[on working with director
Brian De Palma on
Home Movies (1979)]
I was very impressed that Brian took the time to rehearse before
shooting started. Especially on low budget film, like Home Movies, this
was critical. It's much cheaper to resolve the 'What the hell is this
scene really about?' questions when there isn't a crew of 30 or more
people standing around waiting, with all the expenses of filmmaking on
the clock. It also made the cast much more confident in ourselves, each
other and Brian. At the same time, he was always encouraging
experimentation and improvisation-- which wasn't what would have
expected from someone known as a visual Hitchcockian filmmaker. But
this was an antic comedy, that was going to rely more on performances
than shots, and he was wise enough to know that and alter his style to
fit the material. We did a surprising number of takes, given the
limited budget, but this was my first exposure to the truism, 'film is
the cheapest thing.' What's expensive is all the time getting ready to
shoot; once it's set, make sure you get what you need. Brian would have
us try the scene multiple ways, saying (for example), 'Good, we've got
an angry version, we're printing that, now try one that's softer.' It
gave us tremendous confidence to try things, knowing that there would
be numerous takes, and he'd always print two or three. As an actor,
you're terribly afraid of looking like an idiot, and this safety zone
made a huge difference. It also gave Brian lots of choices in the
editing room, when sometimes the thing that seemed best on the set
didn't play as well when the whole film was put together.
