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Homecoming

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

Story : Mike (Matt Long) was the star quarterback in a blue-collar small town where football is everything. After receiving a scholarship to Northwestern University, he returns home over Christmas break and everyone is surprised to see him with a new girlfriend, Elizabeth (Jessica Stroup), a pretty rich girl from Chicago. No one is more shocked than Mike's homecoming queen ex-girlfriend, Shelby (Mischa Barton), who desperately wants Elizabeth out of the picture. After a freak car accident leaves an injured Elizabeth at the mercy of Shelby, all hell breaks loose as Shelby does everything it takes to get Mike back.

Opens today July 17, 2009

Runtime:1 hr. 40 min.

Interview with Director Morgan J. Freeman

 

Q: You have three writers collaborating for this film, and you also are established as a writer. How did you work it out with three writers?

Morgan J. Freeman: I only worked with Jake Goldberger and Frank M. Hannah for the rewrite; the only reason they are not credited in IMDB was WGA makes an assessment to decide whether they should be credited or not. In this case they only credited the original writer Kattie Fetting. So Jake and Frank did the improvisation of the script to adapt it for the cast and location.

Q: As a writer yourself, how much did you put your input in this film?

Morgan J. Freeman: Yeah, I always put something in. But it's more like that's just what I bring as a director to make changes with writers, producers, actors, as pre-production goes along.

Q: Let's talk about the casting, Even though Mischa Burton did some theater works in the past, I didn't think of her casting in a horror type of film in the first place. What was the element that fascinated you so as to cast her?

Morgan J. Freeman: She was suggested by her manager and one of my producers. It got everybody excited. I think it's an opportunity for her to go in a different direction. You know, it sort of turned her "OC" character on its head. I was very happy with her performance.

Q: There's some element that reminds me of the film, "Misery." Do you have any films that influenced you to make this film?

Morgan J. Freeman: I liked "Rosemary's Baby," "Psycho " and "Misery." This one borrowed a lot from "Misery"--that was the point. And my favorites like "Time of the Gypsies" and "Arizona Dream" from Emir Kusturica. Even though "Arizona Dream" was done in English and cast with Johnny Depp and Fay Dunaway, you can barely find it in DVD.

Q: Matt Long has this quality of a lovable character. Was that part of the reason for casting him, because his character dumped Mischa Burton's character initially, so that's the only quality that sort of makes sense to people?

Morgan J. Freeman: Yeah, he's sort of the epitome of the high school hunk, homecoming king, and sort of a softie. He's sort of picture-perfect for what we were looking for.

Q: Have you ever experienced a crazy girlfriend that scared you off like in this movie--probably not to that extent, I hope.

Morgan J. Freeman: Yeah, I definitely have my psychotic episodes. I once got chased across a golf course with a knife, when I made the girlfriend jealous.

Q: What was the toughest sequence that you shot on this film?

Morgan J. Freeman: It was kind of the finale in the basement. We were in the 17th hour of the day, it was freezing, everybody was tired, and there was need for lots of stunts. So it was really challenging. That was the most difficult sequence.

Q: How did you get into this business? I know that you worked on the film "Welcome to the Dollhouse" as an assistant director.

Morgan J. Freeman: I was interning at a New York production company called Open City Films. They are producers of low budget features. Then I became a P.A on that film in pre-production. By the time it came around to shooting, I got second A.D, so it's kind of like a crash course in independent filmmaking. Then I made a lot of contacts to get my first feature ready.

Q: Speaking of the first feature, you cast Brendan Sexton so many times. Why you didn't cast him this time?

Morgan J. Freeman: Yeah, this film is a commission piece, but he's somebody that I'm developing something with. He's tending to be in for something that I write as opposed to this type of film.

Q: You made a debut feature "Hurricane Street" which won three awards at Sundance. How surreal was that?

Morgan J. Freeman: That was big exposure. It was crazy high to have that to be my first film festival experience.

Q: After the first film, you still sort of stick to independent films, but didn't any of the big Hollywood studios approach you to make a big film back then?

Morgan J. Freeman: I did have some pretty incredible opportunities, but I chose to make my own movies. And when I made "Desert Blue," I went against the huge paycheck to just continue to make my films, which is a challenging thing to do.

Q: Could you talk about the casting of Jessica Stroup. Did you see her work on "90210" and "Prom Night" to decide that?

Morgan J. Freeman: "90210" hasn't been shot yet, but I saw "The Hills Have Eyes ," and she was perfect, because she has the sturdiness of an action character but also has her sweetness. I knew that she could take a beating and keep on kicking.

Q: You made the "American Psycho ," even though it's not a sequel. Because of that title, was that a tough assignment to live up to people's expectations?

Morgan J. Freeman: It was initially called "The Girl who Didn't Die" when I was shooting. Lionsgate made that title; there was a chance that it would be a standalone thriller on its own, but Lionsgate decided to capitalize on the name of a successful film, which is a smart business move but I don't think that delivered the core fan of the first film.

Q: In your TV work, you only produced a couple of episodes. Did you also come in as a director as well?

Morgan J. Freeman: Yeah, both producing and directing for some other shows. I was just brought in to do the pilot, and I go off doing my own thing.

Q: What was the message that you want to convey for this film?

Morgan J. Freeman: To take people on an enjoyable ride, make a well-made thriller. To entertain--it's not an issue movie, it's a popcorn movie.

End.