AN
INTERVIEW WITH NEIL LABUTEAN
INTERVIEW WITH NEIL LABUTE
Film director and playwright Neil LaBute responded by e-mail to questions from Robert Loerzel in January 2001, while he was in England filming an adaptation of A.S. Byatt's novel "Possession." At the time, LaBute's play "Bash" was making its Chicago premiere at the About Face Theatre. LaBute is the director of the films "In the Company of Men," "Your Friends & Neighbors" and "Nurse Betty." This interview originally appeared in Pioneer Press Newspapers on Jan. 18, 2001.
The three one-act plays in "Bash" all involve characters confessing to violent acts. Did you originally conceive of "Bash" as a set of three related plays, or did the stories come to you independently of each other?
"Bash" started as a single piece, a two-hander about a couple on a night out in New York City. I wanted to write something other than "couple frightened in the big bad city," so I took it a different way. That led me to the idea of creating two one-person shows that could accompany the first playlet; in this way, the entire evening could reasonably be performed by as few as two actors or as many as four (most productions seem to have settled on three, since that was the way it was performed in New York with Calista Flockhart).
I've always been drawn to the Greek tragedies and so it was in those stories that I saw a way to match the inevitable violence of the first piece. The first playlet was originally titled "Bash," but it seemed like an apt title for the entire piece when it was finished.
I love the monologue form, it's my favorite format. It's the thing that theater will always have over film, that ability for a character to step forward, sometimes with another character right there, standing frozen in time, and address the audience or think aloud. To say things that couldn't possibly be voiced in any other way.
There is a confessional quality to all three plays in "Bash" and whether it's in a church or in a therapist's office, people tend to cut loose, to ramble in this way. Plus, it's lovely to just let yourself go, to get on a writing jag and create a block of text that sings and feels like a rolling boulder as it heads toward the audience. Once it starts picking up emotional power, nothing can stop the monologue.
Plus, all these people have something they want to get out, something they've been living with that needs to be given a voice. This seemed like a nice umbrella technique for the entire play.
Did you choose to unite about Mormon characters 'in "Bash" simply because of your personal familiarity with the church as a member, or is there a deeper thematic explanation for why "Bash" includes allusions to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?
Obviously, the play caused some concern to the church, but mostly from its one-sidedness. Because it's three different pieces, it feels as if these attitudes are all-pervasive in Mormonism, and that just isn't the case of my intent.
In fact, I tried to use Mormonism as a context of "goodness," a place from which this behavior would be, seen as surprising and disturbing. However, I found that in production, the specific Mormon references had a tendency to distance the audience, to allow them to say, "Well, this isn't about me, it's about other people..." which is absolutely wrong.
For this production, in fact, (About Face Theatre director Eric Rosen) and I have removed the Mormon jargon and made the worlds more obviously general in nature, which I think strengthens the play and will not allow the audience off the hook so easily. I want people to see the impulses that run through "Bash" as all too familiar, not just somebody else's problem. It's not a play about the dark side of Mormonism, it's about the blacker impulses in any of us.
Since your film and plays often deal with characters who do despicable things, I'm curious to hear what you think the big philosophical questions: What is the meaning of evil? Does evil exist?
What about evil? It's out there, it exists. Has it almost always been there, like the sun or Dick Clark, or is it manufactured, time and again, given some minute twist to suit someone's needs? Don't ask me.
We're all capable of it, very questionable things, things beyond what society accepts. It's fascinating, it's seductive, and it's dramatic. Writers always try to balance the good with the bad, I just happen to let the bad get off the hook every now and then.
You've received both high praise and harsh criticism for you work. Has this had any effect on what you. write and direct? How do you respond when your hear people describing your films and plays as misanthropic or cruel?
Funnily enough, I'm fairly impervious to criticism. Not that it can't sting or be irritating, but I tend to read everything I can find about my work (and everybody else's work as well).
I'm never offended by a good piece of writing, someone who's actually taken the time to think out their arguments and support their views. Why should I? I get two hours to make my case in front of an audience, why shouldn't someone else get a page to say what they think?
I hate lazy journalism, or 4 stars or 2 ½ popcorn buckets standing in for real information (or quotes that have been obviously manufactured to be placed in an advertisement), but I never dislike someone taking the time to say what and why they disliked something. The only thing I hate is not being able to do something about it if it's a really good comment!
What stage are you at right now with the filming of "Possession," and when will you be back home in Barrington, Ill.?
I'm in the director's cut stage of post-production - that is, my version of what the film should be like. After that, it's the producers' turn and then a few previews. The previews and final work will bring me back to the States hopefully by spring and if there's a strike in the industry as predicted, I'll be back in Barrington and wandering around Blockbuster not long after that.
How has the experience of making a film overseas compared with your previous movies?
Many different things about filming in England vs. the States. No comparison with the food; like the rest of English cuisine, they're way behind us on catering and craft service.
The (crews) and department heads were all great, very personable, enjoyable people but I found it overall a bit slower going in England. Not sure why, exactly, just seemed to always take a bit longer to get going.
Also many bureaucratic differences, things like not being able to completely close down an area, a road, etc., made for a more trying shoot, as we were in so many different, often very public locations.
"Nurse Betty" was the first film you made based on another writer's screenplay. Now you're making a film based on a well-known book. What drew you to this project? Are you using a different approach with "Possession" because it's a literary adaptation?
I'd been a fan of Ms. Byatt's novel since I read it for pleasure several years back. I went to the company that had the rights and asked if they had anyone on the project. Although they'd gone through two different teams of writers/directors, they didn't at the moment, so I ended up getting the job by having a slightly different approach in mind. I worked with a very fine writer, Laura Jones, on the adaptation and we got the go-ahead to start filming last summer.
I'm a big Anglophile in terms of film, theater, literature, etc., so this was a lovely way to try my hand at that world but still tell a story that's firmly rooted in present-day relationships and a contemporary world that I have a firmer knowledge of.
© 2001 Pioneer Press Newspapers.
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
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