Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn are in “LovelyStill” the film

by Ron Gilbert

How does a young director/ writer with no feature filmcredits woo 2 Oscar winning actors to star in his film in Omahaduring a cold winter? The answer is finding a great mentor, Martin Landau.Martin has been a driving force on the NY stage followed by an award winning careerin   TV and films. In addition to hisbusy work schedule he is the West Coast Artistic Director of the famed ActorsStudio along with director Mark Rydell. He once shared a story about how AlfredHitchcock on casting him as the maniacal character in North by Northwest afterseeing him in Broadway production of The Middle of  Night playing the estranged  musician husband . He asked Alfred why hecast him in that role in the film and Alfred said “Because when I saw you onstage you had a whole circus playing in your head”. Martin has been aninspiration to us all and has been a friend for over 25 years. I just pursuedhim to talk about this film “Lovely Still” with co-star Ellen Burstyn who isthe Artist Director of the Actors Studio in New York

RG

So Martin how was you summer

Martin

I just returned from Sicily and the film festival where GretchenBecker‘s short film won an award

RG

Great. When is Lovely Still opening in LA.?

Martin

September 10, very close

RG

I spoke to your director Nik Fackler and he told me how youmet

Martin

Well let’s start from the beginning. He sent the script toWilliam Morris’s independent division which wasn’t my agent  and they sent it to  Harry  Gold who is my agent and the script was bumpywith a surprise sending , So I said I would like to meet this guy and they saidwell he lives in Omaha ,Nebraska.. Okay, we can deal with that. How old is he?He most be older like 50 and they told me that he was 22 years old. My god! Sowe had him fly out here and I spent 5 hours with him in Art’s Deli in theValley. and discussed the script. The 1st  act needs to build tension dealing with thisevent and this is what the 2nd act needs to do and this is what the 3rd act needs to do andanything that doesn’t do this shouldn’t be in the movie. There are scenes inthe first act which need to be there and there are scenes which need to there andI will work with you on it if you agree with me and we’ll do this movie

RG

Wow!

Martin

So over the next 2 months on the telephone we would talk 2or 3 times a week going over 5 or 6 pages and he would do a rewrite and wewould talk about it and fix that and then we would go onto the next scene. Whenwe were 90% through it. we had  shortlist of actresses and at the top of  itwas Ellen Burstyn.

RG

Okay

Martin

So I said send it to Ellen. About 4 or 5 days later Ellencalls me back and says Marty what the hell are we going to do in Omaha ,Nebraska for 7 weeks.> That was her way of saying I am on board and weworked with Nik who reminded me of a young Tim Burton . Not as dark but anartistic kid and I liked him and Ellen liked him. He’s into music and art likeany young artist. While we were shooting I would make suggestions but this isyour movie and tell me why he do not agree. So we all helped make his movie

RG

Well I think that it is really a special film and when I didtalk to Nik we went through the whole process and comparisons of other films.And it was based on this elderly man who used to come to his family’s dinner

Martin

I know and then Nik had also broken up with his girlfriend.

RG

Yes I remember him telling me that also

Martin

What is really great about the movie is that when you see itfor the first time you will see the reality which is not the reality

RG

Exactly

Martin

If you see it the second time, you see a different movie.There are little things here, there and everywhere in the film that you willnot get the first time around

RG

I know

Martin

So you are seeing movie on one level while on another levelit is different, like the Sixth Sense

RG

Right

Martin

It is a different texture but when you see that film againit is a whole other movie

Another element of the film is that in the first two thirdsof the film you could cast 16 years olds as our characters and not change anyof the dialogue. It has a teenager love affair with a naiveté and sweetness andwhat I like about the movie which is also why I produced it. It’s funny, sweet,sad and it makes you laugh and cry

RG

Yes it does all that. It is a very character driven film andaudiences both young and old will appreciate it

Martin

With all these movies with fireballs and car chases it isvery hard to get audiences to see a character driven film. It’s all about $100million dollar films and opening weekends

RG

Well that is why we are doing this interview because I am abig fan of you and Ellen and think Nik has a big future in this business. Sowhat’s up next for you?

Martin

I just played the Great Rahmunda who is a crazy magician onThe Simpsons

RG

You just love going back to TV .Every still talks about yourperformance as Frank Malone of Entourage

Martin

Thanks I have a film noir script we are looking at and someothers

RG

Sounds good.

Martin

I will see you at the opening fall session of the ActorsStudio on Friday September 10.

RG

And it is the opening day of your film Lovely Still

Martin

Yes

RG

Well thanks again for this. I am looking forward to the theatrical release on September10th followed by the DVD release date of November 9th,2010.