I had the honor of meeting Jim Jarmusch twice today. The first time was at a screening of Mystery Train at Columbia College in Chicago and the second at the Movieside Film Festival.
He originally started studying at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL for journalism. He had taken a semester of classes when the Dean called Jim to the office and asked why he hadn't taken any of the required classes for the major, and then was invited to explore other avenues outside of their institution.
He then moved to NYC where he studied at Columbia for literature. He was involved in poetry. He is a poet. When asked about "the industry" he trailed into his feeling that he is not a professional, but an amateur. He is enamored by his art. He doesn't do it for the money. "I never met a poet that did it for the money. You show me a poet who does?!"
After NYC, he spent a year in Paris, France and basically hung out every day at the Cinemateque Paris and was exposed to films from across the world. He accredit much of his education to this theatre and the films brought there.
For some reason that he can not understand to this day, Jim was admitted to NYU Graduate Film School. He had never made a movie and didn't have anything to his credit, but he jumped at the chance. This was a three year program. As money was wearing thin he was offered a Fellowship/TA position. They made a mistake that year of giving Jim the money for school directly instead of paying the money directly towards his tuition. So with this payment Jim produced his first film. Columbia did not accept his creation as part of their curriculum... Jim left without his degree, but with his film Permanent Vacation. Jarmusch never let school get in the way of his education.
One of Jim's greatest heroes is Nicholas Rey who took him under his wing. Jarmusch worked with Rey up until his death in 1979 in his home and his office. Jim recounted tales of showing Nicholas his scripts. Nicholas would review the scripts and ask for more action and Jim would rewrite it with less action. Eventually Nicholas turned to Jim with one of his scripts and said "Ok, now you're ready." As much as Jim admired Nick's work, he didn't want to be Nick. He wanted to be his own artist.
If you think about it, this is what Jim is really known for. What separates him from the pack is how he details the moments when nothing is said and not much happens. For example in Mystery Train, Elvis, Will and Charlie are driving around Memphis drinking and driving without dialogue. Jim lets the trio to convey with a look more than what conventional directors could with dialogue. He packs in a lot of communication into awkward pauses and silence.
I asked him how he finds these moments. First he started with the premise that not everything in the story has to advance the plot. "Its kind of intuitive." He said that its important to "breath, observe and feel things." Jarmusch took it back to poetry. "Poetry is allowed to be abstract. It has to do with the use of open and empty spaces. Imagination is what drives us."
His film Night On Earth exemplifies this. Jarmusch said he was interested in capturing the moments between getting the phone call about a girlfriend having a crisis and getting to the apartment. Many writers and directors would ellipse to the door opening after the phone call, but Jim is more interested in the journey than the arrival. "What is going through the characters head between the action? How does that feel? What is he thinking on the way over to her house? What does he do while he's in the car? What does that look like?"
Jarmusch develops his characters before writing a scene. He builds these characters up in his mind and lets them interact. He then writes the scene specifically with certain actors in mind. If an actor is not available, then he throws away the script. It doesn't get made. Jarmusch investment in this process may have given him access to working with many of the industry's top talent like Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, & Roberto Benigni to name a few.
Jarmusch recounted a number of tales about Roberto Benigni and comedy on and off of the set. "One of his favorite games is this one called 'Cenzo Unico,' roughly that means 'one way' where he would try to get us back to the hotel from the set only by using one way streets the going the wrong way." When Benigni was learning English John Lurie would teach him words and expressions that didn't mean what it was supposed to. "To this day" joked Jarmusch "when Roberto goes to the bathroom he says 'I have to go flame.'"
Even with some of the best talent and fun on the set, Jim Jarmusch still has his share of problems in negotiations for the funding of his films. "Financing? I try to stay away from American money whenever possible... too many strings attached. Sometimes they'll offer you five hundred grand, but you have to use this actor and you don't get the rights to your work, no negatives, and they get final cut... I'll say 'if you want a director who will let you direct, go make your own *&^% movie'." Jarmusch is fortunate to have found a number of willing foreign investors representing countries as diverse as his cinematic influences.
Jim has compromised in the past due to time and budget. Those limitations "can be good." said Jarmusch "When working with an actor, I never talk to them in groups... We shoot out of sequence because of time and money, but it helps us to focus on a specific scene." For example, Jarmusch said that he will throw pieces of different color paper to his Director of Photography and uses shorthand on the set. He believes each component of his crew is as important as everyone else, but "a gaffer telling an actor what he thought of a scene would be inappropriate, but a gaffer doing what they do... Very important."
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On the set:
Jarmusch then quoted Oscar Wilde "Life is far too important than to be taken seriously." regarding working on the set. He recounted stories about sitting in on a Fellini shoot and everyone was loud and working hammering in things during the shoot, but when he was trying to think, to set up the shot. He wanted complete silence and all of these workers would just be standing there, totally still while he thought and then 2 minutes later they would call out the Okay and everyone would start moving again.
On Education:
Jim quoted Mark Twain regarding school "Don't let school get in the way of your education." when referring to not graduating from NYU.
On critics:
Jarmusch doesn't really read reviews of his movies unless they are really horrible. Then I'm interested in what it is that they hated so much. He respects critics whose art form is the criticism. He mentioned at Colombia that he has respect for Manny Farber, Letster Bangs, Peter Garablinck, and Jon Rosenbaum. "Their criticism is their art."
On the fact that he hasn't seen his movies since they were in the can:
Jarmusch does not watch his movies after the first time he's scene them. You can almost hear The Thrill is Gone while he said this "After you make them and see it for the first time its analytical. I'm done with it."
On professional/amateur:
Jarmusch still considers himself "an amateur director, that is, I do it for the love of the art, and not as a professional, who does it for money."
On working with actors:
"Every actor gets a certain amount of leash. With John Lurie there is no leash. He never does except for what's in the script. With Roberto you need a longer leash."
On working with actors:
"There is no one right way for all directors to work with an actor. Its different for everybody, but there are right ways for one director to work with one actor." He went on to tell a story about how Nick Rey would be almost abusive and confrontational with his actors to get the desired response out of them.
Jarmusch went on to say "I work with my actors one on one. We'll go on road trips and hang out together so I really get to know them and we get it right... There is a real dialogue."
On Digital/Film:
Jim has a "fondness for Super 8 Film." He believes that the medium, like the lens, is just a tool of the trade, but its his favorite. He talked briefly about Digital vs. Film. He still likes the filtered quality of film and of black and white. He didn't understand how these executives think black and white commercials, videos and movies are automatically "worth less money," valued less than color. "I mean the stock is more expensive. Shouldn't it be worth more?"
He went on to add that he'd probably use a bunch of different filters to give the image more of a film look and reduce the focus.
On influences:
"My influences are really broad and varied. I like a lot of what's going on in foreign cinema. I've seen some great movies from Iran, Japan and Europe." He went on to say that he spent a year in Paris doing nothing but watching movies at the Cinemateque Paris. He mentioned liking Suzuki in Japan amongst others.
