Already on the map as a respected director, James Mangold, took on the film, Identity, quite by accident. Cathy Konrad, the producer, originally intended to make this a low budget independent film. However, as soon as Mangold got hold of it, he had to have it. With such films as Copland, Girl Interrupted, and Kate and Leopold under his belt, James Mangold ventured into some uncharted territory when taking on this film. His first suspense thriller, Identity, intrigued Mangold for its unique characters and dark themes. Not only did this film making experience provide him with a challenge but a sense of nostalgia for the old noir films of the 1940's.
James Mangold files into the Four Seasons hotel room grinning from ear to ear as if he is a child walking into a toy store. His wide-eyed enthusiasm is endearing, as he is excited to share his experience of making this film.
Check out the website for Identity.
Daniel Robert Epstein: This is your first suspense thriller, what was it like directing this type of film?
James Mangold: This is the one genre where even the studio wants you to make it unconventional. Usually, you make a romantic comedy or a drama there are elements that the audience wants adhered to. But when you make a movie of this genre, the core audience wants it to be different than anything they've ever seen. There are no formulas. This genre has developed with the expectation that the film will stay on the edge. You don't want it to deliver a familiar feeling. But I guess that is essential in filling the audience with fear is giving them what they don't expect.
DRE: Have you seen the movie with a live audience?
JM: Oh yeah! Certainly part of finishing a movie like this is letting it play in front of people. You want to be aware if you are giving something away, or if you need to pull back on something.
DRE: Did you feel that this movie was gory?
JM: Actually, the movie seems pretty tame to me by the most standards on what's on even video games. One of my favorite movies is Carpenter's remake of The Thing which really went there in terms of the level of mucus and gore. I felt we were a distant cousin in terms of breaking some of those boundaries and that is a film that is at least a decade old. It felt to me more like a noir movie than a horror film. I wanted it to be classy, but pulpy.like a fevered dream.
DRE: Can you tell us a little bit about casting the film?
JM: One of the things that were attractive to me about the characters in the script was that they were from all stripes and all ages. There was a 40's sensibility to these characters. The limo driver, the corrections officer, the call girl on the run, with the night and the rain gave the film a noir energy and at that point I became attracted to certain faces and actors. In the case of Ray, he is a great friend of mine ever since I made Copland, and I am always looking for a chance to work with him again. He is a really unique and brilliant actor in the sense that he projects a kind of power on screen that is modern. He brings to the character the ability to kick your ass and the ability to out think you. A lot of tough guys also play stupid. He transcends that and that to me is really interesting. In the case of John, I just think of him as an actor that is always loved. I always imagined that he would be a lot of fun to work with. He brings an incredible sense of ease to a character. He just steps in and you are there. John is one of those guys where you feel like a coach and you just say to yourself, "just put him on the field ".
DRE: Cathy Konrad mentioned that she originally wanted to make this film low budget. Did you feel that way as well?
JM: Yeah, I didn't want to make it for a huge some of money. We wanted to keep the costs down as much as possible so that it something that didn't get precious.??????? We wanted to make sure that we had fun making this movie. We didn't want it to turn into this 80 million dollar thing. It needs to stay what it needed to be which was a little dirty and a little rusty and a little creepy, and a little exciting and a little adventurous.
DRE: How does the editing process differ on a movie like Identity from say a romantic comedy? Do you feel like it plays more of an important role?
JM: What is interesting is that it was the EXACT team that I used on Kate and Leopold. We didn't change personnel from one movie to the other. When the genre changes certain demands change but there are other things that remain so constant it blows your mind. Sometimes changing one shot can alter a scene but a movie and that balance is true in both genres, romantic comedy and thriller.
DRE: Can you tell us about your upcoming Johnny Cash film, Walk the Line?
JM: For me, it is just a wonderful story about a great man and a great life lived. It is less for me about his historical importance but just his journey. It is amazing. Rock and roll and music has become such a commodity, and when you sit and talk with John and June you realize that they are the last of a generation. They are people who have lived through what has essentially been the birth of this country. They are the last people who sing first hand about their experiences. They aren't singing because it is a folk song that they found in the Library of Congress. They are singing because they lived it.
DRE: How did you come to choose Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon?
JM: It was obvious! They are both so right for these roles.
DRE: What do you think of Johnny Cash's new album, which is a series of remakes of modern rock songs?
JM: I think it is a great album. I still get a little ruffled when someone still refers to Johnny as a country music star, I am like " come off it man!" the guy has influenced U2, Nirvana. I love that I can sit down with a man and just as easily sit down and talk to him about a Nirvana album just as easily as I can talk to him about a Patsy Cline album. He is a god! This guy is one cool dude. The fact that that album can be No. 4 on the charts just a week ago is phenomenal. That is power! That is a really cool soul! I just hope I can do justice to him.
DRE: Amanda Peet is so gorgeous. Is she just, like, distracting to direct?
JM: [laughs] She's a very beautiful girl, but also incredibly funny. She distracts you because she's singing show tunes half the time. Ever since I saw her in The Whole Nine Yards, I've just been taken with her. I thought she brought a hell of a lot to that film.
DRE: I really liked Cop Land.
JM: Thank you. I'm actually working right now on a restored version of the film. A little more material that no one has seen that's going to come out on DVD.
DRE: Cop Land wasn't recognized enough by the public and even the Academy Awards. With all those great actors you had, was that disappointing?
JM: You have to go to the place I was at that moment. I had made a small movie called Heavy, that had been blessed. That film was never nominated for any Independent Spirit Awards of any kind. We did get honored with a directing prize at Sundance. But those things never seem fair because you always feel like you should be included. But those things are a competition. They're not essentially fair. So, for me, the pride is just in the doing. Imagine being a young filmmaker who makes a film for $750,000 that goes to Sundance and wins an award. Then, your next script becomes populated by Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro. It's an amazing cast, and you feel so blessed. You show up on set and find yourself giving notes to Bob De Niro, speaking your words. Honestly, there is no award that anyone could give me that could replace that thrill. It's a private award.
DRE: They used part of Girl, Interrupted in Winona Ryder's trial against her. That must have been disappointing.
JM: Yeah, I don't want to comment on that. It's all a circus.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
James Mangold files into the Four Seasons hotel room grinning from ear to ear as if he is a child walking into a toy store. His wide-eyed enthusiasm is endearing, as he is excited to share his experience of making this film.
Check out the website for Identity.
Daniel Robert Epstein: This is your first suspense thriller, what was it like directing this type of film?
James Mangold: This is the one genre where even the studio wants you to make it unconventional. Usually, you make a romantic comedy or a drama there are elements that the audience wants adhered to. But when you make a movie of this genre, the core audience wants it to be different than anything they've ever seen. There are no formulas. This genre has developed with the expectation that the film will stay on the edge. You don't want it to deliver a familiar feeling. But I guess that is essential in filling the audience with fear is giving them what they don't expect.
DRE: Have you seen the movie with a live audience?
JM: Oh yeah! Certainly part of finishing a movie like this is letting it play in front of people. You want to be aware if you are giving something away, or if you need to pull back on something.
DRE: Did you feel that this movie was gory?
JM: Actually, the movie seems pretty tame to me by the most standards on what's on even video games. One of my favorite movies is Carpenter's remake of The Thing which really went there in terms of the level of mucus and gore. I felt we were a distant cousin in terms of breaking some of those boundaries and that is a film that is at least a decade old. It felt to me more like a noir movie than a horror film. I wanted it to be classy, but pulpy.like a fevered dream.
DRE: Can you tell us a little bit about casting the film?
JM: One of the things that were attractive to me about the characters in the script was that they were from all stripes and all ages. There was a 40's sensibility to these characters. The limo driver, the corrections officer, the call girl on the run, with the night and the rain gave the film a noir energy and at that point I became attracted to certain faces and actors. In the case of Ray, he is a great friend of mine ever since I made Copland, and I am always looking for a chance to work with him again. He is a really unique and brilliant actor in the sense that he projects a kind of power on screen that is modern. He brings to the character the ability to kick your ass and the ability to out think you. A lot of tough guys also play stupid. He transcends that and that to me is really interesting. In the case of John, I just think of him as an actor that is always loved. I always imagined that he would be a lot of fun to work with. He brings an incredible sense of ease to a character. He just steps in and you are there. John is one of those guys where you feel like a coach and you just say to yourself, "just put him on the field ".
DRE: Cathy Konrad mentioned that she originally wanted to make this film low budget. Did you feel that way as well?
JM: Yeah, I didn't want to make it for a huge some of money. We wanted to keep the costs down as much as possible so that it something that didn't get precious.??????? We wanted to make sure that we had fun making this movie. We didn't want it to turn into this 80 million dollar thing. It needs to stay what it needed to be which was a little dirty and a little rusty and a little creepy, and a little exciting and a little adventurous.
DRE: How does the editing process differ on a movie like Identity from say a romantic comedy? Do you feel like it plays more of an important role?
JM: What is interesting is that it was the EXACT team that I used on Kate and Leopold. We didn't change personnel from one movie to the other. When the genre changes certain demands change but there are other things that remain so constant it blows your mind. Sometimes changing one shot can alter a scene but a movie and that balance is true in both genres, romantic comedy and thriller.
DRE: Can you tell us about your upcoming Johnny Cash film, Walk the Line?
JM: For me, it is just a wonderful story about a great man and a great life lived. It is less for me about his historical importance but just his journey. It is amazing. Rock and roll and music has become such a commodity, and when you sit and talk with John and June you realize that they are the last of a generation. They are people who have lived through what has essentially been the birth of this country. They are the last people who sing first hand about their experiences. They aren't singing because it is a folk song that they found in the Library of Congress. They are singing because they lived it.
DRE: How did you come to choose Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon?
JM: It was obvious! They are both so right for these roles.
DRE: What do you think of Johnny Cash's new album, which is a series of remakes of modern rock songs?
JM: I think it is a great album. I still get a little ruffled when someone still refers to Johnny as a country music star, I am like " come off it man!" the guy has influenced U2, Nirvana. I love that I can sit down with a man and just as easily sit down and talk to him about a Nirvana album just as easily as I can talk to him about a Patsy Cline album. He is a god! This guy is one cool dude. The fact that that album can be No. 4 on the charts just a week ago is phenomenal. That is power! That is a really cool soul! I just hope I can do justice to him.
DRE: Amanda Peet is so gorgeous. Is she just, like, distracting to direct?
JM: [laughs] She's a very beautiful girl, but also incredibly funny. She distracts you because she's singing show tunes half the time. Ever since I saw her in The Whole Nine Yards, I've just been taken with her. I thought she brought a hell of a lot to that film.
DRE: I really liked Cop Land.
JM: Thank you. I'm actually working right now on a restored version of the film. A little more material that no one has seen that's going to come out on DVD.
DRE: Cop Land wasn't recognized enough by the public and even the Academy Awards. With all those great actors you had, was that disappointing?
JM: You have to go to the place I was at that moment. I had made a small movie called Heavy, that had been blessed. That film was never nominated for any Independent Spirit Awards of any kind. We did get honored with a directing prize at Sundance. But those things never seem fair because you always feel like you should be included. But those things are a competition. They're not essentially fair. So, for me, the pride is just in the doing. Imagine being a young filmmaker who makes a film for $750,000 that goes to Sundance and wins an award. Then, your next script becomes populated by Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro. It's an amazing cast, and you feel so blessed. You show up on set and find yourself giving notes to Bob De Niro, speaking your words. Honestly, there is no award that anyone could give me that could replace that thrill. It's a private award.
DRE: They used part of Girl, Interrupted in Winona Ryder's trial against her. That must have been disappointing.
JM: Yeah, I don't want to comment on that. It's all a circus.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
I haven't seen KATE & LEOPOLD yet, but Mangold continues his journey with IDENTITY. This is a chilling psychological thriller that stays with you for a while. A few hours after seeing the film, I replayed the last lines of the movie in my head and actually began to shiver. The film isn't perfect, the story buckles a bit under the stress that the plot twists put upon it. They're good and clever twists, but they don't always seem necessary. The use of 1940s archetype characters is a great concept, but a thriller with plot turns of this magnitude requires that we know the characters involved. In THE 6TH SENSE, we knew who Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment were, they were so well established that an audience would follow them anywhere. That doesn't happen in IDENTITY. In a film that is under 90 minutes, I would have loved to have an extra 15 minutes or so to get a little more character development.
The strongest link in all of Mangold's films is his treatment of his actors. Stallone, Angelina Jolie, Brittany Murphy, and now John Cusack have all done some of their best work under him. Cusack manages to carry IDENTITY and nearly makes up for the story's faillings, using previously untapped guilt and strength to ground the film. Here's hoping that his next film does away with the plot fireworks and focuses more on the people involved. He may pull off something more than clever, and achieve something that is truly brilliant.