Pull quote: «If you are constructing a scene, you want to get the dialogue out of the way. It's not about hating words, it's about loving pictures,» James Mangold, director
"Heavy is 'rebelliously classical'," proclaims ex-Wall Street banker-turned-producer Richard Miller. "It lies at the other end of the spectrum of American independent films. It's not about boys with guns; it's a classic story, told in a classic way." Writer and first-time director James Mangold elaborates: "Heavy was an attempt to make a silent movie, a quietly poetical film, rebelling against the noise and visual bombardment that cinema audiences have come to expect from a diet of MTV. It's silent in that it tries to tell a story with pictures".
Starring Pruitt Taylor Vince (Nobody's Fool), double Oscar-winner Shelley Winters and ex-Blondie pop diva Debbie Harry, the story focuses on 'Pete and Dolly's', a roadside New York diner where Victor, an overweight pizza chef is in the thrall of his domineering mother. Described by Mangold as "a late coming-of-age story", Victor waddles from a depressed and insular existence into the realms of possibility where decisions are realizable, "a cathartic journey that resolves the paralysis".
Attending Milos Forman's advanced directing workshop at Columbia University, Mangold developped the screenplay with his mentor's guidance; Forman's Loves of a Blonde is held up as a classic by Mangold. "Milos always knew and understood that we were building this flower, and he had a sense of what it looked like on paper," says Mangold. "If you are constructing a scene, you want to get the dialogue out of the way. It's not about hating words, it's about loving pictures. Milos assured me that the actors' performances could bring the film alive".
Interested in working with Mangold having seen the director's short film Victor, the issue for Miller from a production viewpoint, was whether to scrape by, shooting with no names on a zero budget, or raise the necessary finance. In the end, "like many first-time US independent projects the money was raised through contacts and private sources - people who believed in us," says Miller. "We were able to attract the cast and crew well below the standard rate, some were turned on by the script, and others believed in Jim."
Mangold is aware of the marketing difficulties involved in Heavy. "Will this movie's quietness become redundant given audiences' constant need for stimulation?" he asks rhetorically. Mangold was apprehensive before his film's Sundance première, but it was well received. Rumour has it people even switched off their cellulars. Tim Avis
Prod: Richard Miller
Dir/scr: James Mangold
Ph: Michael Barrow
Prod des: Michael Art
dir: Daniel Goldfield Shaw
Ed: Meg Reticker
Mus: Thurston Moore
Cast: Pruitt Taylor Vince, Liv Tyler, Shelley WInters, Deborah Harry, Joe Grifasi, Evan Dando
International sales: Fortissimo
