Marc Forster's history with Film Independent dates back to 2001 when he was awarded the Someone to Watch Award for his second narrative feature Everything Put Together. "It saved my butt!" Forster remembers with glee. "It was a lifesaver in a sense; it was just before Monster's Ball got financed and came together so it gave all of these investors and Lionsgate some confidence that I was making films that might have a validation at the end of the day. I think Film Independent is doing something wonderful and it's really crucial for a lot of filmmakers out there to have that kind of support."
Forster grew up in Switzerland and relocated to the States for film school at NYU, after which he began directing documentaries that ended up airing mostly on European TV. His first feature, Loungers, won the Audience Award at the 1996 Slamdance Film Festival. Five years later, Forster garnered further accolades for Everything Put Together, which was followed by Monster's Ball (and many more awards) in 2001. 2004's Finding Neverland, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, drew a slew of Oscarฎ, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominations. And now with Stranger Than Fiction, Forster is poised to be lauded yet again, having brought to life a captivating script with memorable performances by more great names, including Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Thompson. But talking with him, what becomes clear is that it isn't the chance for notoriety or commercial success that allures Forster; it is the quality of the work and his love for it that results in a winning combination.
Will Ferrell and Marc Forster on the set of Stranger Than Fiction
Is this where you thought you wanted to be when you started making films, doing these kinds of movies and working with these kinds of people?
I never really thought about the kind of people I wanted to work with. The main thing that mattered to me was that the stories had meaning for me and that I have a passion towards the scripts I'm about to tell. I never had great dreams of working with movie stars. I feel lucky that it turned out that way because I feel that gives the picture some kind of opportunities in that more people are going to see it, especially with a more difficult or special film. In regard to Monster's Ball, it helped that Halle [Berry] was in the film and got so much attention and won the Academy Award because I think that less people would have seen the movie. So I was very blessed in that sense. And I think the same goes for Finding Neverland someone like Johnny helped the film much more otherwise it could have been a smaller, British biopic.
For Stranger Than Fiction, let's put it this way: I must say it's really an incredible cast a dream cast and all these people coming together was something wonderful. I always wanted to make a comedy and it's so hard to make comedy, but I felt like that script was the right one. I think the whole journey since Everything Put Together I've felt that as a filmmaker, as long as you're working and actually making movies, you can consider yourself very lucky.
Let's talk about the cast of Stranger Than Fiction, which as you said is incredible. You've even got the return of Tom Hulce! How does somebody go about kind of getting him out of his self-imposed film exile?
He really didn't want to act and he really didn't want to be the film's star. I approached him and begged him and he said all right, he would do a small role. At first, he wanted to play the Polish woman the one at the bus stop who says one line to Will [Ferrell]. (Laughs) I said, "I think, Tom, you should do something a little bit bigger and something more than the Polish woman." Ultimately, I convinced him about the particular part he plays and he said okay, but nothing bigger I shouldn't add any lines. (Laughs) So he came in for a day and did it; I thanked him and was so happy he did it, he's such a lovely man and in that scene he's so wonderful! I wish he would do film more often because people would adore him, he's so good.
Having so many other great names attached, why would you go for somebody who's a virtual recluse when it comes to films?
I thought maybe if he enjoyed the day on the set, that maybe he would get inspired to do some more work or say "Ok, I think I can take a little bigger part now," and keep working a little more. I just wanted to get him excited again because I'm such a big fan and admirer and who doesn't just love him in Amadeus?
When you reach a certain level of security in your career, it's inspiring that you still take risks not only with storytelling but also try to leverage that validation you've achieved with to do things that you want like that.
I always think it's crucial to take certain risks. And one either a director or artist or whatever has the opportunity to fail because I think if one fails, one grows as a filmmaker or an artist. I think it's all about trying to tell stories and trying to push one's self.
Speaking of pushing one's self, although perhaps it wasn't a huge stretch for him, I'm sure you're getting a lot of commentary about this being a very big change for Will. And referring back to your desire to do a comedy, what's very striking about this film is how close it is to tragedy most of the time, which could be what makes the comedy even more poignant. I think people see Will Ferrell and want to laugh, but when he's being so completely empathetic or heartbreaking, it's very hard.
I think he's very funny in the movie, but then again, I'm Swiss and you don't know many Swiss comedians. (Laughs) I think broad comedies are always a little much for me; I like more wicked humor. I think comedy and tragedy are very close to one another that's what I love about the line when Dustin mentions, "Are you in comedy or a tragedy?" Ultimately, I think we have to see life from a comedic way even though it tends to have more similarity to tragedy more often.
It's a powerful film because it juggles those two extremes so well.
I tried to find a balance. It wasn't easy, but I was going for that.
There seem to be a lot of extremes in this project, evident both with actors like Will Ferrell, who are known for an extreme sense of humor, or the extremity of the story itself, the implausibility of a writer creating someone's life. How did you work with [writer] Zach [Helm] and [producer] Lindsay [Doran] and your own creative team that you've had around you for a while to really try to ground these dreams into something that people would digest?
Lindsay and Zach developed the script for several years. So when I got to the script handed I thought that it was in very tight shape, and I just thought, "Oh my God, this is beautiful!" there wasn't much I wanted to change or do. Zach just handed it over and I did a few little changes; I chose the song which Will plays to Maggie and things like that. Zach was in Chicago for the shoot but then Lindsay came along and she is such a wonderful producer. I just love her such a smart woman and it was good working with her on it. The rest of the collaborators I brought along were my usual creative team I work on my movies with. I must say Stranger Than Fiction was the most wonderful experience I've ever had making a movie because all the actors are so lovely and it was all positive and we were one big group. There was just so much joy and happiness and love on the film that I thought after such a positive experience if the film turns out well and knock on wood hopefully it will be received well that would be a wonderful ending to a great journey.
Did you feel any pressure at all about popular perception of Will? You were talking about big names attracting a greater audience and giving a film a chance to be seen, but did you ever worry that maybe it might backfire in the case of Will and his usual material?
I think there are people that have a certain image of someone and certain judgments, but I hope that people will enjoy the movie and hopefully through word of mouth say, "It's a different Will; it's not as broad as he usually is." There's something really special in his performance and one should see the movie. I still see it as a comedy; it's just a different kind of comedic approach. But also I think that's one of the reasons why I cast Dustin and Emma and Maggie. Maggie comes from really independent film and she has street cred in that sense. I say she's one of the best actresses working out there. And Dustin just has this cult he's a legend! So I felt like surrounding Will with this kind of cast would make people curious, like, "Why is he surrounded with people who are very legitimate?" (Laughs)
Let's talk about the team that you have around you behind the camera. You've worked so often with DP Roberto Schaefer, editor Matt Chess้, costume designer Frank Fleming, and production designer Kevin Thompson. But is it difficult for you to bring them along on projects and convince financiers or producers that they've got to be with you? And do they always suit the projects that you want to work on?
After Monster's Ball, I never had to convince people. I would say, "This is my crew," and they would say, "Okay." So there wasn't much about that. It makes it easier when you work with people more, but at the same time, I didn't want us to become lazy because you suddenly feel like, "Oh, this person is going to take care of things." So I try to challenge ourselves all the time with different things like now we have Kite Runner that we're shooting all the way in western China and the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan with a whole Afghan cast. I try to create new challenges constantly and keep us on our toes, to keep learning from each other and growing with each other because they're sort of like my little family. I'm very loyal to the people I work with. Matt and Roberto have been there pretty much with every project I did and the other ones it depends from project to project if they can do it. At the beginning after Everything Put Together, with Monster's Ball I wasn't so sure if they could be part of it and I really fought for them. Since then I've always been protecting them and they know that and it makes it a smoother relationship and collaboration between all of us because it's like we are there for one another. And it's a deep friendship.
How did you come to cinema as your artistic outlet? Before you ended up at film school at NYU, how did you decide that was what you were going to do?
I grew up in the mountains of Switzerland and was not exposed to cinema or TV as a child. Then as an early teenager I saw Apocalypse Now and that was sort of the beginning. I got obsessed with cinema and started watching more and more movies. I just fell in love with them and felt like this was the path I would like to pursue.
What does Stranger Than Fiction say about your own life and work that made you really want to bring it to fruition?
Apart from the metaphors in the film and the theme of how much of our life is written and on and on, the one main thing for me is I feel like a lot of people are sort of ghosts. They don't truly live life fully and passionately. I think if you don't have passion, you're dead. I felt like Harold Crick is this character who truly isn't alive and I feel like so many people in this world are not truly alive because they often do these jobs which make them miserable. They are usually caught in those jobs because of economic reasons and they fear leaving because they don't feel like they can pay their mortgage or sustain the lifestyle they're used to. I feel if you really want to live life and experience everything, you have to expose yourself to fear because there is no security. Ultimately the only thing one can live life by is by listening to your heart and following your passions.
I think that's when Harold Crick really starts living when he's faced with death. I think that's usually when people wake up, in situations like that, because they have missed a great part of life and often it's too late. When I read the script at first, I said, "Yes!" that's one of the points I'm very passionate about bringing across to people. Living in this world, we have to follow the path of the heart, what we really want to do and what we're passionate about, because without passion there is no life.
Were you surrounded by people you saw were very unhappy, people not living?
I grew up in Switzerland; it's a very emotionally-repressed country and one of the main industries is banking. A lot of things are dictated by money and you have a very secured lifestyle and the standard of living is very high. People usually are quite wealthy. At first when I said, "I'm becoming a filmmaker," I was struggling until I was thirty I didn't make money until I won the award at the Spirit Awards. I had a huge amount of debt and they couldn't even imagine that. All my friends who do banking make millions of dollars and they're miserable! They don't like their job but at this point they have family and this quite high lifestyle they have to sustain. Then suddenly you have kids and it gets very complicated you're trapped. And your fears just increase because your responsibilities get bigger. At the time, they couldn't understand it and now they're happy for me that I actually live what I love doing. I'm very fortunate that it actually worked out, that I could make a living out of this.
