Miller sees through ‘Angela’
Award-winning feature film debut focuses on child’s imagination,
spirituality
By Dina Gachman
Daily Bruin Contributor
Rebecca Miller sought more than just talented actors when
casting her new film "Angela." She needed imagination and
spirituality – unusual requirements coming from a director. While
auditioning for the film, Miller realized that few children today
possess the qualities she desired.
"They’re thinking about what sneakers they want, or the video
games they want to play," she says. "But I was looking for the kind
of kid that has a natural affinity for spiritual matters."
Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller) and producer Ron
Kastner auditioned over 1,200 little girls for "Angela," a film
about two sisters whose quest to help their manic-depressive mother
leads them into the visionary, and dangerous, world of the
imagination. Seven-year-old Charlotte Blyth was cast as the younger
sister Ellie, and 11-year-old Miranda Stuart Rhyne landed the title
role.
"Angela," which opens on Feb. 2 and was awarded the Filmmakers
Trophy at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, is Miller’s first
feature. In 1990, she made a narrative short entitled "Florence,"
the story of a woman who catches her neighbor’s amnesia and loses
her identity.
Dream imagery and poetic visions appear in both of Miller’s
films. She attributes these qualities to her years as a painter and
sculptor – mediums in which visual aesthetics such as color and
shape define the art. Conveying these images on film was a
difficult task for Miller.
"I was trying to put my finger on something that’s quite
ineffable, which is the spiritual life of a person – the part that
isn’t visible, that comes in flickering images and feelings and
moods," explains the director.
Equally hard for Miller was portraying the images in "Angela"
through the eyes of a child, rather than an adult.
"I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just me," she says. "That was
hard – to make sure that the visions were the visions of the
children."
Miller, whose soft voice and eager blue eyes ironically give the
impression of a wise little girl, loved directing Charlotte and
Miranda. She says that working with children gave the set the same
imaginative and spiritual freedom she wanted to portray in the
film.
"It gave the shoot a quality that you’re just not gonna get with
adults," says Miller. "We were living in a magical world."
Miller’s experience as an actor (in "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious
Circle" and "Regarding Henry") aided her in helping her cast
portray this fantasy world.
"I think it helped me because you understand how vulnerable an
actor is," she says. "I think a lot of directors are afraid of
actors, secretly. They don’t really like having to deal with
them."
Miller’s ability to relate to her cast intensified her
relationships with them, both on and off-camera. John Ventimiglia
(who plays the girls’ father Andrew) and Anna Thomson (their
ethereal, troubled mother Mae) agree that Miller’s acting
experience made her what some term, an actor’s director. She rarely
demanded specific performances, and instead allowed the actors to
interpret situations and emotions for themselves.
This freedom and support also helped Charlotte and Miranda (both
first-time actors) feel comfortable on the set, and understand the
spiritual, sometimes frightening world they were portraying.
"They really trusted me like they would have trusted another
child," says Miller. "They knew that I understood them and accepted
them."
The events in the film are seen from a child’s perspective, but
Miller believes that adults can also relate to the visionary,
imaginative world portrayed in "Angela."
"One of the problems with the way children are represented on
film is that it’s through the filter of an adult," she says.
"What’s interesting to me is when people, especially women, see the
film, they recognize their childhood. They remember, so it’s still
in them."
FILM: "Angela" opens on Feb. 2 in limited release.
John Ventimiglia, Miranda Stuart Rhyne and Anna Thomson in
Rebecca Miller’s "Angela."
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