Todd Solondzs Palindromes was definitely one of the stranger American films to be released this year. In fact it is one of the strangest films from any country to be released in any year. The baffling tale of 13 year old Aviva who will do anything to become pregnant. Eventually she runs away from home only to have a series of awkward and disturbing encounters along the way. Now everyone can enjoy the film on DVD.
Todd Solondz has long been hailed as a powerful voice in cinema and Palindromes certainly keeps that up. His difficult films have always polarized even his hardest core fans.
Check out the official website for Palindromes
Daniel Robert Epstein: I didnt totally understand Palindromes.
Todd Solondz: That's totally cool.
DRE: Was it your intent to disorient the audience by having the main character played by different actors?
TS: I think many people are disoriented and others find it affecting. I'll put it this way, when I made Welcome to the Dollhouse all sorts of people came up to me afterwards. They could be beautiful models or a construction worker, it didn't matter. They would all say, That was me. I was that person.' I said, Okay. Well, I can't make you Dawn Wiener, but you can all be her cousin. In some sense they could've been 18 or eight and anyone of us in the audience could've been in an episode of this young character's life.
DRE: I hope this isnt a rude question but do you totally understand Palindromes yourself?
TS: No, youre not rude at all. The process of filmmaking is one very much made up of discovery and self-discovery as well. One has a sense of what one is pursuing at the get go and you think that you know what you're doing and what you're going about, but of course this understanding is always evolving and shifting over the course of production and completion of the film. Then when people ask me when it's all said and done, Did the movie turn out the way that you imagined it would? I always have to say that it never does, but if I'm lucky it turns out better.
DRE: Did you ever lose track of what was going on during the writing stage?
TS: You always have to keep your eye on the ball so to speak. You have to have a sense of the direction, that's why they call them directors. You have to know where you are going and what you are pursuing. There is a certain kind of clarity. There are different kinds of clarity, different things that come into further focus as you proceed with the process.
DRE: What do you think of the reaction that Palindromes got while in the theatres?
TS: I'm happy first off that it got released. I was anxious about that and I think that [Wellspring Media] did a great job with it. Certainly the movie had a very polarized response. Before I had shown the film I thought that it was my gentlest work and then I was somewhat surprised at the strong reaction from both pro and con. In the end with extreme responses, they sort of cancel each other out. So I'm happy with what I did, or as happy with it as anything that I've done
DRE: What makes you feel it is your gentlest film?
TS: That's just how I felt about it. As politically charged and morally complicated as it might have been, at heart it was the saddest of all my comedies.
DRE: I thought it was your most disturbing film, do you find your work disturbing?
TS: I don't know that I personally feel disturbed. For me they are very charged and alive and I'm excited during the process of making them. I don't lose any sleep over it. So I'm not sure if that would qualify as being disturbed.
DRE: Was it made completely independently?
TS: Yes, Celluloid Dreams helped finish the movie and Wellspring bought it.
DRE: How did you come up with the story?
TS: I don't know how I really come up with anything. I've been writing since I was reading. So I just had a character and some themes and ideas that just coalesced. I suppose that on one hand I could say that we live in a very peculiar country in certain ways. It's the only one in the world where to be an abortionist is to take on a heroic profession like a policeman or fireman because you put your life at risk. It's the only country where clinics are bombed and abortionists are assassinated. So I think that it was in some sense responsive to that reality.
DRE: Have you had any personal experience with abortion?
TS: I haven't been involved personally in any assassination or bombing nor am I connected with anyone who was a victim of any of that if that's what you mean.
DRE: The film looks different than your previous works.
TS: It was shot on Super-16 instead of 35mm.
DRE: Was that a financial or artistic choice?
TS: Well, it was both. I could've shot it on video and that would've been even less money, but I prefer film to video and if I had more money it would have been shot on 35mm.
DRE: How did you go about casting this film?
TS: I just auditioned people. I described what I was looking for and then different actor's agents sent their actors in and I just chose the ones that I think are the most appropriate.
DRE: Has directing gotten easier for you?
TS: Nothing gets easier. It's always reinventing the wheel and figuring things out. So you just have to accept that these are part and parcel in the process of filmmaking.
DRE: Have you thought about writing a novel?
TS: I haven't written a novel and if I do then I will. But I haven't so what can I say.
DRE: Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness seemed to almost contain slices directly from your life. I dont see that with Palindromes, is it as personal to you as your previous films?
TS: Yeah, I have all sorts of different characters that I have different feelings about. I don't think that it's the same kind of ordeal as with the others.
DRE: Whats a Todd Solondz movie set like? Are people having fun?
TS: I'm always very serious, but a lot of the people on the crew might be having fun. But it's very stressful and the hours are very long so it's very wearing on everyone. I go home at the end of the day but I know that many people have the energy to go out to a bar. I could never imagine having the energy to do that.
DRE: Is it the usual stress of making a film or do you add extra stress?
TS: No, I don't think that I need to add anything extra, there's enough with the movie itself.
DRE: Did foreign audiences react differently to Palindromes than American audiences?
TS: I've been to a number of different countries already and I think that overall you're less likely to find people quite so angry about the film abroad as you might find here in the States.
DRE: Does that surprise you?
TS: I guess that's depends on the film. Welcome to the Dollhouse made more money domestically than internationally, but Happiness did much better internationally than domestically. I think the main difference is when I make a movie here it's a movie, that's it. But when a movie gets shown abroad it becomes a movie about America and it's all filtered through that prism.
DRE: Have you ever wanted to make bigger budgeted films?
TS: Its that's never been my ambition to make a big budgeted movie. The ambition is just to make movies that have meaning and that are valuable for me. If it requires more money so be it. But the idea of looking the budget first has no interest for me.
DRE: What are you working on now?
TS: I have one thing that I'm looking for money now and one script that I'm in the middle of. The thing is that I don't want to jinx myself. I have to see if I can get the money and then we can talk about it.
DRE: What is your writing routine?
TS: I don't know if there is much of a routine. You just have to sit down and do it. I'm not as disciplined as maybe others are but I do manage to get them done somehow. Look if you wrote three pages a day you would have three screenplays a year. But it doesn't quite work out that way. Though I somehow have gotten something together. The well hasn't run dry quite yet.
DRE: Is that something you worry about?
TS: No, I don't worry about it. I'm just making that observation that I continue to write my own material.
DRE: Do you have any desire to adapt books?
TS: I do. But the problem is that my own material takes the priority over everything else.
DRE: What do you like about living in Manhattan?
TS: I always wanted to live in New York, ever since I was a child. So in that sense I'm living out my dream.
DRE: Whats a day in the life of Todd Solondz like?
TS: I always have to accomplish something everyday and there is a lot of work to do. So there might be a routine but the routine is always in flux.
DRE: What did you accomplish today?
TS: Aside from this interview I was working this morning.
DRE: Do you have a wife or kids?
TS: I'm not married.
DRE: Are you against marriage?
TS: No, if you want to get married that's fine with me. I'm not personally interested in marriage but if it makes others happy it's fine with me.
DRE: Since Welcome to the Dollhouse youve gained an intense fanbase, have you met many of those fans?
TS: I don't know. I don't know who any of these fans are. I really don't. I make it a point not to Google myself so I really don't know what's out there. It's probably best if I don't know too much. I don't see any upside to it.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Todd Solondz has long been hailed as a powerful voice in cinema and Palindromes certainly keeps that up. His difficult films have always polarized even his hardest core fans.
Check out the official website for Palindromes
Daniel Robert Epstein: I didnt totally understand Palindromes.
Todd Solondz: That's totally cool.
DRE: Was it your intent to disorient the audience by having the main character played by different actors?
TS: I think many people are disoriented and others find it affecting. I'll put it this way, when I made Welcome to the Dollhouse all sorts of people came up to me afterwards. They could be beautiful models or a construction worker, it didn't matter. They would all say, That was me. I was that person.' I said, Okay. Well, I can't make you Dawn Wiener, but you can all be her cousin. In some sense they could've been 18 or eight and anyone of us in the audience could've been in an episode of this young character's life.
DRE: I hope this isnt a rude question but do you totally understand Palindromes yourself?
TS: No, youre not rude at all. The process of filmmaking is one very much made up of discovery and self-discovery as well. One has a sense of what one is pursuing at the get go and you think that you know what you're doing and what you're going about, but of course this understanding is always evolving and shifting over the course of production and completion of the film. Then when people ask me when it's all said and done, Did the movie turn out the way that you imagined it would? I always have to say that it never does, but if I'm lucky it turns out better.
DRE: Did you ever lose track of what was going on during the writing stage?
TS: You always have to keep your eye on the ball so to speak. You have to have a sense of the direction, that's why they call them directors. You have to know where you are going and what you are pursuing. There is a certain kind of clarity. There are different kinds of clarity, different things that come into further focus as you proceed with the process.
DRE: What do you think of the reaction that Palindromes got while in the theatres?
TS: I'm happy first off that it got released. I was anxious about that and I think that [Wellspring Media] did a great job with it. Certainly the movie had a very polarized response. Before I had shown the film I thought that it was my gentlest work and then I was somewhat surprised at the strong reaction from both pro and con. In the end with extreme responses, they sort of cancel each other out. So I'm happy with what I did, or as happy with it as anything that I've done
DRE: What makes you feel it is your gentlest film?
TS: That's just how I felt about it. As politically charged and morally complicated as it might have been, at heart it was the saddest of all my comedies.
DRE: I thought it was your most disturbing film, do you find your work disturbing?
TS: I don't know that I personally feel disturbed. For me they are very charged and alive and I'm excited during the process of making them. I don't lose any sleep over it. So I'm not sure if that would qualify as being disturbed.
DRE: Was it made completely independently?
TS: Yes, Celluloid Dreams helped finish the movie and Wellspring bought it.
DRE: How did you come up with the story?
TS: I don't know how I really come up with anything. I've been writing since I was reading. So I just had a character and some themes and ideas that just coalesced. I suppose that on one hand I could say that we live in a very peculiar country in certain ways. It's the only one in the world where to be an abortionist is to take on a heroic profession like a policeman or fireman because you put your life at risk. It's the only country where clinics are bombed and abortionists are assassinated. So I think that it was in some sense responsive to that reality.
DRE: Have you had any personal experience with abortion?
TS: I haven't been involved personally in any assassination or bombing nor am I connected with anyone who was a victim of any of that if that's what you mean.
DRE: The film looks different than your previous works.
TS: It was shot on Super-16 instead of 35mm.
DRE: Was that a financial or artistic choice?
TS: Well, it was both. I could've shot it on video and that would've been even less money, but I prefer film to video and if I had more money it would have been shot on 35mm.
DRE: How did you go about casting this film?
TS: I just auditioned people. I described what I was looking for and then different actor's agents sent their actors in and I just chose the ones that I think are the most appropriate.
DRE: Has directing gotten easier for you?
TS: Nothing gets easier. It's always reinventing the wheel and figuring things out. So you just have to accept that these are part and parcel in the process of filmmaking.
DRE: Have you thought about writing a novel?
TS: I haven't written a novel and if I do then I will. But I haven't so what can I say.
DRE: Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness seemed to almost contain slices directly from your life. I dont see that with Palindromes, is it as personal to you as your previous films?
TS: Yeah, I have all sorts of different characters that I have different feelings about. I don't think that it's the same kind of ordeal as with the others.
DRE: Whats a Todd Solondz movie set like? Are people having fun?
TS: I'm always very serious, but a lot of the people on the crew might be having fun. But it's very stressful and the hours are very long so it's very wearing on everyone. I go home at the end of the day but I know that many people have the energy to go out to a bar. I could never imagine having the energy to do that.
DRE: Is it the usual stress of making a film or do you add extra stress?
TS: No, I don't think that I need to add anything extra, there's enough with the movie itself.
DRE: Did foreign audiences react differently to Palindromes than American audiences?
TS: I've been to a number of different countries already and I think that overall you're less likely to find people quite so angry about the film abroad as you might find here in the States.
DRE: Does that surprise you?
TS: I guess that's depends on the film. Welcome to the Dollhouse made more money domestically than internationally, but Happiness did much better internationally than domestically. I think the main difference is when I make a movie here it's a movie, that's it. But when a movie gets shown abroad it becomes a movie about America and it's all filtered through that prism.
DRE: Have you ever wanted to make bigger budgeted films?
TS: Its that's never been my ambition to make a big budgeted movie. The ambition is just to make movies that have meaning and that are valuable for me. If it requires more money so be it. But the idea of looking the budget first has no interest for me.
DRE: What are you working on now?
TS: I have one thing that I'm looking for money now and one script that I'm in the middle of. The thing is that I don't want to jinx myself. I have to see if I can get the money and then we can talk about it.
DRE: What is your writing routine?
TS: I don't know if there is much of a routine. You just have to sit down and do it. I'm not as disciplined as maybe others are but I do manage to get them done somehow. Look if you wrote three pages a day you would have three screenplays a year. But it doesn't quite work out that way. Though I somehow have gotten something together. The well hasn't run dry quite yet.
DRE: Is that something you worry about?
TS: No, I don't worry about it. I'm just making that observation that I continue to write my own material.
DRE: Do you have any desire to adapt books?
TS: I do. But the problem is that my own material takes the priority over everything else.
DRE: What do you like about living in Manhattan?
TS: I always wanted to live in New York, ever since I was a child. So in that sense I'm living out my dream.
DRE: Whats a day in the life of Todd Solondz like?
TS: I always have to accomplish something everyday and there is a lot of work to do. So there might be a routine but the routine is always in flux.
DRE: What did you accomplish today?
TS: Aside from this interview I was working this morning.
DRE: Do you have a wife or kids?
TS: I'm not married.
DRE: Are you against marriage?
TS: No, if you want to get married that's fine with me. I'm not personally interested in marriage but if it makes others happy it's fine with me.
DRE: Since Welcome to the Dollhouse youve gained an intense fanbase, have you met many of those fans?
TS: I don't know. I don't know who any of these fans are. I really don't. I make it a point not to Google myself so I really don't know what's out there. It's probably best if I don't know too much. I don't see any upside to it.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 16 of 16 COMMENTS
[Edited on Oct 18, 2005 by Felony]
legionnaire said:
Am I the only one who thinks Solondz's films are pretentious, overrated crap?
hey editor, try explaining instead of just attacking. thanks.
i'm new here. i don't know if anyone will even see this old thread. Todd Solondz is one of the greatest writer/directors working today. his movies are mind-fuckingly original and alive.
So LEGIONNAIRE, what are some good movies?