Murder in the family

>> Todd Field discusses the critically lauded In the Bedroom


by MATTHEW HAYS

Todd Field insists that landing Sissy Spacek for his directorial debut was no trouble at all. Really, he says.

It sounds like boasting, but the easygoing director of In the Bedroom doesn’t make it seem that way. It’s just a matter-of-fact thing. “If you write roles, you’ll get actors,” he says. “Getting the actors was no big deal, really. I would know; as an actor, I read six scripts a week. Actors want characters and they want to do something they haven’t done before.”

As it turned out, Spacek’s instincts were sound when she signed on to work with Field. He had already worked with Stanley Kubrick, delivering a fine turn in a supporting role in Eyes Wide Shut, and this was a screenplay he’d cowritten with Robert Festinger (based on the short story by André Dubus) and wanted very much to direct. He and Spacek, who’s been nominated for an Oscar four times and won once, spoke on the phone regularly for two months about her character and the story.

Critical darlings

And then they embarked on the shoot, ultimately making one of the most surprising, intelligent and expectation-defying American films in years. In the Bedroom is making loads of top-10 lists, becoming the critical darling of 2001 alongside The Royal Tenenbaums. And even if In the Bedroom isn’t nominated for Best Picture come Oscar time, it will be a major miracle if Spacek doesn’t get a nod from the Academy for her turn as a distraught mother. This is a delicate, thoughtful, career-defining performance, one that landed her a Golden Globe on Sunday.

Now comes the tough part for a film critic. I’ve talked about the praise the film’s gotten and the story of director landing famous lead. But this is one movie you don’t want to give away. And Field knows that. “Please, tell as little as you can,” he says, already upset that a Toronto newspaper gave away so much during the film’s run at the International Film Festival (directly after its premiere at Montreal’s World event). Suffice it to say the film involves strained family relations, murder and revenge. “If you give up the plot, it’s a simple story,” says Field. “But it makes it sound like a Charles Bronson movie, and it’s not. It’s not always the most pleasant experience, sitting through this, but I didn’t make it for entertainment’s sake.”

Wild ride

Indeed, much of the film is a harrowing ride. The cast—including Spacek, Tom Wilinson, Marisa Tomei and Nick Stahl—are exceptional, and Field knows how to make moments that seem small on the surface very profound. Field says he learned the art of manipulation through example, having worked with über-auteurs like Kubrick, as well as his stint as a projectionist during his 20s. “I worked in second-run movie houses,” he recalls. “For six months I would watch the same movie over and over again. I loved it, actually. I would see all the foreign films. I remember seeing [Jim Jarmusch’s] Stranger Than Paradise. I thought, ‘What is this? Who let them do this?’”

The motif of revenge has definitely piqued audience interest in In the Bedroom. Yes, Field has fielded questions about others in the genre, including Ingmar Bergman’s groundbreakingly horrifying Virgin Spring, and Last House on the Left, Wes Craven’s ’70s remake of the Bergman classic. “I hadn’t seen Virgin Spring until someone saw In the Bedroom and told me I had to. It’s an astonishing film. But the response I get the most of is confession. People tell me intensely personal stories, saying the film captured precisely how they felt when they lost someone.”

But Field has also heard about reactions to the film that have left him troubled. “One projectionist said to me, ‘Hey, great, they got the motherfucker!’ That’s the kind of response I find puzzling, because I feel I didn’t want any kind of Deathwish conclusion. If people feel some kind of satisfaction in the closure, I think I’ve failed. It’s tricky, though, because I’m dubious of any kind of explanation of one’s expression.”

As for that obituary everyone’s been giving for true cinematic art, Field says he feels the death of film has been greatly exaggerated. “That line about the demise of film is really tired,” he argues. “The term ‘indie’ doesn’t really mean anything anyway. If you have a good story, tell it. It’s still there. There are still plenty of filmmakers and actors who want to tell stories.” :

In the Bedroom opens Friday, Jan. 25