The Three Faces of Ivan

We're going to see a big change in the kinds of films that people will make, and will want to see. One influence that's bound to have an impact is ä the way so much of life is routinely taped. There are so many hidden cameras everywhere. I'm convinced you could stage a whole feature film in the center of London without having to use a camera of your own. Look at the World Trade Center bombing. How many angles did they have of that airplane hitting?

 

They even got the first plane going in, because someone happened to be down in the street doing an interview.

And that's unthinkable! Essentially, everybody in the world witnessed that incident firsthand. And not just witnessed it -- witnessed it repeatedly. I've never seen that before.

People don't realize that that is seriously going to affect what we accept, what we look for. The initial sentiment in Hollywood after September 11 was "Well, nobody will want to see Arnold Schwarzenegger in a violent action movie." And then, a month later, they concluded the two are unrelated and slated Collateral Damage for release. The truth is, people really don't want to see those movies anymore -- not because of the content, but because they look fake. "I've seen how it really looks now, and it didn't look like that." Reality looked different, and it was much more frightening, much more disturbing. The people weren't wearing makeup, they weren't backlit.

There are a lot of movies now where you can just feel the craft-services table outside the shot, groaning with M&Ms. You can see the tiredness of the actors because they've just woken up from a nap in their trailer. If I were a studio, I wouldn't be investing $100 million in a big movie that was looking like any of these old-fashioned blockbusters. That's not where the world, or movies, are going. The style looks dated, and I think what will replace it is more of this sense of how the world looks through a camcorder, in DV. Not necessarily jittery or hand-held -- but you'll want to know how it was shot, where it was shot. Because we're all aware now. Because we've got them at home. We'll want to know who's handling the camera. III. LISA ENOS, producer, co-writer, co-star

MUCH OF WHAT'S KILLING IVAN BECKMAN IN ivans xtc. festers most dramatically in his relationship with Charlotte White, the ambitious screenwriter with whom he's romantically involved. By way of going with the flow, he lets the superstar played by Peter Weller snort cocaine from her upper thigh; by way of keeping himself afloat when he's been delivered the blow of a cancer diagnosis, he shies from confiding in her. She herself is an all-too-willing participant in the worst of Ivan's world; one readily surmises that he loves her more than she loves him. This is conceivably a thankless role, but it has been brought off with subtlety and energy by Lisa Enos. She not only co-wrote the script, but actively inspired Bernard Rose and Danny Huston to take on the project in the first place. As she relates below, her background is making documentaries, though her true calling -- as an actress, producer, co-writer and round-the-clock muse -- may be as a fierce advocate of the reality check.

 

L.A. WEEKLY: We're eager to have your side in the making ofivans xtc. The way Bernard and Danny tell it, you were the one who lit a fire under them.

LISA ENOS: I don't know that I did that so literally. They both looked at me one time and asked, "How is it possible you can go around making movies so cheaply while we're stuck here in development hell?" They were inspired by my whole just do it attitude. I was this young whippersnapper who had just come to town, and had my own production company. I was making documentaries independently that I'd been selling to A&E, on television.

I showed one to Bernard -- The Angel of Bergen-Belsen, about a woman who saved 54 children during the Holocaust by hiding them in her concentration-camp barracks. He said, "I thought you told me this was low-budget, like $200,000." I said, "It was." He couldn't believe it: "This looks great! How is it possible you made this for $200,000, when at Universal they're telling me my next picture can't be made for less than 90 million!" I said, "I don't know. Could it be because they're renting sound stages to themselves at $4,000 a day?"

 

What was the exact technology used onivans xtc.?

The HD cam. It's the same camera as Lucas used to shoot the latest Star Wars. That is, the same technology but a different frame rate. [Laughs.] If you're not a computer or camera geek, you probably don't know what that means -- but it was HD cam 700A. So cutting-edge that when we got it, in early '99, the manual was in Japanese.

 

You took part in the writing of the screenplay. Was this the first time you'd ever worked in fiction?

Apart from some things for kids, no, I'd never worked in dramatic fiction before. Bernard, on the other hand, is a screenwriter. I just helped give the script some reality. Cancer, hospitals -- I'd just been through all that with my mother, who'd recently died of cancer. I'd also lost my father to a heart attack. So I had a lot of experience dealing with death. All that happy good stuff.