Jonathan Demme doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

The director recently directed a mini-documentary (What’s Motivating Hayes) for The New Yorker Presents on Amazon, shot hours of footage for an Occupy America documentary and his latest feature, Ricki and the Flash, starring Meryl Streep opens in August.

Demme, whose awards include a best director Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs in 1991, spoke about his career with Film Independent Curator Elvis Mitchell at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival. The director is also known for the features Philadelphia (1993), Stop Making Sense (1984) and Something Wild (1986). His films are usually defined by working people and work with a sense of honor, such as Angela (Michelle Pfeiffer) in Married to the Mob (1988). “I fell in love with the part of Angela,” he said. “She’s an underdog and has the entire mafia against her, not to mention the FBI.”

Besides championing the underdog or working people, Demme said he likes making positive movies. “I’d rather make pictures that leave someone slightly on the upside of the experience as opposed to taking away something cynical.”

He got his first filmmaking experience with Roger Corman as a publicist and later got a chance to write and direct. Demme said his social awareness comes from Corman’s sensibility of right and wrong. Demme directed Caged Heat (1974) for Corman. With that film, Demme wanted to explore the horrors of the American prison system, but make an entertaining movie for audiences. “Roger (Corman) always encouraged us to bring as much social awareness and research into the film as long as we had the requisite amount of nudity, humor and violence,” he said.

Demme also explained that his idea of a good movie must include a villain as interesting as the hero and fantastic actors. “What the movies mean to me is the actors bring the characters to life. It’s my favorite part and it’s a mystical part,” Demme said. He pointed out even the smallest role in a film can have a huge impact. “If you cut to the guy pumping gas, they for that moment, own the movie,” he said. “You have to cast every single part really well, so you can go to that moment and bring the close up to that character. That can result in a film that is very, very rich.”

Demme described his latest film, Ricki and the Flash, as an aging female rock star returning home to visit her estranged daughter and deal with a family crisis. Streep plays the rock star and even learned to play guitar for the role. For authenticity, Demme had all the actors sing and play their instruments. All the music tracks were recorded on set and aren’t enhanced (“sweetened”) during sound editing. The “band” rehearsed for six weeks before shooting. Demme also said he liked having a female lead guitar player because the electric guitar has a perception of often being “claimed by men. It’s a male instrument. [Streep] created this persona. It’s not her doing somebody else,” he said. “She fashioned the songs to her interpretation and it’s her moves. It thrilled me to watch her playing this character.” 

Glen Golightly / Film Independent Blogger