In the handsome and unconventional drama Restless, Annabel Cotton (Mia Wasikowska) is a beautiful and charming terminal cancer patient with a deep love for life. Enoch Brae (Henry Hopper) is a funeral crasher, who has decided to drop out of the land of the living, after his parents die in a fatal car accident. Before Annabel befriended him at a funeral, Enoch's best, and only, friend had been Hiroshi (Ryo Kase), who happens to be the ghost of a Kamikaze fighter pilot. The two misfits, Annabel and Enoch, find unexpected common ground and, ultimately, love.
Following the film’s premiere as the opening night film for the 2011 Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, I had the opportunity to sit down, inside the Moet Chandon Salon at the Baoli Beach Club, with director Gus Van Sant, his lead actress Mia Wasikowska, screenwriter Jason Lew and producer Bryce Dallas Howard to talk about their film, Restless.
Interview with Director Gus Van Sant
Q: How did the script come to you? What drew you to the script?
Gus Van Sant: It was sent to be by Bryce, and Imagine. I had done Psycho with Imagine, so I knew Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.
It was something I had seen before. In Paranoid Park, there was a young boy, who played Gabe, and survived cancer at eight years old. He was quite funny and unique at thirteen. His mother had explained to us how difficult his childhood had been.
Also, our [Portland] offices are next door to a guy named Frank Etxaniz. He’s a painter, but he started working with children in hospitals as a volunteer art therapist. He would bring art supplies in to the wing with the terminal child patients to do art. After a few years, under Frank, it turned into an organization [CHAP].
Frank was having a fundraiser that I attended, and a lot of the kids were there from art therapy group.
One of the stories he told me about was about this little girl who was being visited by her parents, but after 30 minutes, the parents would leave, because it was too sad to be in the hospital with their child who was only expected to live for a few months. After they would leave, the child would look up at Frank, and say “Next!”, -who was next person who was going to hang out with them, because often they were left alone. So, often it was Frank who would hang out with them. Frank was “Enoch”. He became their playmate, since no one else wanted to be around them, because it was so sad for them.
So, knowing these stories, and when I read the script, I realized this was partly what Annabel was doing. She was reaching out for a stranger in a last effort to have the boyfriend she never had. Maybe to have someone to play with, because her own family wasn’t able to.
Q: The actors seemed to really appreciate the silent takes. Is this technique something you plan to continue?
Gus Van Sant: Originally, I heard that Terrence Malick did silent takes, when making his movies. The reason I heard was that maybe, sometimes, he wanted to have the scene play with no words. He could also use part of the scene that had no words. So, if he wanted to break from the dialogue in any part of the scene, he would have silent versions. So on Milk, we started doing it, and on Restless we had done it as well. We had done a silent take of each shot. But, we also edited together a whole silent version of the movie.
Q: Is that for the DVD? (asked, jokingly)
Gus Van Sant: Yeah, (laughing) it’s for the DVD, or maybe a special Cannes screening.
Q: Do you make movies about outsiders, because you were an outsider yourself?
Gus Van Sant: I was outside and inside. I had connections with the inside crowd, but, definitely an outsider. I was a painter, an artist who made paintings. That was sort of odd for a young person. I separated myself, probably because of teen-aged angst, trying to adapted to the world that was threatening or awkward, and probably because I was gay.
I definitely wanted to get lost in my paintings. But, my friends wanted me to hang out with them down in the shopping mall. I felt I had to make excuses to why I wanted to go home, because I felt sick. Even though these were my close friends, I wanted to stay away from them, and work on my paintings.
Interview with Actress Mia Wasikowska
Q: How did you get involved with this film?
Mia Wasikowska: I was sent the script by my agent, then I auditioned for Gus by myself, then I auditioned with Henry [Hopper] and Gus, and then I was offered the part.
I like to do films that challenge me. So, I really try to look for something I haven’t done before.
Q: How did you come to define your character Annabel.
Mia Wasikowska: I tried to figure out who she was outside of the story. I felt that she’s probably an outsider, who didn’t have many friends. She’s friendly, but she doesn’t clique with many people. So, she was quite an isolated person.
And one thing that I realize after spending time with kids with a terminal illness or who were disabled, is that it’s often very hard for their family or friends to be around them. They often end up holding it together for family and friends, which made a lot of sense to me with Annabel, because her character read very strong, and very much together. Especially with her family situation. She can’t talk about this stuff with her sister, Elizabeth, for example their conversation in the car. So, that’s what Enoch kinds of provides for her, [someone to talk to.]
Q: What did you think about Gus’s technique of doing silent takes?
Mia Wasikowska: I loved it. It was fantastic. I feel when we take away the words it simplifies it, and often we would do the silent take, and it would click. And, you’d go, “Oh, I get it now!”.
Q: It something you hope catches on with other directors?
Mia Wasikowska: Yes, I would encourage it.
Interview with Screenwriter Jason Lew
Q: What was your inspiration for the character of Hiroshi [the ghost of a Japanese Kamikaze fighter pilot]?
Jason Lew (Screenwriter): My father is Chinese, and I grew up hearing a lot about the Japanese at that time [in the US during WWII]. So, I really wanted to investigate that time period for myself. I was also fascinated with the romanticism of death and honor in the Japanese culture. It seemed to fit the story I was telling to tell. Originally, his character was from a play that I wrote.
Q: You were on the set, where typically screenwriters are banned from. What was that experience like?
Jason Lew: Gus runs these calm, beautiful sets. I came on the second week, and it was like I was hallucinating. Seeing someone act out a scene, I felt like I was in a dream. I wrote this! It was totally serene and incredible experience.
Q: Did Van Sant make any changes to your script? If so, how did you handle accepting them?
Jason Lew: Not so much changes, but we ended up cutting scenes just for flow. Some scenes read differently than they actually ended up playing. For me, even as the screenwriter, the script is not Gospel; it’s a blueprint for collaboration. I come from the theater, were it’s all about collaboration.
Q: Are you a funeral crasher?
Jason Lew: No, I am not a funeral crasher. My father was a pediatric oncologist, and I hung with his patients, and went to a lot of funerals with him, because they were my friends.
Q: Was the doctor in the film based on your father?
Jason Lew: Yes. Actually, Gus was great about that, because originally he cast a Caucasian actor, and when I told him he based on my father, he said “ok”, than let’s cast someone Chinese. It was a very moving gesture.
Interview with Producer Bryce Dallas Howard
Q: So, producing, is this a new path for you, or a one-time passion project?
Bryce Dallas Howard (Producer): I have no way to know. This is something that came about unexpectedly. Jason Lew is one of my closest friends from NYU, and this was the first screenplay that he had ever written. He gave to me to read just as a friend.
And, it was incredibly moving to read, and I kind of became obsessed with it. As a result, we worked on it together for a couple of years, and when it came time to deliver the movie, he asked me to be the person to do that. So it was never an intension of mine, I would never be as presumptuous to do that, because I never done it before. I am very fortunate to have friends who are very talented writers and I am obsessed with what they’re writing. But, I have no way of knowing when the time comes whether I would be the right person for it or what place I would be in. So, who knows?
Q: Did you enjoy the experience though?
Bryce Dallas Howard: Yeah, it was definitely one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever taken part in, from a creative and educational perspective. There was such a tremendous learning curve for me, and that on to itself was an extraordinary challenge. But, as it came about, I had a lot of people who mentored me through this process that I really respect, and also dearly love, my father being one of them. It was not anything I expected to happen. I had always hoped to work with him, but I never thought it would be in this capacity. But, I’m incredibly grateful for that.
Q: As an actress, what did you think of Gus’ [Van Sant] technique of using silent takes?
Bryce Dallas Howard: I loved that. It was kind of an inspired choice. Gus would shoot the scene with the actors, then he would do a silent take, so the actors would go through the experience that they just had in the scene, but doing it without talking. They very connected takes in the moment, they were very present.
From a technical standpoint, they were really very useful in the editing room, because you weren’t limited to using a certain scene. So, there was more flexibility in the editing process.
The Cast and Crew of Restless
- Stars Henry Hopper (son of Dennis Hopper), Mia Wasikowska, Ryo Kase, Schuyler Fisk and Jane Adams.
- Directed by Gus Van Sant. Written by Jason Lew. Produced by Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.
- Restless premiered at the 2011 Festival de Cannes, and is scheduled to be released in US theaters in September of 2011 by Sony Pictures Classics.
- [Source: Sony Pictures Classics]
