Most of us can relate to feeling different on some level. In his feature directorial debut, Mark Palansky explores that experience through the eyes of Penelope, a girl cursed with a pig snout. A modern day fairy tale with a timeless message, the film follows Penelope's (Christina Ricci) journey toward self-acceptance. Hidden away from the world by an overprotective mother, Penelope must escape the shackles of fear and conformity and make her own way. With a visually rich palette and an incredibly talented cast that includes James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon, and Peter Dinklage, Penelope is a laudable film and a notable debut. I recently sat down with Palansky to discuss the film, which hits theaters February 29. You can check out the official Penelope site here.
Helen Jupiter: What attracted you to this script?
Mark Palansky: I liked the classic monster mythology of Penelope's character. I liked that she was sort of stuck up in the attic, not to be seen by anyone. It was, of course, a spin on that, but that was what immediately attracted me to her. I thought that her strength was a modern interpretation of the classic monster, like whereas Frankenstein is kind of chained up and not empowered, Penelope has kind of empowered herself in spite of her disfigurement. She's not sitting in a corner, she's motivated.
HJ: What are some of the films in that genre that you've enjoyed, and that have influenced you?
MP: A lot. Frankenstein, for sure. The Elephant Man, Edward Scissorhands, Mask, with Eric Stoltz. Those are probably the big ones that stand out. Those are obviously very different, because Mask is about a real person, and so is The Elephant Man, but I wanted her deformity to come from a real place, in a way. That's why it looks much more realistic than some kind of crazy, fantastical prosthetic. It's interesting that [Penelope] is a female, because obviously there's much more baggage that comes with females and beauty. Like, women can love men for their insides, but it doesn't usually happen in the reverse.
HJ: I would imagine that a lot of SGs can relate, on some level, to exactly that: Penelope's challenge is that she has to find a way to fully love and accept herself in a world that tells her she's different.
MP: Absolutely. Hopefully everybody can relate. I would worry if I were surrounded by people who didn't have those problems, insecurities, and flaws, because I think that everybody does. The SuicideGirls--all of them are beautiful in their own ways. They're just expressing themselves differently. Penelope expresses herself through her room, and the things she makes, and that whole world. In my opinion, she does that because of her deformity. It's like, if she were born "normal," then she wouldn't have that creative outlet.
HJ: What characteristics or interests did you instill in Penelope that weren't in the original script?
MP: Probably a lot of things along those lines. Her room was described as being very different from the rest of the house, because she's stuck in there, but I wanted to incorporate her outlook and style into her wardrobe, and into the design of the film, and have it really grow out of her. What was important to me was that she's not sitting around watching MTV. Her sense of aesthetic and style comes from her. That process kind of went into the entire film.
HJ: She has a very childlike perception of the world, when she first ventures into it.
MP: Yeah, when she's finally out in the world, what she sees and how she sees it is really all about this person who hasn't seen anything, and then processes things through that mental filter. Childlike and innocent, like the terrariums which are in her space. I remember having a meeting with the art department people who made them, and I was saying, you know, "Let's do one with red grass and a big bunny rabbit and a kid with a kite that's a butterfly." It was like using how a child would think about things in an innocent way, before it's tainted. The other characters are sort of the real freaks, in a way.
HJ: The movie is really visually rich. What outside influences inspired your palette for the film?
MP: The first thought I had when I was reading it was that her world was colorful, and the rest of environment in the house was black and white. That's kind of where I started from, and I liked the idea that there was this juxtaposition between her amazing world, and everyone else who is supposedly free.
HJ: Her room is so textured, and the rest of the house is sort of flat.
MP: And it's simple, and boring, and black and white. Pretty much everywhere we could, we kept it monochromatic. I immediately thought of Mark Ryden, the painter, when I read the script, because his images are very childlike and innocent, but also very twisted at the same time, like a little girl playing the piano with a hunk of meat sitting on the side. Strange contrasts.
HJ: Sort of startling but non-threatening.
MP: Yeah, and what I liked about it was that people that look at Ryden's images, or watch Penelope are sort of like, "Oh, this is nice, this is fluffy, I like this," but there's other stuff going on that's a bit weird. I've described the film before as kind of like a chocolate covered piece of tofu. Sort of like, "Oh, that looks delicious," and then you taste it and it's like, "Oh, there's something more substantive here," and it may not taste that great, but the idea was that I was trying to get a little bit more across, even though it's covered in a fluffy fairy tale.
HJ: Towards the end of the film, we're offered the insight that curses really only have as much power over us as we give them. What kind of curses have you dealt with, and how do you unleash yourself from them?
MP: I definitely don't think I have unleashed myself from them. I think that those "curses" are kind of with you from a young age. Sometimes I feel creative frustration with the environment I'm in, which doesn't allow me to think in ways I want to think. It's really about trying to find your voice. I've always felt kind of different, and not necessarily in a good way, and I think that that's the curse you kind of live with as you try to push forward. You build the walls that you claim for yourself. You're the one building them.
HJ: What do you do when you've been in Los Angeles for a while, and you start to feel stopped-up creatively?
MP: I usually try to get away. Like when I travel, for example, I'm infinitely more fertile. Even dreams, when I travel, are kind of more fertile. The big thing I'll try to do is subtract the routine or whatever has gotten too comfortable. I try to pick up a different book, or find new things to inspire or stimulate or think about, because there's a lot of sameness in this city and this world, so it's trying to get away from that.
HJ: Speaking of "sameness," in your short film, The Same, you didn't have any dialogue. How did that unconventional choice affect the reception of the film by studio-types who you'd eventually be going to for feature gigs?
MP: I remember when I was writing it, I didn't set out to write a silent film. I had the story in mind, and then every time I would think about dialogue, there was never any need for it. In my feature films, something I really want to show is that it's not always necessary--especially when you have great actors--to get things across [through dialogue]. It just became that. When I finished the script, it was like, "There's no words in this." A lot of people said that I told the story through images, and that's what filmmaking and cinema is, so I think it certainly worked to my advantage.
HJ: You've worked with both Jason Acuna and Peter Dinklage. Is that just coincidence, or do little people represent something for you?
MP: I have a couple of projects now with Peter Dinklage as well that I'm working on, possibly even my next film. I guess in some ways I feel like some sort of kinship. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's like, "What is normal, what is average?" Peter is a great looking man and immensely, ridiculously talented, so why should he be different from anybody else in the grand scheme of things? I think one of the things I've come to realize is that I want to film things that hopefully make people forget about the differences. In Penelope, I hope that you forget that she has the snout of a pig and after the first 20 minutes you're just watching this girl, and this relationship. Those other things should become inconsequential, whether it's tattoos on SuicideGirls or whatever.
HJ: James McAvoy was still relatively unknown when you cast him. What about him made you pick him for Penelope's romantic opposite?
MP: James was just oozing integrity out of every pore. Honestly, when I met with him, I just knew from his character and the person he was. It was funny, because you get all these head shots, and James's head shot--he looked like a boy. I remember telling the casting director, "He just looks like a boy," but she insisted I meet him. Sitting down with him, we didn't talk about Penelope for one second. We talked about funerals, and how his grandfather was a butcher and had taught him how to cut meat--it was just like connecting with someone anywhere. I felt a kind of connection with him on that level, and his integrity I thought was very important to ground the character of Penelope. I wanted someone who had that intensity. He's just a really good person.
HJ: Who else in the cast did you connect with creatively that you'd really like to work with again?
MP: All of them, I mean honestly, what was shocking to me was how great that collaborative experience was. Catherine O'Hara I was already such a huge fan of. I always find her really great to watch, and she's funny, and it was really important for that role that there be some sympathy for her character somewhere. I just didn't want her to be this complete ice queen bitch. I wanted the audience to care for her and know that she's trying, she just has no idea how to deal with it. Catherine is so good at what she does. She would just come up with things that you would never, never think about. You could sit there and brainstorm all day long about a really funny way to play something, and then she would just come up with it. Her brain is just amazing--I loved every day working with her. She's one of the few actresses, I think, who can pull off both humor and sadness. I think a lot of other actresses would have played it too cold.
HJ: I've heard rumors that you were discovered in a Starbucks by Michael Bay. Is there any truth to this?
MP: If coffee is a 12 ounce cup at Starbucks, then there are maybe like, 4 ounces of truth to that story. I was around 16 when I was working at Starbucks as a barista, and the truth is that Michael had come in there, but I didn't know who he was. I think he had just done Bad Boys, and so he was wearing a Bad Boys hat, and I said, "Is that movie any good?" He said, "I directed it." I basically ended up working in his office through other circumstances, although he might tell you that he plucked me from Starbucks.
HJ: What are you working on now? What's next on the agenda?
MP: There are a few projects that I'm working on. There are three things I'm writing with others, all of those are original stories that I've come up with, and there's a couple of Peter Dinklage projects that I didn't write. One of them is a Brothers Grimm-style fairy tale--a dark, dark, atmospheric, very cool fairy tale. I'm also working on something with Daniel Handler, who is Lemony Snicket, which is also a very cool project, and he's great. I don't know which will go first.
Helen Jupiter: What attracted you to this script?
Mark Palansky: I liked the classic monster mythology of Penelope's character. I liked that she was sort of stuck up in the attic, not to be seen by anyone. It was, of course, a spin on that, but that was what immediately attracted me to her. I thought that her strength was a modern interpretation of the classic monster, like whereas Frankenstein is kind of chained up and not empowered, Penelope has kind of empowered herself in spite of her disfigurement. She's not sitting in a corner, she's motivated.
HJ: What are some of the films in that genre that you've enjoyed, and that have influenced you?
MP: A lot. Frankenstein, for sure. The Elephant Man, Edward Scissorhands, Mask, with Eric Stoltz. Those are probably the big ones that stand out. Those are obviously very different, because Mask is about a real person, and so is The Elephant Man, but I wanted her deformity to come from a real place, in a way. That's why it looks much more realistic than some kind of crazy, fantastical prosthetic. It's interesting that [Penelope] is a female, because obviously there's much more baggage that comes with females and beauty. Like, women can love men for their insides, but it doesn't usually happen in the reverse.
HJ: I would imagine that a lot of SGs can relate, on some level, to exactly that: Penelope's challenge is that she has to find a way to fully love and accept herself in a world that tells her she's different.
MP: Absolutely. Hopefully everybody can relate. I would worry if I were surrounded by people who didn't have those problems, insecurities, and flaws, because I think that everybody does. The SuicideGirls--all of them are beautiful in their own ways. They're just expressing themselves differently. Penelope expresses herself through her room, and the things she makes, and that whole world. In my opinion, she does that because of her deformity. It's like, if she were born "normal," then she wouldn't have that creative outlet.
HJ: What characteristics or interests did you instill in Penelope that weren't in the original script?
MP: Probably a lot of things along those lines. Her room was described as being very different from the rest of the house, because she's stuck in there, but I wanted to incorporate her outlook and style into her wardrobe, and into the design of the film, and have it really grow out of her. What was important to me was that she's not sitting around watching MTV. Her sense of aesthetic and style comes from her. That process kind of went into the entire film.
HJ: She has a very childlike perception of the world, when she first ventures into it.
MP: Yeah, when she's finally out in the world, what she sees and how she sees it is really all about this person who hasn't seen anything, and then processes things through that mental filter. Childlike and innocent, like the terrariums which are in her space. I remember having a meeting with the art department people who made them, and I was saying, you know, "Let's do one with red grass and a big bunny rabbit and a kid with a kite that's a butterfly." It was like using how a child would think about things in an innocent way, before it's tainted. The other characters are sort of the real freaks, in a way.
HJ: The movie is really visually rich. What outside influences inspired your palette for the film?
MP: The first thought I had when I was reading it was that her world was colorful, and the rest of environment in the house was black and white. That's kind of where I started from, and I liked the idea that there was this juxtaposition between her amazing world, and everyone else who is supposedly free.
HJ: Her room is so textured, and the rest of the house is sort of flat.
MP: And it's simple, and boring, and black and white. Pretty much everywhere we could, we kept it monochromatic. I immediately thought of Mark Ryden, the painter, when I read the script, because his images are very childlike and innocent, but also very twisted at the same time, like a little girl playing the piano with a hunk of meat sitting on the side. Strange contrasts.
HJ: Sort of startling but non-threatening.
MP: Yeah, and what I liked about it was that people that look at Ryden's images, or watch Penelope are sort of like, "Oh, this is nice, this is fluffy, I like this," but there's other stuff going on that's a bit weird. I've described the film before as kind of like a chocolate covered piece of tofu. Sort of like, "Oh, that looks delicious," and then you taste it and it's like, "Oh, there's something more substantive here," and it may not taste that great, but the idea was that I was trying to get a little bit more across, even though it's covered in a fluffy fairy tale.
HJ: Towards the end of the film, we're offered the insight that curses really only have as much power over us as we give them. What kind of curses have you dealt with, and how do you unleash yourself from them?
MP: I definitely don't think I have unleashed myself from them. I think that those "curses" are kind of with you from a young age. Sometimes I feel creative frustration with the environment I'm in, which doesn't allow me to think in ways I want to think. It's really about trying to find your voice. I've always felt kind of different, and not necessarily in a good way, and I think that that's the curse you kind of live with as you try to push forward. You build the walls that you claim for yourself. You're the one building them.
HJ: What do you do when you've been in Los Angeles for a while, and you start to feel stopped-up creatively?
MP: I usually try to get away. Like when I travel, for example, I'm infinitely more fertile. Even dreams, when I travel, are kind of more fertile. The big thing I'll try to do is subtract the routine or whatever has gotten too comfortable. I try to pick up a different book, or find new things to inspire or stimulate or think about, because there's a lot of sameness in this city and this world, so it's trying to get away from that.
HJ: Speaking of "sameness," in your short film, The Same, you didn't have any dialogue. How did that unconventional choice affect the reception of the film by studio-types who you'd eventually be going to for feature gigs?
MP: I remember when I was writing it, I didn't set out to write a silent film. I had the story in mind, and then every time I would think about dialogue, there was never any need for it. In my feature films, something I really want to show is that it's not always necessary--especially when you have great actors--to get things across [through dialogue]. It just became that. When I finished the script, it was like, "There's no words in this." A lot of people said that I told the story through images, and that's what filmmaking and cinema is, so I think it certainly worked to my advantage.
HJ: You've worked with both Jason Acuna and Peter Dinklage. Is that just coincidence, or do little people represent something for you?
MP: I have a couple of projects now with Peter Dinklage as well that I'm working on, possibly even my next film. I guess in some ways I feel like some sort of kinship. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's like, "What is normal, what is average?" Peter is a great looking man and immensely, ridiculously talented, so why should he be different from anybody else in the grand scheme of things? I think one of the things I've come to realize is that I want to film things that hopefully make people forget about the differences. In Penelope, I hope that you forget that she has the snout of a pig and after the first 20 minutes you're just watching this girl, and this relationship. Those other things should become inconsequential, whether it's tattoos on SuicideGirls or whatever.
HJ: James McAvoy was still relatively unknown when you cast him. What about him made you pick him for Penelope's romantic opposite?
MP: James was just oozing integrity out of every pore. Honestly, when I met with him, I just knew from his character and the person he was. It was funny, because you get all these head shots, and James's head shot--he looked like a boy. I remember telling the casting director, "He just looks like a boy," but she insisted I meet him. Sitting down with him, we didn't talk about Penelope for one second. We talked about funerals, and how his grandfather was a butcher and had taught him how to cut meat--it was just like connecting with someone anywhere. I felt a kind of connection with him on that level, and his integrity I thought was very important to ground the character of Penelope. I wanted someone who had that intensity. He's just a really good person.
HJ: Who else in the cast did you connect with creatively that you'd really like to work with again?
MP: All of them, I mean honestly, what was shocking to me was how great that collaborative experience was. Catherine O'Hara I was already such a huge fan of. I always find her really great to watch, and she's funny, and it was really important for that role that there be some sympathy for her character somewhere. I just didn't want her to be this complete ice queen bitch. I wanted the audience to care for her and know that she's trying, she just has no idea how to deal with it. Catherine is so good at what she does. She would just come up with things that you would never, never think about. You could sit there and brainstorm all day long about a really funny way to play something, and then she would just come up with it. Her brain is just amazing--I loved every day working with her. She's one of the few actresses, I think, who can pull off both humor and sadness. I think a lot of other actresses would have played it too cold.
HJ: I've heard rumors that you were discovered in a Starbucks by Michael Bay. Is there any truth to this?
MP: If coffee is a 12 ounce cup at Starbucks, then there are maybe like, 4 ounces of truth to that story. I was around 16 when I was working at Starbucks as a barista, and the truth is that Michael had come in there, but I didn't know who he was. I think he had just done Bad Boys, and so he was wearing a Bad Boys hat, and I said, "Is that movie any good?" He said, "I directed it." I basically ended up working in his office through other circumstances, although he might tell you that he plucked me from Starbucks.
HJ: What are you working on now? What's next on the agenda?
MP: There are a few projects that I'm working on. There are three things I'm writing with others, all of those are original stories that I've come up with, and there's a couple of Peter Dinklage projects that I didn't write. One of them is a Brothers Grimm-style fairy tale--a dark, dark, atmospheric, very cool fairy tale. I'm also working on something with Daniel Handler, who is Lemony Snicket, which is also a very cool project, and he's great. I don't know which will go first.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
erin_broadley:
i loved the film! gonna see it again for sure in theaters...
fitzsimmons:
Sounds cool. I love Christina Ricci so I will probably check it out.