Interview conducted by Josh Horowitz
August 1, 2003
[To read part 1, please click here.]
As we careen towards the culmination of season two of PROJECT GREENLIGHT and the release of it’s progeny, THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS, we continue to hear from our inside man, producer Jeff Balis. Here, Jeff and I discuss the latest twists and turns of the series, the importance of leading man Shia LaBeouf, and whether there’s any love on the set.
More to come next week.
Josh Horowitz: So are you ready for volume two of our ongoing chronicle here?
Jeff Balis: Sure.
JH: What’s the release date of the film?
JB: August 22nd in New York and LA. It looks like it’s going to be the ArcLight in LA and probably somewhere in Santa Monica. In New York, it’s going to be Lincoln Square and the Empire. We’re thrilled about that. I’m happy that we’re getting it into theaters where the audience that we want to see the movie will actually go see it. On the 29th, it’s going to expand to Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, DC, Seattle and Cleveland.
JH: What’s the audience for the film? What’s your demographic?
JB: It’s sort of 13-25. I also think the fans of the show are going to be interested.
JH: As we talk, we’re about three weeks away from release. Is the film locked at this point?
JB: The film is done. We finished about ten days ago when we did the sound mix in Toronto.
JH: What surprised you about the film when you started to see it cut together?
JB: Well, Shia [LaBeouf] came in with a performance that was much funnier than expected. He has a certain life about him that really exploded when we watched the dailies. In the middle of our very tight post schedule we shifted the film in a more comedic direction.
JH: Was this comedic slant the film took in the script? Or did it come primarily from Shia or the directors’ vision?
JB: It was sort of all three. It came out of the uncanny persona of Shia. He has a combination of charm and confidence and natural comedic ability. He sells business better than anyone I’ve ever seen. Meaning, if he has to sit there and wait, he can wait in a way that when you’re watching, it’s amusing. He did tremendous justice to the humor in Erica [Beeney]’s words. I think he really brought it to life and brought the script to another level.
JH: We talked last time about the limitations of the compressed schedule for the film. In the end, was it worth it to lose a week of pre-production to get Shia?
JB: We did a lot to get Shia. We lost a week or pre-production. We had to switch to six-day weeks from five-day weeks and we compressed the schedule I think by two shooting days. To go from 24 days to 22 shooting days was an unbelievable sacrifice. But by day three, we saw how absolutely it was worth it. We would have shot it in 18 days if we had to in order to make it work and it would have been worth it.
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In my opinion, the only reason that we’re getting the release that we are, that Harvey [Weinstein] is behind it, that Miramax is behind it, is because of Shia. I think there’s a lot of other good elements but he is the electricity. He is the lightning that brings it all together.
JH: Let’s talk about the filming of the hospital scene and the choice to have William Sadler join the group hug. How does something like that get filmed when afterwards it seems virtually everyone was against it?
JB: All I wanted was a reaction shot. Shia’s relationship with his dad is part of what’s driving the film. We had to get a shot of the dad so I said, get me a shot of the dad. It was huge day and we had so many scenes to shoot and we were going over time. So I had to go over and talk to the AD and the line producer to figure out whether we were going to get the shots we needed. When I came back they had shot the three-way hug and the hallway scene with the three-way hug cemented into it. The problem was, it wasn’t just re-doing the hallway scene, it was the other set-up which we never in a million years would have been able to do.
JH: Does that shot end up in the film?
JB: I’d like to leave that as a teaser for people to go see it.
JH: This past week we started to see the down side of picking co-directors. What did you make of their providing completely different notes for the actors during the limo scene, at times literally coming at them from all sides?
JB: It’s frustrating. When there are tensions flaring on set, I try not to add to the fire. It was an important scene and we needed those performances to work. Unfortunately the communication was breaking down between the directors and the actors in terms of figuring out what the hell they wanted from this scene. The directors were asking for different things or ambiguity and it’s hard for actors to play ambiguity. Generally if they have questions, those questions need to be answered in a confident and conclusive way. I think that was the problem in that scene. All that wedding day scene did was bring to a head the gap in communication. Their [the directors] coming down to Chris [Moore] and me to discuss our behavior was wrong. I think Chris is right in that they do tend to ignore other opinions besides their own. That was just a huge waste of time.
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JH: One last thing for you. Ever since you saw “sad” on Erica, I feel there’s been a connection between you two, Jeff…
JB: Uh oh…are you…
JH: Are you and Erica in love?
JB: (uncomfortable chuckle) No. Are you kidding? Please don’t go there.
JH: I am kidding. But honestly I do see an empathy you have for her on the show. You at least are a sounding board for her it seems.
JB: You can let your readers know that there is nothing going on between Erica and I other than professionally. When there are people on the crew that can bring a lot to the film creatively I try to listen to them. I felt from really early on that Erica knew this project. She really knew the script, really knew the characters and generally had good ideas. Generally, having her involved I felt led to better outcomes. Hers was definitely a voice I wanted to hear. She’s smart and fun and has good ideas.
JH: But no love.
JB: But no love. I don’t generally fall in love with people on the set.
JH: Last year, Pete Jones was a married man so I guess that couldn’t work.
JB: Yeah. Pete and I didn’t have an affair either.
PROJECT GREENLIGHT airs Sunday nights at 9:30pm on HBO. THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS opens in New York and Los Angeles on August 22nd.
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