| Behind the Scenes with John Sayles
Like so many of John Sayles' best films, Casa de los Babys explores a topic with complex personal, emotional and political ramifications: adoption. In the film, adoption -specifically foreign adoption by American families -- is seen through the subjective eyes of everyone involved including the prospective mothers, birth mothers, lawyers, officials and the children themselves. The issue was one that was being wrestled with
more and more by people the writer/director knew personally. Says Sayles, "The combination of the very personal feelings of failure and anger at not being able to conceive combined with the frustrations with bureaucracy that many parents bring to the adoption process makes for the kind of complex situation than always interests me."
The film follows six different American women - played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daryl Hannah, Marcia Gay Harden, Susan Lynch, Mary Steenburgen and Lili Taylor - as they await word on their adoptions. As the film progresses, the characters reveal themselves - what brought them to this point, their past, their present, their fears and their dreams. Says Sayles, "The six characters represent many of the different pathways that
can lead to foreign adoption. One is a single mother, another has financial worries, another has plenty of money but a shaky marriage, and yet another has given birth but had her infant children die. They have various opinions, prejudices and insecurities, come from different parts of the country and have spent much more time together than would ever happen if they didn't have this one extraordinary thing in common. Because American women are more and more deferring marriage and childbirth
until later in life, only one of the characters is still in her twenties. Not being familiar with the actresses in that age group, I had to audition people for the role of Jennifer. I hadn't seen Maggie Gyllenhaal in anything when she came in but her reading moved me the most of anybody I saw."
Sayles had admired the other five actresses who play the mothers-to-be in other parts over the years. Says Sayles, "I was interested to see what they would do with something a little different like this. I'd worked with Mary Steenburgen and Susan Lynch before (although Susan didn't have any dialogue in Secret of Roan Inish). When you're casting an ensemble piece you have to think of the chemistry of the group, keeping
the characters easily separable for the audience (by age, race, looks, whatever) and remain aware of the movie audience's history with those actors if they are well known. I tend not to cast people to play something very similar to the most recent parts they've played. We have a lot of terrific actresses in this country - they only need to be given something interesting to do."
Casa de los Babys was filmed entirely in Mexico and several of the production crew, including producer Alejandro Springall and production designer Felipe Fernandez del Paso, had just finished working on Julie Taymor's Frida. Sayles had previously made Men With Guns in Mexico and says, "I very much enjoy working with the very talented crew people and actors there. Mexico has a small but vital film industry in which every
movie made is like an American independent. We had a tiny bit over a million dollars and only four weeks to shoot this fairly ambitious story and it's a tribute to our crew that it was possible. The film is set in an undisclosed South American country where there is a lengthy residence requirement for adoptive parents (at the time of filming, Chile had the most similar regulations.) Mexico itself allows very few 'foreign' adoptions and has large, state-controlled orphanages and quite
a bit of de-facto adoption within extended families. Despite the state's efforts though, the big cities in Mexico often have large populations of children living in the streets - begging, panhandling, performing skits or engaging in petty crime to feed themselves. This is a situation that is getting more attention and less general acceptance of the 'hey, those are the breaks' sort in Mexico today. The most politicized people (of whom the character of Rita Moreno's son Buho is a marginal
example) make the connection between economic imperialism and the kind of poverty that creates these street kids, but also point a finger at their own government and culture."
Casa de los Babys is rife with images that explore the concept of chance, fate and luck, exploring the fascinating perception of parenthood and family as a crapshoot - all the thinking and planning and hoping cannot control what will be. Sayles explains: "My central image for CASA was a group of mothers, all with their own well-developed opinions, lifestyles and emotional baggage, waiting on folding chairs on one side
of a wall, and a roomful of babies with nothing much more than the need to be picked up and fed, on the other side. In between is a bureaucrat going 'eenie, meenie, minie, moe' and very arbitrarily pairing off these human beings for an intense relationship that will last at least fifteen or twenty years. The accidental nature of this pairing, considering what a big difference there can be between each of these mothers (and, though it won't manifest itself for awhile, between each of
these children) reminds me of other arbitrary phenomenon - such as the draft lottery during Vietnam or the odds of any one of those millions of DNA-bearing sperm being the one to ferilize an egg. I think much of human existence has been a struggle to explain, through religion or science, uncontrollable events, or the practical work to learn how to bring them under control. The awful truth that much of our life remains a crapshoot is a tough thing to accept."
Sayles concludes, "I think one of the most strikingly dramatic things about adoption for me is the suddenness of it - yes, there is bureaucracy and regulation to follow, a sense of one thing leading to another - but carrying a baby for nine months, having your body change, then the intensity of delivery, seem to lend a certain weight to that child's existence - it was literally 'labored' into being. Whereas in adoption
it is often this abstract notion of who-knows-which child who will become available who-knows-when - an abstract idea in a geographical void - and then there is a phone call from a bureaucrat and suddenly you're a parent. The state of waiting when that potential parent is getting close and knows it, though there is always the fear that the whole deal will fall apart, is to me what Casa de los Babys tries to capture."
ABOUT THE CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jennifer)
Gyllenhaal is emerging as one of today's great young actresses. After receiving rave reviews at the 2002 Sundance competition for her starring role opposite James Spader in Lion's Gate's Secretary, she went on to get a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical," an Independent Spirit Award nomination for "Best Actress," a Chicago Film Critics' Award for "Most Promising Performer," A Boston Film Critics' Award for "Best Actress,"
a National Board of Review Award for "Breakthrough Performance" and an IFP/ Gotham "Breakthrough Performance" Award. This year she was also seen in Spike Jonze's Adaptation with Nicolas Cage, and Miramax's Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind.
Marcia Gay Harden (Nan)
Harden won the Academy Award® in 2001 for her stunning portrayal of Lee Krasner opposite Ed Harris in the feature film Pollock-about pioneer abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock and his artist wife. In addition to the Oscar® , Harden won the New York Film Critics Award for best supporting actress and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Other films include: Mona Lisa Smile, Mystic River, Miller's Crossing, Space Cowboys, Meet Joe Black, Flubber, Desperate
Measures, Safe Passage, The First Wives' Club And Gaudi Afternoon.
Daryl Hannah (Skipper)
Hannah has performed in over 35 feature films. She made her debut in Brian De Palma's The Fury and went on to develop an impressive list of credits in such movies as Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Ron Howard's Splash starring opposite Tom Hanks, Stuart Rosenberg's The Pope Of Greenwich Village, and the romantic comedy Roxanne starring opposite Steve Martin. She also starred in Herbert Ross' multiple-Oscar® -nominated motion picture Steel Magnolias, Wall Street, Grumpy Old Men, Crimes
And Misdemeanors and A Walk To Remember.
Susan Lynch (Eileen)
Irish native Lynch was doing plays in Gaelic when she was offered a place at Central School of Speech and Drama in 1989. While at Central, she won Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Award as Most Promising Student. Lynch has starred in John Sayles' The Secret Of Roan Inish , Interview With A Vampire, Downtime, Waking Ned Devine, Commedia, Beautiful Creatures and The Hughes Brothers' From Hell.
Vanessa Martinez (Asuncion)
Martinez was born in Chicago but her family moved to Texas soon after. She began acting professionally at the age of 14 and landed a lead role in the CBS miniseries "The Streets of Laredo" within a year. She followed that with an appearance on "Walker, Texas Ranger" as well as several commercials. Her professional turning point began when John Sayles cast her as Young Pilar in his critically acclaimed film, Lone Star.
Rita Moreno (Señora Muñoz)
Moreno is the only female performer to have won all four of the most prestigious show business awards: the Oscar® , the Emmy, the Grammy and the Tony. Rita Moreno has, in fact won the Emmy twice -- in 1977 for a variety appearance on "The Muppets" and in 1978 for a dramatic appearance on "The Rockford Files." The Oscar® was for her performance as "Anita" in the 1962 motion picture West Side Story and the Tony was for her 1975 triumph on Broadway
in "The Ritz;" the Grammy was for her 1972 performance on "Electric Company Album." Having thus "done it all" in so many facets of show business, Rita Moreno, early in 1978, turned her attention to live performances, creating an act that has attracted outstanding critical acclaim. Most recently, Moreno won acclaim for her work on the acclaimed HBO drama series "Oz."
Mary Steenburgen (Gayle)
Steenburgen is an Academy Award® winning actress (Melvin And Howard) who constantly redefines herself both through challenging roles in films like What's Eating Gilbert Grape and standout performances in blockbusters like Philadelphia and Parenthood. She also appeared in John Sayles' Sunshine State, Hope Springs, I Am Sam, Wish You Were Dead, Nobody's Baby, The Grass Harp, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Miss Firecracker, The Butcher's Wife and Back To The Future III.
Lili Taylor (Leslie)
Taylor has achieved remarkable success, recognition and praise for her wide range of work on film, stage, and television. Taylor can currently be seen reprising her Emmy nominated role of "Lisa" on the new season of HBO's award-winning "Six Feet Under". She most recently appeared in HBO's Golden Globe nominated tele-film Live From Baghdad, opposite Michael Keaton and Helena Bonham Carter. Other films include: Girls Town, Cold Fever, I Shot Andy Warhol and Say Anything.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
John Sayles (Writer/Director/Editor)
Casa De Los Babys is John Sayles' 14th feature film. His most recent film was the acclaimed Sunshine State, starring Edie Falco, Timothy Hutton, Angela Bassett and Mary Steenburgen. His previous film was Limbo, which starred Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and David Straithern and was shot on location in Juneau, Alaska. Prior to Limbo, John directed the critically applauded Men With Guns, which was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1999 for Best Foreign Language Film. Prior to that, he created
Lone Star for which he earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Sayles' first film was the counterculture classic Return Of The Secaucus Seven. Other films include: Lianna, Baby It's You, Brother From Another Planet, Matewan and Eight Men Out.
Lemore Syvan (Producer)
Casa De Los Babys marks Syvan's first collaboration as a producer with director John Sayles. Her previous film is the award-winning, critically acclaimed Personal Velocity, written and directed by Rebecca Miller.
Alison Bourke (Executive Producer)
As Executive Producer for IFC Original Productions, Alison Bourke has played an integral role in the network's increased slate of original programming. She manages the day-to-day development and production of all original series and specials airing on IFC and serves as Executive Producer on key programs. Her current projects include the series "Dinner For Five" (created and hosted by Jon Favreau), "With The Filmmaker: Portraits By Albert Maysles", as well as the genre-focused
specials "A Decade Under The Influence", "Murder By Numbers", "Baadasssss Cinema", "Indie Sex: Taboos, Crossover" and The Series "Errol Morris' First Person, Independent Focus".
Caroline Kaplan (Executive Producer)
Caroline Kaplan is the Senior Vice President, Production and Development, for the Independent Film Channel and IFC Productions. She oversees the development and production of original programming specials and series for the Independent Film Channel and manages the day-to-day development and operations of the IFC independent feature film financing division, IFC Productions. As Executive Producer, her television projects include: "Divine Trash", "In Bad Taste", "My
Best Fiend", "Blue Note: The Story Of Modern Jazz", "Baadassss Cinema" and "Dinner For Five". Film projects include Gray's Anatomy, Happy Accidents, Spring Forward, Boys Don't Cry, Mr. Death, Girlfight, Our Song, Waking Life, Monsoon Wedding and Tadpole. |
