Wednesday, February 5, 1997
FILM:
Australian writer and first-time director makes it big after
only being in L.A. for 6 weeksBy Aimee Phan
Daily Bruin Contributor
Hollywood is filled with struggling artists. From aspiring
actors to unemployed directors, it seems like everyone needs to pay
their dues by surviving odd jobs and ignorant executives before
actually making it in the film industry.
But 31-year-old Craig Rosenberg, writer and first-time director
of this Friday’s release, "Hotel de Love," has managed to avoid the
requisite frustration and rejection most filmmakers suffer from
when trying to get their feet in the door.
"I was really lucky," Rosenberg , an Australian native, admits.
"I came out here (to L.A.), wrote my script, and within six weeks
of finishing it, I got an agent and sold it to Paramount."
Rosenberg counts his blessings for his good fortune after
witnessing the tortures most aspiring filmmakers suffer while
trying to have their films made. He owes his success to being at
the right place at the right time.
"I have friends who haven’t had as much luck as I have. I don’t
think it’s because they’re any less talented. All you can do is
persevere and be completely single-minded about it and hope that
all the factors will fall into your favor."
Raised in Australia, Rosenberg has wanted to be a writer since
he was a child. But, during his formal education, he decided to
obtain a law degree from Monash University in Melbourne instead.
During his college career, he spent two years studying at UCLA
through an exchange program and got a sneak preview of what working
in Hollywood could be like. It
didn’t take long for Rosenberg to fall in love with filmmaking
and forget about being a lawyer.
"I don’t think I ever really wanted to be a lawyer," Rosenberg
recalls. "I knew that if I worked as a lawyer for even one year,
the money would seduce me (into staying), so I decided not to leave
myself open to the temptation at all."
Instead, after finishing his law degree with honors, Rosenberg
started to write short stories and screenplays, slowly establishing
himself as a screenwriter in both the Australian and American film
markets.
While writing assignments for various studios, Rosenberg took a
fateful trip that would inspire him to write "Hotel de Love," a
quirky romantic comedy about the lovelorn guests at a tacky
honeymoon hotel.
"I went up to Niagara Falls on vacation at this honeymoon hotel
which had this very cynical manager. He told me a bunch of stories
about the various brides and grooms who would have these knock-down
fist fights in the foyer just hours after they got married and
still in their wedding gear."
Rosenberg enjoyed the irony of a cynic running such a romantic,
sentimental hotel and thought it would be an excellent setting for
a love story. He used the story to convey some of his own thoughts
on modern relationships.
"In ‘Hotel,’ I put in my personal obsessions about reclaiming
lost love and all these characters exploring these issues of love,
relationships and sex in the ’90s."
So Rosenberg created a 1990’s romance screenplay in typical
Hollywood fashion, but he was not willing to pass it on to a
typical Hollywood director. After seeing past screenplays
misunderstood by other directors, Rosenberg realized that in order
for his vision to translate properly onto the screen, he had to be
more involved in the production.
"I had some experiences in the studio system that I would
describe as unfortunate, because (the filmmakers) don’t treat the
writer very well. So all throughout writing this, I was very
determined to direct it."
One of the most important duties as director was casting the
four central roles in the film: the fraternal twin brothers Rick
and Stephen and their two love interests. Rosenberg knew that he
wanted to cast relatively unknown actors to avoid one star
overshadowing the rest of the cast, so the cast includes
experienced Australian film actors who are not well known to
American audiences.
"Because it is an ensemble movie and all the characters have
relationships with everyone else, I wanted to be really careful not
to cast any stars in the film. It would unbalance the ensemble
because I was trying to delay the audience’s expectation of who was
ending up with whom. It would make the film more exciting if you
don’t quite know who’s going to get the girl or who’s going to get
the guy."
As a first time director, Rosenberg was a bit overwhelmed at the
great amount of time and work that directing a film would take.
"The most difficult thing I found about directing was just the
physical exhaustion of it. It was literally working 20 hours a day
for seven months. It was tiring and exhilarating at the same time
because all the challenges and problems turned into more
opportunities for us to be more creative. If one location fell
through, we began to think about another location and what would be
fun and interesting about it."
Rosenberg evidently enjoys wearing two hats these days as a
writer and director of films. His future projects include
developing several screenplays for major Hollywood studios. He is
also mulling over several directing offers but hopes to balance his
film career by both writing and directing.
"The big difference between writing and directing is, as a
writer, I’d spend six months in a room by myself. But as a
director, you have five months where 40 people are constantly
coming up to you. It’s good to communicate with these people, it
keeps me healthy. If I just sat in my room all the time, I’d
probably be a nut case, and too much exposure to people would make
me a nut too. It’s a good balance."
As for aspiring filmmakers out there, Rosenberg offers his own
personal experiences as an example for achieving one’s goals. He is
aware that although he has not had to truly struggle, the film
industry is a tough field that will inevitably involve many
disappointments and rejections.
"It’s a big commitment and you’re going to meet a hundred people
who will say, ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it.’ Ignore them completely
because they’re largely people who won’t try to realize their own
dreams and so they don’t want anyone to realize their dreams
because they themselves are miserable. So screw them."
Live Entertainment
Writer-director Craig Rosenberg directs Julia Blake (Edith) in
"Hotel de Love."Live Entertainment
Rick (Aden Young) and Melissa (Saffron Burrows) are old high
school sweethearts who are reunited 10 years later in "Hotel de
Love."