1204 flm prod feature profile silver linings playbook

7/29/2019 1204 Flm Prod Feature Profile Silver Linings Playbook

1/9

28 F IL MM AK ER FALL 2012


2/9

29FILMMAKER FALL 2012

Silver Linings Playbookactor/executive producer Bradley Cooper and writer/director David O. Russell

DAVID O. RUSSELL makes

bipolar disorder, dance

competitions, and the NFL

the stuf o romantic comedy

in Silver Linings Playbook, a

seriously unny eature with star

turns by BRADLEY COOPER

and JENNIFER LAWRENCE.

MIGUEL ARTETA interviews writer/

director RUSSELL and executive

producer and star COOPER.

Portrait by ELIOT LEE HAZEL.

T

ouchdown

D

AN

CE


3/9


I

n 2010, David O. Russell had the big-

gest movie o his career with The Fighter,

his biopic o boxer Micky Ward, star-

ring Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams. The

film took almost $100 million in stateside

receipts, won Christian Bale and Melissa

Leo awards in the supporting categories at

both the Oscars and the Golden Globes,

and earned Russell his first Academy Award

nomination, or Best Director.

But now Russell has returned to the realm

o complex, sophisticated and seriously un-

ny comedies, where he first made his name.

Russells new film, Silver Linings Play-

book based on the 2008 debut novel othe same name by Matthew Quick is the

story o Pat Solitano Jr. (Bradley Cooper), a

Philadelphia high school teacher who dis-

covers his wie Nikki en flagrante with a

male colleague which causes him to flip

out and brutally beat the man. Diagnosed as

bipolar and put in a psychiatric unit (rather

than doing time), Pat is released ater eight

months and goes to live with his ootball-

crazed parents, Dolores (Jacki Weaver) and

Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro), who are mostly

happy to have him under their roo even

though hes not taking his meds and is clear-

ly not yet stable. Though certain things set

him of and cause him to lose control again,

Pat has an almost scarily positive attitude,

insisting that, even though they are now

estranged and theres a restraining order

against him, he and Nikki will be reunited

soon. Hes looking or the positive in every

negative situation, trying to better himsel

reading, exercising in order to be the

man his wie deserves, trying to find a way

to beat this bipolar thing.

Shortly ater returning to his parents

home, Pat meets Tifany (Jennier Law-

rence), the young, recently widowed sister-in-law o his best riend Ronnie (John Ortiz).

Like Pat, shes on various meds, has no fil-

ter and doesnt conorm to others ideas o

what she should be. Though she initially

pursues him, Pat is set on getting back with

Nikki and wont let himsel deviate rom this

true path despite the obvious attraction

between these two damaged souls. Instead,

they decide to orm an alliance and pledge

to help one another: She promises to smug-

gle his letters to Nikki, who is best riends

with her sister Veronica (Julia Stiles), and in

exchange he agrees to be her partner in an

upcoming dance competition and train with

her prior to the event.

Silver Linings Playbookis that rare thing

an intelligent, grown-up date movie. Beau-

tiully written and directed by Russell, its

a redemption tale that uses ootball as an

analogy but then weaves a nuanced, sweet

and deeply human narrative that tran-

scends the simplicity o sports measures

o success and ailure. Its two leads shine

Cooper proves hes much more than just a

pretty ace, and Lawrence is electric as the

raw, tender Tifany. And the supporting cast,

rom De Niro and Animal Kingdoms Weav-er to Chris Tucker playing Coopers ellow

psych ward inmate, bring to lie the richly

drawn characters in Russells screenplay.

To interview Russell a 2012 honoree

at IFPs annual Gotham Indepedent Film

Awards and his producer/star Cooper,

Filmmaker asked Cedar Rapids Miguel Ar-

teta, another director whos been known to

mine di cult topics or comic capital. Be-

low, the pair discuss their creative partner-

ship, the directing card Russell always car-

ries with him on set, and when its okay toP

HOTOCOURTESYOFTHEWEINSTEINCOMPANY

Jennier Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook


4/9


give an actor a line reading.

Silver Linings Playbook is released by The

Weinstein Company on November 21.

So, how did the film come about and how did

you guys get together?DAVID O. RUSSELL:

Well, should we talk about love first, or not?

[Laughs]

That is not for the interview. Filmmaker read-

ers have no interest in love.RUSSELL: Okay,

leave the emotions out o it. So, the year be-

ore he passed away, Sydney Pollack gave me

and Harvey [Weinstein] the book. [Sydney]

said, what a complicated tone it had. Holly

[Davis], the woman I live with, shes a big

reader, so she read the book first. She said,

I think youre going to really like this, be-

cause she knows my older son and some o

the challenges he and the whole amily have

aced rom mood issues. This was beore TheFighter. Then, ater The Fighter, I knew even

more what I liked about this [storys] am-

ily, the neighborhood, the house and all that

stuf. Im as interested in the people and the

urniture and the ood as I am in the story.

When wed scout locations, I remember I

stayed in the houses we would scout, and I

would be like, Oh, were not going to shoot

here? I really like these people. Thats how

we ound our [Philadelphia] Eagles expert,

actually. Anyway, Harvey finally came back

and said, Lets make this picture.

BRADLEY COOPER: I met David when we

had a phone call about this movie, Pride and

Prejudice and Zombies, at LionsGate. I loved

the script he wrote or that. Thats where he

and I met. And then that went away and we

sort o talked about a couple o projects. He

said, This is one o the things Im circling

why dont you read it? And so, I read Silver

Linings, and I liked it.

You read the book or the script? COOPER:

No, just the script. I remember thinking, Im

rom Philly, but Im not really right or thisrole. I think I was probably scared o it.

Well, you know, if youre not scared of a role,

then its never that worth taking, right?COO-

PER: I gotta say, I totally changed my whole

thinking. I remember Willem Daoe came to

our school and he said, I dont do a role that

doesnt scare me. When I dont think I can

do a role, thats the role I take. I remember

thinking, That doesnt make any sense.

Back then, I thought you [should] want to

take a role that you eel a connection to. So

I thought, God, I dont know, man. This

[character] was just so ucked up. It de-

manded really going to a lot o places and

knowing the movies that [David] makes,

I thought, Jesus Christ, Im really going to

have to go to those places and not act like

Im going to those places. So I wouldnt say

I was terrified, but... Then, when he let me

read it, he [didnt say], I want you to do thisrole. This is your movie. So I was like, Okay,

Im sure Ill never get this role.

David, when did you have the moment when

you were like, Wait a second, this is my part-

ner. I gotta go make the movie with him?

RUSSELL: Well, as we were approaching

production, certain situations werent re-

solving themselves with the studio and the

cast. My first impression o him was the

guy in Wedding Crashers. What I find excit-

ing, kind o like what we did with Christian

[Bale] and Amy [Adams] in The Fighter, is

I love when people think they know who an

actor is, but they dont. I relish that, espe-

cially when I know the person is real, you

know? I said to [Bradley], I saw you in

Wedding Crashers, and when I would see you

around town I would think, That is an in-

timidating guy, because the guy rom Wed-

ding Crashers looks somewhat like an angry

person. I believe that hes angry. In act, soangry that I dont know i I want to hang out

with him, you know? [Laughs] That was

one o the first things I said to him, and he

was very candid with me. He said that he

did use anger more at a diferent time in his

lie. And that candor opened up a door to a

huge hall o mirrors that had all this stuf in

it. Like, Oh, hes a really interesting person

who has gone through lots o transitions

hes not just the confident guy rom The

Hangover, the good looking guy. Then we

kept getting to know each other, and I ound

all these layers o this person that I related

to very strongly. Were both hal Italian-

American, so I made the story [about a am-

ily that was] Italian-American. Robert De

Niro and I had been speaking over the years

about wanting to work together. So ater [I

finished] The Fighter, I rewrote [the ather]

role or him.

Bradley, I know you loved working with Rob-

ert. You guys were amazing in Limitless. Was

he already cast when you came on board?

COOPER: Yes, I was the last one cast. I got

a call rom [David] as I was doing The Place

Beyond the Pines

Having De Niro there must have been a

huge asset. COOPER: It was huge because

I knew that I could easily believe that hes

my ather. [I could] say the word dad, and

have that anchor me. Knowing that I loved

Bob already was sort o a reebie; I already

elt so connected to him. And he knew my

dad, who had just passed. His dad had died

at the same age. We have a lot o similarities

in our histories that way. I was just so happy,

because I didnt know anybody else [on the

film]. I didnt know David, I didnt know Jen-

nier, I didnt know Chris Tucker. I think Bob

and Philadelphia, where Im rom, were the

two anchors. My mother grew up in a housenot that diferent than the house that Pat

Solitano grew up in.

And so, what was the first creative conver-

sation you and David had?COOPER: It was

really based around the opening monologue

that the character has in the hospital. In it,

he talks about how hes going to get his lie

back together. He basically runs through

what has happened that led him to this

place. Just hearing how David speaks when

he talks, and the rhythm o his voice, I elt

When you come o a se, heresall his scatered energy. Bu all hareally maters is his sory Im elling.I wan everybody o come in andfeel grounded.


5/9

32 FILMMAKER FALL 2012

like I heard it in the way he was writing. I

called David and let him a message o the

monologue as Pat. I was like, How does

this sound? I remember [David] texted me

Yes! Yes! with an exclamation point. And

then we went through it and sort o modu-

lated it. We just read through the whole

script as Pat. I would ask him to read it and

I would read it sort o using his rhythms. He

has a very specific rhythm, and Pat doesnthave the cadence that I have when I talk. It

was just about finding that modulation. But

that was just the beginning stages. It was

just about finding that modulation. But that

was just [during] the beginning stages. And

then, we jumped into it and it really was on

set where we created Pat. That first scene

when he comes in to meet Dad [Robert De-

Niro], I did it much more troubled in some

takes. We actually used that more Asperg-

er-y [version o Pat], in the very beginning.

He walks in the door whats in the movie

now is that other guy.

Okay. [Laughs] Wow. COOPER: He

doesnt talk, and he hugs him and hes just

sort o like

Always suspicious? COOPER: Yes. That

was the other guy. David was like, I dont

know i a whole movie can sustain on that

guy. I mean, ater five minutes, that might

be enough. So, it was just about modulating

[the character].

Its interesting you wanted to hear David read

his dialogue, because a lot o actors dont

want to get a line reading.COOPER: Right.

But then there are a lot o actors who are not

bothered by that. Theyre like, Tell me how

you see it and then Ill interpret or not inter-

pret it. COOPER: Its a case by case basis.

I certainly am someone who, up until then,

would hate it i a director would give me a

line reading. But you know, Im investing in

a David O. Russell movie? So I made it very

clear to mysel that I am going to tack my

little tugboat onto this vessel and do what-

ever he says. And then, as I got to know him,

it became more o a partnership because I

never elt like he was giving me a line read-

ing. I elt like what he was doing was giving

me an insight. It never elt like made out o

paper mach, do you know what I mean?

When were in the scene, hes a character

in the scene. Hes talking to the other char-acters also, and youre incorporating that.

Thats the way he directs everybody. Its a

very unique way o working.

Watching the movie, I noticed that the cam-

era is very, very close to the characters.

RUSSELL: Yes.

And usually, when you do that, it ends up be-

ing not so elegant. To move a camera when

youre that close to an actor, and to have the

actors have the reedom that they need to do

that, is dif cult. So, thinking about the cho-

reography o the camera, the filmmaker in

me wondered, What happens in the morn-

ing? Is it a ree-or-all rehearsal? Or are

you, David, saying, Why dont you guys just

read it? Or, are you saying, Why dont you

guys just see what you do, and let me go and

change how you guys move? What hap-

pens first thing?COOPER: You know, theres

a ritual to it every day. Wed all get cofee.

Im not even a cofee drinker but I drankfive espressos that whole shoot every day.

[Laughs] Wed all get into the van.

RUSSELL: Heres the reason why I think its

important to get in the van. When you come

to a set or me, theres all this scattered en-

ergy. But all that really matters is this right

here, this story that Im telling right now.

So we all need to eel. I want everybody to

come in close and eel grounded.

Get it gelled beore you go out there. RUS-

SELL: Yes, yes, exactly. Dont be doing it inthe middle o a set, with all sorts o people

around. It just eels sae when youre in a

van, in a car. Its like a small thing. I do it with

the a.d. and the producer first. I go, Lets talk

about the day, how were going to do this, all

right? And then, I do it with the cast. We all

sit there and go, Lets talk about this scene.

It was like we were trying to fit a 38-pound

ball in a 25-pound bag a 33-day shoot.

And then you guys were like, Lets go.RUS-

SELL: We said, You know what? Were a

day-and-a-hal behind on the schedule and

three days back. It was kind o like a oot-

ball game. I go, I think I can see a chance

to make up some major yardage here. I

think we can make up like a day-and-a-hal

right now. Are you guys down or this?

And theyre like, [Pretends to spit] Okay.

[Laughs] So it was so like, although Anupam

Kher was like

COOPER: He was reaking out.

RUSSELL: He was like, Well, wait a minute.

Wait a minute. These are all o my scenes.

I was like, Its going to be okay. Its going tobe okay.

Is there a moment when youre doing this

stu and you say, We have it.? Was it clear

when you had it? RUSSELL: We would eel

good. I think we would eel like we got our

moments.

COOPER: The other thing is, we were on a

33-day schedule. Ive done movies where

theyve been that short o a schedule, and

you just hope, Did we get it? This movie,

I never elt like we ever tried to get it

I want to fnd the moments wherepeople are not talking, where peopleare just looking at each other. I think

theres a lot o gold in that.

HOW THEY DID IT

Production Format

35mm 2 per, with some 3 per.

Camera

ARRICAM Lite or 2 per, ARRIFLEX

235 or 3 per .

Film/Tape Stock

Kodak 5219 with some 5213 .

Editing System

Avid Nitris.

Color Correction

Conormed via Autodesk Smoke

2012, color corrected via DaVinci

Resolve, ilming out via ARRILASER

recorder 2254 Kodak negative /

printing on Kodak 2383.


6/9


we tried to get every version we could in as

much time as we could. In the editing room,

David saw that there were potentially six

diferent movies in this movie six difer-

ent paths, six diferent arcs. I mean, we re-

ally would do every version. There was an

extreme version, a no-bullshit version, a

more modulated version.

And did that stay throughout the whole pro-

cess?COOPER: The whole time.

Because, you know, usually that happens at

the beginning o a shoot, the first week. COO-

PER:And youre just trying to get the scene.

And then youre like, This is the way. This

eeling or this character is what really eels

right. And you more or less start nailing it

down. But you were exploring diferent sides

to the character throughout, all the way to

the end? COOPER: The whole time. The

whole time.

So, within this environment o trust you were

like, Im not going to decide what is right.

Im not going to worry what makes it in the

movie.COOPER: Thats right.

You would just move on? COOPER: What I

worried about was giving him enough options.

RUSSELL: Low, medium and high. I have a

card o things that I [use to] try to remind

mysel, because the thing you always kick

yoursel [about] when youre in the editing

room is, Why the uck didnt I do this?

What else is on that card?RUSSELL: Have

we shot it in the most cinematically dynam-

ic way that we can shoot it? Is it everything

that it could be, quietly and emotionally?

COOPER: Is there a version where theres nobullshit at all, like a completely real version?

RUSSELL: Sometimes you want to try some-

thing very extreme. Sometimes you end up

in the editing room and you go, Oh, the way

to have done this scene was this way. And

sometimes you just want to try to shake your-

sel like a snow globe and say, Wait a minute.

Im looking at this the wrong way. What i I

looked at it all through this characters point

o view. We also would do the diferent emo-

tions. Do it so it eels unnier, which I dont

know how to do. I dont know how we did that.

And sometimes it eels sadder.

When youre working with a director, some-

times you can tell when they were like,

Thats the one, he loved it, right?COOPER:

Well, were both pretty enthusiastic people,

and its pretty obvious when we like some-

thing. [Laughs] Sometimes I eel like were

gold panners, you know what I mean? I

someone finds a little bit o gold, were not

shutting up about it. Thats part o what I

loved about him. Were all tired, were all

working really hard, so i we get some magic,

were going to celebrate it, you know? And it

was very much like everybody was celebrat-ing. Shelley [Ziegler], the first a.d., she was

crying a lot. And David Thompson, who was

the camera operator, would know. When

Bob came up the stairs, when he cried, that

was the last take o his close-up.

RUSSELL: It was a surprise. I was, Lets just

do one more, and all o a sudden was like,

What the uck is happening?

COOPER: It was amazing.

RUSSELL: He pulled that out as a surprise

on us. He wanted to do it real or you, and

he wanted to do it real or me because he

David O. Russell talks with Robert De Niro on the set o Silver Linings Playbook


7/9


personally identifies with much of this ma-

terial for similar reasons as I do you know,

as a father. We identify. Weve been down

these roads with children, with family mem-

bers. And so, it was very personal to him.We had gotten to know each other over the

years, and he really wanted to fucking do it,

to memorize these long monologues. It was

important to him that he knew them, and he

worked tremendously hard. Actors, they get

older and after all the accolades they tend to

be like, Look, Im just going to show up

COOPER: Not this motherfucker.

RUSSELL: And I directed him very respect-

fully. I said what I thought [and then] left it

to him. Hes an intimidating human being,

and we were so blessed to have him there.

Hes such a warm, loving guy. We let our

hair down and we are warm and welcom-

ing, and that is the contagious thing. [When

we were shooting the scenes at the Solitano

household] we had a family vibe going. AndI remember saying to Bob, How do you

stand here all day like this?

COOPER: He stood for three days.

RUSSELL: That made me crazy. Heres De

Niros standing there in the corner before

we get to his part of the scene. Id be like,

I cant look over there. He was standing

there just for us

COOPER: For six hours.

RUSSELL: And then he said, Hey, all these

other people can do it and theyre not mak-

ing any money and they got no fans. He

goes, I can do it.

I am such a believer in the intangibles, how

the camera records the intangibles. I think a

camera records stuf that is not in the rame

RUSSELL: Like your soul.

Well, like something intangible that happens

between people. RUSSELL:Thats the magic.

I say to my cinematographers, I were go-

ing to tell a story, just photograph the actors

eyes. You dont even have to go to the long

shot. All were doing here is photographing

the actors eyes. Thats how we tell the story.And then that sort o non-verbal communica-

tion starts to happen. You become a witness,

as opposed to RUSSELL: Thats very well

said. Youre almost a participant, rather than

a more distant person.

COOPER: Listen, its less safe.

Yeah, its a lot less sae. RUSSELL: There is

something that should be on the card, which

would just be stillness. Which goes to what

you said about the eyes. In the editing room,

you edit the movie for three months andP

HOTOCOURTESYOFTHEWEINSTEINCOMPANY

Te last six hours o every day weremore productive than the frst six hours.Te last take o a scene would all o asudden just click.

Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook


8/9


youre like, Okay, this is it. This is great.

And then, you go through another two

months o ripping it apart, and then all o a

sudden things happen where you say, Why

didnt I think o that three months ago? Its

so obvious that this is so ar superior to any-

thing we had beore. Its so very diferent

than what we had beore that I cant even

remember what we had beore. Thats justhow lie is. You have to get there by going

thereits not going to present itsel to you,

like you said. And the eyes thing is what hap-

pened like, in month eight or nine o editing.

I said, I think we gotta go through the whole

movie, guys. This is ater we had previewed.

We gotta go through the whole movie. I

want us to breathe. I want to find the mo-

ments where people are not talking, where

people are just looking at each other. I think

theres a lot o gold in that. And there is.

Every emotion exponentially grows. Every-thing in the movie lands ar more with that

seemingly small shit. Its a small thing, but

a huge thing. You have to ask [the studio]

to unlock the movie to do that, so I was like,

Well, I think we should unlock the movie.

I always feel like I do my best work the last two

hours of editing instead of the last six months.

Sometimes I get very bold. Im like, Fuck it.

Take that. RUSSELL: It was like when we

were shooting too. The last six hours o ev-

ery day were always more productive than

the first six hours. The last take o a scene

would all o sudden just click. I we ever had

a celebratory moment, which we did oten,

we would go, Wait a second, what have we

been ucking doing or the past 40 minutes?

All o a sudden, it would come.

COOPER: We would do the coverage. We

would get the wide and do the coverage, getsome pieces, and then it was, Lets do one

ucking gangster Steadicam, lets just see it

swim through the scene.

RUSSELL: You gotta make sure you end up

shooting it one way and then another way.

And thats another thing on the card: make

sure youve got the dog in the corner.

What? RUSSELL: You know, you gotta be

able to have something to go to. It could just

be Shea Whigham sitting in the corner. But

cover your ass so that you can cut it every

way you want to. Do whatever you want.

Get a couple o dogs.

COOPER: And then at the very end, strap onthe Steadicam and

RUSSELL: Let it rip. As i it was like a docu-

mentary thing.

AMANDA, 14SCREENWRITER

LEE, 14DIRECTOR

COURTNEY, 12PRODUCER

3 DistinctCareer

Goals

1 Shared

Passion

Lee, Amanda andCourtney are part of avibrant film communityat Regent University,with $4 million ofindustry-standardequipment at their

disposal. Here, theyare able to participatein many of the nearly100 film projectsper yearallowingthem to start theircareers while pursuinggraduate education.No matter what yourcareer goal is, if youhave a passion to workin film or television, wecan help you get there.Ready to get started?

B.A., M.A. and MFA degrees offered.

regent.edu/filmschool

888.777.7729

GO BACK & WATCH

THE TALENT GIVEN US Andrew

Wagner cast his own amily as a bick-

ering New York clanan older couple

and their unmarried daughtersthat

drives cross-country rom New York to

L.A. in this DIY dramedy rom 2004.

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE An anxious and

psychologically troubled toilet-plunger

salesman (Adam Sandler) enduresphone-sex extortion and crashing cars

while romantically pursuing Lena (Em-

ily Watson) in Paul Thomas Andersons

2002 subversive romantic comedy.

THE GOOD GIRL Miguel Artetas

2002 comedy drama ollows a lonely

woman (Jennier Aniston) through an

unhappy marriage, an aair with an un-

stable younger man (Jake Gyllenhaal)

and the complications that ensue.

see page 78


9/9


TOUCHDOWN DANCEfrom page 35

That must be great as a perormer, right?

COOPER: It is, especially because youre

almost dancing. Im someone whos always

aware o where the camera is. I actually love

that part o filmmaking, as opposed to be-

ing on stage. I love it. So, when you start

to dance with the camera operator to therhythm o the scene, its very exciting.

It is when it becomes like a unit. COOPER:

Yes. And we actually did have a dance scene

at the end o the movie, which we had no

time to shoot. It was ucking crazy. Theres

400 other actors as the audience, and were

sitting there trying to put this thing together.

You had your routine down by that point, right?

COOPER:The routine we had down, but how

do you film that dynamically and personally?

How many times have we watched Dancing

with the Stars and all these shows? You seehow people shoot dancing, but [here] you

have to watch these two all in love.

Well, it seemed to me like you took a per-

son out and put the camera in. COOPER:

Yes, thats what we did. Thats exactly

what we did.

You danced with us and then she was dancing

with us.COOPER: 100 percent correct.

RUSSELL: The dancing was the whole thing

to attack unto itsel. We had to find the right

choreographer

COOPER: Who was amazing, Mandy

Moore.

RUSSELL: Mandy Moore, right. Not the ac-

tress. She has done amateur Dancing with

the Stars contests in Colorado, so shes no

stranger to local dance contests, which is

what I wanted it to eel like. I wanted it to

eel like there were some ringers.

Right.RUSSELL: Who were like, Oh, these

are scary people, theyre rom Belarus. A lot

o them were rom Belarus, or some reason.

Theyre like proessional dancers, theyre like

assassins. I wanted our people to be kind

o like i you and me did it, you know? Thedancing in Pulp Fiction meant something to

me because its about this its about their

hearts and their eyes. And that, to me, was

the most important thing. [Bradley and Jen-

nier] danced to the camera or one section

o it, but the rest o it, I wanted to do in real

time, which Im proud we did. Its just about

being with them in a two shot.

And because the choreography in the studio is

also beautiul, did you choreograph the cam-

era movements? Or, do you have so much aith

in your operator as to the camera that you can

say, Okay, do it diferently, and something

else will come?COOPER:Oh no, its like, [Da-

vids] moving with the Steadicam.

Youre walking around with it?COOPER: Oh

yeah. Its very much the same way he is with

the actors. People are ducking, booms are fly-

ing. I mean, he is steering every aspect o the

ship. So, as youre editing the movie, youre

constantly trying to figure out how much itsgoing to cost to take him out o the rame.

David, the films background is particularly

alive, like your actors. Oten when you see

films, thats not the case. Is it just contagious

because the background extras are watching

you work? Or do you speak directly to them?

How do they come to lie?RUSSELL: Theres

some union thing you have to go through be-

cause otherwise it becomes an upgrade. This

was shot or the same budget as The Fighter,

which is not a lot o money, so you have to

[be careul about] suddenly [upgrading anextra, which happens] i you give them spe-

cific direction. But Shelley [Ziegler] is rom

Baltimore. She did The Sopranos a lot, she did

Boardwalk Empire a lot. She did The Fighter.

Shes antastic, and she knows what we want,

which is to make this eel warm and alive.

She gives people specific instructions so they

are doing specific things. That persons going

to the chocolate ountain. These people are

having an argument. These people are happy

to be there and are taking pictures. These

people are flirting with each other. This guy

wants to see that girl over there.

Alright, lets talk about Jennier Lawrence

because she is just amazing. From the mo-

ment she enters, youre already in love. Shes

got such an energy, a bolt o energy in her,

such a bullshit meter that is on. And then, the

layers in which she becomes like him out

o control but not, apparently, right rom

the start. COOPER: Her acility or emo-

tional depth at the drop o a hat is kind o

[amazing]. Ive done two movies with her

now, and the second movie [Susanne Biers

upcoming Serena] we did was equally aschallenging dramatically. I mean, she had

to go to some sick places. I remember [dur-

ing one scene] Im watching her and [as an

actor] Im eeling everything that shes do-

ing. I eel horrible and embarrassed and that

Ive hurt her [character] because o what

shes doing. [But] also at the same time as

a lover o this movie, [it was] so exhilarat-

ing. [Laughs] It was like, Yes, motheruck-

ers! David was like, Thats what Im talk-

ing about. [Laughs] I remember I wanted

to scream. She was so in the pocket. Shes

suchI mean, she embodies so many difer-

ent aspects o what youd think a woman is

as a male, as a emale, as a human being.

I mean, shes so sexy and then not. Shes

quite a stunning human being.

RUSSELL: You know, Jennier was some-

body who we all thought, Well, shes a

little too young. I didnt know much about

her she was great in Winters Bone butI thought, Well, why dont we read her? So

she Skyped her audition rom her parents

home in Louisville, Kentucky. We already

had two or three big contenders, big stars,

because this is a very dimensional role. Then

she just came in, and I was very struck by

her personality, her energy. She dressed up

or the character in her athers den, with the

eye makeup and the hair and everything. She

really wanted it. She was willing to try to do

anything that we were working on. She just

brought a very special human-being qual-ity. I said to Harvey, I think [we should cast

her], and he goes, I think shes too young,

man. I said, I dont know. She seems kind

o ageless in some ways to me.

Lets talk about the chemistry between the

two o you when you were dancing. I mean,

that reveals so much about what was going

on when youre practicing and the first time

youre dancing your ace comes this close to

her. RUSSELL: You know what I love about

that as she gets pulled in and then she

spins out, you think thats the end o the

shot. But then she goes around.

COOPER: And the way she looks at him

when she spins out. Also my avorite thing

o hers, when theyre dancing, theres this

one [shot where] youre over [Pat] and

her hair is alling and shes kind o smiling.

[Laughs] Youre just like, What the uck is

going on? I mean, really. Were just sitting

there and were like, What? Like, holy shit.

Theres like our or five moments in that

movie where shes just, you know, stopping

the film. Its just like, Holy uck!

Yeah, its got star dust in it.

LOVE ON THE OUTSIDEfrom page 49

make go through AFFRM? No, because AF-

FRM probably cant handle the next ilms as

Im trying to increase my budgets. AFFRM

has a very speciic P&A budget which has

to be put against a speciic size o ilm. But

as long as Im making a ilm in that size that

its into the model, it will go through AFFRM.

Thank God Participant comes in and kind o

supersizes what AFFRM could do or Middle,

1204 flm prod feature profile silver linings playbook

Documents