I guess what I was really doing was searching, and
trying to figure out who the hell I was. And being
rather clumsy.
November of 1994 was particularly rough. Newt
Gingrich was in control. New York City was as loud and
ruthless as ever. I was going through the painful ending
of an awful relationship. And as I walked home from my
evening meal at a local diner, I saw a man exit a
restaurant carrying a gun, quite plainly, in his hand.
He
hailed a cab, got in, and drove off- armed. I felt
certain
that the world was crazy, and I wondered if I had any
kind of future I could look forward to. I decided to
create
one.
I went home and started writing. I wrote the first half
of
the treatment for "Sudden Manhattan," that night- the
story of a young woman wandering through New York
City in her mid twenties, trying to make sense of a
senseless world and all the while doubting her own
sanity. It came out like water from a cloud- and a day
later, I was writing the screenplay.
Humor has been an important asset for me. It was an
important part of my childhood. I never wanted to be a
great actress- I admired Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett
long before I knew who Marlon Brando was. Mel
Brooks and Woody Allen were my heroes. And when
bad (and rather strange) things happened during my
childhood, like the sudden death of my father when I was
12, or the sudden paralysis of the left side of my face
from Bell's Palsy when I was 15, (not a good age, by the
way, for either of those things to happen) it was a
saving
grace that I could find the funny within the painful and
the unheard of.
"Sudden Manhattan," which could seem, I guess, like a
fuzzy little romp through the Urban Jungle, was actually
an attempt to find the funny within the painful and the
unheard of. To show the world, outright, my confusion
and helplessness, thus lessening my confusion and
empowering me.
It was empowering to chronicle and parody the stalkers
and obsessers I've encountered. It was empowering to
chronicle and parody my own personality, and those of
some of my friends. It was empowering to place it all in
New York City, a place I have learned to love despite my
fear of it. New York takes every step along with you. It
mirrors what you are feeling. If you are depressed, you
walk outside, and everyone is depressed, and the streets
are gray. If you are on top of the world, the streets
seem
to burst with triumphant energy. New York helped
provide me with the gumption I would need to write,
direct, and star in my own movie. A New Yorker knows
how to persevere despite fear.
Most empowering was directing it all- bringing the
characters to life, working with a legion of talented
and
dedicated people- and finding the capacity to trust my
own voice as a storyteller. There was no room, on our 21
day shoot, for self doubt. Of course, there had been
plenty of time for it beforehand, but not now. It was a
tremendous opportunity for me, and I knew it. Not just
because I was being allowed to direct and star in a
movie
I had written, but because I was unapologetically doing
so.
"Sudden Manhattan" the film is remarkably close to
"Sudden Manhattan" the screenplay. There was no
improvisation. I frowned upon actors changing the
words. I took the rhythms of the film quite seriously-
inspired by those of Preston Sturges films and the
writings of Samuel Beckett. My biggest influence in
terms of comedy has been Woody Allen, and I saw every
Hal Ashby film about twenty times. I was also influenced
by Patricia Rozema's "I've Heard the Mermaids
Singing," for the way it chronicles the fantasy life of
a
woman. "Sudden Manhattan" also nods to the writings of
Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his fascination with wonder
and magic. Wim Wenders "Wings of Desire," inspired
me similarly. My favorite stories have always been
fantastical- where worlds are often quite foreign, and
yet
the true nature of man and what really matters in life
are
the strongest elements. I read fairy tales, mythology,
French folk tales, was obsessed with Alice in
Wonderland as a child, and then graduated on to Camus,
Dostoyevsky, and Kafka when I was in college. It is a
strange morphing, I suppose, the surreal and the silly.
I am often asked the Hal Hartley question: how much of
an influence has Hal been on my work? He has been a
tremendous influence on the WAY I work. I think that
together we created a style that people responded to.
And
when I worked with him, I regarded him with fascination
and downright awe. There is no doubt that he was a
mentor to me, and someone who taught me to stand
behind my instincts because he always did. (And does.)
In "Sudden Manhattan" there is a tribute to him- in the
first (and only) kitchen scene between Donna and Adam.
The blue palette reminds me of "Trust." The dialogue is
choppy and no nonsense. ("My name is Adam." "I'm
Donna." "Donna." "Adam...Good coffee." "It's
Brazilian.")
There are tributes throughout the film- some more
recognizable, like the outright reading of Dostoevsky-
to
the Luau birthday party scene which is a sort of parody
to
a similar setting in "A Place in the Sun." And there are
nods to all sorts of people I've known and loved- and
sometimes, struggled to understand- within the film.
I cast several friends in important roles (John Sklaroff
as
Alex, Chuck Montgomery as the Bearded Man, Tim
Guinee as Adam) because they are comically gifted, and
they understood me, and thus the material,
automatically.
I was never pressured to hire big movie stars. So I
didn't. The work we did in preparation- the rehearsals
and the solid planning of the shoot- made it possible to
shoot the film as cheaply and quickly as we did. I had
to
be quite thorough in rehearsal. For example, the Alex
and
Ian scenes, which many people have asked me whether
or not were improvised because they seem quite natural-
were actually quite carefully designed in terms of
pacing,
dialogue, and movement.
The cinematographer I hired to shoot the film quit three
and a half weeks before our start date to take a higher
paying job. So I had to find someone else quickly- and
Jim Denault, who is acclaimed for his work on films like
"Nadja" and "Illtown," was one of the luckiest things to
happen to me on "Sudden." A brilliant lighting designer
who was allowed to experiment boldly on other films in
terms of technique, Jim is also someone with a deep
appreciation for story, and the individual needs of each
film. Jim said to me when we were storyboarding that
what we had to do was figure out how to simply "film
the jokes." We watched urban comedies together-
including "The King of Comedy," "Annie Hall,"
"Manhattan," and the comedies of Jonathan Demme, and
we sat down and rather quickly (because we had to)
made the blueprint for the film.
Which had been the method for every step of the process.
"Sudden Manhattan" was nothing if not sudden. It was
written -first to final draft- in a month. I had a reading
of the script a couple of months later at the Nuyorican
Cafe, and suddenly had a marvelous, dedicated and
talented producer (Marcia Kirkley), who rather suddenly
(considering how long most financing takes) found the
money. A few months later we were casting, hiring crew
members, then filming. The shoot, as I wrote, was 21
days long- and less than a year after I had written it,
"Sudden Manhattan" was in the can. This series of quick,
get-up-and-do-it events provided the film with it's
pace,
and much of it's flavor. Perhaps I will next write a
film
entitled "Languid Riches in Abundance on a Tropical
Island" and see what happens.
The working title of the film was "Random Events,
Accidents and Delusions." (Nice ring to it, huh?) And
then, a few weeks after the script was completed, I
found
myself in bed reading Allen Ginsburg's HOWL: "Who
faded out in vast, sordid movies, were shifted in
dreams,
woke on a sudden Manhattan..."
I find myself, by the way, at the other end of this
experience and the other end of a decade in a much better
place. Turning thirty lifted a great deal of vague
weight and pressure from my shoulders. I am sure that "Sudden
Manhattan" was somewhat responsible for my newfound
comfort, trust in myself, and hopefulness.
Making the film was, certainly, a lot more productive
than taking Prozac would have been. Or at least, I would
have made a very different first feature...
Maybe "A-o.k. Mild Manhattan."
or "La Dee Da From No Place Special."
-Adrienne Shelly, November 6th, 1996, NYC.