The once-a-decade filmmaker on how to turn lifes gloppiness into cinema.
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What kind of idiot tries to do both at once?
It was totally horrifying, Jenkins says, and then, almost in the same breath, she laughs.
It was such a cartoon.
But really, this is prime Jenkins material: horrible and hilarious at the same time.
It pushes human behavior to a degree where you really see what theyre feeling.
But she has also struggled to get her films made.
(Her films dont really fit into genres, she notes.)
Theyre really hard to make, so you better be in love with it.
The inspiration for her films also often begins with images.
Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) lies on her side in bed.
None of the message boards said it was going to hurt like that!
Maybe you just have a lower pain threshold than most people, Richard offers.
So much for romance.
Neither was going well.
I just remember Ping-Ponging between disappointments, she says.
At her most miserable, she confided in a documentary-filmmaker friend.
I was funny about it, too, Jenkins recalls.
I remember her laughing really hard and saying, You should totally write this stuff down.
Its really good material.
At first, it seemed unthinkable.
The word that comes to mind isrepulsed, Jenkins says.
I thought to myself,Theres no way I would write about this.But of course I did.
Luckily or unluckily for her, it wasnt the first time.
As a result, her films reflect and refract each other.
The childhood depicted as farce inSlumshaunts the characters inSavagesas tragedy.
I feel like Im a luckier version of them, Jenkins says of her characters.
The SavagesandPrivate Lifeare in some ways mirror images.
One is a journey toward death; the other, at least in theory, toward birth.
It doesnt get much more primal or gloppy than death and birth.
Theres something in the middle I should work on, Jenkins jokes.
When she procrastinates, she vacuums.
But her creative process is all about clutter.
As she gets ready to start writing her next film, she has a few images written down already.
Im very scared, she says.
Starting to write is scary.
But shes hoping this one wont take another ten years.
I would like to pick up the pace, she says.
I dont want to be 70 two movies from now.
It would be nice to make a couple more.
Otherwise Im not going to have many left, so I have to figure it out.
