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Written by Gregg Shapiro
Jun 30, 2010
Annette Benning (left) and Julianne Moore star as lesbian moms in Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are All Right." – Photo: Courtesy
“The Kids Are All Right,” the new movie by out filmmaker Lisa Cholodenko (“High Art” and “Laurel Canyon”) is one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of the summer season, gay or straight. In the film, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson), the children of lesbian couple Nic (Annette Benning) and Jules (Julianne Moore) seek out their sperm donor father Paul (Mark Ruffalo).The results of their quest is at turns humorous and heartbreaking and ultimately unforgettable. WiG spoke with Ms. Cholodenko shortly before “The Kids Are All Right” opened in theaters.
Gregg Shapiro: “The Kids Are All Right” strikes the right balance between seriousness and humor. How important was it for you to maintain a sense of humor in the film?
Lisa Cholodenko: It’s pretty important. I’m a big fan of (director) Billy Wilder, especially the films that had more of that tone, like “Sunset Boulevard” and “The Apartment,” where you kind of feel like you’re unsettled. To me, that feeling of being unsettled between the comedy and the drama is what makes the absorption and the engagement.
GS: Speaking of humor, one of the funniest scenes in the movie involves a vintage Colt Studio porn video starring Gordon Grant. It’s delightful and unexpected.
LC: I had to do a huge research project to find just the right movie. I got my straight editorial assistant and my straight film assistant – I sent (those) guys home with so much porn, you wouldn’t believe it. Gay women I know have said over the years that they love gay male porn and especially the `70s era when it was still done on film. I always find that more interesting. There’s something about video that’s too in your face. It’s kind of gnarly. … I had known about Colt and thought, those are good, those are classic, vintage era. …They were cool to let us use it.
GS: Do you think straight movie audiences are ready for a scene such as that?
LC: I think most people won’t know what the fuck to make of it, and in that sense think it’s a big joke, think it’s funny. And then the people who are kind of in the know will go, “Wow!”
GS: The movie demonstrates that the kids, Joni and Laser, really are all right and that it’s the adults who are messed up. Is this intended to show that kids from same sex households really aren’t that different from those being raised by mixed gender parents?
LC: Kind of, yeah. I think it’s really to show that it’s the quality of parenting, not who’s parenting. What’s the structure? What’s the consistency? What are the values? What is the love factor? What are all those things? Those are the defining things that make character and stability.
GS: Julianne Moore is having what I would describe as her lesbian year on screen, as Jules in “The Kids Are All Right” and Atom Egoyan’s “Chloe.” But even before that, Moore has been a presence in films by gay filmmaker Todd Haynes, as well as in numerous gay-themed films including “A Single Man” and “The Hours.” What was it like working with Julianne?
LC: It was great. I knew her in a very peripheral way for a long time and always liked her, but I didn’t know if she would be pleasurable to work with. For me, she was just a total team player. She was like, “I’ve been hanging around for a long time, waiting for you to make this film.” She’d been attached to it for four or five years, and I think she was ready to jump in and enjoy it and give it good energy. It was a really fast shoot. She was awesome.
GS: If Julianne is having her lesbian year on-screen, then Annette Benning is having her maternal one as Nic in “The Kids Are All Right” and as a woman looking for the daughter she gave up for adoption in “Mother and Child.” What was it like to work with Annette?
LC: She is a formidable person. She knows what she likes. She’s a very experienced and intense person. She’s incredibly bright and attentive to details. Her bravery blew my mind. I was wowed more than a few times.
GS: You wrote the screenplays for your films “High Art” and “Laurel Canyon,” but you co-wrote “The Kids Are All Right” with Stuart Blumberg. What’s the collaborative process when it comes to writing a screenplay?
LC: In many ways I loved it. I loved that I had somebody that was in the trenches with me. I loved that it was a straight man and we could counterbalance perspectives a lot. … We could pull each other back from the margins. Stuart is somebody that I’d known before, not terribly intimately, but always was really fond of. I felt really close to him. It’s a very intimate thing to go into this world with somebody else.
GS: The character of Joni is named after Joni Mitchell and there’s a wonderful scene in which Nic and Paul sing Mitchell’s praises and then go on to sing a Mitchell song. Is Ms. Mitchell aware of the part she plays in “The Kids Are All Right”?
LC: I’ve never met her. My significant other is a musician. Her name is Wendy Melvoin. She used to play with Prince. Wendy knows her. Wendy used to be friendly with her. … Joni had to sign off on it and we had to pay her a certain amount of money for the rights to perform the song. .. I hope that at some point she’ll see it and enjoy it.
