Fans were blown away when respected Director - John Sayles - strode up impromptu at Mann's Chinese Theatre last night to launch his latest piece (Amigo) and stayed on later to respond to queries from the audience in an informative Q & A session.
Mr. Sayles is a tall imposing man - who exudes a boyish quality - that defies the classic image of directors that filmgoers tend to conjure up.
With his new release, Sayles stressed to filmgoers that he hopes to "reclaim history" by virtue of a little-known skirmish around the turn-of-the-century known to a handful of historians as the Philippine-American War.
"Filipino's are under the false impression that their country was under Spanish rule for approximately 300 years before the country was sold lock-stock-and-barrel to the U.S. for $20 million," asserted the director to a rapt audience who descended on the Hollywood Movie Theatre to catch his latest flick (which he shot and got in the can for a mere one-million five-hundred-thousand Philippine pesos).
The feat triggered a roar of applause from the guests in attendance, so I expect a larger percentage of the film enthusiasts were either filmmakers themselves or creative individuals involved in some aspect of the industry.
Sayles was pretty open (and informative) when it came to describing his approach to the process of filmmaking.
The "Amigo" script was written about fifteen years ago, but later shelved, when it dawned on the visionary auteur that funding might be difficult to rustle up for the project.
However, he recognized that if he took one-third of the story - and developed that into a tighter script - that he could produce a decent film for less money in the alternative.
Amigo - like other productions - started off with the specifics in respect to the finer points of script-writing.
"Was the action taking place before Freud, or after? Before the powerful woman's movement, or later?"
Once those questions were answered, Sayles asserted he was better equipped to develop and flesh out the characters, storyline, etc.
When I queried Mr. Sayles about the necessity of using the "n" word in a couple of scenes, his response was pretty honest and straightforward.
"The word nigger was descriptive here and not pejorative. That was part of the character's background. He was raised in South Carolina and that was part of who he was."
Sayles went on to note that it wasn't considered racist in that period around the early 1900's to refer to blacks as niggers.
"Even blacks wrote 'coon songs' because they were popular. In fact, they were the rage of the day," he argued.
"Sailors and soldiers also used salty language routinely in their conversations. Words such as fu** and sh** were commonplace and indicative of their class," he explained in so many words.
At this juncture, the talented director noted that during the Philippine-American War - subject matter of this film - commentators of the day took a view that would obviously spark controversy and outrage today.
"One well-known writer insisted in one article that there was a need to civilize the bastards," Sayles noted matter-of-fact, with no bones about it.
Chris Cooper's character was actually based on a notorious character - a Military man - by the name of "Hell Roaring Jake Smith"
"Smith actually recommended that a percentage of the male population be decimated."
To prepare for the shoot, Sayles drafted thumb-nail sketches of each character.
"I put out a call for three actors to audition for each Filipino role."
The task-master strove for authenticity as much as possible.
Although he speaks and writes Spanish fluently, Sayles was not familiar with dialects prevalent in those regions of the Philippines at the turn-of-the-century.
So, Sayles relied on Cantonese interpreters, to help in that selection process.
When it came to the actual acting, he relied on body rhythm, to assess the performance.
"Even though I did not understand the dialogue - or was aware if there had been any flubs in the acting out of the written word from the scripted material - I could tell from the emotions flowing through in the body language if I had what I needed to convey their feelings."
On set, Sayles made a deliberate effort not to discuss character development, or specifics in that regard.
"I basically gave direction to move right or left. Or, turn up the energy, perhaps."
Early on, Sayles felt that the location - in-of-itself - was a character in some respects.
For this reason, and to capture an ensemble feel to the project, he elected to shoot with wide lenses.
By using a Frameworks 3D software program during pre-production, he was able to fathom how to shoot without crew, lighting, and equipment getting in the way.
Two hand-held cameras were used at one point - and as a result - Sayles was able to boast one shot that caught a 360 degree panoramic view that is a stunning achievement.
The crew was mostly Filipino which worked to his advantage in a couple of ways.
For starters, the film was less expensive to shoot, since the actors and crews were non-union.
Also, he found out by accident on the set, that the crews there tended to work together and overlap into other areas of production with griping.
Unlike an American production - where there were small teams of lighting folks, grips, and sound people in individual creative pockets on the set - here there was one large production family working together for the better good of the entire project collectively.
Surprisingly, Sayles does not have distribution deal just yet for "Amigo" Internationally.
"Distributors are being tight now with their money. In the 70's and 80's they could make money on video rentals and sales. Today, with free downloads on the Internet - and an industry undergoing major transformations - it is tougher to land a deal. A lot of films will be made, but fewer will be shown".
In one sense, he lamented the turn-of-events.
"Today, the business is geared towards an opening weekend where the cash is raked in quickly through wide release over a three-day period."
However, Mr. Sayles lucked out with the Board of Education in the Philippines.
The Secretary of State screened Amigo in recent months - and was so thrilled with the historical reference - that they elected to make Sayles' film mandatory viewing in middle schools and high schools in the Philippines.
Also, a Philippine Distributor will start screenings sometime after July of this year.
Bottom line?
John Sayles is sitting pretty, and has righted History, in the process.
Kudos!
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