You’ve recently directed a short documentary about Gary Oldman, Take Flight, and co-directed a music video for Godhead. Can you tell me a bit about how these projects came about?
Juliet Landau: Take Flight was my directorial debut. Gary Oldman was directing a music video for the Jewish Hip Hop band, Chutzpah, which he shot entirely on cell phones. He asked me to direct the ‘making-of’ and it bloomed from there. The film runs 25 minutes, which includes the music video at the end. Jason C. Miller and Ulli Hepperlin saw Take Flight and asked me to co-direct Godhead’s Hero video. I co-directed with Deverill Weekes. It was a wonderful collaboration.
Can you tell me a little about the process of making the documentary, beginning to end?
Juliet Landau: Well, after I said yes, I realized that, even though I have been in a lot of ‘making-of’s, I had never, ever watched one, not even the ones I had been in. So, I started to do some research. I watched tons of movie and music video ‘making-of’s and tons of documentaries and director commentaries. I made notes of what I felt was interesting and then made an outline of what I wanted to go after on set.The video shot over the course of three days. I had three cameras chronicling the action. Between that and all of the cell phone footage, there was 50 hours of material. I watched all 50 hours three times through.Gary operated one of the ‘cell-cams’ and I became very excited about having such rare perspective of an artist creating. So, I asked him if it could develop into a short doc about him, about his process. Then I came up with the structure.
In the beginning we get peppered glimpses of his view, towards the middle, longer, more expansive pieces, and by the very end the audience is completely released into Gary’s perspective. The footage cuts seamlessly, but I decided to keep the cell phone footage 4:3 and everything else 16:9, so it is clear when we are looking through Gary’s eyes. I chose classical music for Gary’s internal creative world and the outside world is represented by the music of Chutzpah. I had so much fun!
You co-wrote two comics about the character you portrayed in Buffy and its spin-off Angel. Where have you taken Drusilla and how did you approach writing about her rather than playing her?
Juliet Landau: It is a two-issue arc. It takes place just before and just after The Fall. [The Fall is when the senior partners from Wolfram and Hart send Los Angeles, Angel and his team to Hell.]
It didn’t feel all that different to write Dru than to play her. I was in the midst of editing the Hero music video when I talked to IDW editor Chris Ryall, and Brian Lynch, who had written all the other issues, for the first time about the possibility of doing it.
Immediately upon hanging up, the idea came to me. That night I began writing it in script form. I sent it to them and they loved it! Brian and I went to work from there.I think inhabiting the character for such a long period of time, made it very fluid to tap back into her.
Can you tell me a bit about your short film It’s Raining Cats And Cats?
Juliet Landau: It is a black comedy that I wrote and in which I will play seven different characters.
I have an amazing group of talented people onboard. Drac Studios, who just won their 4th Academy Award for Benjamin Button, will design and do the make-up. Two-time Emmy-winning Gloria Casny will do the hair. Two- time Emmy winning Pembrooke Andrews, who I worked with on Take Flight, will do the sound. Jeremy Alter, who produced David Lynch’s Inland Empire and who produced Take Flight, will again produce.
It is an ambitious project, so we are still raising money. I am selling autographed merchandise in the julietlandau.com store as fellow Buffy alum, Amber Benson did to make her two films.
