The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

172 Pete Docter
Tatum O’Neal was older than two and a half, but even so, the amount of
depth of performance that she’s able to pull off is pretty astounding.
But it sounds like your directing bag of tricks is not that different
because by most accounts, she hated filming this.
Docter: Oh, really?
Bogdanovich would bribe her: “I’ll buy you shoes if you just get
through this scene, I’ll give you twenty dollars if you just get through
this scene.” On that level, she was really getting into the shyster spirit
of the character.
Docter: Yeah that’s true. It seems like, and to some degree this is true even
of adult actors, but they’re going along with you. Basically the whole thing
about acting is kind of tricking either the actor or yourself (if you’re acting)
into experiencing these emotions that hopefully read as truthful.
With kids, especially, you have to be very clever about what you’re making
them do. They think they’re doing this for one reason, but for the film
it’s actually giving what you need for the story.
Frank Marshall, the associate producer of Paper Moon, says Bogdanovich
was “able to achieve a movie that is touching but not sentimental
and funny but without using slapstick.” As the viewer, how does
it achieve that for you?
Docter: It was true to the characters. That’s what I really admire about
that film and the school of films we’ve be talking about too. It wasn’t about
gratuitous whacking people in the head with a two-by-four. It was funny
because the moments were so truthful, and I recognized them as moments
in my own life. Not literally, but in some relatable way. There are other films
that do this, of course. I saw The Station Agent, which I think does the same
thing. It’s hilarious, but doesn’t resort to slapstick or gags. It’s about how
characters react and the truthfulness of the characters.
I know having done a very minimal amount of improv in comedy
classes as an actor, just to try to know more about how it goes on. They
say the mistake that most people in comedy make is they try to be funny.
Really the humor comes out when you’re not trying to be funny, when