February 18, 2008

Tamara Jenkins, writer/ director of The Savages

It's Oscar week and I'm going to try and highlight the women nominees as much as possible on the road to Sunday's telecast. Here is an interview from Filmmaker Magazine with writer/director Tamara Jenkins. It's a very interesting pieces about the writing (Jenkins was nominated for best screenplay)

Quotes of note:

Filmmaker: Why did it take so long to make The Savages?

Jenkins: I feel like I know so many people who have made movies and then struggle so hard to get their next movie happening. This almost didn’t happen like 100 times. Just getting the financing…. [First] it was at Focus Features, and they really liked it, they financed the writing of the script, but then they were dissatisfied with the casting, which was crazy. And then we were out. They gave it [back] to us so we could shop it around, which took forever. We couldn’t get anyone to finance it, even with Laura and Phil.
I am floored that with Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman committed that this film almost didn't get made.

A great quote on writing
Writing is weird and lonely and makes you grumpy and strange, and it’s nice when somebody understands that. I also have a dog. That helps. Makes you go out into the world. Then your dog’s like, “Okay, I have to walk you.” There’s something about moving and thinking. A treadmill, working out, and your brain just kind of makes connections. Moving — being in cars, trains, being on treadmills, they’re all really good for the writing brain. But I haven’t written in a long time; I have to start writing. To write you really should be writing every single day to keep the muscle going. But then if you write and make a movie, the year of working on the movie goes by and then you’re supposed to start writing again and you have kind of forgotten how. So I have to start writing. I have to buy a new journal; I have to get some nice pens.
Read full story: Senior Moments