It’s easy to forget they are there. Locked away and not
often talked about, the mentally ill are still a taboo in much of
American culture; they are perceived as somewhat alien. Starting
tomorrow at the Nuart Theater, the people behind the independent
film “Manic” hope to remind viewers that this is very
much a human problem.
“This is not about freaks you wouldn’t
recognize,” said Joseph Gordon-Levitt, star of
“Manic.” “You will recognize everybody in that
institution. You will see yourself in everybody, and you certainly
will see people that you know.”
“Manic” follows Gordon-Levitt’s character,
Lyle, during his time at a youth psychiatric ward. The film
features a mixture of principal actors and actual psychiatric
patients. Director Jordan Melamed shot the actors constantly with
multiple digital cameras to maximize the documentary look and feel
of “Manic.”
“Films like “˜Manic’ are special because
you’re not compromising,” Melamed said.
“There’s no one saying you have to have a funny
catharsis and Robin Williams has to come and hug Lyle and then
he’s all better. It’s a very pure
experience.”
The experience began with co-writers Michael Bacall and Blayne
Weaver, who met at a commercial shoot. Bacall had just returned to
acting full-time after a “break” going to UCLA (he
earned degrees in communication studies and English in 1996).
Weaver pitched the idea for “Manic” to Bacall at the
commercial shoot, and the two became friends and collaborators on
their first screenplay.
When Gordon-Levitt (“3rd Rock from the Sun,”
“10 Things I Hate About You”) first read the script, he
knew he had to be involved.
“I felt like I knew them after I read it,”
Gordon-Levitt said. “In the midst of all this bullshit that I
was reading, I saw some human beings that they were writing about.
They weren’t just stereotypes; they were
complicated.”
To clear up stereotypes and caricatures, the creative team of
“Manic” researched extensively before shooting a single
frame. They visited mental hospitals and talked with lots of
patients.
“It completely changed everything I know about it,”
Melamed said about his research. “They’re really
basically like us. If they were sitting in the room with us right
now, you wouldn’t know they had mental illness.”
“But for us, when something really goes wrong, we call our
friends, we mope around, but then we rebound,” Melamed added.
“But they don’t have that coping skill. Learning that
made me realize how stereotyped mental illness really
was.”
Another thing that concerned the creative team was how neglected
mental illness is rarely a topic of conversation, especially mental
illness among young people. However, the creative team did not have
progressive designs when making “Manic” ““ they
just wanted to tell an authentic story.
“We set out to tell a story that had meaning and
emotion,” Melamed said. “It’s not like,
“˜Oh! Let’s make a political movie!’ That
wasn’t the idea.”
With the story and ideas in place, shooting commenced in the
summer of 2000. The location made the shoot an intense experience
for the cast.
“We shot it in Camarillo, in an old, abandoned wing of a
psychiatric ward,” said Bacall. “They hadn’t
cleaned it up, and there were dark red stains everywhere that you
pretty much knew was blood. It made it all very real to
us.”
When the cast and crew were not on set, they all stayed at the
local Motel 6 for the entire 21-day shoot, spending little time
apart. This, combined with the dark and sensitive focus of the
film, proved very difficult on the actors.
“There were difficult days. I’m not gonna
lie,” said Zooey Deschanel, who plays Tracy. “It was
definitely hard to do. There was a lot of emotional stuff that we
had to deal with and work through. It’s probably pretty
similar to going to group therapy actually.”
Gordon-Levitt, on the other hand, did not find the experience
therapeutic at all, as his character, Lyle, inflicts a lot of
violence upon himself and others.
“I was a wreck the whole time,” he said. “I
was having nightmares every night, I was not speaking to my friends
and family much, and it took me a while to get over it. It’s
not my nature.”
The difficulties on set, however, proved fruitful.
“Manic” made an excellent showing at festivals
nationwide, starting with a rough cut at Sundance in 2001. Now, the
film is in limited release, and Melamed and Bacall are developing a
“Manic” TV series for Showtime. They hope to shoot the
pilot for it later this year. Everyone involved hopes that the film
will have an impact on audiences young and old, as the film deals
with an often ignored, but very real topic. Gordon-Levitt cites a
moment when a teenager at a Philadelphia film festival approached
the actor and revealed that his past was similar to
Gordon-Levitt’s character.
“I’m real proud of “˜3rd Rock,’ and I
love it when people tell me they watched my show every day,”
Gordon-Levitt said. “But that kid was like, “˜This was
important to me.'”