There’s no question as to what director Lorene Scafaria’s
intentions were with her new movie The
Meddler. “I wanted to make a movie about my father and the two women who
loved him most,” she said during a recent visit to Chicago. Needless to say, she accomplished what she
set out to do as the movie, which opened on area screens Friday, focuses on how
a mother and daughter deal with their grief after the patriarch of her family
passes away, an event that occurs long before the film begins but continues to
ripple through the lives of the two main characters.
Having written only one adaptation for the screen (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) and
directed only one film – the underappreciated gem Seeking a Friend for the End of the World – Scafaria still hit the
mother lode in getting Susan Sarandon and Rose Byrne to star in this film, a
tribute to her screenplay’s strong dialogue and unique take on mother-daughter
relationships. I asked Scafaria what it
was like to have a screen icon portray her mother on screen.
“As an introduction to the movie, I shot the first five
minutes of it with my mother and showed it to Susan,” the filmmaker
recounts. “She said, ‘This is everything
I need’ and then she just began building the character from there. Then the four of us, Susan, Rose, my mother,
and myself, went on a double date and that was all of the contact they had with
one another. I didn’t allow my mother on
the set after we started shooting because I didn’t want Susan to be
uncomfortable. ”
While the character of Marnie is based on her mother,
Scafaria is quick to point out that Sarandon’s performance is not an imitation
of her. “It is my mother but it’s not.
Yes, the basic character and her intentions are but the mannerisms that Susan
brought to the role and the way she speaks are different. In the end, those little differences don’t
matter because the humanity of my mother is in the performance, and that’s the
key.”
Of course, Scafaria had to determine just how realistic she
wanted to make the characters of Marnie and her on-screen counterpart
Lori. While some of the things
Sarandon’s mother seem outlandish and borderline crazy (she agrees to pay for
one of her daughter’s friends wedding!), the director contends that everything
she does on screen is based on a true incident, as are the troubles Lori goes
through. “I felt that if I wasn’t going
to be honest about things then there was no reason to do the movie,” she says
by way of explanation. “Certain elements
of the plot are fabricated but what Marnie does, did happen. Keeping that in mind, if I was going to put
my mother under the microscope, I better be willing to do that myself. So yes,
at one point I was as low as Lori is in the movie and I did encourage my mother
to go speak to my therapist about what we spoke about during our sessions.”
While some may think this sort of behavior intrusive,
Scafaria looks at her mother’s actions in another way. “Look, my mom always wants to save the
world,” she says, “so her paying for my friend’s wedding doesn’t seem out of
the ordinary to me or those who know her.
Yes, she does call all the time and leaves messages that ramble and
maybe have no purpose. But, I really
don’t think the movie is about meddling so much as it is about a woman who has
so much love for her daughter and those around her that she doesn’t know what
to do with it.”
Scafaria is pleased that her relationship with her mother
hasn’t gone the way of so many others that are sometimes torn asunder due to
misunderstandings or familial conflicts.
In fact, she spends as much time with her mother as possible. “I always make sure she comes to premieres
with me and other Hollywood functions.
She’s very innocent where this is concerned and she gets excited when we
do this. She enjoys the work I’m doing
and the lifestyle I lead. Her excitement
helps me appreciate how lucky I am.”
With her father as the catalyst for the film, I asked Safaria
what she thought his reaction would be to the movie. “Oh, he’d be over the moon!” she
exclaimed. “I so wish he could be here
to see it, not because it’s about him but it’s about the two women who loved
him the most. We were always his focus
and I know I wouldn’t be where I am without his support. I’m sure he knows that.”
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2016.
