“Wonderstruck” is influenced by the films that left on an impression on director Todd Hanyes and Brian Selznick as children.
“I had obsessions all briefly with different films at different times in my life,” Haynes said. ” ‘Mary Poppins‘ was the first film I ever saw at 3 and I think [my obsession] was partly because it was the first film I ever saw!” Haynes said the film was one of many that generated a weirdly obsessive relationship to his own picture. Haynes is certainly not alone in this, many children have felt this way and as he said, they “latch onto movies.” Haynes hastily noted that, “It made me respond in kind: draw a million pictures about Mary Poppins, act out the scenes and even dress up my mom as Mary Poppins.”
Another film Haynes said “really blew his mind” was Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet.” “It was a film that connected to youth culture at the time and seemed sophisticated and romantic,” he recalled. “The world of Shakespeare was a fascination and I remember the teenage girls in 1968 sobbing convulsively when Romeo kills himself.” Finally Todd Haynes mentioned “The Miracle Worker” which he saw at around the same age as the characters in this film. “I think it remains a fascinating subject for kids, the life of Helen Keller,” Haynes said as he commended the incredible performances by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke in the film. “It’s really a story that comes out of a pre-language moment, its kind of savage and instinctual and asks what language means and how it gives you access to expression in culture.”
Brian Selznick was more into creature features as a child. “I loved mostly monster movies as a kid! I was really into ‘Phantom of the Opera‘ and the Lon Chaney silent movies,” Selznick said.
“I’m distantly related to David O. Selznick who produced “King Kong“, “Gone With The Wind” and “Rebecca” so there was always that added thrill of seeing my last name at the beginning of all these movies I really loved,” he added. “The name connected us and that always felt very important to me and made it feel like there was a part of me out there that was connected to cinema.” Selznick went on to say he looked forward to seeing the “The Wizard of Oz” around the holiday season because it aired each year. “I think this moment has to be one of the greatest moments in cinema history, when Dorothy opens the door from her black and white Kansas world, and moves into colorful Oz…” Selznick said before trailing off and pausing. ” I never made this connection before but maybe that’s what this entire movie is!”
Julianne Moore remarked that she was in fifth grade at the time and her family had just moved to Juno, Alaska. “There was a movie theater in town that my sister and I went to every Saturday no matter what because since the town was so small they changed the film every week.” The films varied greatly, Moore mentioned she would see “The Aristocats” one week, then “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” the next, “Minnie and Moskowitz” the following week. “And they would let us in! Half the time I didn’t know what I was watching, I really didn’t,” she said with a laugh. “It wasn’t until years later, until I had seen the movies in a revival house when I was in Boston in college. That made me draw this correlation to these movies that I saw in the fifth grade and it was this different, very human point of view. ”
Finally, Todd Haynes was asked about Oscar Wilde of whom the director is a big fan. “I have no immediate plans to return to Oscar Wilde but,” he paused as if for emphasis, “One must always return to Oscar Wilde in life, [and] I have a friend who watched a cut of the film and he’s like ‘I think it’s great you did a wonderful job Todd but I don’t think you need to impose your own stuff in this movie like the Oscar Wilde quote and the David Bowie song.” The audience laughed. “I just responded, ‘Well, it just so happens there’s none of that in this film!’ ”
“Wonderstruck” opens on October 20th.
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