Archive for Film Commentary

This film was a blast to shoot. All those kids made it much more fun. Charlotte Ray was such a brilliant actress to work with and very funny. We stayed in touch for years afterwards. All the girls were great, and I really enjoyed getting to play a little bit of comedy.

I know many of the fans grew up with this sweet little film. It is nice to know all these years later, that kids really loved it. Now, they have grown up and they watch it with their kids. I think that is one of the greatest parts of having made these films, knowing that some of them have brought a lot of joy to people.

In this world we need more of that, so I am very proud to have bee a part of this project. People still come up to me and laugh as they recount watching Tim Curry singing “Anything can happen on Halloween”.

My first Big Film. In short, it was a wonderful experience. I was well taken care of. To this day the Director, Walter Murch stays in my heart as the kindest, most insightful, and one of the best directors I have had the honor to work with. In my estimate, and many others, this man is a genius. He wrote a fascinating book called In the Blink of an Eye, which I recommend to any person who wants to learn to be great at filmmaking.

Working on this film was to change my life forever. I won the role out of something like 1200 other girls, and it came as a great surprise. It was fun, and it was very hard work. We shot for a year, which in film terms is a very long time. I felt like we were one big family on this movie, and truth be told, we were. The publicity for the film took my mother and I to Japan, where we met the Crown Prince, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, and many other cities.

It will forever live in my heart as the most special film I have, or will ever make. I am happy that it has achieved the kind of cult status that it has, because it is a very special film to me. Someday, when I finish my book, I will be able to go into greater detail about the experience, for there is far too much to fit into this small space.

This is the craziest movie I have ever made to date. There are enough stories to write a entire book about it. Being that I am trying to stick to the positive in these mini blurbs, I will say that it definitely did have its good points. Working with Marlon Brando was great. He was very very funny, had a great sense of humor, and loved to play pranks. Being in Australia was wild. It is like being on a whole other planet there. Anyone who gets the chance should definitely go. I made many friends on that show.

Someday I will tell all the stories……

Whenever people ask me which film I felt I did the best job in, I say Gas Food Lodging. It is very dear to my heart. We went out to New Mexico and shot this film in the last little town before Mexico called Deming.

It was a magical time and place to be out in that desert. Anyone who has ever spent time in the desert of New Mexico will tell you what magical and beautiful place it is. I had a great time on this film.

We were a small crew and cast, and we all lived in the same motor inn. No room for ego trips on this one. Everyone dropped their shtick, and we became one unit. Everyone that worked on that film was truly there, because they wanted to be. It is a very personal film for me, in that it is a film about a young girl trying to find out about her father.

All of the actors were great to work with, as was Allison Anders. She takes great care of her actors, is very sensitive to them, and works very well with them. This is rare. I am proud of this film, and also proud that I won Best Actress at the Independent Film Awards for it. It is very close to my heart.

This film was fun to work on, as the director and my co-lead are both dear friends of mine. We shot it in Palmdale, outside of Los Angeles. The crew were young and fun. I remember it being so hot. It was a fairly quick shoot. We shot out on the road a lot in very high temperatures, but everyone was a good sport so we had a great time.