Q&A With Cecilia Peck

Tom DiCillo

How would you describe Box of Moonlight?

My sense is that this is a battle between total control and total freedom in which both sides win.

Both sides as represented by the two main characters.

Yes. Al is this guy who lives his life to-tally by control, and he meets this kid who lives his life completely out of control. You need aspects of both in life - I don't put either one of them down.

That's what interested me about telling this story, especially with John Turturro. Because the response when I was trying to raise the money was to go with someone anal and repressed. I said no, I want a guy who is full of energy, who is commanding on screen.

But it's more about freedom. I'm concerned about how genuine freedom in [America] appears to terrify most people. Real emotional or spiritual freedom. Our country was theoretically founded upon that principle, that people can be free to do as they feel. And we've become a terrified, superstitious nation.

There is a responsibility that each human being has to discover what is true for them, and that is the joy of real freedom. To make that discovery. To say, well I was raised as a Buddhist, but I've made up my own mind and I'd rather be a Hasidic Jew.

And the Kid embodies that kind of freedom.

Yes, whatever he feels like doing, he does. But he's not just a Peter Pan-type character. He has suffered some trauma that has added to why he is living alone out in the woods. But he's uninhibited, a little messy I like that about him.

How did you cast Sam Rockwell?

I had seen Sam for Johnny Suede four years ago and he was a little too young, but he was a tremendous actor. Then he came in again to audition for the Kid, and I told him he had the part. It was four years before the film got made, but I held out for him. I would always call him and say: I think I have the money! and then it would fall apart.

How did Turturro get involved?

It was a year-long courtship, through letters and phone calls. I think he was puzzled about why I was after him. Some of the other actors who were considered were Michael Keaton and Alec Baldwin. These archetypal American heroes. So when I told John, I want you to play this guy like a cross between a young Burt Lancaster and Ward Cleaver, he started to understand what I was up to.

In his own way, this guy is kind of sexy. I wanted John to be in great shape, and when he takes his shirt off, he looks great! I said, I want you to stand up tall; there's no slouching. So when John finally saw what I was after, and plus he could be funny, because John has an incredible sense of humour, that's what drew him in.

And the music? Turturro's character finds this tape in his rental car that becomes the soundtrack for the movie.

Well, you're in the middle of a movie and suddenly a song comes on and you say, Where the hell does that come from? So I thought, let's have a guy find a tape. I went through all my records and CDs to find all the music that gives me an emotional response.

I had a great time putting it together. I had to lose a couple [of songs] because these people were so stingy; what they were asking for the rights was unbelievable. Fortunately, I got the music by The Chance (Tequila) which has a real playfulness that doesn't sound nostalgic to me. And my composer Jim Farmer has done the music for all my films.

How much bigger was your budget than the one you had on Living in Oblivion?

That was made for about US$500,000, and we had about five times that much on this movie. But we were on location and we had a lot of exteriors, so because we tried to do so much, it was like we had less money than we did on Living in Oblivion. The schedule was much more intense.

We were able to finagle a helicopter shot, but we had to find a pilot we could afford, and we couldn't even scout in the air. It had been raining for three weeks and suddenly the sky cleared and we said, Let's go up! We jumped in the helicopter and found this spot. I was screaming, There it is!

Were there any favourite films that you used as inspiration?

It was only after I finished it that I saw little echoes of The Wizard of Oz in this. Mainly in colours and some of the landscapes and the way the story unfolds like an onion. I see it as a tattered, modern version of The Wizard of Oz. It has a magical quality to it without being too precious.

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