Page 49 - Shahrvand BC No.1236
P. 49
English Section
49 EBERT'S LAST INTERVIEW:
A LETTER FROM RAMIN BAHRANI
1392 تشهبیدرا6 جمعه- 1236 شماره/ سال متسیب by Ramin Bahrani reviews were never bogged down in adolescent fanfare course of 6 months and learned everything that inspired
or stuffy intellectualism. You were wiser than that. You the film "At Any Price."
April 24, 2013 wrote about the most complex films in simple and direct
ways that anybody could understand. This is a rare What initially struck me was how modern farming had
Dear Roger, talent that reminds me of John Ford’s cinema. You also become. There was nothing romantic about it anymore.
You emailed me the questions to this interview on March approached every film with the same generous heart, There were no farmers in overalls, plucking vegetables
15, 2013. In your March 16th reply to my email, you yet with the highest standards of what cinema can and from the garden, surrounded by chickens and cattle.
said: The piece will go out to all my print syndication must be. Your writings gave me courage to continue, There was no bank foreclosing on the small family farm.
customers. (“Print!” How times change.) especially your interview with Werner. Since then, with Instead, there were smart, shrewd agri-businessmen
Times have changed. Before we could finish this each new film I make I say to myself: this film must live with multi-million dollar farming operations in their
interview, you were gone. I emailed you the day before up Roger’s standards and strive towards what you saw backyards. They were constantly checking commodities
you passed that I was coming to see you that Tuesday in me. prices on their smart phones and their tractors were
morning in Chicago. I did come. Chaz and I shared many I’m grateful you encouraged me to take a leap into high-tech million-dollar machines that drove themselves
memories, including how you and I communicated more something new with "At Any Price," and that you saw with GPS satellite systems.
about books than anything else. Roger, times certainly and liked it in Toronto last year. When I visited you a Without fail, these farmers invited me into their
did change! You finally relented, bought and loved a few months ago on Christmas Day in the rehab center homes to live with them. They were all good, kind
Kindle Fire! Your embrace of social media was key to in Chicago, I told you all my mistakes and how I wanted and warm-hearted people who loved their neighbors
the last and possibly best years of your writing. I have to do better. It’s what I do after every film I make. I also and communities. But they lived under the mantras of
tried to emulate some of that in this correspondence by told you the synopsis of my new film, showed you a "expand or die" and "get big or get out." These pressures
using hyperlinks, photos and videos, but I’m still holding photo on my phone and even shared the title with you. were making them turn against their neighbors in order
on to the old ways. Thus, I’m grateful that you always to survive.
introduced me to writers by sending me real books When I sent this interview to Chaz, she emailed that you In modern farming, a few-hundred-acre farm is
printed on paper, including "O Pioneers!" by the great would have prodded me to reveal the title. I might have considered a hobby. Three thousand acres is small. Five
Willa Cather, among others. been able to say no to you, but I can’t say no to Chaz! or 10,000 acres makes you a player. Operations of this
We also shared a love of walking and exploring, and I Like me, I know you were passionate about issues of size and scale, driven by the ever-present "expand or die"
told Chaz how I would send you photos sometimes when wealth inequality and the 99 percent. In that spirit, what mentality, reminded me of how Wall Street bankrupted
I was taking a good walk. In 2012, I was in Venice and better place than your website to announce the title of my the world, and how Walmart is smashing up Main
found myself missing you, so I sent you these photos of new film: "99 Homes." Streets across the country. I found myself and everyone
the streets. You emailed me back to say what was around Roger, in our final meeting I also asked you about love, around me feeling the same pressures that I witnessed in
the corner. You were right. life and death (I was never able to get the secret as to how the Heartland. Showing what was happening to family
you found and convinced Chaz to marry you!). These farms seemed like a fresh way to tell the story of what
In touch with Iranian diversity were topics I had asked you about before, in person and was happening to the country.
numerous times via email. You were pronounced dead What really set me off and running was when I met a
once and returned - and wrote eloquently about Chaz farmer who was also a GMO seed-salesman. Who knew
sensing your heartbeat and your call to return. But I there was such a profession? From that moment on I could
wonder what you experienced in your final moment not look at a cornfield without thinking about Willy
weeks ago. Was there a mystery or just darkness? I guess Loman in "Death of a Salesman." That's when Dennis
I will find out one day. It’s only inevitable that I will go Quaid's character of Henry Whipple came to me and the
back to the dirt too. screenplay for "At Any Price" began to take shape.
For some we loved, the loveliest and best
That from His rolling vintage Time has pressed,
Have drunk their glass a round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest.
-- Omar Khayyám
Vol. 20 / No. 1236 - Friday, Apr. 26, 2013 If I am lucky, when my day comes, I will have just
finished the final cut of my last film… a film that I hope
may finally live up to what you saw in me.
With love,
Ramin Bahrani
April 24, 2013
Brooklyn
Q: In your films, the heroes are often focused on
I’m grateful to have communicated with you about success. Here Henry Whipple certainly is. But the
books, cinema, life and death; to have had Steak-and- story questions his optimism. An evolution in your
Shake with you and Chaz, David Bordwell and others at thinking?
Ebertfest; to have been witness to you holding court at In "Chop Shop" and "Goodbye Solo," boundless
the Red Lion with your dirty limericks; and to have done optimism led to characters who didn't succeed, but
a shot-by-shot analysis of "Aguirre The Wrath of God" refused to quit. Just like Ahmad in "Man Push Cart," my
with you and Werner Herzog at the CWA. Sisyphean hero in NYC.
Because of you, I discovered some of my favorite With "At Any Price" I was eager to challenge myself
filmmakers -- Werner Herzog, Martin Scorsese, Mike creatively by making my first film where the main
Leigh and others. Because of you, I was able to work character is an anti-hero, a man who is unlikeable at
with Werner on "Plastic Bag" and find a friend and a THE EMAIL INTERVIEW: the start of the film. Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) is
also my first main character who has money. However,
mentor. Roger, I made my first film in total isolation
with non-actors and a nickel. It miraculously found its Q: Where did the idea for the film come from? Henry is under pressure to make even more money and
49 way to Venice, Sundance, and tiny art-house audiences. I conceived of my short film "Plastic Bag" with a dear to be an even greater success so that he can live up to his
But then you came, held the door wide open and asked friend Jenni Jenkins (who tragically passed away a year overwhelming father (Red West) and survive in a world
the mass of people to look. You changed everything for ago). She was working in media, sustainability and the run by the mantras "expand or die" and "get big or get out."
me, my films and my future. environment and fostered these passions in me. She also In "Death of a Salesman," the idea of boundless optimism
Yet despite the success of my first three films, I found educated me on food, as I was increasingly curious about helps lead Willy Loman to suicide. Willy Loman killed
myself in a dark place. After "Goodbye Solo," I thought what I was eating and where it was coming from, and himself for a reason, and we have sadly forgotten him
about giving up filmmaking. So few people seemed to she introduced me to Michael Pollan's writing. Michael and his tragic demise. Roger, you reminded me in your
care about cinema. One of my havens during that time and I became email friends and he introduced me to email of an important line from "Death of a Salesman":
was your essays, blogs and reviews. You’ve always had George Naylor, a prominent figure in "The Omnivore's "Attention must be paid to this man."
the ability to cut right to the heart of the matter. Your Dilemma." I lived with George on and off over the
Please see page 46
49 EBERT'S LAST INTERVIEW:
A LETTER FROM RAMIN BAHRANI
1392 تشهبیدرا6 جمعه- 1236 شماره/ سال متسیب by Ramin Bahrani reviews were never bogged down in adolescent fanfare course of 6 months and learned everything that inspired
or stuffy intellectualism. You were wiser than that. You the film "At Any Price."
April 24, 2013 wrote about the most complex films in simple and direct
ways that anybody could understand. This is a rare What initially struck me was how modern farming had
Dear Roger, talent that reminds me of John Ford’s cinema. You also become. There was nothing romantic about it anymore.
You emailed me the questions to this interview on March approached every film with the same generous heart, There were no farmers in overalls, plucking vegetables
15, 2013. In your March 16th reply to my email, you yet with the highest standards of what cinema can and from the garden, surrounded by chickens and cattle.
said: The piece will go out to all my print syndication must be. Your writings gave me courage to continue, There was no bank foreclosing on the small family farm.
customers. (“Print!” How times change.) especially your interview with Werner. Since then, with Instead, there were smart, shrewd agri-businessmen
Times have changed. Before we could finish this each new film I make I say to myself: this film must live with multi-million dollar farming operations in their
interview, you were gone. I emailed you the day before up Roger’s standards and strive towards what you saw backyards. They were constantly checking commodities
you passed that I was coming to see you that Tuesday in me. prices on their smart phones and their tractors were
morning in Chicago. I did come. Chaz and I shared many I’m grateful you encouraged me to take a leap into high-tech million-dollar machines that drove themselves
memories, including how you and I communicated more something new with "At Any Price," and that you saw with GPS satellite systems.
about books than anything else. Roger, times certainly and liked it in Toronto last year. When I visited you a Without fail, these farmers invited me into their
did change! You finally relented, bought and loved a few months ago on Christmas Day in the rehab center homes to live with them. They were all good, kind
Kindle Fire! Your embrace of social media was key to in Chicago, I told you all my mistakes and how I wanted and warm-hearted people who loved their neighbors
the last and possibly best years of your writing. I have to do better. It’s what I do after every film I make. I also and communities. But they lived under the mantras of
tried to emulate some of that in this correspondence by told you the synopsis of my new film, showed you a "expand or die" and "get big or get out." These pressures
using hyperlinks, photos and videos, but I’m still holding photo on my phone and even shared the title with you. were making them turn against their neighbors in order
on to the old ways. Thus, I’m grateful that you always to survive.
introduced me to writers by sending me real books When I sent this interview to Chaz, she emailed that you In modern farming, a few-hundred-acre farm is
printed on paper, including "O Pioneers!" by the great would have prodded me to reveal the title. I might have considered a hobby. Three thousand acres is small. Five
Willa Cather, among others. been able to say no to you, but I can’t say no to Chaz! or 10,000 acres makes you a player. Operations of this
We also shared a love of walking and exploring, and I Like me, I know you were passionate about issues of size and scale, driven by the ever-present "expand or die"
told Chaz how I would send you photos sometimes when wealth inequality and the 99 percent. In that spirit, what mentality, reminded me of how Wall Street bankrupted
I was taking a good walk. In 2012, I was in Venice and better place than your website to announce the title of my the world, and how Walmart is smashing up Main
found myself missing you, so I sent you these photos of new film: "99 Homes." Streets across the country. I found myself and everyone
the streets. You emailed me back to say what was around Roger, in our final meeting I also asked you about love, around me feeling the same pressures that I witnessed in
the corner. You were right. life and death (I was never able to get the secret as to how the Heartland. Showing what was happening to family
you found and convinced Chaz to marry you!). These farms seemed like a fresh way to tell the story of what
In touch with Iranian diversity were topics I had asked you about before, in person and was happening to the country.
numerous times via email. You were pronounced dead What really set me off and running was when I met a
once and returned - and wrote eloquently about Chaz farmer who was also a GMO seed-salesman. Who knew
sensing your heartbeat and your call to return. But I there was such a profession? From that moment on I could
wonder what you experienced in your final moment not look at a cornfield without thinking about Willy
weeks ago. Was there a mystery or just darkness? I guess Loman in "Death of a Salesman." That's when Dennis
I will find out one day. It’s only inevitable that I will go Quaid's character of Henry Whipple came to me and the
back to the dirt too. screenplay for "At Any Price" began to take shape.
For some we loved, the loveliest and best
That from His rolling vintage Time has pressed,
Have drunk their glass a round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest.
-- Omar Khayyám
Vol. 20 / No. 1236 - Friday, Apr. 26, 2013 If I am lucky, when my day comes, I will have just
finished the final cut of my last film… a film that I hope
may finally live up to what you saw in me.
With love,
Ramin Bahrani
April 24, 2013
Brooklyn
Q: In your films, the heroes are often focused on
I’m grateful to have communicated with you about success. Here Henry Whipple certainly is. But the
books, cinema, life and death; to have had Steak-and- story questions his optimism. An evolution in your
Shake with you and Chaz, David Bordwell and others at thinking?
Ebertfest; to have been witness to you holding court at In "Chop Shop" and "Goodbye Solo," boundless
the Red Lion with your dirty limericks; and to have done optimism led to characters who didn't succeed, but
a shot-by-shot analysis of "Aguirre The Wrath of God" refused to quit. Just like Ahmad in "Man Push Cart," my
with you and Werner Herzog at the CWA. Sisyphean hero in NYC.
Because of you, I discovered some of my favorite With "At Any Price" I was eager to challenge myself
filmmakers -- Werner Herzog, Martin Scorsese, Mike creatively by making my first film where the main
Leigh and others. Because of you, I was able to work character is an anti-hero, a man who is unlikeable at
with Werner on "Plastic Bag" and find a friend and a THE EMAIL INTERVIEW: the start of the film. Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) is
also my first main character who has money. However,
mentor. Roger, I made my first film in total isolation
with non-actors and a nickel. It miraculously found its Q: Where did the idea for the film come from? Henry is under pressure to make even more money and
49 way to Venice, Sundance, and tiny art-house audiences. I conceived of my short film "Plastic Bag" with a dear to be an even greater success so that he can live up to his
But then you came, held the door wide open and asked friend Jenni Jenkins (who tragically passed away a year overwhelming father (Red West) and survive in a world
the mass of people to look. You changed everything for ago). She was working in media, sustainability and the run by the mantras "expand or die" and "get big or get out."
me, my films and my future. environment and fostered these passions in me. She also In "Death of a Salesman," the idea of boundless optimism
Yet despite the success of my first three films, I found educated me on food, as I was increasingly curious about helps lead Willy Loman to suicide. Willy Loman killed
myself in a dark place. After "Goodbye Solo," I thought what I was eating and where it was coming from, and himself for a reason, and we have sadly forgotten him
about giving up filmmaking. So few people seemed to she introduced me to Michael Pollan's writing. Michael and his tragic demise. Roger, you reminded me in your
care about cinema. One of my havens during that time and I became email friends and he introduced me to email of an important line from "Death of a Salesman":
was your essays, blogs and reviews. You’ve always had George Naylor, a prominent figure in "The Omnivore's "Attention must be paid to this man."
the ability to cut right to the heart of the matter. Your Dilemma." I lived with George on and off over the
Please see page 46
