Wednesday, April 8, 1998
Actors hope audiences fall for ‘Niagara’
FILM: Independence, artistic freedom keys to story of misfits on
road
By Louise Chu
Daily Bruin Contributor
Without the backing of a major studio, an independent film faces
a small budget, limited distribution and low audience attendance.
So "Niagara, Niagara" could be a classic case of the deprived indie
film. But in providing the cast and crew with opportunities to take
risks and be creative, the film doesn’t just deal with them, it
thrives off them.
"(I enjoyed) the ability to work with the crew and the actors
and not having any suit looking over my shoulder," says director
Bob Gosse of his feature directorial debut. "Every frame was my
thumbprint, and nothing was dictated to me. If I was hired to do
‘Free Willy 10,’ I would not have the control that I had on
this."
The technical and artistic freedom of its independent status
allowed for a film whose gritty realism posed a risk for the
actors, who were initially apprehensive about accepting such
physically and emotionally demanding roles.
"I think I had a lot of rope to hang myself with," reflects
Robin Tunney ("Encino Man" and "The Craft"). She stars as Marcy, a
young woman afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome, an
obsessive-compulsive disorder that produces vocal and physical tics
and outbursts. "It was either going to be something that was really
bad for me or really good. It was a first-time director. I didn’t
know how he could tell the stories. It was definitely a risky role,
but I don’t think there’s any better reason to take a role, unless
you’re afraid of it."
"Niagara, Niagara" follows the relationship between Seth (Henry
Thomas), an emotionally-starved loner, and Marcy, a free-spirited
young woman who copes with her disease with strength and an ample
supply of alcohol, as they take off on a road trip to Canada in
search of a rare doll. While this unusual love story may have been
liberating artistically, financially it was heavily
constrained.
The low budget prompted several small changes to the original
screenplay, which had called for slightly more elaborate shooting
locations. In one scene, Gosse replaced the originally planned
location of a large shopping mall with "a shitty strip mall." The
climax of the movie was to take place in a toy store, but the lack
of money prevented them from creating their own set for the chaotic
scene. Local stores also were reluctant to rent theirs out with the
risk of damaging their stock, so their search took them to a toy
store in Connecticut, which would only allow them to shoot while
they were closed from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m.
"By three, four o’clock in the morning, we were all pretty
giddy. They have all these toys that make stupid noises with fart
sounds and ‘Bloo-doo-doop!’ Everybody’s like, ‘Quiet, please!’ All
of a sudden, you hear ‘Bloo-doo-doop! I’m mush-mouth!’ from five
rows away. We’re so giddy that the hair department’s over there
twiddling with toys," Gosse remembers.
Despite their sacrifices, one location that they did not have to
compromise on was the namesake of the movie. In shooting at Niagara
Falls, Gosse realized his vision of filming Seth walking on the
railing that overlooked the violent waters.
"When I read the script, that was the image I had; the bullet
image in the head that I knew was going to be in the movie," Gosse
says.
"We were their worst nightmare. Thirty-eight people a year kill
themselves at Niagara Falls, so the last thing they want to do is
have some guy standing on the rail, giving people ideas. There’s
(also) a scene where they throw the guns in the falls that they
said, ‘Absolutely no. You can’t do that.’ So we did it anyway," he
adds with a rebellious laugh.
Since they could not afford to hire extras, Gosse took advantage
of the abundance of tourists milling around their set by
incorporating them into the movie.
"We just used bullhorns, and the (assistant directors) would
tell everybody that if they didn’t want to be in the movie, to
leave. It just worked out. Everybody was into it," Gosse says.
Ultimately, their efforts went beyond the technical difficulties
to tackle the challenge of the script. While the unsettling love
story littered with drugs, guns and disturbing tics severely
diverged from the mainstream, the cast and crew staunchly believed
in its artistic value. Specifically, Tunney, whose mainstream
career grew after "Encino Man" and "The Craft," veered off the
Hollywood path to do this picture.
"I definitely wanted to do something that was sort of a 360 from
‘The Craft’ afterwards. I got offered every movie that seemed like
the same movie, and I wanted to do something that was more
character-driven, that, as an actor, I could work out with and try
to do something that scared me. And it really did, the role," she
says.
Once she was on board, Tunney recommended casting Henry Thomas
("E.T.," "Legends of the Fall") as the reclusive and quiet
Seth.
"I knew that he was a stand-up, good guy. I wanted somebody
around that was going to be supportive and not have to judge me if
I had a bad take," Tunney comments. "And I knew he didn’t have a
huge ego, and that he’d be someone who’d be there for the good of
the project, not just for himself."
After watching a tape of an HBO movie that he was in called
"High Incident," Gosse immediately agreed to gamble on the
relatively unknown actor.
"I was blown away," Gosse marvels. "He had this one moment in a
jail cell, when he had this very still look on his face, so I knew
I had my Seth when I saw that tape."
The movie’s greatest gamble is its reception at the box office.
While the filmmakers assert that the film can be valuable for a
general audience, they admit that it realistically would appeal to
an extremely limited group.
"If I was going to be demographic, I’d say mature high school
and college chicks (or) troubled girls are going to identify with
this woman," Gosse reveals. "If anybody else likes it, if guys like
it or older people or younger people, that’s great, but I was
making the movie principally with a female audience in mind because
she was a compelling female lead that they could identify
with."
Tunney adds, "It doesn’t have effects and poop jokes. It’s more
sophisticated for young people. Young people are smart. They do
have the attention span to sit through a movie that’s about people
and about concepts."
In making not only an independent film but also one with
potentially limited demographics, the cast and crew of "Niagara,
Niagara" were well aware of the risk in their investment. But they
believe that this movie carries an importance, unique to any other
movie.
"I think some of the older critics that have seen it don’t get
it. They say it’s kind of like ‘Badlands’ or ‘Sugarland Express,’"
Tunney explains. "My argument to that is, it’s all great that you
think it’s like those movies. Those movies were made in 1972 and
1976. I was barely born. People in my generation haven’t seen a
film like this."
FILM: "Niagara, Niagara" is currently playing in theaters.