Gire chats with 'Love and Other Drugs' director Edward Zwick
Chicago-born Edward Zwick's new romantic drama “Love and Other Drugs” is loosely inspired by the nonfiction book “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.” I spoke with Zwick during his recent publicity swing through the Windy City.
Q. The movie doesn't have much to do with the book, does it?
A. The book only provided a context. Essentially (the film) is an original story, but in context, it's true. The book was the inspiration for the film, but that's about all that it gave us.
Q. How were you able to get such natural and comfortable performances from Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, who are in the buff for much of the movie?
A. A lot of it is about trust. About the time we spent together, getting to know each other. We all wanted to do this movie, but we had a rather short window to do it.
We spent two really good weeks, talking about sensuality and so many different things. We decided to do each scene as honestly as we could do, as long as it was not gratuitous, as long as it was accomplishing something.
Q. Why was the nudity important?
A. In my experience, when you fall in love with someone, you spend a lot of time in bed and a lot of time naked. To have the sheets up all the time would have been coy and oddly fatuous, and we were determined not to do that.
Q. Several scenes in “Love and Other Drugs” take place in Chicago. How many of them were actually shot here?
A. Absolutely none. We didn't have a lot of money. We sent a crew to get shots of the Hancock Tower, some shots of the Art Institute, some things to suggest Chicago.
Q. You're known mostly for historical and period epics such as “Glory,” “Blood Diamond,” “Defiance” and “The Last Samurai.” Can we expect another one soon?
A. Epics these days are in short supply unless they have a super hero, or a graphic novel, or a sequel or a remake, and none of those things have been my stock in trade. I just can't get myself over that hump to do those things. A lot of the things I want to do in terms of epics I'm not sure people can do right now. If you look at the landscape, there are just not a lot of them.
Q. What's wrong with Hollywood movies today?
A. I really think it has to begin on the part of the studios, who have to stop underestimating the taste and sensibility of its audience. Because sophisticated audiences have fled the movies and gone to cable television. That's where the good writing is, and that's where the challenging stories are.
The point is that we can't abdicate movies only to 15-year-olds. That will be its final death knell.
A critical message
And speaking of Viagra ...
The late Gene Siskel was always in the mood for a joke, especially if he could make it at the expense of his TV partner Roger Ebert. One day in 1996 when a certain little blue pill became a media rage, Siskel prominently posted a “While You Were Out” telephone message outside the Lake Street Screening Room where critics see movies.
It read: “Roger: Walgreens called. Your Viagra is in.”
Really mean streets
Join me and film historian Raymond Benson as Dann & Raymond's Movie Club presents “The Mean Streets of Martin Scorsese,” an overview of one of Hollywood's greatest and most enduring filmmakers.
Featuring film clips from most of Scorsese's impressive list of movies, including “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Mean Streets” and “The Departed,” the only film to win him the best picture Oscar. It starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg. Free admission! Call (847) 985-4000 or go to www.sdtl.info.
‘Dino-Mite' mini-fest
Man, nothing says Thanksgiving Day weekend like a movie mash-up of rampaging dinosaurs. Four monster movies come our way Saturday at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Road, Chicago, starting at 2 p.m. with “Destroy All Monsters!” followed by “The Beast From Hollow Mountain” at 4 p.m., “The Land Unknown” at 5:45 p.m. and Steven Spielberg's “Jurassic Park” at 7:30 p.m. Call (773) 736-4050 or go to portagetheater.org. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $5 for kids.