[IMG:L]Although many have referred to Frank Langella’s recent surge in cinema as a sort of ‘comeback’–in tune with his character Leonard Schiller–the stalwart actor reassures us that he never left the building.
Langella‘s been here all the while–on a steady climb; and it’s no wonder, given that his subtle performance in Starting Out in the Evening combines all the elements that superb acting is made of: Humility, grace and the utter embrace of one’s character–from the physical to the emotional world they inhabit.
Now in the twilight of his life, a once-hailed N.Y. writer whose creative elasticity has shriveled into writer’s block, Langella‘s Leonard has spent years circling the same spot. While his work and his restless daughter (Lili Taylor) feed his reason to be, a snappy grad student (Lauren Ambrose) fixated on reviving the dusty author soon feeds his reason to do: to write and engage more–and contemplate the possibility of romance.
Rising helmer Andrew Wagner, describes collaborating with Langella as: “Life changing … to work with a man who’s a constant artist. His goal as an actor is to seek truth and form a deep and cellular connection with his character.”
From playing Clark Kent’s editor in Superman Returns (2006) to Richard Nixon in 2008’s Frost/Nixon, his talent lies in transformation. Having shed the cape of his iconic title role in Dracula (1979), actor Langella doesn’t rest on laurels from the past–quite contrary to his stalled novelist in Starting Out.
The silver-haired, bright-eyed romantic who just added an Indie Spirit nom for Best Actor to his accolades is clearly proving: He’s only just begun.
[IMG:R]Hollywood.com: How do you go about choosing your roles?
Frank Langella: At this time in my life I just look at what comes or what it is that I think I might want to do and I see if I can make that happen or if someone wants me for something. I don’t think [in terms of] ‘stage’ or ‘film’ or ‘television’–I just think, “Do I want to play this character, can I play it? And do they want me to play it?” It just happened this year [over] the last 18 months that I got to work on four pictures in a row which is very rare for an actor, especially for me. And I spent a year on stage–so it’s been a great year for me.
HW: What was easier to play: This stagnated writer, Leonard Schiller, or the complicated Richard Nixon?
FL: Oh god, that’s an interesting question. Nobody is easy to play when you start out. Nobody. Every single character, you approach as if you’ve never done it before. Eventually they end up, not being easy, but they become a part of me in some way … If you want to define it as easy you can.
[IMG:L]HW: What was it about this script that attracted you to it?
FL: I couldn’t believe anyone would want to make a picture like this! [Smiles] Who the hell wants to see a movie about a 75-year-old old guy living alone?! I just thought it was such a long shot–and I wanted to meet the person who felt so strongly about such language. It was so well written and what the man was struggling with was very moving to me and touching.
HW: In the film, your character has such a great physical presence, even in his silence…
FL: We had three or four weeks of rehearsal time before shooting … He [Andrew Wagner] came over every night and we sat for hours going over the script page by page, line by line, because I knew once we get on the set we weren’t going to have any time. We really charted our way through the course of Leonard’s emotional life so when I got on the set I was clear on every scene, and only had two or three takes to do it.
HW: Did you ‘fall for’ your character Leonard?
FL: I became very, very infected by him. He was kind of lost in a way and sort of sad; and he wasn’t able to overcome the instance of his life–and the genius of his youth–and go on writing and evolving. Instead he ‘locked down’–as so many people do at a particular time–and wasn’t able to move forward. That’s really tragic how many [people’s] lives go that way.
[IMG:R]HW: Hailed as a genius in his youth but now caught-up in a creative stall, can you describe your character Leonard and his awkward relationship with Lauren Ambrose’s ambitious character Heather?
FL: Like so many people he was not able to face the reality of his life, and he retreated. It shut him down. The saddest thing is that it did shut him down and all that Lauren’s character [wanted to do] if anything was to wake him up.
HW: How did you prepare for the role of a writer?
FL: Andrew gave me a task to try and write the first couple of chapters of Leonard’s thoughts and I did. I wrote what I felt Leonard would be thinking. It was very helpful in understanding how difficult it is to sit down to a blank page. I was very deep inside of the character once we got to being on camera.
HW: Since we’re on the topic of growing older and self-consciousness of sorts, in a way, what it was like doing the nude scene?
FL: You mean at my age?! I had done a nude scene before, much more explicit in Lolita (1998), and in my first movie, Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), the director wanted me to be nude and I wouldn’t…I was 29. It’s good to be my age. It [your ‘private part’] looks like everybody else’s! It wasn’t difficult at all.
HW: What has been difficult in your profession?
FL: I wouldn’t say “difficult.” What you should do with every new work [project] you get to reveal more and more–be more and more and more vulnerable. As you know, as you get older in life, you get slapped around a lot. You put up all these defenses against it. So you’re constantly fighting against revealing yourself because you don’t want to get slapped in the face.
[IMG:L]HW: What was working with Lauren Ambrose and Lili Taylor like?
FL: They were both extremely, tough, compellingly alive actresses, in terms of what their characters were and what they wanted to get their characters across to be. In a limited amount of time–that’s just wonderful–Lili [as Ariel] would come into the room and say a line, and I’d look at her and say something back; same with Lauren, there was very little discussion. The readings were based on what each person’s character needed or felt. That was true of Adrian Lester [Ariel’s flame Casey], who I don’t think is getting attention enough in this movie. He’s the one you want to see in a nude scene!
HW: Have you been thinking of Oscar?!
FL: [Puzzled] I’m not following–who? Oh that Oscar … [Shyly trails off into a chuckle] Um, I don’t really, hmm….
[IMG:R]HW: You seem to play a lot of archetypal characters–is there something about you or something that attracts you to these characters?
FL: I do think it is me. I was saying to a friend last night, “I seem to play loners. I seem to play the man unattached: Dracula. Sherlock Holmes. Cyrano. Nixon. They’re all people singularly living in their own universe. I’m just very attracted to them, and they’re great roles!
HW: Can you talk a little about shooting in New York City and how it serves up such a rich flavor in the story?
FL: It’s my hometown, for one thing. I can go to work and go right home again. It’s just a great city. It’s a New York movie; it is so deeply an Upper West Side Jewish male writer [‘s story].
HW: With your character’s focus on the written word and developing that inner life, did it have any impact on your current thoughts about the Writers Guild strike?
FL: It has no relationship to [my character] Leonard, but I honestly think people should be compensated for what they do–it’s that simple. That’s what it’s all about, compensating people for their contribution. You can go on and on about everything else but I really think at the end of any collaboration that everyone should walk away from it fairly compensated or everybody’s gotten a little piece … I think this might be along one [strike] since everybody is pretty pissed off and angry about it.
[IMG:L]HW: Is there something you look for in a director?
FL: I looked for it in Andrew and got it. You don’t always get it. You look for a man that looks at you and understands you and cares what you think. You can only hope for that. I’ve been very, very lucky because the last ten years I’ve worked with George Clooney, Ridley Scott, Roman Polanski, Adrian Lyne, Ivan Reitman, Ron Howard…I mean, I’ve had really fantastic directors, all of whom are very actor friendly, every one of them.
HW: What was it like working with your director? Did he bring something new to the table?
FL: Yes, he brought an overwhelming vulnerability and emotionality to the project. He wept a couple of times profusely–Andrew has an emotional spirit that is so alive and is like an actor, in a way … He sent the finished film to me and I thought, “My god the attention he paid to the detail of our faces.” An eyebrow goes up. A little look. Or a gesture. He so watched the human feelings and movements of each character and you don’t really get that in most movies.
HW: How true…
FL: I wouldn’t say Andrew restored my faith–because I never lost it–but he did awaken an even stronger desire.
[IMG:R]Needing to Reconnect with Independence: Q&A with Lili Taylor
With a range of beautifully drawn work that easily earns her one of the top two tiaras in the pageant for risk-taking filmmaking, few actors come to mind as readily as Lili Taylor when thinking of steadfast thespian pioneers of the independent film cannon.
We sat down with the beaming, and very pregnant star, who is a master of bringing texture and life to whatever project she touches… (Read interview)
