David Gordon Green
The director talks athletes and relationships at Shay's Pub in Harvard Square
"I'm on the hustle and bustle," says David Gordon Green, sitting at a corner table at Shay's Pub in Cambridge. The 32-year-old film director had been writing for most of the day in his hotel room, working on an adaptation of the nonfiction John Grisham book "The Innocent Man." Another potential future project: adapting Dario Argento's horror classic "Suspiria."
Green could be sitting pretty right now, with his new film, the moody and elegiac relationship drama "Snow Angels," in theaters and his fifth film, the sure-to-be-a-hit Seth Rogen stoner comedy "Pineapple Express," in the can and due for an August release. But he's not one to sit around.
Green has also been producing films by fellow North Carolina School of the Arts graduates, and he recently wrote the introduction to the book "Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal," by Ain't It Cool News writer Vern. And on a recent Sunday night, Green was in Harvard Square for a two-day retrospective of his work at the Harvard Film Archive.
The program included "All the Real Girls," the 2003 romance starring Zooey Deschanel; a sneak preview of "Angels," which is his first work based on another source, the novel of the same name by BU grad and famed Red Sox fan Stewart O'Nan; and his debut, 2000's "George Washington," a meditative Southern yarn about a group of working-class kids in North Carolina.
During a post-"Washington" Q&A session, Green told a large crowd of students and film nerds that the rough cut of the film (which is available on a Criterion DVD, a favorite label of film connoisseurs), was made for about $42,000, with most of the money going toward shooting on 35mm film. Green raised some of the money by writing letters that read, "If you donate money to NPR, why don't you donate some money to this young artist." Making the movie was, he recalled, a "wonderfully, perfectly naive process."
According to Green, who was wearing a cranberry-colored Ola Podrida T-shirt (the excellent folk-rock band fronted by his longtime musical collaborator David Wingo), traveling around the country and getting "to go somewhere weird" is one of a director's greatest perks. He had just returned from a jaunt in Argentina, and he eagerly talked about climbing mountains (he's climbed hundreds) and camping in Colorado. "I'm excited about going to Eugene, Oregon, in April and hanging out at the Olympic pre-trials," he says. "I like to watch the shot put and all the guys training for the Olympics. Olympics are amazing. Athletes are amazing. I have a lot of respect for them and I like to watch them train."
Guided By Voices was blasting on Shay's speakers, nearly drowning out Green's melodic drawl. A burger was waiting for him while the photographer snapped pictures, but he waited to dig in to avoid a photo with food stuck in his brand-new braces. Be tween the orthodontics and his floppy hair, he has a distinctly teenage vibe, not surprising seeing as one of the strengths of his work is its sensitivity and realism about young people.
"Angels" is seen through the eyes of Michael Angarano's character, Arthur, who plays in his high school marching band, is edging toward first love, and watching his parents and neighbors deal with divorce and the end of love. Green raved about Kate Beckinsale's authority and authenticity as the blue-collar Annie, Arthur's former baby sitter, and Amy Sedaris as Annie's friend Barb. The multitalented Sedaris, who came to their initial meeting with a batch of homemade cupcakes, "comes from a very soulful place," he says. "Kind of a genius."
The director hopes the film can drive audiences to "some sense of reflection on relationships. The extremes, the love, hate, the meditative, frustrated."
As he talked about people trying to connect, he launched into a story about drinking at a bar in Germany. His friend saw a girl across the bar, looked at her intently, and asked her to come over, which she did. Then, gazing into her eyes, Green's friend told her, "I love you."
"That was it, he just loved her," Green says. And with that auspicious pick-up line, a relationship was born.
It was a story about a yearning for connection, an awkward, risky, and true moment - just the type of human moment the director could easily capture on film.
