Article on Stephen Gyllenhaal
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la_samtyrArticle on Stephen Gyllenhaal, Jake & Maggie's dad
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/movies/hc-prodnotes1104.artnov04,0,3367977.story?page=1
Courant.com
PRODUCTION NOTES
Gyllenhaal Found Career At Hartford's Cinestudio
By SUSAN DUNNE
Courant Staff Writer
November 4, 2007
Click here to find out more!
When Stephen Gyllenhaal first stepped onto the campus of Trinity College as a freshman, he had seen a total of three films in his life: "Windjammer," "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The Great Escape."
"I grew up in a very religious town [Bryn Athyn, Pa.]," Gyllenhaal says in an interview from his Los Angeles home. "There were always all these church activities, and going to movies was frowned upon."
For his first three years at Trinity he graduated in 1972 movies didn't make a dent in Gyllenhaal's consciousness. But in his senior year, his girlfriend took him to a movie at the on-campus theater Cinestudio. The experience set the course for the rest of his life.
"I don't consider those other films my first movie experience. Really, my first movie experience was at Cinestudio," he says. "I saw [Federico Fellini's] 'La Strada' there. At the end, I wept and wept. I couldn't get out of my chair. ... I saw everything there."
For the rest of his senior year, he and Cinestudio were inseparable. He got jobs sweeping the floors and taking tickets so he could see movies for free.
"I saw everything by [François] Truffaut, Fellini, [Ingmar] Bergman," he says. "Those were the filmmakers who affected me the most."
Gyllenhaal, 58, went on to become a director and the patriarch of a film-industry family: His wife of 30 years, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter, and his children, Jake and Maggie, are actors.
Gyllenhaal will return to Cinestudio this week to show four films he directed.
"When I had films at festivals, people thought I was a foreign-film director," he says. "That's how influenced I was by Cinestudio. It formed my filmmaking."
James Hanley, manager of Cinestudio, remembers Gyllenhaal as being "part of a group of movie-obsessed students of the time, including me.
"We watched movies all the time, constantly discovering what we had never seen, classics and New Wave stuff," Hanley says. "For Stephen, it was even more intense, I'm sure, because he had not seen movies before. I had grown up sneaking out of my bedroom window every evening to see movies."
Gyllenhaal, an English major, took only one film class while at Trinity; it was the only one the college offered. It was taught by Lawrence Stires.
"He had his class in the basement. When I walked into the class, it was like I had been brought into the circus," he says. "He taught me about dolly shots, and I went crazy. He taught me about pans and camera angles. I couldn't believe it. I was learning to make movies! ... I adored him. He taught me a huge amount of stuff."
Stires, now 77, retired and living in Wethersfield, remembers those days, and Gyllenhaal. "Everybody in the course made a film. We used 8mm Brownies, wrote a script, filmed it, edited it, put it together, showed it at Cinestudio," Stires says. "The theater was only partly built at that time. It wasn't finished until the middle of '73.
"Steve was one of the most enthusiastic and participated greatly," Stires says. "It wasn't so much that I taught them but rather I was the catalyst, the rallying point for them, and I made sure they got credit from the college. My main goal was to encourage them to look at films."
Trinity's lack of a full film program, however, prompted Gyllenhaal to do some sneaky things to get filmmaking experience. He would hitchhike down to Middletown or New Haven, pretend to be a student at Wesleyan or Yale, and use their equipment.
"I'd show up at about 10 at night. They didn't ask questions. I got in and used the editing machines," he says.
He later moved to New York and broke into the business as a production assistant on "Broken Treaty at Battle Mountain," a 1975 documentary narrated by Robert Redford.
He met his wife while directing short films for "Sesame Street"; she was a producer on the show. They got married, had Maggie and then moved to California, where Jake was born.
They both began to work in the film industry.
In 1990, Gyllenhaal made a TV movie, "Killing in a Small Town," an ax-murderer story starring Barbara Hershey.
"When I finished it, the network executives wouldn't call me for three days," he says.
"Then one of them said to me 'this is the worst film I've ever seen in my life. I feel utterly betrayed. It's so bad I don't even know how to cut it.'"
That film went on to collect five Emmy nominations, including one for Gyllenhaal, and one win, for Hershey.
"Paris Trout" came in 1991. Based on the book by Pete Dexter, it told the story of a small-town Southern racist (Dennis Hopper). Paris Trout's racism is overt and loud, but he is surrounded by people who show their racism more covertly.
"Ultimately, it goes into the profound corrosive consequences of a much more subtle kind of racism," Gyllenhaal says. "We live in a time when racism and sexism are much more subtly applied. In a way, it's more poisonous."
The film was nominated for five Emmys and won Gyllenhaal a Directors' Guild Award. Just as satisfying, Gyllenhaal says, was when Hopper said a few years ago that "Paris Trout" was one of the two best films he had worked on.
"I was delighted to hear that," Gyllenhaal says. "I don't know what the other film was. I don't care."
"Waterland" came next, in 1992. It starred Jeremy Irons as a teacher who tells his students stories to connect with his past and make sense of the present. It also marks the film debut of Maggie Gyllenhaal. She was 15.
"I think 'Waterland' is the film I am most proud of," Gyllenhaal says. "Structurally, it sort of presages the deconstruction of film that was done in 'Pulp Fiction'. It has a Charlie Kaufman-like structure. The film is about memory and regret and consequence."
"Homegrown" was made in 1998. It starred Billy Bob Thornton, Hank Azaria and Ryan Phillippe as marijuana growers in over their heads. Both Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal appear in the film. "It was goofy. ... I made it for no money," Gyllenhaal says. "I was just sort of playing around."
Gyllenhaal is taking time out from his current film project for his visit. But he's happy to take the time, and is pleased his film series coincides with the Hartford International Film Festival.
"Cinestudio is a huge cultural jewel. It certainly is the crown jewel in my crown," Gyllenhaal says. "I want to help it blossom, to help film blossom, not just for Trinity, but also for the whole Hartford community."
STEPHEN GYLLENHAAL will present four of his films at Cinestudio this week. "A Killing in a Small Town" will be Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; "Paris Trout" will be Friday at 7:30 p.m.; "Homegrown" is Saturday at 2:30 p.m.; "Waterland" is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. "Small Town" is unrated. The rest are R. He will do Q&As after the screenings. Admission for each show is $8, $7 for students, faculty and senior citizens. Cinestudio is at 300 Summit St., Hartford. Gyllenhaal also will hold classes in narrative storytelling (9 a.m. Friday); art vs. commerce (10:30 a.m. Friday); hands-on directing and camerawork (2 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday); and also will do a poetry reading at 10 p.m. Friday. For details, call 860-297-2544.
Contact Susan Dunne at sdunne@courant.com
Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/movies/hc-prodnotes1104.artnov04,0,3367977.story?page=1
Courant.com
PRODUCTION NOTES
Gyllenhaal Found Career At Hartford's Cinestudio
By SUSAN DUNNE
Courant Staff Writer
November 4, 2007
Click here to find out more!
When Stephen Gyllenhaal first stepped onto the campus of Trinity College as a freshman, he had seen a total of three films in his life: "Windjammer," "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The Great Escape."
"I grew up in a very religious town [Bryn Athyn, Pa.]," Gyllenhaal says in an interview from his Los Angeles home. "There were always all these church activities, and going to movies was frowned upon."
For his first three years at Trinity he graduated in 1972 movies didn't make a dent in Gyllenhaal's consciousness. But in his senior year, his girlfriend took him to a movie at the on-campus theater Cinestudio. The experience set the course for the rest of his life.
"I don't consider those other films my first movie experience. Really, my first movie experience was at Cinestudio," he says. "I saw [Federico Fellini's] 'La Strada' there. At the end, I wept and wept. I couldn't get out of my chair. ... I saw everything there."
For the rest of his senior year, he and Cinestudio were inseparable. He got jobs sweeping the floors and taking tickets so he could see movies for free.
"I saw everything by [François] Truffaut, Fellini, [Ingmar] Bergman," he says. "Those were the filmmakers who affected me the most."
Gyllenhaal, 58, went on to become a director and the patriarch of a film-industry family: His wife of 30 years, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter, and his children, Jake and Maggie, are actors.
Gyllenhaal will return to Cinestudio this week to show four films he directed.
"When I had films at festivals, people thought I was a foreign-film director," he says. "That's how influenced I was by Cinestudio. It formed my filmmaking."
James Hanley, manager of Cinestudio, remembers Gyllenhaal as being "part of a group of movie-obsessed students of the time, including me.
"We watched movies all the time, constantly discovering what we had never seen, classics and New Wave stuff," Hanley says. "For Stephen, it was even more intense, I'm sure, because he had not seen movies before. I had grown up sneaking out of my bedroom window every evening to see movies."
Gyllenhaal, an English major, took only one film class while at Trinity; it was the only one the college offered. It was taught by Lawrence Stires.
"He had his class in the basement. When I walked into the class, it was like I had been brought into the circus," he says. "He taught me about dolly shots, and I went crazy. He taught me about pans and camera angles. I couldn't believe it. I was learning to make movies! ... I adored him. He taught me a huge amount of stuff."
Stires, now 77, retired and living in Wethersfield, remembers those days, and Gyllenhaal. "Everybody in the course made a film. We used 8mm Brownies, wrote a script, filmed it, edited it, put it together, showed it at Cinestudio," Stires says. "The theater was only partly built at that time. It wasn't finished until the middle of '73.
"Steve was one of the most enthusiastic and participated greatly," Stires says. "It wasn't so much that I taught them but rather I was the catalyst, the rallying point for them, and I made sure they got credit from the college. My main goal was to encourage them to look at films."
Trinity's lack of a full film program, however, prompted Gyllenhaal to do some sneaky things to get filmmaking experience. He would hitchhike down to Middletown or New Haven, pretend to be a student at Wesleyan or Yale, and use their equipment.
"I'd show up at about 10 at night. They didn't ask questions. I got in and used the editing machines," he says.
He later moved to New York and broke into the business as a production assistant on "Broken Treaty at Battle Mountain," a 1975 documentary narrated by Robert Redford.
He met his wife while directing short films for "Sesame Street"; she was a producer on the show. They got married, had Maggie and then moved to California, where Jake was born.
They both began to work in the film industry.
In 1990, Gyllenhaal made a TV movie, "Killing in a Small Town," an ax-murderer story starring Barbara Hershey.
"When I finished it, the network executives wouldn't call me for three days," he says.
"Then one of them said to me 'this is the worst film I've ever seen in my life. I feel utterly betrayed. It's so bad I don't even know how to cut it.'"
That film went on to collect five Emmy nominations, including one for Gyllenhaal, and one win, for Hershey.
"Paris Trout" came in 1991. Based on the book by Pete Dexter, it told the story of a small-town Southern racist (Dennis Hopper). Paris Trout's racism is overt and loud, but he is surrounded by people who show their racism more covertly.
"Ultimately, it goes into the profound corrosive consequences of a much more subtle kind of racism," Gyllenhaal says. "We live in a time when racism and sexism are much more subtly applied. In a way, it's more poisonous."
The film was nominated for five Emmys and won Gyllenhaal a Directors' Guild Award. Just as satisfying, Gyllenhaal says, was when Hopper said a few years ago that "Paris Trout" was one of the two best films he had worked on.
"I was delighted to hear that," Gyllenhaal says. "I don't know what the other film was. I don't care."
"Waterland" came next, in 1992. It starred Jeremy Irons as a teacher who tells his students stories to connect with his past and make sense of the present. It also marks the film debut of Maggie Gyllenhaal. She was 15.
"I think 'Waterland' is the film I am most proud of," Gyllenhaal says. "Structurally, it sort of presages the deconstruction of film that was done in 'Pulp Fiction'. It has a Charlie Kaufman-like structure. The film is about memory and regret and consequence."
"Homegrown" was made in 1998. It starred Billy Bob Thornton, Hank Azaria and Ryan Phillippe as marijuana growers in over their heads. Both Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal appear in the film. "It was goofy. ... I made it for no money," Gyllenhaal says. "I was just sort of playing around."
Gyllenhaal is taking time out from his current film project for his visit. But he's happy to take the time, and is pleased his film series coincides with the Hartford International Film Festival.
"Cinestudio is a huge cultural jewel. It certainly is the crown jewel in my crown," Gyllenhaal says. "I want to help it blossom, to help film blossom, not just for Trinity, but also for the whole Hartford community."
STEPHEN GYLLENHAAL will present four of his films at Cinestudio this week. "A Killing in a Small Town" will be Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; "Paris Trout" will be Friday at 7:30 p.m.; "Homegrown" is Saturday at 2:30 p.m.; "Waterland" is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. "Small Town" is unrated. The rest are R. He will do Q&As after the screenings. Admission for each show is $8, $7 for students, faculty and senior citizens. Cinestudio is at 300 Summit St., Hartford. Gyllenhaal also will hold classes in narrative storytelling (9 a.m. Friday); art vs. commerce (10:30 a.m. Friday); hands-on directing and camerawork (2 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday); and also will do a poetry reading at 10 p.m. Friday. For details, call 860-297-2544.
Contact Susan Dunne at sdunne@courant.com
Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant
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