Jessie Nelson:
An Artist with a Vision
by Keith Bryan Jeffreys
originally published February, 2002 in Venice Magazine
Jessie Nelson, producer, director, and screenwriter (with Kristine Johnson) of
I
Am Sam, leans over a worktable surrounded by a group of artists toiling
diligently on their art projects at the L.A. Goal work center. “That’s very
nice,” Nelson says to Lisa, a bespectacled artist who looks up and grins,
clearly pleased by the compliment.
Nelson, whose CV includes directing
Corinna, Corrinna, co-writing The Story of
Us and Stepmom, and a long history of acting both on stage and before the
camera, clearly thrives in L.A. Goal’s dynamic environment. The organization,
run by Executive Director Petite Konstatin, for developmentally disabled adults,
served as more than just a learning center for Nelson as she prepared to make I
Am Sam. It provided grounding and a sense of mission.
Spending time with Nelson at the center, surrounded by the students and their
teachers, it is clear that Nelson is an artist herself. An artist imbued with a
timber born of deep compassion for people, and the resolve necessary to make art
that speaks to the truth of our strengths and frailties.
Venice: What provided you with the inspiration for I Am Sam?
Jessie Nelson: My co-writer, Kristine Johnson mentioned she had read an
article about disabled mothers and fathers raising their children. I thought it
might be a beautiful metaphor for what every parent goes through in raising a
child. From there we decided to do some research to see what we could create in
terms of a screenplay and that brought us to L.A. Goal.
How long did research take?
Three months. The great thing about Petite is that she’s a real maverick
with a very unconventional, hands-on rough and tumble kind of energy and
hands-on approach. She told us the only way we could do the research was to
spend three months so it wouldn’t be a superficial look at the lives of the
people who work here.
Did you realize this film would have a particular look and feel?
I always knew that I was going to shoot it a certain way. We did a lot of
hand-held and we wanted to give it a documentary feel, so we brought in Elliot
Davis who had worked on Out of Sight. It’s interesting how real it got. After we
shot one scene, Elliot came to me with tears in his eyes. I realized he hadn’t
just captured the scene, he’d experienced it.
How important was it to have the right cast?
Casting is everything. That’s partly why it took six years to get this film
made. The original Fox team wanted it cast differently. I just had this gut
sense that it wouldn’t work unless I cast these actors.
That’s tough isn’t
it, facing a studio that’s willing to put up the money, but that you disagree
with?
Yes. They fired me from my own film.
Describe that
feeling.
Devastating. This was my child and they wanted to give it to somebody else
and to work with other actors that I didn’t believe in.
Where did the confidence to go on come from?
To be honest as a director, I don’t want to work on a film unless I can do
it the way I see it in my mind. It’s not worth it. There’s too much battling
involved, because you’re at war every day. For me, I have to ask, “Why even take
the journey?” And still, every day a director makes compromises. While filming,
Sean told me that Polanski had once said, “A film is a sum of the compromises
that a director makes.” I agree, but I want to make sure I make compromises that
maintain the fabric of the movie.
How does a director
maintain a vision of a film when it requires identification with a certain tone
or feel?
That’s the essential question: How do you become a tough warrior and still be
gentle enough to tell different stories? That was the balancing act: Fight the
battles, yet when everybody is on the set, get them to let go of their armor.
Copyright 2003 Keith
Jeffreys
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