 |
| Bezucha and Gross on the set in 2000 (WOLFE) |
As we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, we also have to honor the 15th for Big Eden.
Appearing on numerous top LGBT movie lists since its wildly popular debut in 2000, BIG EDEN stars Arye Gross as Henry Hart, a thirty-something gay artist living in New York City who returns to his Montana hometown of Big Eden to visit his ailing grandfather, Sam (George Coe). Henry has never actually come out to Grandpa Sam, and as he grapples with his own process of self-acceptance he also continues to pine over handsome Dean Stewart, his straight crush from high school (Tim DeKay, "White Collar"). As the town's general store proprietor Pike Dexter (Eric Schweig, "Blackstone") begins to fall for Henry, the people of Big Eden rise to the occasion to play cupid.
BIG EDEN features a tremendous supporting cast, including Academy Award winner Louise Fletcher ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") as the town schoolteacher Grace, and such esteemed character actors as Nan Martin, O'Neal Compton, Corinne Bohrer and Veanne Cox.
BIG EDEN took home Best Film awards from all of the top LGBT film festivals including Outfest and Frameline, as well as being nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film in Limited Release.
This collector's edition Blu-ray includes a new bonus feature, "Remembering Big Eden" which features intimate interviews with the film's cast and crew reflecting on the BIG EDEN'S legacy and impact as well as sharing their memories of the production and release.
I spoke with Director, Tom Bezucha about 15 years after creating this classic.
MK SCOTT: Well, hello Tom, it’s been about 15 years when your film, Big Eden, made its debut at film festivals including the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 2000. But tell us what it’s been like for you in the past 15 years since the release?
Tom Bezucha: We made it 15 years ago, we did, we had a great time with the festivals, I remember the Seattle Festival well. We had a great theatrical release, and I believe it’s a little shocking that it’s been 15 years, but here we are.
MK: I did some research and found out that you also wrote and directed The Family Stone with Sarah Jessica Parker, I’m sure that was exciting. And also just recently you did Monte Carlo?
TB: Yeah, that was a great experience. I love those people. They were incredibly generous. Big Eden was the first thing I did, and The Family Stone was the follow up, and yeah Monte Carlo was apparently I made The Lizzie McGuire Movie Part II starring Selena Gomez, essentially. So somebody, who were we, Kimberly Pierce did Carrie, and then we were all talking about a sort of class reunion of gay filmmakers who have then sort of gone on to do these other teenage movies.
MK: Going back in regards to Big Eden, where did the idea come from?
TB: It was, at a moment in time, I was working for Ralph Lauren designing stores. I lived in New York, and sort of a confluence of things happened where I discovered the music was like Dwight Yokam, I went on a buying trip for Ralph Lauren to Cody, Wyoming, and read a book by Ian Frasier called Great Plains. And I just fell in love with the West and developed this fantasy of just sort of chucking it all in, moving from New York, to the west, and teaching, I was going to teach art in an elementary school. And I would tell all my friends and then they would tell me that I was crazy. And I sort of thought, well what is the, in these small, you know, there’s no way a gay man you can live in a small town and all this sort of stuff. And I thought, well, what if it’s the opposite of what you think. And it was, so the whole, the concept of Big Eden was a little in response to the predetermined homophobia that was waiting for me. And it’s sort of fascinating, in the 15 years since I sort of things sort of like Johnny Cummings, in Kentucky, who is the mayor of that small town, just so much has changed across the country.
 |
| PURE FANTASY? (WOLFE) |
TB: Oh, wow!
MK: Yeah. (Laugh) So I wanted to find out, and actually everybody was total concise who came to the screening, that there was a lot of similarities to Brokeback Mountain, but it was made five years prior to Brokeback Mountain. So we were amazed by that. And then also there was a film at the film festivals last year that I liked and all of the sudden, wham, I was brought back, it was like, okay, what was the name of that film with Arye Gross, and it was set in a small town and so forth. And I said, okay, it was Big Eden. Well, this film, called Tiger Orange, you know, I was reminded of the small town mentality and the legacy of a family of living in a small town the community support, being Gay was no big deal. Have you seen Tiger Orange?
TB: No, I haven’t. But that sounds fascinating.
MK: The only difference about that is the fact that they, about two gay brothers, one is the introvert running the family business after their father died, while the other one is the extravert played by porn star Johnny Hazard. And he comes back and so the introvert learns something from the extrovert, and then when I was interviewing the writer and the star, Mark Sano, he was saying about how both of these brothers were basically both sides of his personality.
TB: Yes, I would imagine that, because two gay brothers that grew up in small town?
MK: Yes. Two gay brothers, and of course, you know, the town was not as 100% supportive as they are in Big Eden, but you know, they knew, they didn’t care, you know, but of course the one who was very in your face extrovert, of course, he’s the one who ends up getting some sort of discrimination. But other than that it was pretty much all very supportive.
TB: Big Eden, it’s predicated on a fantasy. It’s not – I never really intended it to be real life, or a real place.
 |
| The First Gay Native American in a Lead? (WOLFE) |
TB: That I can’t say, I don’t know.
MK: Because when I was doing my research I found out the Business of Fancy Dancing came out in 2002. So I think that’s one of the things that made the film very, very unique because of the fact that it actually brought out an actual gay Native American.
TB: Right. Right. And Eric was so wonderful to work with, and I, it was sort of interesting, there were, yeah, you know, we saw, yeah, a lot of Native American actors who came in. I didn’t know going into this whether culturally that group would be resistant to the character, or whatever, but they were completely embracing. And Eric was really particular about it. He said that he made it for, like he was really proud and felt like he wanted; he was doing it because he wanted to represent the gay and lesbian Native American sinew in his life. Anyway it was pretty neat. I hadn’t anticipated that going into it.
 |
| The BIG Stars, Gross and Fletcher (WOLFE) |
TB: Yeah, well Arye, it’s funny, because we, this is, I think one of the most interesting things about how the landscape has changed in the 15 years since Big Eden was made has less to do with the gay storyline and more to do with independent film. Fifteen years ago you could get actors to come in and audition. And they don’t do that anymore. But we saw a lot of people, and I sort of, like you remember Ari from films in the ‘80s and stuff, and I, like I always had an affectionate, you know, he elicits an affectionate response from me. But he would just really, sort of inhabited this human angst that I felt in Henry. And Ari was sort of not the way I imagined Henry looking, maybe, but I fell in love with him and he was so articulate about the struggle, and didn’t sort of see it as a gay movie, really it felt just like it’s hard being human and finding love and we’re still really good friends. I love Arye.
MK: And Louise?
TB: And Louise was, you know, it’s so funny, it’s a little bit of a stalker/fan thing. I had, she had been, I mean, of course, Nurse Ratchet, but she did a movie called Brainstorm with Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken. And she plays a scientist who smokes, but she was really vulnerable. And I remember her smiling in the movie at one point. And I just kind of swooned, and I thought I’m going write a movie where Louise Fletcher is going to smile. And so I wrote that part. So I wrote that part for Grace with Louise in mind thinking there’s no way we’ll ever, but what are the chances of that happening. But then when we were casting, somehow somebody knew somebody who knew somebody who knew Louise. And so we sent out the script and it was like a week later my phone rang and I picked up and she said, hi, this is Louise Fletcher, and I loved your script and I would really love to do your movie. And it’s, you know, that’s one of the memories I get to take with me to the end, it was just great. In hindsight I wish I made a little more of that character. As Grace, Louise was funny, she was like, yeah, I got to play the nice character. So I don’t know what, there wasn’t much for her to do other than sort of being her serene self and singing.
MK: Absolutely. And she got to sing in it. Did she embrace that?
TB: Loved it. She was like, you know, they don’t ask me to sing much. So she liked that. And it’s sort of funny, like I still am in touch with everybody and we all talk about, you know, it’s just sort of a termed experience. And being in Montana, it was, crazy either way, the production itself was embraced there. There was a whole thing, like we shot in Glacier National Park, and you have to submit what you’re doing to the park, you have to have Forest Rangers on the set the whole time. And I remember going into, after we sent them the script, going in with the producers to sit with the head Ranger of Glacier National Park to talk about the project and thinking, what the fu—what are they going to say about the script? They were like, yeah, we really enjoyed it. We were a little surprised that he ended up with the Native guy instead of the friend from high school, but we liked it. I mean it was a weird, like there were aspects on it, like shooting it up there, a little like Big Eden, where people, I always imagine they’re like people from Maine, where it’s like what you do is your own business, as long as you’re decent and looking out for your neighbor, that’s all. But everybody minds their own business.
MK: I have an experience with Glacier too, and it also really depends on what side you’re on, if you’re on the west side, people are going to be a little bit more accepting while compared to the east side.
TB: Well, it’s funny you mentioned it, it’s, yeah, no, the west side is, I mean, things are a little more bleak, perhaps on the east side, right? It’s a little more isolated. It’s interesting, but they, but anyway, we all talked about shooting back then, and it was how much we all enjoyed being there. And it just was a great time.
 |
| The LATE, Nan Martin stole the movie! (WOLFE) |
TB: She came in an auditioned. She is a bulldozer. It’s sad that she has passed since. (2010) I love her. She was so kind to me, who I had never done anything before. And, you know, she was a big theater actress from NY in the ‘50s. And she was like, you remind me of my friend Tom, meaning Tennessee Williams, like you’re so sensitive. But she also, my favorite thing was absolutely, at the end of every take, she would turn to me and say; I think that was wonderful, I think we’re do. Okay, but maybe we’ll do one more. But she was great, a riot.
MK: She practically stole every single scene she was in.
TB: Oh, yeah. She was a joy. We were all just fascinated by her, we loved her.
MK: What are you currently doing?
TB: I’m doing a book adaptation for Fox 2000 and I’m actually working with Maria Magenta, who wrote and directed the incredible true story of two girls in love, with whom I was arrested in 1989 as part of an ACT UP demonstration in NY. And we’re collaborating on the script; a gay sort of comedy. So we’ll see what happens.
MK: Last question. If you did a sequel of Big Eden, 15 years later, would Pike and Henry still be together?
TB: It was so funny, everybody back then, we were, in our spare time, talk about what these people would be. And Big Eden was so boring that they ended up going to NY and Pike opens a restuarant. That’s where we’re going with it.
 |
| Back to Big Eden? (WOLFE) |
TB: (Laugh) Nothing would make me happier, but now I would, if that’s the real question then I would change my answer and say they stayed in Montana because I would love nothing more than to go back and spend another three months in Glacier Park.
MK: Or maybe they moved to New York and then they go back and visit. (Chuckle) Or decide to move back to Montana after 15 years.
TB: Exactly. So we’re looking at real estate in Montana. I’m on board with that. Totally. They come back to save the general store.
MK: Thank You, Tom!
The New 15th Anniversary Blu-Ray of Big Eden is now availabe from Wolfe Video!
No comments:
Post a Comment