Gus Van Sant marches to the beat of a different drummer.
The eclectic director of such films as the quirky To Die For and My Own Private Idaho as well as the more mainstream Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester has decided to go way out on a limb with his newest indie, Gerry.
Using very little dialogue, the slow-paced story focuses on two friends, played by real-life buddies Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, who call each other Gerry and who one day drive off into a remote desert area to go hiking. Unfortunately, they lose their way in the desolate but nonetheless beautiful terrain. At first they try to downplay their dire situation with humor and confidence, but it soon becomes very apparent their chances are getting slim as they face the ultimate test of survival.
Hollywood.com chatted with Van Sant about making the film, what the word “Gerry” really means and what filmmaking means to him.
Tell me a little about the inspiration behind the film.
Gus Van Sant: I think we had an opportunity to work together and we chose the story about these two guys who wander into the desert because we had an interest in people getting disoriented and lost. We also thought that instead of making it all planned out and perfect, we’d sort of forge the film as we went.
But Gerry is loosely based on a true story, right?
Van Sant: Yeah. There was a news item in the papers that Matt read about where these two guys got lost and one guy ended up killing the other. We didn’t really look into too much because we didn’t want to get too close to the story. It was more of an inspirational suggestion.
When you were writing the movie, you decided less talk was better?
Van Sant: It kind of worked out that way. We didn’t necessarily start out with [little dialogue] in mind, but it seemed as we began to do it, that was what came up. So we went with it, at least as the director I went with it, instead of saying, “Hey, come on guys, chat it up.” There were things that were scripted and things that were sort of throwaway–and remembered. So there were different permutations of writing something down and then leaving it behind but having it in your mind and remembering it.
Being that you’ve worked with Matt and Casey before and that they’ve known each other most of their lives, was the process very comfortable and familiar?
Van Sant: It was comfortable for all of us, yeah. And I was trying to make use of their own relationship, as friends, and playing these two friends in the movie.
What does “Gerry” mean?
Van Sant: It describes something that’s gerry-rigged or messed up in a way. [Matt and Casey] also use it as a derogatory but friendly nickname for each other.
Just in the film or do the guys use the word in real-life as well?
Van Sant: Yeah, it’s actually their word. They don’t call each other “Gerry” all the time but they’d use it from time to time. It was accentuated in the movie but it originally came from them. And they are pretty “gerried” in the movie.
Indeed. The film certainly talks to those fears of getting lost. What’s the best survival tip you can give?
Van Sant: Just be really careful. It’s easy to make assumptions. For example, when I was location scouting [near Death Valley], I got a flat tire. Now I’m in, like, 115 degree weather and I had some water, but I didn’t have all that much. I had like eight little bottles of water and seemingly like six or seven miles to go to get to the main road. I knew the way because there was a road there. But it seemed to my left, if I walked across the plain, I would get to the big town. Now if I had gone in that direction, it probably would have been more like 20 miles instead of five miles. But when you’re out there and you’re looking at a little town which is five miles away but it looks like the big town is just over the hill, you might take that left. And find yourself backtracking and possibly in trouble. You have to be careful which decisions you make because you could find yourself more and more dislocated.
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Did you feel that desperation when filming in the desert?
Van Sant: Oh yeah. There was intense heat, which is the most dangerous part, and it was easy to feel very claustrophobic. But it was also very beautiful to shoot in the desert. As long as we had great light, there was always amazing things going on with the landscape. And we were always trying to capture as much of that as we could.
The film’s esoteric feel also veers from the usual movie fare. As you have said, “American films have to be like fireworks, where you push the audience along very quickly and don’t let them think.”
Van Sant:Well, I guess there could be a three-ring circus effect a film could have but there could also be a calming landscape effect. Obviously, oftentimes Hollywood goes for that three-ring circus aspect.
And you weren’t necessarily interested in that.
Van Sant: No, I’m interested in it but I think most of the filmmaking that has gone on in this century puts its faith in the idea that a film is made in pieces and its cut and reassembled by an editor. But if you think more like documentary filmmakers, where this is the shot and we have to get it now because there’s not going to be a second run, that’s sort of where I was with Gerry. But with a Good Will Hunting or Finding Forrester, I suppose I was thinking about making a more commercial movie. But if I think along those lines of making a blockbuster, it usually doesn’t work out. I guess I like to think out of the box.
Any “survival” tips you have for aspiring filmmakers?
Van Sant: I would just encourage them. Ask them a few questions and see what they think about certain things. But ultimately it’s up to them on what they want to do. There’s a certain personal prospect to making a film. Even when like-minded filmmakers start working on something together, it can be difficult. The nuances are so very delicate that even one little suggestion from someone else could be misleading. If I gave a suggestion to someone, I could be wrong. For them.
Gerry is currently playing in limited theaters.
