Craig Gillespie - Director of Lars and the Real Girl.
The Craig Gillespie directed “Lars and the Real Girl” has enjoyed wonderful praise from critics and viewers alike. A simple, warm romantic comedy about finding your way through your issues, family and the path to romantic freedom.
We speak to the director about the memorable ordeal, sex dolls, Ryan Gosling and more...
Question:
I know you’ve got a lot of experience making commercials, was making a feature film always the end target?
Craig Gillespie:
“It actually was and not that I’m going to stop doing commercials because I actually love that discipline and the opportunity to explore things and try things and work with great people, particularly cinematographers. The cinematographer on this movie, I did the commercials with him, he did ‘Capote’ and ‘Jesus and Son.’”
Question:
When was this project brought to you and what did you think of it the first time you actually read it?
Craig Gillespie:
*laughs softly*
“John Cameron, the producer on this…I’d known him socially for years. He worked with the Coen brothers for twelve years and he’s done ‘Bad Santa’ and ‘Friday Night Lights’ and now ‘The Kingdom.’ He, literally like five years ago, and I’d known him for like five years, called me up out of the blue and he’d never approached me professionally before, and said ‘I have this script about this guy who falls in love with a sex doll!”
*we both laugh*
He continues “And he almost immediately said “Don’t worry!”
*we both laugh again*
He carries on “He just did ‘Bad Santa’ and I figured this must be some dark comedy thing he wants to do with a sex film. I didn’t really have on my agenda exactly why he was specifically thinking of me! But you know, he was a friend so I said ‘Alright, send it over’ and I was gathering a few projects I was trying to get going; all of which my wife hated. She’s been a really tough critic over the years in a good way, and after a couple of weeks she picked up this script and I hadn’t picked it up yet and she said ‘This is the script you should be doing! This is amazing.’ I said ‘really? The one about the sex doll?’ And I read it and it’s a truly amazing script by Nancy Oliver and the characters are so well flushed out.”
Question:
Was Ryan Gosling always the one you wanted for this?
Craig Gillespie:
We were trying set up the movie for a full year and everybody kept saying ‘Well that’s a great script but we’re not going to roll the dice.’ It actually had never gone out to an actor and then I managed to get into ‘Woodcock’ which got me some movement which got me trying to set up the next project which was the one I wanted to do. So we sat down and discussed actors with my agency and decided Ryan was really the best choice. I told him on a Friday and Monday he came in and we met. He immediately responded to it and we talked and I immediately responded to him.”
Question:
As far as the folks that keep these dolls go, did you research them for aid in the direction?
Actress Patricia Clarkson and director Craig Gillespieon the set of Lars and the Real Girl.
Craig Gillespie:
“I Went to the factory three times shelf. This is a off the shelf variety” *laughs* He talks about coming across this book in a store with photographs on the dolls which were “poignant and tragic at the same time.”
“One of these dolls in these photographs had this really peaceful, tranquil look to her so…and then I wasn’t seeing any of those in the factory so I took this photo and I said to the guy at the factory I said ‘This is the doll that I want.’ He said ‘This is an older model, she’s not really that popular anymore.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’” Apparently, the doll looked sleepy so they were getting “complaints.”
….hilarious!
Did this script change at all during production?
Craig Gillespie:
“No, it really didn’t. What was nice through the production was that it was truly a creative process, and for all the actors, you know, everybody came in so prepared...so…there’s a half a dozen scenes that we changed. We had that room to be able to do that on the set and if we were inspired in a different way we could actually shoot that and run with it. It was an incredible opportunity and honestly some of my most memorable moments…for Lars, are out of those moments from Ryan exploring his character.”
Question:
What kind of budget were you allocated?
Craig Gillespie:
“About $150 million”
*we both laugh*
He continues “A lot of that’s off-screen, you know!”
“No, it was around $12 million”
Question:
Your most memorable moment?
Craig Gillespie:
“It’s actually a scene when he goes to a party with the doll, which is the first time he really extends out into the community. Which is quite a nerve wrecking experience for the character and the audience in a way. It’s sort of walking through this mind field of different characters at the party and it’s a very delicate dance. And ultimately he ends up on the dance floor at the end of the party and it’s the scene…and he had a take on how to play that scene that it was quite spontaneous at the time and we ended up shooting it and it’s the turning point in the movie to me with the audience where they really get on board with him.”
Friday, October 5th, 2007 3:15 PM
