Interview with Courtney Hunt- Director of Frozen River

Here the second of the three interviews I did for wowOwow on the female Oscar contenders.  The final interview with Viola Davis will post later this week:

Courtney Hunt has had an amazing year. Her film “Frozen River” debuted at last January’s Sundance Film Festival, taking home the Grand Jury Award.  The film was bought by Sony Pictures Classics and was released in August to near-unanimously positive reviews. The film is up for two Oscars: one for Melissa Leo (best actress) and one for Hunt (best original screenplay). It’s also a contender for several Independent Spirit Awards, including best feature, best director (for which Hunt is the only woman nominated), best female lead and best supporting female. Here Hunt talks about the making of the successful movie to Melissa Silverstein, wowOwow’s correspondent and founder of the website WomenandHollywood.com.

MELISSA SILVERSTEIN: Hi, Courtney, let’s get started. What made you write “Frozen River”?

COURTNEY HUNT: The story was based on a real situation that goes on at the border of New York State and Canada involving smugglers, and this Indian reservation and the St. Lawrence River, which, when it freezes, the smugglers drive across. Around 9/11, I heard that they were switching over to illegal immigrants, so I was interested in that story. And I wrote a short film about it in 2004, and then that led to the feature.

MS: Talk a little bit about how things have changed for you since the premiere in Sundance.

CH: I have access to better material, and a lot of opportunities have popped up. There is a lot of interest from actors who are interested in working with me and I’m having an easier time of getting something read. And I’m getting to pick and choose some different directing jobs, which is really nice.  I’ve been hired for one that’s a rewrite and I’m directing.

MS: I remember when we talked last time, you were very deliberate about wanting to not only write and direct, but wanting to also be a director for hire so that people could see you in both arenas.

CH: Right. And I’m up for a job simply directing, a big job, which I can’t name. Everything I’m offered is for directing. But sometimes there will be a rewrite as well.

MS: That’s incredible. You made this film for under $1 million, so are you looking at budgets in the $10 million range now, or lower since they know you can do an amazing movie on a million dollars?

CH: People won’t even talk about a million dollars. I made the movie for the better part of a million, but got it in the can for about half a million, and people just laugh when I tell them. They think that’s a joke, that it’s ridiculous. No one ever makes movies for that kind of money.

MS: Have you noticed the change in the audience due to the economic slowdown?

CH: First of all, it’s a strong story so people first talk about the story. But then the second and third things they used to talk about — mostly the smuggling. Now it’s mostly the distress that they’re in, economically, as people, as the situation described in the movie becomes less and less unusual.

MS: So it becomes more of a personal movie, whereas a year ago it was much more of a thriller with a situation that I couldn’t see myself being in. Now it’s a thriller but, oh my, that could be me.

CH: I think there’s a little more awareness that the people I’m writing about are not so far out there.

MS: Did you ever feel when you were writing that they were so far out there?

CH: No. As soon as you leave any major city in this country, you run smack into people living in rural areas that may be economically forgotten, which is the truth about upstate New York. It’s not just economically depressed, it’s forgotten. And whenever you get into those communities, lots of people live in trailers. It’s a perfectly acceptable and normal thing to do.

MS: Talk about the reception overseas. Why do you think it’s resonating for people outside the United States?

CH: I’m surprised by the response, particularly in France and Spain. It’s such an American film following the Western model, and I didn’t know if it would translate and work with subtitles. And I was completely wrong. We had a huge reception in Spain and France. A box office in France is catching up with our U.S. box office and it’s only been out for four weeks.

MS: And why do you think that is?

CH: Well, there are a lot of reasons. One of the reasons is that I think the distributor there is really hands-on. And I went to Paris and talked to many people. I used to live there, so I’m familiar with the language. But more than that, I think it’s just that there’s this very intelligent film-going audience in France, and they go to independent film. They go to big films, too. And they have no problem with subtitles.

MS: And also they have more of a history of women as leads, too, in those countries.

CH: Yes. They’re very happy with that.

MS: Can you elaborate more on a comparison I heard you make comparing Ray Eddy and John Wayne and Westerns?

CH: Well, you think of the classic American story venturing into that which is lawless territory. A border is lawless territory. The Wild West was lawless and there was a sense that anything could happen. And that’s sort of the feeling with “Frozen River.” These two women are in a space that doesn’t have any law and order. And so that’s one big thing. And the other thing is just the style of John Wayne’s acting, which I had recommended that Melissa [Leo] look to as a guide. John Wayne was really amazing at what he didn’t do, and how much his lack of expression was really full of emotion.

MS: And you feel that when you look at Melissa Leo’s face. I think it’s so brave because so many actresses spend their time being glossed up and primped, and this is clearly the opposite of that. Talk a little bit about your goals for us seeing a real women’s face.

CH: I took cues from movies like “Central Station” and “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” These were movies with real women in them. There are movies out there that start with a woman and they aren’t glossy, they are real. She’s in some sort of jeopardy and she needs to figure a way out. We follow her on that journey. In this role, she was willing to show a lot of pain. And you appreciate her flaws, as well as her acts of heroism. It’s not like we’re looking at her, it’s like we’re looking through her to what she’s living.

MS: I read what Quentin Tarantino said to you when he gave the Sundance award: “You put my heart in a vise and proceeded to twist that vise until the last frame.” That is just an incredible quote.

CH: Yeah.

MS: How did you create a real thriller — not a standard woman-in-peril type of thing?

CH: It wasn’t really my intention to make a thriller. I just wanted to make something that you couldn’t turn your head away from. So in doing that, I had to make sure that every moment was in pursuit of the goal, and that every moment involved the real dangers that they were facing. It’s just that I’m showing it in a compacted 97 minutes. There are people dealing with these kinds of dramas all the time that are just normal, everyday folks who often end up making very good decisions. And we don’t really talk about that, because we want to have the big ending, and we want to cinematize it.

MS: What’s it like to have an Oscar nomination for your first movie? What was that moment like, when you heard you had an Oscar nomination for writing this movie?

CH: We watched it on TV at my house. My husband [Don Harwood, the executive producer] and I were so excited that Melissa had been nominated that we ran out of the room. And then we were like, “Oh, my God. We’ve got to go back and see what else has happened.” And so we ran back in the room and that’s just when Forest Whitaker said my name and I just sank to my knees on the rug. It’s an overwhelming, and humbling experience.

MS: Your film was released in August, so there was the potential of just getting overlooked.

CH: Right. The reason it’s back around and it lasted has to do with, I think, the movie. But it also has to do with Michael Barker’s (from Sony Pictures Classics) kind of faith in the movie, because it was a bold move to release in August. They had a lot of faith in the movie. So that was kind of cool for distributors, the first time around, to put that kind of faith in the movie. They were behind me. It’s always been a tiny release. It’s been in only like 100 theaters. I think that people would go to it in multiplexes. It might take a minute to catch on, and that’s the whole trick of the business, isn’t it? You don’t have a minute.

MS: No, you don’t.

CH: So that’s the deal. Do I think that it could find an audience in the middle of this country? Yes, I do. And I think that it should and it deserves to, but will it? That’s out of my hands.

MS: Why is it so hard for women directors to get noticed in the directing arena?

CH: Here’s my thing. I do not believe they’re keeping us out. I believe when we want it bad enough we will get it. What I do know in my heart is that sometimes it’s just a question of critical mass. But on the other hand, I had to make my own opportunity. And women are perfectly capable of making their own opportunity. I did it with no money and no nods of approval from virtually anyone. And yet I found talented, amazing people and put together a little crew and got it done.

MS: Do you think the freedom of not having been working with a studio and having raised the money on your own was essential to this process?

CH: I do think that it had a big impact on it. Although now I’m meeting lots of producers and I know that there are also producers out there who are distinctly gifted and who can really help you and be part of the creative process.