The director on why "Interstellar" is his "most aggressive" attempt at a family blockbuster; how a high school teacher works the arts into the classroom; the butler from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” becomes King Lear; Jon Stewart tells us about the first time he bombed as a stand-up comic.
Christopher Nolan: 'Interstellar' is 'my most aggressive attempt' at a family blockbuster
“Big Hero 6” may have won the domestic box office contest this weekend, but “Interstellar” is the film that's received the most buzz.
It’s the latest from writer-director Christopher Nolan, arguably the most successful filmmaker working today — especially if you're talking box office returns. “Interstellar” is a sci-fi drama that takes on big themes like the future of mankind in the face of environmental catastrophe.
The film has received considerable attention for the science behind its story. From a mysteriously stable wormhole to extreme variations in space-time, Nolan's movie is steeped in complicated, mind-bending physics.
But when Nolan spoke with The Frame, he said it was actually the family themes in “Interstellar” that attracted him to the project, one that he hopes will bring back the glory days of the classic family blockbuster and inspire its audience to dream big.
Interview Highlights:
On the elements of "Interstellar" that attracted him to the project:
I'm a father myself, so I related to it very strongly, emotionally. I loved the idea of looking at a momentous potential event in humankind's development: the idea that the Earth may be our nest and one day we learn to fly and we move out, discover our place in the universe.
To see such a momentous event through the eyes of a family, through a family relationship, did remind me of the great golden age of blockbusters that I grew up in, reminded me of some of the great work of Spielberg back then, like "Close Encounters," this kind of film that takes on those kinds of issues, but with a very human face.
The more we worked on the film, I think, the more it became about what it is to be a father, a parent, a child — the connections between us. Or what it is to be human, really. I think science fiction's always been a great way of trying to explore those things.
On violence and the notion of a "family film":
The type of film I had in my head with ["Interstellar"] was a family film, and we're in an era now where even when you say "family film," it seems to have some sort of pejorative connotation that it never used to have when I was growing up.
When I was growing up in the late '70s and early '80s, all of the best Hollywood blockbusters were family movies, and it didn't imply anything soft or lacking in them; it just meant they had universal appeal, and I really wanted to try and make something that — without being condescending to the audience or softening its approach — just naturally was a story that the whole family could go and see.
On how some audiences and critics are calling "Interstellar" his most personal film:
I think they don't know me, so how would they know? [laughs] I don't know myself very well, either. Truthfully, with all of my projects, I've tried to put as much of myself into them as possible, but I think that this film perhaps has the most literal connection between a character who is a father and for whom that's such an important thing. That's something that's true in my life, so it's very important to the story, but it's also very important to my life and so there's certainly a tight correspondence there.
Certainly, I've never been a crime fighter or gone wearing a cape climbing over rooftops at night. Not even on Halloween, so, yeah, I think in some ways this is a more personal film for me. It's also personal in the sense that, given my exposure to George Lucas's work in the late '70s and Stanley Kubrick's on the big screen — "2001" was re-released in the wake of the success of the first "Star Wars," these types of films — the idea that you could take an audience across the universe and really take them on a journey for a couple of hours in that way.
That form of escapism, that form of seeing the potential of what movies could do, that's very personal to me. That's something that really fixed in my brain when I was about seven years old, and with every film I've made I'm trying to get back to that sense of grandeur, I suppose, that sense of possibility. And "Interstellar" is certainly my most aggressive attempt to do that.
On the things that stuck with him from "Star Wars" and "2001: A Space Odyssey":
The first "Star Wars" came out when I was seven years old, and that made an absolutely indelible impression on me. When that succeeded so well, they re-released Kubrick's "2001," and my dad took me to see that film on one of the largest screens in London at that time. And I very strongly remember that experience of the vast imagery, and how it opened up another set of worlds as you sat there in the cinema. The potential of movies has always somehow gone back to that to me.
On "2001: A Space Odyssey" being a film that needs to be felt, not understood, and what that means:
"2001" is a purely cinematic experience. It defies logical analysis, I think, but inspires all kinds of logical debate. It has incredible ambiguity, it has incredible symbolic power; it's a really pure movie. I think that as it applies to "Interstellar," that sentiment would function a little more along the lines of: "Interstellar" has a lot of complicated science to it that you don't need to understand when you first watch the movie. You really need to go along with the emotions of the characters and follow the emotional story of this father whose relationship with his children is tested in such an extreme way. I'm hoping that's a relatable thing for people as it was for me, and that it guides them through the story.
On the role of time in "Interstellar" and why the notion of time is explored in all of his movies:
The nature of the medium itself is such that when you look at films, you look at the film running through the projector with its strange linear form that represents time. To me, there's just such a strong relationship between the way movies make you feel time and the narrative itself, that I find myself sort of irresistibly drawn to addressing that within the text of the movie itself. And I've done that in the past in structural terms — I've used it to emphasize or explore ideas of subjectivity.
"Interstellar" is the first project where I've gotten to actually use time as a story element, strongly. Really, when I look at "Interstellar" now that it's finished, I think if there's an antagonist in the story it is time itself. And that was kind of a fun realization to think that's what we've done with time in this case.
On the notion of exploration not only in everyday life, but also in terms of artistry and creativity:
If you're talking specifically about films, there's a constant tension between getting stuck in a rut, you know, doing what has worked before — I've done sequels before and so forth — and there's a huge tension between trying to give people what you know they love and want enough of, and having to offer them something new. I think the audience particularly is very ruthless in its desire for newness, for freshness in things, and so I do think it's important to keep exploring in movies the same way it's important to keep exploring in life.
On the agenda of "Interstellar," if there is one:
If the movie has an agenda it's really just as simple as saying, It would be amazing to start looking out of the universe again. I grew up in an era when being an astronaut was the pinnacle of a child's aspirations; we were very excited about science fiction, but also science fact, about what was going on in the universe, what our place was in the universe, and when we were going to explore that.
I think over the last few decades that's been lost. Technological development has been extraordinary, but it's all been about communications, it's all been about our phones and our TV sets and what have you. I think it would be amazing to start turning some of that innovation outwards, and that's exactly what's happening if you look at SpaceX and Elon Musk and these guys. I'm very hopeful that is happening within our lifetimes, and we are going to get back out there.
The Frame 'First': Jon Stewart on his first time bombing on stage
Most people know Jon Stewart as the witty talk show host from "The Daily Show," but his comedic chops weren't always as sharp. During our interview at the Telluride Film Festival, Stewart told us about how he bombed while performing on stage for the first time:
The Bitter End [club], New York City, one o'clock in the morning following three Doors cover bands. I had a good five minutes prepared. About two minutes into it, the audience realized I might suck at this, and — as is their want — were not shy of expressing that. As I walked into the night, I thought to myself, You know, there are a lot of law schools. I could go to them. That'd be okay.
Jon Stewart's feature film directorial debut, "Rosewater," opens November 14.
OC high school teacher mixes arts into government lessons
A few weeks into the school year, high school teacher Sunshine Cavalluzzi bustled around her classroom, preparing for the lessons she’d planned for the day.
She flipped through a packet of songs she’d compiled about California. And then she walked across the room to her iPad and tested her playlist on the classroom’s speaker system.
“We’ll talk today about how music is poetry as well,” she said.
Cavalluzzi’s approach is anything but typical. She’s not an art teacher — in fact, she admits her art skills top out at stick figures. There were two years of flute that she played in junior high — badly, she says.
Cavalluzzi is a social science teacher at El Dorado High School in the Orange County town of Placentia. On this day, she’s preparing for a U.S. government class. Over the past six years, she’s infused the arts into her curriculum to engage her students and help them find the subject more relatable.
“Once you’ve reached them you can teach them anything,” she said. “What we need to do is teach them how to think, how to be creative, how to express an idea. And a lot of kids haven’t had practice with that.”
Cavalluzzi has presented lessons on the economics of the music industry, assigned students to make movie trailers for political campaigns – even guided students through puppet show projects on government.
She first began using the arts as a way to become more approachable to her high schoolers. She was worried she wasn’t connecting with those who didn’t share her passion for learning about government. Utilizing the arts allowed her to no longer be the one in the classroom holding all the knowledge. Cavalluzzi saw the arts as boundary breaker.
“It’s very intimidating for me, because it’s not my field, but I’ve been able I think to flip that mentally into a [process] that gives my kids the chance to be the experts,” she said.
Encouraged by her colleagues and the response of her students, she believed it was worth the extra time to figure out how to mix the arts into her social science lessons.
Her creativity during the school day paid off: in the past two years she’s been honored twice by the Grammy Museum for outstanding use of music as a teaching tool.
El Dorado Principal Carey Cecil is a big force behind the push for arts across all subjects at the high school. She estimates that more than 50 percent of the school’s teachers integrate the arts into other subjects.
Cecil believes the arts are key at helping prepare students for jobs in today’s work force. She wants her students to be innovative.
“In art, you learn flexibility in that you’re constantly creating, recreating, adjusting your own vision," Cecil said. "And it creates in people a willingness to have a flexibility of mind."
It’s a method that many students at the school say works. Tommy Geukens, 16, takes two classes that integrate the arts.
“It seems that the kids are a lot more focused,” he said. “My favorite kind of method is where it’s really interactive. 'cause I’m kind of a hands-on person.”
Back in Cavalluzzi’s classroom, the day’s lesson got underway.
She headed to her iPad to play "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas and asked the students to think about what the song conveys about the state where they live.
As she hit the play button, she told the class: "Air guitar perfectly welcome.”