Life in the Slow Lane

I've started this transcript with the introduction to the Nobel Son interviews only.

We begin our coverage today with a look at Nobel Son, directed by Randall Miller. Kidnapping, lust, and chemistry are the elements that draw this thrilling feature starring Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman and Mary Steenbergen.

Clip from movie:

Phone rings.

Eli: Eli Michaelson, Nobel laureate.

Thaddeus: Hello - I have your son, doctor. He will only survive if I receive two million unmarked bills.

Eli: Aw, bull! Cut the - , Barkley, and get your ass on a plane to Sweden!

Sarah: I - I wanted to talk to him.

Eli: Sorry.

Woman: Well, if we're going to be ? we'd best get a move on.

Thaddeus: He hung up.

Thaddeus(?): I need your thumb.

Barkley: What?

Thaddeus(?): We send him your thumb, they'll understand the magnitude of the situation.

Barkley: No! No! No! The thumb - that - that's the opposible digit. I mean it's not just a finger! It's what separates man from beast! No! No! Please! Please!

Bryan Greenberg (Barkley Michaelson): Well, it's not one of those movies that you can say in one sentence. It's not like "guys crash weddings and it's fun". It's - this is, um, this is not - this is what attracted me to the movie, because it's - it's very complex. A lot of twists, a lot of turns. Great cast.

Randall Miller: Well, Nobel Son is, uh, a thriller, you know, it has a lot of humor to it. Um, the story is about this Nobel Prize winner that Alan Rickman plays, Eli Michaelson, who, um, is basically, you know, not a great guy. He wins the Nobel Prize. On the eve of winning the Nobel Prize, his son is kidnapped and that sort of spirals into this, you know, window to see the disfunctionality of this family - this extended family - all these people that he's come in touch with, um, in such a way that has repercussions across everybody - himself, everybody. Um - and that's about all I can tell you without giving stuff away.

Shawn Hatosy (Thaddeus James): Basically, it's a story about an intellectual family - highly intellectual family that's brimming with disfunction. Uh, when Eli wins the Nobel Son - the Nobel Prize, uh, my character comes forward, sort of like a ghost from his past and is trying to expose him and perhaps get revenge on him and, um, in the process we learn a lot about Eli and what kind of skeletons he has in his closet.

Clip:

Harvey: Everyone's very proud of you, Eli.

Eli: Well, it's a damn good thing I won the Nobel, because now you're gonna find it hard as hell to fire me.

Harvey: Oh, I never threatened to fire you, Eli.

Eli: Oh, I'm a scientist, Harvey, and the impirical evidence I'm lookin' at around here tells me no one loves me anymore.

Student: I loved you!

Harvey: Eli! Look - this - I'm a scientist, too, and my impirical observations tell me that someone's gonna shoot you long before I have to fire you.

Alan Rickman: His whole life only exists as far as he's concerned. According to what he wants and whether people prevent him from gettin' it, so, uh . . . much to his pleasure, he wins the Nobel Prize for chemistry but it doesn't stop him persuing, um, his general appetite for food, money and sex.

Mary Steenbergen (Sarah Michaelson): Alan Rickman was somebody I'd dreamt about working with. Um, he's, you know, in my mind, one of the finest actors in the business and he's - he's just utterly unpredictable and completely charismatic and, um, I've never seen him not be magical. And so the fact that he was playing my husband was completely thrilling to me, and, um . . . he's delicious!

Jody Savin (writer/producer): I can't even imagine it being played better than Alan does it. It's just genius. I mean, he came to this character and he understood, like intuitively right away, that there was a child in this man and that sort of childishness and never having grown out of being a child it's really that child, you know, lingering inside of him is what made that character not demonic but actually accessable and, um, brought that character to life.

Bryan G: He owns his evilness so much that you almost love him and maybe that's kind of like it's an abusive relationship but we can't say no. But I think that, uh, Barkley and his mom, Sarah, they - they definitely, um . . . they bond in the end and want to, you know, get back at Eli for all the bad things that he's done.

Mary S: She turns a blind eye and she buries herself in her work and she probably, you know, if she thinks about love at all, she probably thinks a little bit about Max.

Bill Pullman (Max): I'm a detective in the Pasadena Police Department and I get a call because there's been a kidnapping. And it involves a very important person in the community 'cause he just has won the Nobel Prize. That's the character played by Alan. And uh, uh, his son has been kidnapped and his wife is a forensic psychologist who works with the police department, so I know her and, actually, am fond of her.

Clip:

Max: Let me make you something to eat. You haven't eaten all day.

Sarah: Max, I'm - I'm not hungry.

Max: The smell of Max Mariner's (?) world-famous scrambled eggs and burnt toast will make you hungry.

Sarah: Does it have to be burnt?

Max: For you, I'll make an exception.

Sarah: You're a good guy, Max.

Max: Oh, not to everyone, but I'm crazy about you.

Bryan G: My favorite thing about working on this project was the cast. I mean, you kind of have to play off each actor and Shawn is really aggressive and very strong and so I have to be like this sort of more a little subtle and a little more frantic, um, character, you know, in order - it makes these characters, you know, vision pop. But just to be around Shawn, who I think's an amazing actor, um, young actor, and I was really excited to work with him and Alan, Mary Steenbergen, Bill Pullman's hilarious, like every line he says - his cadence - it just cracks me up. I had a lot of trouble keeping a straight face in most of the scenes we did together. I mean, it was great. It was a dream come true.

Elisa Dushku (City Hall): I discovered it was a romp and it's like really kind of, um, it just nails, like, just all these different characters and all these different personality types kind of like mixed together, but, um, it's like it's sexy, it's fast, it's like hilarious, and it's - it's just like a ride that is so - was so incredible to watch last night like with everybody because I had - I hadn't seen it all together and everyone in it is just so perfect.

Miller: Mary was in our last movie, too. Um, Marilyn Hodgekiss in ballroom dancing and charm school and we thought she was just brilliant in that movie.

Jody S: Great in that movie.

Miller: And, um . . .

Jody S: This is a very different character.

Miller: Very different character. Um, she's - she's um - she's what you say - she's has this sort of warmth, this sort of beauty, um, this sort of regal quality to her and we wanted that. And then, in addition, what this character has which is different from the way people know her, I think - at least from the persona - is she has an edge, she has a toughness, she has a strength . . .

Clip:

Sarah: Hello.

Reporter: This is Kelly Lang from KLPK

Sarah: Ms Lang, are you standing in front of my house?

Reporter: I am, indeed.

Max: Sarah, put the gun down!

Reporter: I think I have Mrs. Michaelson on the line now. She's the mother of the boy who was kidnapped and we're told that she's very -

Max: Sarah -

Sarah: I have a handgun pointed at your head. If you don't get the *beep* off my lawn, right now, I'm gonna use it. . . . . . If we had "call waiting", it would be another story.

Alan R: It's brilliantly written and it's very original writing. Um - it's not anything else you've ever seen. Every single little scene, not just - you know you're used to, kind of judging a film according to how the narritive drives along, but this one's got little characters that pops in and you never see them again, but each one of them beautiful little jewels of characterization.

Bryan G: It's just twist, turn, characters, it's very detailed - um - it's hard to follow, but a fun ride, you know?

Mary S: To be really honest with you, I had done another film with Randy Miller and Jody Savin and I loved working with them. I love how they work. I love, um, how they, you know, they manage to make these extraordinary-looking films for next to nothing and you work really fast and you work really hard and there's sort of a guerilla film making aspect to it but there's also, um, just such a great improvisational, fun feeling on the set, too, and I just have a lot of respect for them as film makers and so I had already decided to do it before I even read it, but once I read it, I really loved it. So it was fun.

Bill P: Almost every character in this piece ends up in a very different place than where they start. And, you know, most writers can do that with two, three characters, but everybody changes. And, largely, they all kind of come into contact with the things they most, kind of, were . . . objected to when it started, which was selfish interests.

Shawn H (Thaddeus James): Making an independent film - um - you don't have a huge budget. You don't have a lot of time. So you're forced to be creative. You're forced to move on the fly and come up with things that might not have been obvious from the beginning - you have to think outside the box. That's fun. The ride is enjoyable. You know, racing to the finish line but doing quality work. I think the most - I think the best part about this is coming here, really. You know, the Tribeca Film Festival, you know, sharing in the moment of saying we did it, now here, look what we've done and, uh, and I guess the next step in it's excitement will be when it finds a home.