Indie film darling Greta Gerwig already has two movies out this year, one of them being Damsels in Distress, in which she starred. I actually got to meet her for that film when I was interviewing Whit Stillman. While they were paired, Sillman commented on her character in the Arthur remake, as an example of how studio movies give characters silly traits.
In Lola Versus Gerwig stars as Lola, a woman whose fianc (Joel Kinnaman) cancels their wedding sending her on a spiral of casual sex, dating, drinking and disaster. This is not one of your Kate Hudson wedding movies.
The impressive credentials of Greta Gerwig include a magna cum laude honor from Barnard College. As an actor, she starred in notable indies like Hannah Takes the Stairs and The Duplass Brothers Baghead. Noah Baumbachs Greenberg got her enough notice to land big Hollywood movies like No Strings Attached and Arthur.
Curled up in a hotel chair, Gerwig remembered me, since wed only met two months prior. We sort of continued the conversation where Damsels in Distress left off. Durning our conversation, Gerwig got us thinking about how awesome it is to be bored, which was a most exciting and unexpected twist.
SuicideGirls: Are you concerned with the images of women movies put out?
Greta Gerwig: Meaning is it something I worry about?
SG: When youre taking movies and looking at other movies in the industry.
GG: Well, I think were in the middle of a really exciting time for women in film. Largely its women generating parts for themselves. I think weve gotten a lot more interesting female characters within film and television. But I think typically when youre given a script to read, the majority of scripts I read, women are ciphers. Theyre not really full characters a lot of the time. That being said, neither are a lot of the men. I mean, truth be told, theres just a lot of bad writing out there. Theres also a lot of good writing but of course everybodys fighting to get the good writing. Im on a long list of people but I do think about it. Ive been very, very fortunate with it. I feel like Ive looked for women who seem like theyre dynamic human beings in movies, and Ive been lucky enough to play parts like that that seem like dynamic human beings who arent just a stand-in for a pretty girl or something.
SG: Whit Stillman was amused that your character in Arthur gave tours of train stations. Did that seem far fetched to you?
GG: She was a tour guide, yeah. I got the best e-mail that Ive ever gotten from anyone from Whit after he saw Arthur. He said, All the departments executed their jobs well and the projection was very good. I said, Thank you, Whit, for seeing the film. Yeah, that seems slightly far fetched but I think Arthur is a fairy tale movie. It doesnt exist in reality. I think its like an archetype. Its a fairy tale of the prince and the pauper almost.
SG: What was it about this perspective on marriage falling apart and women in relationships in Lola Versus that appealed to you?
GG: Well, shes the gal moving the story forward. Shes the one making all these mistakes. I really liked how big she messes up. She doesnt mess up little. She messes up in this grand way and she really screws up her friendships and relationships and is selfish and not really thinking about other people. There was something exciting about that. It was just incredibly fun to do and I knew when I was reading it This will be really fun to act and I can really get into this. It was, I was right.
SG: Lola is writing a dissertation on silence. Do you feel we have a fear of silence?
GG: Yes, I do. I think we have a fear of silence and a fear of boredom which is maybe the same thing.
SG: God, it shouldnt be.
GG: Silence and boredom? I think boredoms great. I think boredoms so useful. Raymond Chandler wrote about writing when he said that he would give himself four hours every day and he had to sit at his desk and he didnt have to write but he couldnt do anything else. Eventually you get bored enough you start writing. I think boredom covers up for something else. I think boredom covers up anxiety about being alone or being quiet and not having anything to fill your brain or your hands or your eyes or your ears with. I think that creates anxiety which we interpret to be boredom but is actually anxiety.
SG: I would have thought boredom is something to be avoided but silence can be lovely.
GG: I think boredom is to be embraced. I think boredom can create really wonderful things. I think theres a lack of boredom in the world right now. I think theres a total lack of boredom. If youre on the train or on the bus in New York, everybodys on their phones or on their tablets and theyre entertaining themselves to fucking death. Its literally like a David Foster Wallace book. And Im part of it too. Im not better than it. Im a human. Of course I love a screen that talks to me. Its the best thing in the world. You dont have to sit with yourself anymore. But I think its so dangerous. Those moments of boredom on a plane or at the doctors office dont exist anymore and maybe good thinking got done then. Maybe nothing got done then but maybe something got done. I don't think we can really assess the loss of that.
SG: They might be watching some of your movies on those phones and tablets.
GG: I know, they might be. I might be feeding the beast. I probably am feeding the beast. Im part of it. Im part of the problem.
SG: As someone who works as much as you do and develops your own projects, when do you get to be bored?
GG: Im bored all the time. Its a weird combination because I try to stay off the internet and the television and the media enough that I can have time and space to think and work, but at the same time, Im involved in making content so I cant be totally removed from it. Its a weird balance to strike. Its somewhere in the middle but its very easy to get sucked into the internet as everybody knows.
SG: Thats why Im employed. I produce a lot of that.
GG: I know, its great. I mean, its totally beguiling but its weird. I have Google Chrome and you can look at your search history. For me, looking at my search history its like you can see the machinations of your mind going, Oh, I wonder if he made this movie with this person. Oh, then that led me over here. Then I wonder what is arsenic anyway? Its really indulging all these stone skipping thoughts but I don't know. Maybe I just have this reaction because Im secretly addicted to the internet.
SG: Well I learned something from one of your movies, also written by a woman, No Strings Attached. I learned about tea for your vag. I didnt know that was a thing.
GG: Yeah, that line made it in. I love Liz Meriwether. Shes hilarious. I love her show too, New Girl. I think shes really funny and great. I hope I get to make another movie with her.
SG: So tea for your vag is a thing and that helps women.
GG: Tea for your vag, yeah, totally.
SG: With all of the avenues available now in indie films, is it easier as an artist to reach an audience, via social media or these devices?
GG: I dont really use a lot of those. I dont tweet. I dont do that stuff but yeah, I think it is easier. I don't know that Im taking advantage of it though but it is easier.
SG: When youre trying to raise financing, do these options, including VOD and downloading, help you get the money to make a movie?
GG: I actually stay far away from those kinds of decision making moments because its thinks I have no real aptitude to think about. The VOD stuff or the different ways youre going to raise money, I just want to make the movie. Then however it gets to people, I let that happen however it happens.
SG: How have your educational studies of acting been important to your work?
GG: I didnt go to conservatory. I got to take from some amazing teachers who were actually teaching at Julliard but I was at Barnard College at Columbia and I majored in English and philosophy. I was doing a lot of theater and taking a lot of acting classes and I guess Ive always seen it as filling my toolbox. I feel like its all kind of haphazard because I didnt have a full on four year conservatory training program. But I think the benefit of it is I never lost how fun it is and Ive never lost that feeling of its all play. Its never felt like work or drudgery, writing and acting. It has always felt free and exciting and it makes me happy. I think part of that has been preserved because I didnt overwork it.
SG: Is it your type of music on the Lola Versus soundtrack?
GG: No, my type of music, I like big 70s rock, I like Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music type stuff. I like Patti Smith. I like David Bowie. I like rock n roll. Lola Versus is in theaters June 8.
In Lola Versus Gerwig stars as Lola, a woman whose fianc (Joel Kinnaman) cancels their wedding sending her on a spiral of casual sex, dating, drinking and disaster. This is not one of your Kate Hudson wedding movies.
The impressive credentials of Greta Gerwig include a magna cum laude honor from Barnard College. As an actor, she starred in notable indies like Hannah Takes the Stairs and The Duplass Brothers Baghead. Noah Baumbachs Greenberg got her enough notice to land big Hollywood movies like No Strings Attached and Arthur.
Curled up in a hotel chair, Gerwig remembered me, since wed only met two months prior. We sort of continued the conversation where Damsels in Distress left off. Durning our conversation, Gerwig got us thinking about how awesome it is to be bored, which was a most exciting and unexpected twist.
SuicideGirls: Are you concerned with the images of women movies put out?
Greta Gerwig: Meaning is it something I worry about?
SG: When youre taking movies and looking at other movies in the industry.
GG: Well, I think were in the middle of a really exciting time for women in film. Largely its women generating parts for themselves. I think weve gotten a lot more interesting female characters within film and television. But I think typically when youre given a script to read, the majority of scripts I read, women are ciphers. Theyre not really full characters a lot of the time. That being said, neither are a lot of the men. I mean, truth be told, theres just a lot of bad writing out there. Theres also a lot of good writing but of course everybodys fighting to get the good writing. Im on a long list of people but I do think about it. Ive been very, very fortunate with it. I feel like Ive looked for women who seem like theyre dynamic human beings in movies, and Ive been lucky enough to play parts like that that seem like dynamic human beings who arent just a stand-in for a pretty girl or something.
SG: Whit Stillman was amused that your character in Arthur gave tours of train stations. Did that seem far fetched to you?
GG: She was a tour guide, yeah. I got the best e-mail that Ive ever gotten from anyone from Whit after he saw Arthur. He said, All the departments executed their jobs well and the projection was very good. I said, Thank you, Whit, for seeing the film. Yeah, that seems slightly far fetched but I think Arthur is a fairy tale movie. It doesnt exist in reality. I think its like an archetype. Its a fairy tale of the prince and the pauper almost.
SG: What was it about this perspective on marriage falling apart and women in relationships in Lola Versus that appealed to you?
GG: Well, shes the gal moving the story forward. Shes the one making all these mistakes. I really liked how big she messes up. She doesnt mess up little. She messes up in this grand way and she really screws up her friendships and relationships and is selfish and not really thinking about other people. There was something exciting about that. It was just incredibly fun to do and I knew when I was reading it This will be really fun to act and I can really get into this. It was, I was right.
SG: Lola is writing a dissertation on silence. Do you feel we have a fear of silence?
GG: Yes, I do. I think we have a fear of silence and a fear of boredom which is maybe the same thing.
SG: God, it shouldnt be.
GG: Silence and boredom? I think boredoms great. I think boredoms so useful. Raymond Chandler wrote about writing when he said that he would give himself four hours every day and he had to sit at his desk and he didnt have to write but he couldnt do anything else. Eventually you get bored enough you start writing. I think boredom covers up for something else. I think boredom covers up anxiety about being alone or being quiet and not having anything to fill your brain or your hands or your eyes or your ears with. I think that creates anxiety which we interpret to be boredom but is actually anxiety.
SG: I would have thought boredom is something to be avoided but silence can be lovely.
GG: I think boredom is to be embraced. I think boredom can create really wonderful things. I think theres a lack of boredom in the world right now. I think theres a total lack of boredom. If youre on the train or on the bus in New York, everybodys on their phones or on their tablets and theyre entertaining themselves to fucking death. Its literally like a David Foster Wallace book. And Im part of it too. Im not better than it. Im a human. Of course I love a screen that talks to me. Its the best thing in the world. You dont have to sit with yourself anymore. But I think its so dangerous. Those moments of boredom on a plane or at the doctors office dont exist anymore and maybe good thinking got done then. Maybe nothing got done then but maybe something got done. I don't think we can really assess the loss of that.
SG: They might be watching some of your movies on those phones and tablets.
GG: I know, they might be. I might be feeding the beast. I probably am feeding the beast. Im part of it. Im part of the problem.
SG: As someone who works as much as you do and develops your own projects, when do you get to be bored?
GG: Im bored all the time. Its a weird combination because I try to stay off the internet and the television and the media enough that I can have time and space to think and work, but at the same time, Im involved in making content so I cant be totally removed from it. Its a weird balance to strike. Its somewhere in the middle but its very easy to get sucked into the internet as everybody knows.
SG: Thats why Im employed. I produce a lot of that.
GG: I know, its great. I mean, its totally beguiling but its weird. I have Google Chrome and you can look at your search history. For me, looking at my search history its like you can see the machinations of your mind going, Oh, I wonder if he made this movie with this person. Oh, then that led me over here. Then I wonder what is arsenic anyway? Its really indulging all these stone skipping thoughts but I don't know. Maybe I just have this reaction because Im secretly addicted to the internet.
SG: Well I learned something from one of your movies, also written by a woman, No Strings Attached. I learned about tea for your vag. I didnt know that was a thing.
GG: Yeah, that line made it in. I love Liz Meriwether. Shes hilarious. I love her show too, New Girl. I think shes really funny and great. I hope I get to make another movie with her.
SG: So tea for your vag is a thing and that helps women.
GG: Tea for your vag, yeah, totally.
SG: With all of the avenues available now in indie films, is it easier as an artist to reach an audience, via social media or these devices?
GG: I dont really use a lot of those. I dont tweet. I dont do that stuff but yeah, I think it is easier. I don't know that Im taking advantage of it though but it is easier.
SG: When youre trying to raise financing, do these options, including VOD and downloading, help you get the money to make a movie?
GG: I actually stay far away from those kinds of decision making moments because its thinks I have no real aptitude to think about. The VOD stuff or the different ways youre going to raise money, I just want to make the movie. Then however it gets to people, I let that happen however it happens.
SG: How have your educational studies of acting been important to your work?
GG: I didnt go to conservatory. I got to take from some amazing teachers who were actually teaching at Julliard but I was at Barnard College at Columbia and I majored in English and philosophy. I was doing a lot of theater and taking a lot of acting classes and I guess Ive always seen it as filling my toolbox. I feel like its all kind of haphazard because I didnt have a full on four year conservatory training program. But I think the benefit of it is I never lost how fun it is and Ive never lost that feeling of its all play. Its never felt like work or drudgery, writing and acting. It has always felt free and exciting and it makes me happy. I think part of that has been preserved because I didnt overwork it.
SG: Is it your type of music on the Lola Versus soundtrack?
GG: No, my type of music, I like big 70s rock, I like Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music type stuff. I like Patti Smith. I like David Bowie. I like rock n roll. Lola Versus is in theaters June 8.