James with Ira
Like most young men, I like action films in the form of James Bond, Indiana Jones and Batman. So I was unsure what my reaction would be after seeing Ira Sachs latest film ‘Married Life’, starring Oscar winning actor Chris Cooper, one time Bond, Pierce Brosnan, Saturn award winning, Patricia Clarkson, and the beautiful Rachel McAdams .
However I was pleasantly surprised, that I could add this film to a long list, of those, I had thoroughly enjoyed this year. Ira Sachs, who directs the film, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, for his film ‘Forty Shades of Blue’.
Since that “life changing” experience, three years ago, the Memphis born director has gone from strength to strength. “In order to be successful, you have to believe in yourself. I think, for me, that has a lot to with my family. Some people become very successful with bad families but I had a loving family who made me believe I could do something with my life.”
Ira, who has lived in New York City since 1988, had been working hard a decade before he attained the recognition he deserved.
He explained his greatest influences and inspirations came while he lived in Europe: “In 1986 I lived in Paris while I was in college and spent most days in the movie theatres. I saw 195 films in a three month period.”
But things weren’t always easy for the ambitious teenager: “I took myself seriously from a very young age. I was fighting with Fassbinder in my head when I was 16.”
Ira, along with Oren Moverman, co-wrote the screenplay for ‘Married Life’, adapting John Binghams novel. Ira said: “People often say that you can make a movie out of a pulp fiction better than a movie out of a classic because there's something more you can play with. I think in a way that's the tension in the film, because it is a genre film on some level and yet it's told in a naturalistic fashion.”
‘Married Life’, is a film that follows the life of a married man who falls in love with a young war widow. He believes that it would be kinder to kill his wife than to leave her. Pierce Brosnan plays his best friend, who finds himself learning secrets from all three of the other characters. It is a story set in 1949 Seattle, and is the first film the award winning director has set in another period.
Ira interestingly explained: “Every time you make a film, you create a world. You make decisions about sets and costumes and you create a universe connected to reality but not reality itself. The year 1949 was a choice that we made and we were authentic to that choice. But as William Faulkner said, “The past isn't dead; it isn't even past.” Our parents, our grandparents, are like ourselves; they were full-blooded full-bodied people who had sex and fights and relationships and were not different from us. So even though it is set in another time, it is about us.”
Throughout the film there are some magnificent performances, particularly from Pierce Brosnan, who is still trying to shed his James Bond persona. This, however, wasn’t something Ira was particularly worried about as he admitted: “I have never seen him as James Bond.”
Despite his admission, Ira described Pierce as: “delicious”, adding: “I think he’s amazing. He is a great actor and a real gentleman."
Ira, who was last in Edinburgh at the age of 13, decided to cast Pierce after he had seen him in the ‘Matador’: “I was very taken with the humour in his performance in that. It was a really rich role for him in terms of humour. He’s a great physical comedian as well as an actor. He brings a lot of emotionality and vulnerability in his performance, which was important for a lot of reasons but especially because of his voiceover.”
Ira, 43, mentioned that Pierce Brosnan’s part would have been perfect for Cary Grant had the film been made in the forties: “Yes that’s true. I think Cary Grant and Pierce have a lot in common. They both have a physical charm. I also think that Chris Cooper has a certain quality you could associate with John Garfield or Edward G. Robinson. He’s vulnerable, easy to identify with and he has drive.”
By the end of the film I was slightly confused as to whether it had a happy ending. Ira gave me his thoughts saying: “I do think it is a happy ending because the characters understand themselves better. It is not insignificant to me that Cooper’s character knows very little about the three people he is intimate with at the beginning of the movie, but at the end he knows the most. At the end he says “L'chaim”, which means “To life!.” There is almost redemption here. It’s not scott free from the problems of human life but there is a better chance at an intimate relationship with the person you are with.”
Although it is a reasonably small production, its cast and director pack a strong punch, and hopes for success are high. Ira said: “It is about adults for adults. People used to go to movies to see their own lives played out on screen; now they go to TV for identification and movies for escape. This is a combination. It has glamour, movie stars, clothes, and fun; that brings people in. Underneath is something people can hold onto and that will resonate.”
So what’s next for the incredibly talented and friendly director: “I’m working on a film called ‘The Goodbye People’ based on the work of Gavin Lambert, a British screenwriter, who lived in L.A in the sixties. He wrote wonderful books about sex, drugs, cults, and movie stars.”
Before I left, Ira humbly said: “We’re all average Joes. Everyone came from somewhere to get where they are now. I started after becoming a theatre director throughout college."
He also offered a bit of advice for any wannabe film directors. “I would say to see everything you can see, particularly things that have been made in the past. I think it important to be passionate, and go out of your comfort zone.”
Married Life is released in U.K cinemas nationwide from 1st August 2008.
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