{"id":244521,"date":"2011-09-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/film-interview-vera-farmiga-reaches-higher-ground-in-directional-debut\/"},"modified":"2011-09-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-02T07:00:00","slug":"film-interview-vera-farmiga-reaches-higher-ground-in-directional-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/film-interview-vera-farmiga-reaches-higher-ground-in-directional-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Interview: Vera Farmiga reaches \u201cHigher Ground\u201d in directional debut"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Film<\/a>
Vara Farmiga stars in and directs the faith-challenging \u201cHigher Ground.\u201d (Photo courtesy Sony Pictures Classics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Por Scott Marcas |<\/strong> Cr\u00edtico de cine SDUN<\/p>\n

Vera Farmiga\u2019s directorial debut, \u201cHigher Ground,\u201d currently playing at Landmark\u2019s Hillcrest Cinema, tells the story of a woman questioning her religious faith. She also stars as Corinne Walker, a Midwestern farmer\u2019s daughter who starts life\u2019s ride as a pregnant teenager married to a religious rocker only to grow and fall prey to the persuasive ways of a close-knit religious community.<\/p>\n

With the separation of church and state growing increasingly more narrow, Farmiga wisely opts for a non-judgmental approach that is both respectful and only occasionally leery of its subjects, and one that is never without grace, style, and dignity.<\/p>\n

All I wanted to know was what she learned from Prof. Scorsese\u2019s tutelage on \u201cThe Departed.\u201d (\u201cWhat didn\u2019t I learn?\u201d came her wise reply.) After time spent devoted to worshipping him, the conversation shifted to another favorite, Oana the ditzy hooker in \u201cBreaking and Entering.\u201d A discussion on the value of character likability soon led to a quick rebuke over sniffing for satire where it wasn\u2019t intended.<\/p>\n

Scott Marks:<\/strong> Damn if you\u2019re not a double-threat, a movie star and an actress. Make that triple threat. You now direct as well.<\/p>\n

Vera Farmiga:<\/strong> Thank you. That was a surprise. It really was one of those curve balls life throws at you that you either choose to catch or duck.<\/p>\n

SM:<\/strong> If given one Vera Farmiga performance to take with me to my eternal screening room in hell, it would be Oana, \u201cBreaking and Entering\u2019s\u201d aggressive hooker who crashes Jude Law\u2019s sedan-stakeout wearing nothing but a fleece topcoat and a cigarette.<\/p>\n

VF:<\/strong> She\u2019s one of my favorites.<\/p>\n

SM:<\/strong> How far back into your Ukrainian roots did you reach to find Oana?<\/p>\n

VF:<\/strong> Not too far back. [Director Anthony] Minghella actually asked me to consider one of the other gals eventually played by Robin Wright Penn and Juliette Binoche. I gravitated towards Oana. I don\u2019t care how small she was on the written page; I thought she had a big presence. I loved her whimsy. This is someone whose spirit should be downtrodden with the kind of path she\u2019s taken, yet she\u2019s just light as a feather and has got that sparkle in her eye and a quick wit and candor — which I always love. Maybe it\u2019s because it\u2019s something I\u2019m still trying to figure out, but I always liked frankness and candor and she\u2019s got this sharp tongue and silliness too. I also got to flex my silly muscles.<\/p>\n

SM:<\/strong> I can\u2019t think of too many movie prostitutes who go ignored and unrewarded yet show up the next night with coffee and a mix-tape for their unresponsive John. On to \u201cHigher Ground.\u201d I\u2019ll be up front: I have little if any regard for the characters in your film. When it comes to religious cults that use the Bible as a shield…that\u2019s, I\u2019m out. It does not mean that I can\u2019t embrace your film. I\u2019m not crazy about the characters in \u201cNorth by Northwest\u201d or just about any of the cold brood Otto Preminger threw my way, but it\u2019s the job of a good cinematic storyteller to make the unlikeable compelling to watch.<\/p>\n

VF:<\/strong> I think the challenge they\u2019re in is not whether we agree with Nietzsche or not. It\u2019s not whether God is dead. The word God exists, therefore God exists. We all have our definitions of what God means to us and definitions of God that resonate within us and we don\u2019t ultimately agree with each others concepts and conceptualizations. I get it. I\u2019m asking a lot from people. I\u2019m surprised
\nthat there is going to be an audience for this film. I am not pandering to anybody\u2019s comfort level. I don\u2019t know what it is that I am trying to do per-se other than I am striving for an openness. I\u2019ve been touched by this woman\u2019s searching. It\u2019s okay not to like characters.<\/p>\n

SM: <\/strong>Do you think I want to hang with \u201cRaging Bull\u2019s\u201d Jake La Motta? Again, the fact that you are able to make these characters compelling and watchable says a lot about your ability as a storyteller.<\/p>\n

VF: <\/strong>How can you not like, or at least tolerate, someone who is earnestly them self? That\u2019s the caliber we were going for and the kind of actor I wanted to work with. Anybody who contributed to the film couldn\u2019t be jaded or possess cynicism. I\u2019ve got all walks of life, all sorts of spiritual tenets, all ideas about what the meaning of life is. Everyone was at least approaching the film with earnestness. I almost put the kibosh on it after the first several days of casting. People came in ready to demonize others. And then Norbert Leo Butz walks in and is able to play a pastor, who is incredibly flawed, with such authenticity. It\u2019s (the actors), too. I can only take so much credit.<\/p>\n

SM: <\/strong>You spoke earlier of the cast and crew\u2019s commitment to the subject and your dedication to thwarting jaundiced ways of thinking, but I did find myself laughing out loud throughout the movie, enough so where as to think this qualifies as satire.<\/p>\n

VF: <\/strong>Give me an example.<\/p>\n

SM: <\/strong>There is a harrowing car accident that for me turned humorous thanks to the addition of a baby placed in a 60 quart thermal cooler that her negligent, drug-crazed, parents used as a makeshift bassinet. Aren\u2019t you in some way commenting on the hypocritical behavior of these purportedly God-fearing characters?<\/p>\n

VF:<\/strong> Think back at 15, 16 or 17 years of age. Imagine all those responsibilities of becoming a parent. I know what my frustrations are as a 38-year-old mother of two that\u2019s balancing a major career. I don\u2019t have nannies. I\u2019m there fending for myself when it comes to raising my kids. In defense of the character and her maternal frustration, I know that moment of placing a child in a cooler. God knows what [drugs] they are smoking. That\u2019s second-hand smoke she and the baby are inhaling. The frustrations at that level, being placed in that predicament at 15 years old, is overwhelming. It\u2019s not funny at all. I\u2019ve been on a nine-city express tour and the kids come with me. I know what it is trying to balance my life, and I\u2019m living in posh hotels and flying first class with my kids in tow trying to be the best mom and career woman that I can be. Corinne is frustrated and she does strange things with that frustration.<\/p>\n

SM:<\/strong> Maybe what I was talking about had more to do with nervous laughter because there is something about the hypocrisy surrounding people who present themselves as children of God that would allow a baby to be exposed to this heroin haze and placed in a giant Thermos instead of a bassinet.<\/p>\n

VF:<\/strong> Bassinets are expensive. They did the best they could. You have to suspend disbelief in order to buy into the weariness of that lifestyle. If you ever spent any time on a tour bus, you know what a bleak existence it is. And if you are trying to bring a family on board, it\u2019s impossible. And a 15-year-old at that with squashed dreams? We all do things in exasperation that are not potentially \u201cthe right way.\u201d It is nervous laughter because we can recognize ourselves in it. I would not have put that up on a screen had I not identified with that exasperation on a very deep level. It\u2019s these very negative moments in our lives that open us up if one is able to confront them and acknowledge them.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Marks | SDUN Film Critic Vera Farmiga\u2019s directorial debut, \u201cHigher Ground,\u201d currently playing at Landmark\u2019s Hillcrest Cinema, tells the story of a woman questioning her religious faith. She also stars as Corinne Walker, a Midwestern farmer\u2019s daughter who starts life\u2019s ride as a pregnant teenager married to a religious rocker only to grow […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":244522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Film Interview: Vera Farmiga reaches \u201cHigher Ground\u201d in directional debut","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}