You sang nicely in this film. Have you thought about taking up music again?
Well, let’s see. I’m always willing to take up music again. However, it’s hard to juggle two careers like that so what I’ve decided is it’s best to sing when a character needs to sing, as opposed to on my own. That’s not to say that in my older years I wouldn’t be interested in that, because maybe there’d be less to do and it would be fun to sing as a separate idea. But for the time being, it’s hard enough to try and get the parts you want to do. So singing is kind of on the side burner.
What do you think about working with this first-time director? Is that easy for you?
Well, okay. Is it easy? It’s varied. I’ve worked about five times with first-time directors. Twice it was awful and once it was okay. And twice it was great. So this was one of the great ones. Shainee [Gabel] rivals all other [directors]. When people have greatness in their abilities, you’ll find it in other people too, there’s a commonality, there’s a throughline. And she definitely has certain qualities of greatness that was a relief to me because she [created] a great scenario. You don’t know really if it’s going to move on to a great experience, and it did.
Scarlett Johansson said you were more confident about her getting a Golden Globe nomination than she was. Now that it’s happened, what can you say about her getting nominated and what it means to the film?
Well, I’m thrilled that she got it because without that, we don’t live very long. And I mean that. We have a dollar to make it and a dollar to release it. And without the support of [the media] and critics and nominations or awards of some sort, these little independent films tend to move off quickly. That doesn’t mean that they’re not worth making. It just means that they don’t have any kind of life to them. So it was a great relief to be nominated. It could have been any one of us. I was, you know, kind of lead to believe that it might happen. And the first piece of news is that it didn’t, and I was disappointed. Then the second piece of news is [that] Scarlett did. I was thrilled for her and relieved at once because the film had a shot now of getting some specific attention. And I’m sure you guys [meaning the media] have been on the other end of many small movies. Imagine “Monster” or “Monster’s Ball” if it didn’t have what it had behind it. They’re, by nature, not supported. That’s why they’re independent. That’s why they need [the press].
You said there’s a throughline in the greatness of directors. Can you elaborate on the throughline you’ve seen from your point of view?
The throughline I’ve seen is trust in the actors, vision, and an innate know-how, a knowledge of how a film should be put together, and sense of value. Knowing what they want out of each scene and knowing if they’ve gotten it. Not arbitrarily, but very specifically. Like, “I got what I wanted. Now what would you like to do? I have what I need to make the movie in my mind, but now if you have something else to offer, I’d love to see that too.” Those are some of the things. There’s many, many things. A confidence in your choices is a very big one. I often like writers that direct too because they have a throughline to their material that I like. They are the source so you don’t necessarily have to improvise or rewrite when they’re right there to help you do it.
Page 3: John Travolta on "Be Cool" and "Lonely Hearts Club"
