Way back when Half Nelson was first hitting theaters in limited release, I spoke with writer/director Ryan Fleck about his first feature film. Fleck was extremely enthusiastic about his movie, but at that time had no idea how it was going to be received by audiences and critics.
Catching up with Fleck and his co-writer Anna Boden on the blue carpet at the 2007 Film Independent's Spirit Awards, Fleck and Boden were still a bit overwhelmed by how much attention their film and its stars - Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps - were attracting. Gosling earned Academy Award and Spirit Award* nominations for his role as a drug-addicted teacher and Epps is considered one of the breakout stars of 2006 as well as being a Spirit Award nominee for Best Female Lead.
Did you ever expect this sort of reaction to your movie?
Ryan Fleck: “No, we didn’t. We thought that some people would like it and some people wouldn’t, and we just hoped to get to make another one. It’s pretty fantastic that we’re here, and we’re having a good time.”
How important is the Spirit Awards and other awards in getting the word out to the public who might not otherwise have heard of Half Nelson?
Ryan Fleck: “It’s great I hope. Any kind of exposure you get to help people see the movie is important.”
What’s your co-writing style? How do you work?
Anna Boden: “We argue a lot and throw things at each other. No, I’m just kidding. We basically outline together and then pass the script back and forth. We rewrite each other’s stuff.”
Rewriting each other’s lines could be tricky because you could be rewriting something your partner’s passionate about. How do you decide what can stay and what can go?
Anna Boden: “It’s fairly easy because we really talk about it.”
Who has the power to veto changes?
Ryan Fleck: “Whoever has the better idea ultimately wins out.”
What do you think about Ryan Gosling’s Oscar nomination for this movie?
Ryan Fleck: “It’s great. It’s great. A lot of people who would never have heard about the film without it are now hearing about it and hopefully seeing it.”
How did you get that performance out of him?
Ryan Fleck: “It was a lot of whips, chains, shouting… No, it was great. He’s just a great actor and I had to very little traditional directing with him.”
What are you two working on next?
Ryan Fleck: “We’re hoping to shoot a movie partially in the Dominican Republic this summer. We’ll see.”
Are you still going to stay in the independent film world?
Ryan Fleck: “Yeah.”
No big studio projects?
Ryan Fleck: “We’ve been writing a studio project.”
Anna Boden: “A small studio project.”
Ryan Fleck: “It’s an independent…it has an independent spirit, I suppose.”
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* - Epps won the Best Female Lead award and Gosling won the Best Male Lead awards shortly after this interview.
