What was it about the source material that made you decide this would be your next project?
I fell in love with Maile Meloy’s voice and the stories she told. They were so visual and beautifully descriptive. I’m very much drawn by stories that have a lot of exteriors and that have characters drawn out by their environments. I didn’t really know which stories to choose from; they were all great. It was a process of finding a couple that gelled and worked together; there was a lot of trial and error, with the intention of trying to find recurring themes and details to the stories that were going to be told. I also wanted to escape my comfort zone and move away from Oregon. I needed a new landscape, which is why Montana was such a great choice.
Had you been to Montana before? It plays an integral, almost painterly part in the film.
I go to Montana a few times a year, but I still had to do a lot of scouting and met a lot of people in the process. I became fascinated by how they live, their jobs, all those dynamics came into play. Then we found the ranch that part of the film would be set in, then Livingston came into the picture. Livingston is actually very rich in film history. It’s where Sam Peckinpah lived; Warren Oates called it home as well, Richard Brautigan, Tom McGuane. So there’s a lot of rich history over there.
How was the original cut?
You know, I’m not really sure. It’s not really my style to think that way. It might have been three hours (laughs). I have a very small shooting ratio. I’m sure I cut a lot out, but it’s never an enormous difference because I don’t shoot that much film. I mean, if you cut your own film, you do need outside eyes and that does influence you in the end, so I screened the film to people I trusted. Also, we had (executive producer) Todd Haynes on-set, so that really helped me, but really, when all was said and done, I made the movie that I set out to make.
This film is very much a “road” movie. Where does your fascination for the road and nature come from?
Well, I’m from Florida, and we were a family that very much went on the road. We’d go camping a lot all over the United States. Some nights we would even park our caravan on the road and sleep. It’s illegal now, but at the time it was not [laughs]. Some of these trips lasted a few months. I also did a lot of carpooling when I was younger. Every summer, I’d do that for three months. I had a lot of musician friends that would tour, so I’d hop on board and hang out with them. I still travel a lot on the road with my dog.
The same dog from “Wendy And Lucy”?
Yeah, he’s part of the reason why I decide to do these road trips, because I’m not very keen in traveling with him on a plane. I don’t want to put him under that ordeal. I’ve done many New York-to-West Coast road trips. That trail eventually leads me to Oregon.
Are you working on a new project at the moment?
I spent the summer working on a script with fellow Oregon writer, Patrick deWitt, and there’s a possibility we might be shooting that one outside of the U.S.
“Certain Women” opens in limited release today.