‘Notes from Underground’ hopes to capture Sundance prize
Henry Czerny portrays The Underground Man in Walkow’s latest
film
By Michael Horowitz
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Many of the films competing at Sundance Film Festival are
brilliant examples of underground filmmaking, but perhaps none as
much as "Notes from Underground."
Gary Walkow, whose "The Trouble With Dick," collected a Sundance
prize almost 10 years ago, brought his latest offering to the
festival this week, an American update of the Dostoevsky classic.
"Notes" stands on its own as an intelligent and provocative piece
of cinema.
Onscreen for almost every second of the film, and most often
alone, Henry Czerny stars as The Underground Man. The role is
another captivating exploration of ugly human qualities from the
actor who portrayed evil incarnate in "The Boys From St. Vincent,"
and turned heads as Harrison Ford’s Capitol Hill foe in "Clear and
Present Danger."
Czerny (pronounced Chairny) is not typecast as bad or bitter,
but he sure does it well, whether in small independents like
"Notes" or in larger budget productions.
"The heavies I play in studio films are a little different than
the dislikable, disfunctional, pick your term, people I play in
independent features," he says. "In the studio pictures, the
characters are far less dimensional. In independent features,
usually the characters are exposed to you slowly throughout the
movie."
Czerny says with leading roles like his in "Notes," there is
more responsibility and more work needed from the actor. "It’s a
risky environment," he says. "It’s not set when you do a film about
someone like The Underground Man."
"You have an idea of where you’re going to go, but as you shoot,
the character has some control over where you’re going. It’s not
plot-driven; it’s far more psychologically driven."
"Notes" is structured around The Underground Man’s video
confession of events that happened 12 years ago, where among other
things, Czerny’s character emotionally manipulates a young whore to
combat his social inferiority complex. The prostitute is played by
Sheryl Lee.
"I hope that I have her courage when I have her profile," he
says. "It’s very tough to be that raw, to risk that, to give that
performance.
"There’s very few actors who would do that. Most actors try and
protect themselves. When they gain a level of comfort, they don’t
want to lose it."
There is no comfort in "Notes." And accordingly, some of these
on-camera sentiments spill over into real life also. Czerny talks
about his acting relationships affecting his relationships with
fellow actors even after the cameras stop.
"If you’re doing a plot-driven piece, and you have to be a
simplistic bad guy, then it doesn’t really matter," he says. "But
if you’re doing a piece that demands that, for instance, ‘we don’t
want to rehearse this scene too much; we want to know the signposts
we’re going to hit and we’re going to shoot it,’ you have to step
into it … beyond intellectually knowing when you’re going to say
your lines, you have to give over to the junk inside of you so the
camera will catch that junk.
"If you’re doing that kind of scene, you leave yourself
vulnerable to the things that most of us want to shut down very
early on in our lives. And if you’re exposing that to the other
person, it’s very hard to separate."
When asked how many times he performs exceptionally grueling,
emotional scenes, Czerny responds "As few as you possibly can.
"Eventually, the body shuts down," he says, "and then you do it
more technically, which is just as valid in some people’s eyes, but
to get that spark of not knowing what the other person’s going to
do … knowing that you’re acting, but not knowing what the other
person’s going to do, usually happens in the first two takes and
that’s it.
"Then, one actor might try and do something to try and surprise
the other actor," he says, "then what you’re trying to do is
putting layers on top of the other situation to make it interesting
for the other actor, which takes away from the immediacy and the
truth of it, you know? It’s still as watchable; it’s still as
engaging, but it’s not as fresh."
He says as soon as the scene of that intensity is over, he walks
over to his costar to undo any damage. "You just make sure both of
you understand," says Czerny. "You just do whatever you have to do
to make the other person comfortable. I usually like time to chill
and have a moment with the other person.
"It’s like doing a scrimmage, I imagine, on the football field,"
he says. "You have to beat the shit out of the other guy … or
neither of you are going to get any better."
Czerny is hoping to act next in a project by Paul Shrader
directed by John Smith, who helmed "The Boys of St. Vincent."
Obviously, the project would add another compelling shade of
darkness to the actor’s filmography.
"I’m very much hoping that will happen," he says. "I’d be very
surprised if it didn’t, and very disappointed.
"(Hollywood’s) very tough for everybody, but there are groups of
people who are doing anything you want. You can go from absolute
darkness to searing brightness, and it’s all available in
Hollywood; you just have to find it."
Czerny smiles as he looks at a group of skiers laughing as they
walk down the street. "I like giving people the alternative."
* * *
The Dramatic Competition entries have sorted themselves out
quite nicely. "Walking and Talking" and "Care of the Spitfire
Grill" have retained their deserved position as front-runners with
"Big Night" and "Meet Ruth Stoops" (renamed "Precious" for
theatrical distribution), running neck and neck not far behind.
Longer shots include "Girls Town," "Whole Wide World" and "Welcome
to the Dollhouse," a favorite at the Toronto Film Festival.
The festival’s panel of judges and past history make forecasting
the winners very challenging. Where the audience award is fairly
easy to predict (consensus is "Care of the Spitfire Grill"), the
Grand Jury Prize is much trickier. Sundance’s most prestigious
honor is in the hands of five film industry individuals whose
behavior isn’t readily predictable. Renegade filmmaker Gregg Araki
is the first on the panel. The writer-director’s "Totally Fucked
Up" and "Doom Generation" seem to indicate tastes that would
exclude polished, studio fare.
The tastes of cinematographer Bobby Bukowski, who worked on
"Dogfight" and the upcoming "Til There Was You," are anyone’s
guess, and gritty director Ulu Grosbard, who helmed "Georgia" and
"True Confessions" must be into raw emotion. That leaves
well-respected actress Julianne Moore, of "Safe" and "Vanya on 42nd
Street," who seems to welcome cinematic risk-taking, and film
critic Elizabeth Pincus, who wrote for the L.A. Weekly and now
works at Harper’s Bazaar. Her review of "Speed" from two summers
ago focused solely on phallic imagery.
So what will this jury choose? What will they agree on as
Sundance’s best? Will they reluctantly settle on a film like last
year’s champ "The Brothers McMullen?" On Saturday night the winners
will be announced.
Henry Czerny
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