THENEWCINEMA

Actress Mariel Hemingway talks about ‘‘Manhattan’’ and her work with director Woody Allen.

Los Angeles, 2010

TheNewCinema: “Manhattan”, when was the last time you saw it and what did you think?

Mariel Hemingway: I think I saw “Manhattan” maybe three years ago and to this day I think it is one of the greatest films ever made, having nothing to do with the fact that I am in it. I just think its one of the most extraordinary films ever made. The black and white… Gershwin, the view of Manhattan… that was my introduction to the city. It was incredible and maybe that is why I like the film so much… it’s what made me want to act. Also Woody Allen… to learn from somebody that is that extraordinary a director, was an incredible experience. A lot of films, and I have made some of them, are out there only to make money… they are not inspired by someone seeking to do something right… I think “Manhattan” was just that kind of film… someone trying to make something inspired. To me it really is an incredible film.

TNC: So “Manhattan” was really your introduction to cinema, your first major role?

MH: It wasn’t my first film really… I did “Lipstick” when I was thirteen… After that I made a television movie and then “Manhattan”. Woody wrote the part for me after seeing “Lipstick”, so yes I guess, in a way it was like the first real film experience for me. Working with Diane Keaton and watching them together, it was an amazing introduction to this world…

TNC: Tell me about the first time you met Woody Allen?

MH: Well… I literally did grow up in Idaho and back then it was a very small town. We used to go to the movies only on weekends because I was young and it was like 50 cents. Two weeks prior I had seen this movie called “Sleeper” … and I didn’t understand it. It was very sexually orientated and I had no idea, I had never had a boyfriend.  Then two weeks later my mother screams to me to come inside, that I have a phone call from Woody Allen. I have no idea who Woody Allen is… and they are all ‘‘that movie you saw a couple weeks ago, Sleeper” and I was like ‘‘he’s weird’’… Woody said, ‘‘I want you to come out here and read for me, it’s this movie I am making and you don’t get a script’’. I did get a script, but it was all very hush-hush and secretive. But shortly after I went to New York.  I remember that I was very nervous, because I had now discovered who he was and that he was important and all. Everyone was like… ‘‘oh my God’’… ‘‘this is incredible’’… and of course this made me even more nervous. So when finally I read for him, I kept the script in front of my face the whole time, so he absolutely couldn’t see me. To this day I have absolutely no idea how I even got the part… but soon after we made this movie and making it changed my life! I moved to New York… I was sixteen… before that I was getting offers to do stuff but it wasn’t… I was a ski racer, a kid, I didn’t really think about it much.  So making this film changed all that.

TNC: Is Woody Allen… you know the man. Is he like that in real life?

MH: Neurotic?

TNC: Yeah… you know, like in his films.

MH: He is and he isn’t. That sort of neurotic Jew worrying about everything, is only a heightened version of someone who he is.  He was very mindful, very creative, very calm. He is not nearly that neurotic at all. He is very disciplined, is what I found. He gets up at a certain hour everyday… I mean I don’t know if this is the case now, but he got up at a certain hour and played the saxophone. He is very regimented about his life. He exercises at a certain time, he eats a certain food, he is very interesting… but he is an eccentric artist no question.

TNC: What’s your favorite scene in the film?

MH: I think probably my favorite scene is the soda fountain scene where he breaks up with me and I ask him if he  does not love me anymore. It was hard for me to believe it was ‘me’ asking him. (Laughs)  But somehow it works.

TNC: Yes that is a great scene.

MH: Yes… I think that is my favorite. Also it was fun to do because it took me by surprise that I would be so affected. It’s like when the temperature is right and there are certain times when you do scenes and you make movies where everything is just right.  It all happens easily and smooth… there are no bumps in the road and you don’t have to do it eight thousand times. That’s how it sort of happened on this film.

TNC: Actually that’s a good point. Was it easy for you?

MH: Well it was easy because… it was natural for me. I didn’t always understand what I was talking about… I literally was a really naive girl, so I didn’t have much life experience.  I never had a boyfriend so Woody being my older boyfriend in this movie and talking about sexual things that I had no clue about, was challenging for me. I was trying to pretend that I knew everything, when in fact I knew nothing…

TNC: When you were making the film did you realize that you were working on something that special?

MH: I think you never really know that you are…  although I admit it was special in a way…  Things are not made this way, the black and white… they spent a lot of hours on lighting. What was special to me was being in New York.  When you make a movie in a city like that, it doesn’t feel like work. Often when you make films… you spend a lot of hours at some random location… a mall or some place like that… but we were in this city. It was fucking gorgeous… it was fall, the best time of year. So everything he was talking about in the film, we were experiencing in life… that made it pretty incredible and that part of it was special. Then right after it came out they sent me to the Cannes Film Festival, like a lamb to the wolves. I had no idea where I was going… I was the only one because he was not going… he didn’t want to go.  So my Dad took me and I was literally terrified. You know, it was pretty intense, the whole experience, photographers, interviews, you can imagine.  So yes, making this film definitely felt special. (Laughs)

TNC: I read that Woody was initially unhappy with the film. Did he ever talk about that?

MH: Well apparently it’s not his favorite film, but I don’t know… but I think he is never happy with his films though.  I was hanging with him for a couple years when “Interiors” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” came out… he hated all of them.  He was like ‘‘it’s awful’’… but he is that guy.  You know I made a movie with Bob Fossy, ‘‘Star 80’’ and he was never happy… he also hated it. ‘‘It’s probably the worst film I ever made’’, meanwhile most people say it’s the best.

TNC: So basically he wasn’t on set being like “Fuck… this is no good!”

MH: No, not at all. (Laughs) But what I think is, when they get in the editing room people like that are never satisfied. They always see… I could have done this better or could have done that better. You know there were some re-shoots. He did a lot  of re-shoots with Diane. He wanted to get something specifically right that he just felt he hadn’t gotten the first time around… that is the kind of guy he is.

TNC: It seems like a very intimate film. Was this a big production?

MH: It was small, I mean it was a big crew in the sense for a low budget film, but it wasn’t a huge crew either.

TNC: Do you remember how long you guys shot?

MH: It was probably a six week shoot. I don’t think it was  longer.

TNC: Were you there the whole time?

MH: Yes.

TNC: So you were there waiting while they shot the other scenes?

MH: Yes, a lot of waiting. (Laughs)  At least I was in it enough that I got to hang out, which was nice.

TNC:  Tell me about rehearsals. How did you guys work together when you rehearsed?

MH: He didn’t rehearse a lot, he did a lot of improv. A lot of the movie is improvisation.  You would say something in the script but then it would go off in another direction during shooting.

TNC: So, there were no rehearsals?

MH: No… no he was one of the few, well of the great directors I have worked with, that didn’t do much rehearsal. Two polar opposites: with Bob Fossy all we did was rehearse.  Six weeks prior to filming the movie… it was like being in a play. It was all taped out on the floor, so that was pretty extraordinary. But with Woody, it was like you show up… Woody believes in the talent that he hires. But there was a plan… it was not complete improvisation.  I have done those movies too, where there is no script.

TNC: What do you prefer?

MH: I think, I have to say it’s extraordinary to rehearse that much because by the time you do it, it becomes new again. You go through this process… and you know, it feels endless and horrible, but once you get through it…   I know I am really good when… I am much better after the third or fourth take.  Sometimes I nail it on the first but I am actually better and more warmed up, more fluid after the third of fourth take. So yes I like rehearsals.

TNC: Are you the kind of actor that likes to go on and on…

MH: No… no… God no. No… that’s not me.  I like to move on.

TNC: What was the hardest part for you working on ‘‘Manhattan’’? Did you study before?

MH: Not before Manhattan… I studied afterwards.  But acting as such has never been hard for me.  I don’t think “acting” is that hard, what’s hard is being honest… being truthful about what’s going on.  Sometimes it’s hard to jump into something that you are afraid to deal with within yourself.  But, other than that, I don’t find acting hard per say.  Sometimes if you need an accent or something like that, that puts a different kind of pressure on you. “Personal Best” was hard because I had to physically become an athlete.  Those kind of things are hard.

TNC: How did Woody help you?  It was not necessarily an easy part, you didn’t have a lot of ‘‘emotional’’ dialogue. It was almost like a kind of  ‘‘silent role’’.

MH: It’s a funny observation, but often in movies where I have spoken least, those parts are harder in some ways.  Because it’s really about paying close attention to the moment… it’s really about what your face is doing.  Great acting comes in the unspoken word, it’s about what’s not said.  To me the greatest moments in film are when you see a wealth of something happening behind the lines. You almost didn’t hear the words but you know exactly what ‘they’ feel. I like that… that’s kind of more interesting to me… more creative… you can sense that they are having emotions and feelings and going through stuff… no words even need to be spoken.  But no, it wasn’t like he helped me. He hung out with me, he got me comfortable with him and I think that was the key. I just needed to be at ease… I needed to have a good time… I needed to be watched over. I was a ‘‘simple’’ voice in that film… kind of like the voice of truth and innocence… uncomplicated. He was all about complication and I was all about not being complicated.  But no he just let things happen.

TNC:  Woody obviously both directed and acted in the film.  How was that for you?

MH:  He has done most of his films that way. But it was interesting when someone has to run between those two worlds. It takes a lot to do that!

TNC: What was your best and worst memory of making the film?

MH: I guess the worst, well not the worst, but the most nervous… because I had never kissed anybody. So the kiss in the cab around Central Park terrified me. I was worried about it for weeks. Having never really kissed anybody,  I asked my mother prior to shooting this. “How do I make out?”… “What do I do?” She looked at me and said, “Don’t talk about those things!” So I was like, “Thanks, that really helped.”  I ended up sitting in front of the mirror kissing my arm trying to see what I would look like. Fortunately it was a long shot and I didn’t have to do much… he attacked me like I was a linebacker. But my best memory was being in a room when Diane was acting and talking about Van Gock instead of Van Gogh and just watching their dynamic was amazing. I was really inspired and impressed.  I remember how it just moved me. You know they have this unspoken dialogue and they could relate to each other on this deep level. They had been friends forever and you knew they were going to stay friends forever. This connection would never be gone and I sensed it even though I was really young.

TNC:  In general, did you guys do a lot of takes?

MH: No… well there was two days on one thing he wasn’t getting right.  So it kind of just depended on what was going on. But no in general there were not a lot of takes.

TNC: “Manhattan” was shot by the legendary director of photography Gordon Willis, can you tell me something about how he works?

MH: Thank God we were in Manhattan… he took a lot of time to light. He took hours and hours… but in the end it was well worth it.  It seems very sparse and the lighting is low key,  but if you look at it as a palette, as a painting, you can see that the tone is perfect.  It kind of inspired a whole bunch of films to come out in black and white.  There is something about how he lit it, it feels like you’re seeing color even though it is completely black and white.  You know sometimes when you watch a black and white film you feel like you’re losing something, you’re missing something. But ‘‘Manhattan’’ it feels very solid and one is satisfied. I don’t know about you, but I usually don’t want to watch a modern film in black and white.  For the most part I don’t get it, there is something off about it. But you don’t feel there is anything off about ‘‘Manhattan’’.

TNC: You were eighteen, a Golden Globe nomination, Oscar nomination, how did you feel, I mean on a personal level?  You were so young.

MH: I was eighteen? I think there is some old rock n roll saying, “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.”  but I just really didn’t know. I had no idea what the Oscars were. I was making “Personal Best” and I took Scott Glenn as my date… his wife was pissed, she thought I was making a play for him. But I just didn’t want to go alone. The Cannes film festival was terrifying for me, the assault of cameras. “Mariel, Mariel, Mariel”… I was like fuck! They took me out in an ambulance because going in was so intense that I had an anxiety attack, my Dad had to take me out the side door, I just couldn’t handle it. But now I am like you can bring that on again, (laughs) I will handle it much better this time…  But it’s different now… you come out in a film like that and you have handlers, PR people… stylists. I never had a stylist… I came out looking like a complete idiot for twenty years. My daughters are like “you wore that?” I went to the Emmys with poodle hair… but nobody ever told me. I was wearing “Armani”, I thought I looked cute… but I had no clue.  Today no one is going to look like a loser on the red carpet. I, on the other hand, have had my moments. (Laughs)

TNC:  Working with Woody Allen almost twenty years later for “Deconstructing Harry”, how was that different?

MH: Very… obviously very different. A very tiny role… I was there a really long time waiting for my couple of scenes.  It was disappointing in the sense that I felt I was playing the mother of the character that I had played twenty years prior.  He was great… he was sweet… but there was not that connection. I had three scenes, but only one was used.   It was a different experience, but it was fun. It was a movie with Robin Williams who was out of focus… so that was funny. (Laughs)

TNC: Do you guys still keep in touch?

MH: No… he has a whole different life now.  If you don’t work… that’s the funny thing about this business, if you’re not really working with these people it’s hard to keep a connection unless you worked with them over and over like Diane would do. Unless you have that work kind of connection, it’s like… not really. I know that I could call him if I wanted to, but we don’t hang out.

TNC: You do a lot of things besides acting. Do you still actively seek roles?

MH: Not really. I don’t seek them. But if I really believe in something, I will actively pursue it.  There was something that I got really close on… that I was pursuing because I felt I really had an innate understanding of the character, but it didn’t happen, but I got really close. You know when you get in your forties, for me it’s like I want to do things that really mean something to me.  Fortunately I have a business that supports me, because if I had to make a living from acting, which in the past I periodically  did, it would be a different thing. People don’t understand that acting is a career, it’s not just a hobby… somebody can be big for a certain amount of time and you think it’s never going to end but then it does.  It’s a cyclical business and it can come back on a dime. But for me I found something that I am really passionate about. I am creating my own stuff, I am producing my own projects… it’s important for me to keep being creative… doing the things I love to do.  I don’t want to subjugate myself to do shitty roles just because.

TNC: That’s a beautiful answer.

MH:  Yes it can be hard.  The business is tough… it’s not an easy business. You get to a certain age, especially as a woman, and you just don’t work unless you have already established yourself.

TNC: What kind of role would you like to do?

MH: There is never anything that I am specifically looking for but… I know there is something out there… I know I am not done and I know that I am going to be making movies again… a lot of them.  I took a lot of years off to be a mom… it was really important for me to raise my kids properly. It felt like an important thing to do and when you take yourself out of the business in this town they are like “Who’s that?” Now everybody running the business is your age, so nobody has even seen things like ‘‘Manhattan’’… unless they are from Europe…  (laughs)  You can’t get mad about it, but it sometimes…

TNC:  Are you a film buff?

MH: I wouldn’t say that I am a film buff, but I love old movies. I love film… I love all film. I am a good audience. I think cinema is an extraordinary art.

TNC:  Talking about art, are the Hemingway’s Hemingway readers? What is your favorite book written by your grandfather?

MH: Well because I am producing “A Moveable Feast”, it’s a favorite book of mine. But I have to say, “The Sun Also Rises” is just really moving.  Its such a great book…. and he won the Nobel Prize with it at just twenty-three years old. That’s pretty astonishing.

TNC:  Is it hard to live under the legacy?

MH: I think it was hard for my father.  For me it’s a great entryway… it gets you in the door.  But obviously to stay… you have to show you’re talented, otherwise it’s like… ‘‘see you later’’.