Gus Van Sant Regis Dialogue with Scott Macaulay, 2003 Scott Macaulay: We're here at the Walker Art Center for Regis dialogue with American filmmaker Gus Van Sant. He'll be discussing the unique artistic vision that runs through his entire body of work. Gus was first recognized for a trilogy of films that dealt with street hustlers, Mala Noche, Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho. He then went on to experiment with forum and a number of other films including To Die For, Psycho and even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Gus is perhaps best known for his films, Goodwill Hunting and Finding Forrester, but all of his work including his latest film, Gerry, has his own unique touch. We'll be discussing Gus' films today during this Regis dialogue. I'm Scott Macaulay, producer and editor of Filmmaker Magazine. I'll be your guide through Gus' work today in this Regis dialogue. Thanks. Gus Van Sant: Thank you. Scott Macaulay: It's a real pleasure to be here with Gus Van Sant on this retrospective ... Which is called on the road again. I guess there are a lot of different illusions in that title, a lot of very obvious ones because a lot of Gus' movies deal with travel and change and people going different places, both locations within America but also in their lives. But another interesting implication of the title is that this retrospective is occurring on the eve of the release here and also nationwide of Gerry, which is really one of Gus' best and most moving films but it's also yet sort of another new direction for Gus as a filmmaker. I don't know. It's almost like looking at back at these films, I could imagine maybe being here 10 years from now with another retrospective and a whole another films in the next 10 years. One of the things I'm looking forward to doing is talking to Gus about the films he's made in the past, and maybe some of the directions for the future and where his head is at as a filmmaker right now. Welcome. Gus Van Sant: Thank you. Scott Macaulay: Maybe we should just start like all the way back in the beginning and we have a series of clips to show tonight but starting with the first two films; Mala Noche and Drugstore Cowboy, and maybe how you even got to the point of making those films coming out of painting and the background that's not so typical for a lot of filmmakers especially today. Gus Van Sant: Yes. I started out as in junior high school making eight millimeter films which was typical of maybe the period and the time. My parents lived in Connecticut in a suburb of New York, Darien, Connecticut. It's close enough Feb 28, 2003 1 that I could go in on the train to see certain things that ... Oh, I was a painting at the time so I was influenced by American underground cinema. I had a summer job when I was 16 and I bought a book that was about the American underground cinema. I could read about the films and I could pretend to make films like Stan Brakhage and people like that. Being a painter, I thought along those lines. I never really considered the idea of making a dramatic film. I continued on like that until I got into art school and went to Rhode Island School Design in Providence, Rhode Island. The painters that were coming back, the graduating painters that would go to New York City to try and get art shows with their work were discouraged and sad. I decided to major in film because I thought maybe that was a better angle. I didn't know what ... At the time I was a freshman in college. I didn't know whether the degree itself, what it sat on it, whether it made a difference so I thought maybe if it had film it would be better. But I didn't think that gout galleries would be asking to see my diploma anyway. I majored in film and went to Hollywood after that and worked for a filmmaker named Ken Shapiro, who was a comedian and he had made a film called the Groove Tube. He was going to make a sequel to the Groove Tube at Paramount. That was my introduction to the film business. I had a good time working for him and he eventually got very discouraged, sort of like the painters at RISD. He quit the business. He made Modern Problems first with Chevy Chase then he quit the business and told me that I shouldn't try and make films, that I should get into some other business. At that time, I was making, later on, Mala Noche in '87. That kicked me into this film career. Scott Macaulay: You obviously left Los Angeles, you went back to Portland to make that film, Mala Noche? Gus Van Sant: Yeah. I had also lived in Portland, Oregon. My junior and senior year in college, my family moved to Oregon and so I had a lot of ties to Oregon. I used to go back there every summer to hang out with friends. I was a sound man on a film called Property. One of the actors was Walt Curtis and he had written this novella called Mala Noche and that's what I latched on to that and adapted it into a film Scott Macaulay: Because of that whole notion of going back to your hometown and maybe working with people locally, I mean based in LA, now in the 90s a lot of people have done that but you were before that curve a little bit in terms of making films originally. At what point did you- Gus Van Sant: There was a film, Northern Lights, which was made here. I think was- Scott Macaulay: Rob Nelson. Gus Van Sant: ... '84, Rob Nelson. This thing was in the air of how to do it, you do it yourself local film, how to open it locally, how to invite the mayor and the governor to your opening and get a lot of press and try and get interest in your firm. But Northern Lights was specifically local Minneapolis production, which was one of the original ones. I guess John Sayles was shooting in New Jersey. Yeah. Feb 28, 2003 2 Scott Macaulay: Yeah. Was there ever a point before that where you thought, "Okay. Well ..." Tried to write the Hollywood script or work on the Chevy Chase movie instead of the ... Gus Van Sant: Yeah, I know I worked on those movies and I did write a script earlier than Mala Noche and filmed a film called Alice in Hollywood which I shot when I was in Hollywood. It was an Alice in Wonderland, somewhat of a retelling of Alison Wonderland except set in Hollywood. I didn't like it and I cut it down. It didn't really go over very well so I made it shorter. Scott Macaulay: Now Walt Curtis, who you met on Mala Noche, he provided the material for Drugstore Cowboy a little bit, right? Gus Van Sant: No. Scott Macaulay: No? What am I saying? What am I ... Gus Van Sant: Well, Curtis was a local Portland poet, probably the most renown street poet in Portland and still is. Then another friend in Portland had an unpublished novel by James Fogle who was spending time in Walla Walla State Penitentiary for robbing drugstores. That's how I found Drugstore Cowboy, was through this friend who had the unpublished work named Dan Yost. His name was Dan Yost. Scott Macaulay: How did Drugstore Cowboy become this slightly bigger movie with better known actors done in a very different way than Mala Noche? Gus Van Sant: Well Mala Noche was a $20,000 film with just local actors and it played the San Francisco lesbian and gay film festival, and then it played the LA lesbian and gay film festival. At that festival in LA, it was seen by local Los Angeles critics. They gave it an award at the end of the year at the same time as I was trying to sell a Drugstore Cowboy as a film idea. They gave it this award which was the best independent/experimental film. If you left up the experimental part, it was the best independent film of that year which it was easy to do. [inaudible 00:09:36] and we sort of got Drugstore Cowboy going, fueled by the script and by, I think at that time we were trying to talk Matt Dillon into being in it. He was interested and then also the award helped it go through, at least for me. Scott Macaulay: Right. Well let's watch a clip from that. Do you want to set this up in any way? The dog the- Gus Van Sant: What is the ... Oh, it's the dog? Feb 28, 2003 3 Scott Macaulay: Yeah. Gus Van Sant: I think- Scott Macaulay: It's pretty self-explanatory so let's go into a clip from Drugstore Cowboy. Speaker 3: Stereo by the month. You can choose any of these great systems for only $25 a month. Bob: Hot dog. Speaker 3: That's why [crosstalk 00:10:21]- Nadine: Speaking of dogs, do you think that Rick and I could get a little pup? Just a little something to hold and pet when you guys are gone? Bob: No.