Monday, April 20, 1998
Blue skies clouded by pain, isolation
FILM: First feature-length movie by Ruzzin tackles themes of
hope, friendship, agoraphobia, suffering
By Alice Suh
Daily Bruin Contributor
"There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home,"
Dorothy repeats after clicking her heels three times. But as
Gregory Ruzzin’s first feature-length film, "Blue Skies Are A Lie"
shows, the comfort of home can be a prison of solitude.
The movie, which Ruzzin wrote and directed, tells a simple story
about an agoraphobic ex-photojournalist (Keith Brunsmann) who
hasn’t left his home in seven years until he meets struggling
comedian and part-time mail-carrier Robyn Gibson (Julie Moses). An
endearing friendship forms when she showers him with the trust and
compassion he has been missing.
Brunsmann plays Joseph Campana, the man paranoid of open spaces.
But this fear is a result of travelling around the world and
witnessing every form of injustice and suffering. He blames the
human race for the destruction of all that is good, and his only
way of dealing with this problem is through isolation.
Before production began, both Ruzzin and Brunsmann isolated
themselves to get an idea of what being an agoraphobic really is
about.
"I tried to physically stay in, thinking that that I was not
going to go out and give this a shot and see what this is like,"
Ruzzin recalls. "I started to go bananas very quickly. Keith did
the same thing. He would barricade himself in his room and not go
out for two to three days trying to feel what that would be
like."
Ruzzin actually did additional research on agoraphobia. But the
ones he encountered were not as dramatic as the character he
created.
"He’s an exaggerated case, but that’s what drama is, right?"
Ruzzin answers his own question, "Movies are heightened reality.
You know if he was just sort of afraid, it wouldn’t make as good a
movie."
Ruzzin always knew who he wanted to play such a dramatic and
complex role. He specifically wrote the part for Brunsmann after
working with him in a short film titled "Hollywood and Vine," which
Ruzzin also wrote and directed.
For "Blue Skies," Ruzzin wanted Brunsmann to be involved
throughout the entire filming process.
"The goal of that was that when he started shooting, he would
already know what I wanted him to do, which made it easier for me
as a director to direct him on the set; because I didn’t pay quite
as much attention," Ruzzin says. "I mean, I could focus my energy
on some of the other elements of the movie as well."
Ruzzin also involved Moses in the writing process. All of her
character’s bad jokes were written by Moses.
Although Robyn is unwilling to share her jokes with her
boyfriend, she forces them on Joseph while delivering his mail.
Robyn is Joseph’s only contact to the outside world, and despite
his initial stubbornness, they form a unique friendship.
"There are so many films that are about romantic relationships,"
explains Ruzzin, who didn’t want the film to fall into the romantic
category. "I mean, there are very few films that are about platonic
relationships and friendships that change people’s lives that are
not romantic."
He continues, "I wanted to stay away from a ‘love story,’ but I
think that there are elements that are very much a love story. But
there may be a love story that ends in a different way, without a
romantic involvement."
But not all would agree with Ruzzin.
"Some people have called it a quirky love story," Ruzzin admits.
"Some people have said that it does sort of have a lot of elements
of a love story when boy meets girl and all that stuff."
And thanks to an unusual strain of virus, the cast and crew were
more than just lovesick. A lot of the cast and crew, including
Ruzzin, became very ill. But, with the tight schedule, Ruzzin was
determined not to let his illness get in the way of production. As
absurd as it sounds, Ruzzin was able to direct from his sick bed
using a standard walkie-talkie.
"I had done a lot of story boards, I had done notes, and so we
knew specifically what I had wanted to shoot," Ruzzin recalls.
"But, they basically did all the things I wanted to do. And by
then, we had shot for close to a month, so they had a good idea of
the things I wanted."
Besides being ill and the enormous pressure of filming his first
feature film, Ruzzin never lost his cool. He doesn’t believe
directing is effective in that way.
"That doesn’t work. I mean you can’t do that. You have to treat
actors with a great deal of respect," Ruzzin says. "As a director,
you have to be a politician. You have to be a diplomat who listens
to everybody’s concerns, but doesn’t get distracted from where
you’re going."
He adds, "I don’t think that the whole idea of a screaming
director works; just lording things over the crew and the actors is
a bad way to work."
For some, filming without any help from major companies may seem
to be a bad way to work because of the numerous additional
responsibilities. But Ruzzin doesn’t mind the fact that this film
is a small independent film. In fact he made sure that it was. He
didn’t even bother offering it to large companies.
"Wade (Ruzzin’s partner on ‘Hollywood and Vine’) and I had
decided that we wanted to do another movie on our own," Ruzzin
says. "As soon as you start giving your project or getting funding
from other people, then suddenly you lose a lot of control."
Yet, Ruzzin is not opposed to the idea of making big-budget
films either. He agrees that there are certain benefits with
big-budget films, such as a larger funding. This does not mean
abandoning smaller films, though.
"I would like in my career to do both," Ruzzin says. "I would
still like to do things what I call self-generated. They’re films
that I wrote. They’re films that I was very much involved in
producing and getting made with my producing partner. I still want
to be involved with that, because you get to do things in those
projects that you can’t do on a bigger budget piece. I want my cake
and eat it too."
With his next film, "The Oyster Catcher" which is a bigger
production, it looks like Ruzzin might enjoy his cake after
all.
FILM: "Blue Skies Are A Lie" will be running this week only at
Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex.