TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Marielle Heller – “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
Marielle Stiles Heller is an American writer, director, and actor. She took on the indie movie “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” which earned Oscar nominations for both Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant. She’s the director of the highly anticipated A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood which is now showing in theaters.
Q. Describe the film for us in your own words.
A. This is not a biopic of Mister Rogers (Tom Hanks). It’s actually a character film that is more of an embodiment of how Fred Rogers interacted in the world and how his dedication to kindness permeated every aspect of his life. It’s from the perspective of a cynical journalist, Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), who is assigned to write a puff piece about Mister Rogers when he’s much more used to doing hard-hitting journalistic pieces. Somehow meeting Fred is exactly what he needs in his life.
Q. What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
A. Well, first of all, we wanted to keep this all as authentic as possible so we shot a lot of the movie in Pittsburgh, in the actual stage that “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” filmed in. We wanted to make sure the people who dedicated their lives to making the program felt like we were doing it right. When they all showed up to see our set, there were tears in their eyes, and we felt proud that we had recreated every detail with respect paid…
Q. How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
A. This script started with Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue, who were inspired by Tom Junod’s “Esquire” article and spent many years developing the script. They brought the script to our producer, Youree Henley. Henley took it to Peter Saraf, Leah Holzer, and Marc Turtletaub at Big Beach, who loved it and brought it to me. Once I was onboard I approached Tom and when he had signed on, we brought it to Sony/Tristar Pictures.
Q. What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
A. I never really set out to become a director. I was writing “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” and the thought of someone else directing my movie was more than I could handle. So, I applied to the Sundance Labs in hopes that I could figure out how to direct before I made it.
Q. What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
A. The best advice was from writer-director Gregg Araki, who was one of my advisers at the Labs. He said that you don’t call action until you love everything happening on the monitor. That gave me the license to be really honest about what I like and don’t like and be clear in my direction. The worst advice I got was, “If you’re going into the arts, have a good backup plan.”
Q. What advice do you have for other female directors?
A. Appreciate those who came before you. Learn what they went through and recognize that because of them, and only because of them, you can be seen and welcomed — and sometimes even respected.
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