parodies. It had to evolve in some way. But deep down, I was trying to do the same thing with the big movie."
Gomez-Rejon says that he was overwhelmed on the last day of production, when they shot Greg screening his film for Rachel.
"That little film within the bigger film was a summary of everything I wanted the big film to feel like. And it became very clear at the end — it was very hard that last day, very emotional, because we had had such a beautiful experience together, and we're also saying goodbye to everybody, and at the same time this abstract film within the film was a summary of everything I was feeling inside. And then seeing it realized by our actors was quite magical and overwhelming."
The director says he knew he was responding to the project originally because he connected with Greg, but he didn't initially realize how literally he was modeling himself after Greg.
"I was going through the exact same journey as Greg by physically, in the editing room, trying to finish my movie, was exactly what he's doing through the second half of the film. He's trying to finish his movie for Rachel — I'm desperately trying to finish this movie for my father and get it ready for Sundance. It was completely unexpected, but beautiful nonetheless."
The movie is about how people deal with an unexpected event in their life. Gomez-Rejon had to deal with his own unexpected moment — how much Sundance has changed his life.
"People are listening to me now. Actors want to meet with me. Old scripts that I've been wanting to make for a decade or more are now in active development, that I may actually get to shoot. Just a lot of opportunities come your way — deals to develop your own material on television. But I am such a twentieth century guy, and I love feature film and exhibiting films in theaters, and hopefully shooting film one day before it goes away forever. I love that process of putting something out that has a beginning, middle and end, and then you move on to something else, and you leave it behind, and hopefully as a document in the future that would reveal a little about who you were at that point in your life."
“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” opens in theaters this Friday, June 12.
'Poor Papa': Long-lost Disney cartoon gets new life thanks to the LA Chamber Orchestra
Before Mickey Mouse, there was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit — Walt Disney’s leaner and meaner version of the popular rodent. Oswald fell into obscurity when most of the cartoons became scarce, and was considered lost after several decades after being acquired by Universal.
Almost 80 years later, Disney reacquired Oswald and slowly began to collect the old cartoons. Recently Dave Bossert, the creative director and head of special projects at Walt Disney Animation Studios, found two Oswald cartoons: "Poor Papa" and "Africa Before Dark." A couple strangers thought they may have stumbled upon something important.
Walt Disney ended up making 26 shorts starring Oswald, and “Poor Papa” was the first. It was made in 1927 and is one of the first ever Oswald cartoons Walt Disney created. The five-minute silent film came before Walt Disney hit it big with his Mickey Mouse cartoons.
Bossert says that when Walt Disney — who was a freelance animator in the '20s for Universal — pitched the silent cartoon “Poor Papa,” the studio wasn’t too happy with it.
"When you look at animation, it's art," says Bossert. "Why do some people love the 'Mona Lisa' and other people are like, ‘Eh, it’s OK’? And I think when Walt first created ‘Poor Papa’ — the first Oswald film — the distributor felt that Oswald looked a little old and rejected it."
The challenge of restoring these old films was only the beginning. Bossert brought in composer Mark Watters to do something that's never been done before: score these silent films.
"There’s never an original score written for these," Watters says. They were made before the invention of synchronized sound. "So these were sent out to movie theaters and the house pianist or house organist would play along with them. ... The idea of hitting things and precisely timing it so that you’re capturing the action was unheard of."
The term “hitting” is basically when there’s an action taking place on screen and the music creates the sound effect to go along with it. For example, if the character on screen is running around, banging on various household items, each action needs to be paired with a sound. Watters says:
Anybody can just count with the beats and hit whatever, but you wanna try to put it in a musical line in a way that sounds musical so that it’s like, ‘Oh my God, the animation is just fitting it just perfectly.’
Not all the music Watters composed is original. There’s one scene in “Poor Papa” where he was reminded of the film “Apocalypse Now,” when Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” is playing as the helicopters are flying overhead, attacking the enemy shorelines.
In the case of “Poor Papa,” it’s a bunch of storks bombarding Oswald with bunnies.
"There’s a shot of the storks coming in holding dozens and dozens of rabbits," says Watters, "which is what the story is about — the enthusiastic reproductive rate of bunnies. So the storks are flying in and as soon as I saw that shot, I thought that’s 'Apocalypse Now' and I got to play 'Ride of the Valkyries.'"
Bossert says there's a timelessness when watching these cartoons.
"When you look at these early cartoons, there’s a surrealism to them," says Bossert. "There’s these gags that feel so fresh today for something that’s 85 or almost 90 years old, and it’s just wonderful to watch that."
They’re now bringing those roots into the present day. For the first time ever, “Poor Papa” will be screened with a live score this Saturday at the Ace Hotel — with Watters at the podium conducting the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra — and the audience can see for themselves if this old cartoon still holds up.
The fallout for Fox as Rupert Murdoch prepares for his eventual departure
For a little bit Thursday, it seemed like the biggest news surrounding 21st Century Fox might be the upcoming separation between Marge and Homer Simpson. However, that was quickly overshadowed by news surrounding Rupert Murdoch, the head of the company.
The elder Murdoch has begun the plan for his succession at Fox and News Corp., which involves his two sons — 42-year-old James Murdoch will become CEO of 21st Century Fox, and 43-year-old Lachlan Murdoch will become co-executive chairman of the company along with his father. Rupert will continue to have a strong hand, but this is clearly a big step in the company’s succession plan.
Joe Flint, a media and entertainment reporter for the Wall Street Journal (also part of the Murdoch media empire), joined us to talk about Rupert Murdoch's direct involvement with Fox's TV and film holdings, the future of the Fox network and the two familial successors to Fox and News Corp.
Interview Highlights:
We know Rupert Murdoch is very involved in newspapers, but is he as hands-on with TV and film production in the studios there?
He is hands-on and there are things he gets involved with. The first thing that comes to mind is the Fox News Channel, which he was very instrumental in launching and putting Roger Ailes in there to run it. Obviously, that channel has come to reflect a large view of the company.
On the movie and TV side, he does get involved — on the movie side, Stacey Snider was brought in from Dreamworks to work at the studio along with Jim Gianopulos, and our understanding is that was a move that Mr. Murdoch was very involved in making happen.
On the television side, one of his top lieutenants is Peter Rice, who's often described as the fifth Beatle — that's how close he is to Rupert. It's not unusual that Rupert shows up to the scheduling meetings before they're going to lay out the schedule, so yeah, he's hands-on.
I talked to someone this morning who's worked there a long time, and he said that they hire people they expect to do their jobs, but that doesn't mean they don't come in and offer their thoughts or debate things.
In early May, the company reported a decline in quarterly income, largely because of the struggles at the Fox Broadcast Network, as well as higher sports costs, even as Fox was doing pretty well in movies and on cable TV. On television, how has Fox been doing?
The Fox network has been struggling for the last few years for a variety of factors, the most obvious one being that they haven't created too many hits lately. "American Idol," which served them well for many years, has no longer, and next season will be its last. And that has hurt the network, because it became a very expensive show to produce, and the returns there weren't were what they once were.
They got a bright spot at the end of the season with "Empire," which became the most-watched new drama of the season. It did huge numbers and they're banking on that show to help a renaissance, but they've had a lot of challenges developing hit comedies in particular.
This fall, they've got a comedy starring John Stamos and a comedy starring Rob Lowe, and they seem to be going a little more male-centric after their other comedies "New Girl" and the Mindy Kaling show, so I think they're trying to go a little broader than they had been.
Let's talk briefly about the two sons that are coming up, Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch. What are their strengths, what are their reputations and what will each be doing?
We'll find some of that out as we go along, but James Murdoch has been a lot more involved in the company's operations for the last several years. James went to Harvard and initially was seen as the one who wasn't eager to follow into the family business — he tried the music business for a while, and then ended up going into the family business.
Obviously, the big thing that he got caught up in and now has survived was the hacking scandal in England. It was not a good moment for the company, not a good moment for him and not a good moment for his father.
He did not emerge from that unscathed — there are a lot of questions about his operation skills, whether he was hands-on enough and what role he had in all of it. They sent him back to the U.S., not only to rehabilitate his image but also to get him more familiar with the operations here. For better or worse, his father's been very loyal to him.
Lachlan was initially seen as the ultimate successor, and for a while held some senior positions at News Corp. when it was still just one company. But he bumped up against Roger Ailes as well as Peter Chernin, who was the number two to Murdoch at that time, and Lachlan left and went back to Australia, worked on various media ventures of his own, and now he's back and we'll see how involved he's going to be. He's going to relocate out to Los Angeles and so far, at least as far as I can tell, hasn't really made his presence felt inside the network or the studio, but that may change.