Late last week we sat down and chatted with indie filmmaker Todd Solondz, a sweet and articulate man who couldn’t be more different from his darkly comical, provocative and sometimes misanthropic films.
While it took him almost four years to get his latest picture, “Life During Wartime,” made (one iteration with Emma Thompson, Demi Moore, Hope Davis, Paul Dano and Faye Dunaway and an entirely different cast was announced in early 2006, but then fell apart) and prior to that “Palindromes” was a partly self-financed project that struggled to even gain indie-film attention, it appears the filmmaker’s fortunes are changing for the better.
Solondz told us his next picture is written, in the casting process and shooting in the fall. While he didn’t want to jinx his luck with too many details, he did say the project was called “Dark Horse” and let slip some other pieces of information, like how it differs from his previous films, “Happiness,” “Storytelling” and “Welcome To The Dollhouse,” for example:
“Well, it doesn’t have any reoccurring or pre-existing characters. They’re all different,” Solondz said referring to the way “Life During Wartime” revisits characters that have already appeared in the cinematic Todd Solondz milieu. “And you know CAA? [The L.A. talent agency]. It’s funny, it’s the first time they actually like one of my scripts and I realized [in “Dark Horse”], there’s no rape, there’s no child molestation, there’s no masturbation, and then I thought, ‘omg, why didn’t I think of this years ago?'” he half-joked, referencing the difficulty he had in getting ‘Wartime’ made.
So does that mean it’s a gentler Todd Solondz film, we asked? “I’m not saying gentler, but I don’t think its controversial,” he allowed. “It’s not designed to be controversial. Stories take on an unpredictable life.”
“It’s too tender, too delicate a time,” the filmmaker said when asked about revealing any of the cast members currently in early talks. But at any rate, we expect the trades will get wind of the names soon, and love or hate his pictures, a film world that green lights a Todd Solondz film in the middle of 3D mania, is one we’re still happy to be in. Let’s hope an official announcement hits soon.
Solondz’s latest film, “Life During Wartime” hits theaters in limited release next weekend, Friday, July 23 and, last we heard, it hits VOD on the same day. Here’s our review from the Toronto International Film Festival last year and here’s the most recent trailer. The film also features a song performed by Beck and Devendra Banhart. More from this interview soon.
