Competition Section “Yellow” Press Conference: Notes & Quotes
Date & Time：
October 21st (Sunday), from 16:30 @movie café
Appearance：
Nick Cassavetes (Director/Screenplay), Heather Wahlquist (Screenplay/Actress)
Here are some notes and quotes:
Q:How did you come up with the title, “Yellow”?
Heather Wahlquist (HW)： Honestly, I think movie titles really don’t mean anything. The movie is what it is and the title is irrelevant and will not tell you what the movie is about. That’s my interpretation. Nick says the title comes from the color of the pills that come out but I don’t think so (laugh)!
Q:You wrote the screenplay together for three years. What was it like writing it together?
Nick Cassavetes (NC): Very simple. As in any household, the woman is in charge—she told me what to write and I would type it! Heather has a very brilliant mind for character and she had various ideas on how her characters and the story should take place. We talked incessantly about how to write it to only have her tell me how I typed it wrong!
HW:From the moment we started writing the script, it was in bits and pieces. We worked on the script bit by bit but when we finally started filming, we got shut down because we didn’t have any money. A year later the movie got funded again so it turned out that a lot of time was spent just trying to find the money for it. A lot of producers are on this film and thanks to them we have this movie.
NC:A film like this is different. It’s almost a miracle that it ever gets made. People want to make movies where boys fall in love with girls but with a movie like this, nobody wants to give us money to make the film. We started filming but we had to shut down and that was embarrassing. Then I met this lady who told me to go to Oklahoma and after a while, people started coming…then more…it was a miracle. It’s distasteful talking about the trouble we went through but the truth is that Heather and I were lucky. I want to say to the young people out there who want to make a movie, just be stubborn!
Q:What is rewarding about making a film from an independent production?
NC:I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I’m ill-equipped to do any other thing in life but I get to write down words, dream dreams, film them, and show them to people. Making any kind of movie is a joy. The highest form for me of making a movie is taking an idea that is out of thin air. I mean doing studio work is fantastic as well but making an independent film with all of its warts and blemishes is the most fun for the filmmaker. Also, seeing a young actress do such a great job acting in a movie that she wrote herself is something you don’t see so often. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Q:Does your relationship change from when writing the script together and becoming director and actress?
HW:It was different this time because it was the first time to write a script together. But everyone has their job on the set so once I am finished with the script, I am aware that I am now hired as the actress—I am no longer the creator or the writer but the actress… and Nick is the director.
Q:What would be your direction as a filmmaker, now that you have made an independent production movie?
NC:Frankly, there is one common denominator for how I choose what film I’m going to make which is always my level of interest in the subject matter. But I never know what I’m going to be interested in! I love the process of independent cinema as well as going work at a studio. When I first read the script for “The Notebook” I laughed and thought what a dumb story it was, but there was something in it. It was about true love, and no matter how corny or dorky it was, I believed in true love. I felt that way towards this story. I hope in the future I will be spending my time making something I hope will be beautiful.
Competition
Yellow
Director:
Nick Cassavetes
Cast:
Heather Wahlquist
Sienna Miller
Melanie Griffith
Gena Rowlands
Lucy Punch
Ray Liotta
