On the day I saw 6 YEARS at SXSW, it had just been announced that Netflix had picked up the rights to distribute the film exclusively on its streaming service.
While distribution deals like this are commonplace at any film market like SXSW, it’s still a big deal for such a small film to get guaranteed distribution by a major vendor that early on in the fest (this was Day 3). Obviously, director Hannah Fidell and her cast & crew were stoked their film was getting out there, partially in thanks to the deal Netflix already had with executive producers Mark and Jay Duplass.
Hannah and I first spoke in my early days here at AICN, when she was promoting her freshman feature, A TEACHER, and I jumped at the chance to follow up with her and discuss her second film as a writer/director. Like A TEACHER, 6 YEARS is a low-key, Austin-set drama about a particularly explosive relationship; instead of a teacher and her underage student, here we have two college-aged lovers (played by Taissa Farmiga and Ben Rosenfield) reaching an apex after having been together for, you guessed it, six years. Unlike A TEACHER, however, the film is heavy on improv, looser with the tension, and occasionally violent as the central couple’s squabbles start drawing blood (in more ways than one).
It was cool to meet the enthusiastic, laid-back Ms. Fidell in person, and we got to talk about the difference in approach between her first and second features, her continued use of the excellent Lindsay Burdge, and some of the awesome-sounding stuff she’s currently working on.
As always, we go over some mild spoilers, so purists be warned:
VINYARD: We talked back in 2013 about A TEACHER, and I just want to start out by getting from there to here. Did you already have the script written for 6 YEARS?
HANNAH: No, I didn’t. In fact, it came about pretty quickly. Mark Duplass called me up and said, “I wanna do a film about a young adult couple who are in a violent relationship with one another, would you be interested in doing that?” I loved the idea of subverting the typical abuse story, so then I quickly wrote this.
< VINYARD: What did you think the norm was for a story like this, and how did you approach flipping that?
HANNAH: I think for a lot of people who haven’t had experience with abuse, like myself, the idea is, “It’s white trash, people are only violent with each other when they’re drunk, and it’s always the guy, and the girl is always the victim.” These people come from an upper-middle-class background. It’s the girl who’s doing the violence in the story. But at the same time, it doesn’t feel like it’s necessarily…questionable seeing her do it. Obviously, we know as viewers that it’s wrong, but it doesn’t feel as wrong for whatever reason because it’s not the dude who is the one pushing her into a bookshelf, or hitting her head.
VINYARD: She’s certainly not a malicious character. She’s not abusive in the traditional sense, these are just things that come naturally. Was it hard to write scenes that would organically lead to something like that?
HANNAH: Those were definitely the scenes that center the film and center the script, so all the other scenes were based around those centerpieces. That opening violence, and then the arrest, and then later on, where he steps on glass.
VINYARD: What were some lessons you learned on A TEACHER that you took into this movie, and in what ways do you think it’s different from a teacher stylistically? How different was your approach?
HANNAH: My approach was incredibly different in that A TEACHER is always scripted, even if there’s not much dialogue in it. Every shot was planned to a T. Later on the film it becomes more handheld, but early on it’s very steady. I think we used Steadicam as well, if I remember correctly. I wanted it to be dark, like the palate to be dark. For 6 YEARS, I wanted to go the exact opposite route. It was mostly improv, based on a very detailed outline. I wanted it to feel documentary style, so it’s mostly handheld, and it was much brighter. What did I learn most? They feel like two completely different films to me, so I think I learned…how to work with actors on A TEACHER, and I think that helped me with 6 YEARS.
VINYARD: One actor you brought over from A TEACHER was Lindsay Burdge, who does phenomenal work in both movies. Did you write the role with her in mind, or was it just like, “Who can I put in this role? Hey, I have someone I can call!”?
HANNAH: No, I did write it with her in mind. It’s funny, because I didn’t realize until we were editing that she was playing another older woman sleeping with a younger boy.
VINYARD: That occurred to me later, but not during the movie.
HANNAH: She’s a close friend of mine. I see her basically every day in Los Angeles, so she was there…she came over the morning after I got the call from Mark, so I knew that I wanted her to be in it then in some capacity.
VINYARD: So do you think she’ll pop up in everything else you do, sort of the DeNiro to your Scorsese?
HANNAH: I hope so. She’s so good.
VINYARD: You said that the Duplass brothers pitched the idea to you, and they’re credited as executive producers. Did they have a really direct, hands-on role once the film started going?
HANNAH: Mark did. I wouldn’t call it hands-on because he has so many other projects, but he definitely helped me as I was crafting the story. They gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted, which was absolutely incredible. Any time I needed help, they helped. It was up to me when to ask for their expertise. Mark was crucial in helping me get the beats right within the story.
VINYARD: I guess it was your idea to shoot in Austin again?
HANNAH: Yes. Initially, I wanted to shoot in Bloomington, Indiana.
VINYARD: Why Bloomington?
HANNAH: I went to college there, and I wanted to have this small-town college feel. Austin definitely served as that.
VINYARD: It feels like a very Austin movie. Obviously, UT is a very big part of the movie, the music scene is a big part of the movie, so it’s interesting to hear that it was originally somewhere else.
HANNAH: The weather is obviously better here, and I have a team of people that I trust and can work with well, and who did an amazing job, but who are based here. So it made a lot more sense to shoot in Austin.
VINYARD: And, like I said, music is a big part of the movie. A TEACHER was sort of built on silent, long, quiet moments. What was it like to create a completely different soundscape?
HANNAH: It was awesome! It was awesome because music plays a big part in my life. When I started writing, first I made a soundtrack, then I made a photo album, and then I started developing these characters. My initial playlist came from songs that I liked in real life. My college boyfriend did work at a record label, so that was the jumping off point for me to dive into this story. Although it’s a very different relationship.
VINYARD: Taissa and Ben improv a lot, so a lot of themselves are in the movie, right there on the screen. Obviously, both of them are already accomplished actors; you mentioned that you’d seen them in AMERICAN HORROR STORY and BOARDWALK EMPIRE. How did you get them into that place? Because what they do there is not this, in terms of being this personal and this open.
HANNAH: i created an environment that was…what’s the best word for it…caring, and loving, and trustworthy, and nurturing, and I allowed them to not feel that anyone was judging them, and to feel comfortable with everyone on the crew and with each other. That required quite a bit of team-building and bonding stuff before we started shooting. I think that’s important, even if there’s no improv in a film, because you might not know the people who are going to see you half-naked or shooting you, and you wanna make sure that you’re comfortable in your own skin. Especially with improv.
VINYARD: Another thing that connects A TEACHER and 6 YEARS is this theme of youth ending, and accepting what’s coming, I guess the mystery of adulthood. I’m assuming that’s something that connects to you personally.
HANNAH: On one hand, I’m experiencing that myself, as someone who’s about to turn 30 in October. But I also think part of that is the nature of being a young filmmaker. Write what you know, but also the projects that get pitched are basically about that. it’s not necessarily the kind of movies I personally watch, to be honest, or that I wanna keep making. But yeah, it’s a running theme, and I’m thinking of other projects that I’m working on, and yeah, that first through. That’s certainly part of the next time. That’s interesting. I hadn’t really thought about that.
VINYARD: What else would you want to do that you haven’t done? What movies click with you as a viewer, and what movies do you want to do that you wouldn’t necessarily get approached with?
HANNAH: I want to do…more genre stuff. Not horror per se, but thriller-esque films. Those films are harder to do on a smaller budget, so hopefully next round I’ll have a bigger budget to work with. That’d be exciting.
VINYARD: You mentioned last time we talked that you were working on a remake of THE HITCH-HIKER?
HANNAH: Yes, I’m still working on that. Hopefully soon.
VINYARD: What about that movie made you want to remake it?
HANNAH: There’s something about the history of the film, and the fact that it was the first noir directed by a woman. There’s that legacy, and I think it’s just such an interesting story. And it’s true, which is the crazy part. They actually did not stick to the original story. What actually happened, the killer they picked up was 21-years-old, which is so much more terrifying to me than a one-eyed 50-year-old. I think also it’ll be nice do something that isn’t about a woman going crazy. I feel like I’m tapped out on that right now.
VINYARD: I first heard your name mentioned in connection with the Duplass brothers in regards to a TV version of A TEACHER for HBO.
HANNAH: We’re writing the script right now. It’s a much more expanded view of the world of the film where we’re following a bigger ensemble, various characters that I touched on in the feature. It’s really fun to get to explore these characters. But yeah, for any new material I couldn’t do a crazy woman, also because I’m still working with that character.
VINYARD: In terms of working on TV versus films; not only is it episodic in nature, so there needs to be mini-stories within a larger story, but there’s also the idea, which I could never wrap my head around, of the indefinite nature of TV. You don’t know, necessarily, whether it’s gonna be 100 episodes, whether it’s gonna be 50 episodes, or 25, and you kind of need to keep enough open for any possibility.
HANNAH: I think TV has really changed in that the miniseries is really having a big moment. FARGO was great, TRUE DETECTIVE. We’ve had the conversation, “Is this gonna be like TRUE DETECTIVE? Is this gonna be something like FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS?” They’re finding ways to make it financially viable to do just do a season or two, and that’s okay. A show doesn’t have to go on for so long, which I’m fine with.
VINYARD: EASTBOUND AND DOWN is one of my favorite shows of all time, and that’s closed-off six or seven-episode seasons. I was actually bummed because they were originally supposed to do three, and then they were like, “Yeah, we’ll do a fourth.” I was like “No, you blew it!” But then I loved the fourth season so I couldn’t complain.
HANNAH: My friend Carson (Mell) wrote on it, and we’re working on a script together right now.
VINYARD: Besides what you learned on A TEACHER, have their been any movies you’ve seen over the past couple of years that you took anything from or that hit you a certain way?
HANNAH: It’s the rare movie where I can just sit back and really enjoy it, because it feels like homework a lot of the time. I feel like I get something in one way or another from any film I watch. What have I seen lately? It’s not a new film, but I just watched SERPICO.
VINYARD: Me too! Were you at Cinefamily when they played it?
HANNAH: No, I just watched it on Netflix. Where has this movie been all my life? It’s so good.
VINYARD: I saw it when I was like 16, did not care for it. Now, when I watch it, I’m a big fan, so maybe it’s one of those things where it just doesn’t connect with everyone the same way as THE GODFATHER. I think THE GODFATHER plays well with kids. What about SERPICO did you connect with?
HANNAH: The acting. Al Pacino in his heyday. He’s incredible. I was truly blown away.
VINYARD: Is there anyone like him that you’d maybe wanna work with?
HANNAH: There are so many people that I want to work with. This might sound silly, but…Tom Hardy.
VINYARD: That doesn’t sound silly at all. The guy’s a chameleon.
HANNAH: He is. I’m like in awe of him.
VINYARD: Have you seen MAD MAX yet?
HANNAH: No, not yet.
VINYARD: He has like 10 lines in the whole thing.
HANNAH: That’s amazing. He seems like a crazy person, but I like crazy people, so hopefully that will work out one day!
VINYARD: I really don’t mean to seem offensive or derogatory, but like you said, the last two movies have been about emotionally turbulent women. This one is about a couple, but it’s also very much about a woman. Would you ever…
HANNAH: My next two projects are about…
VINYARD: Dudes?
HANNAH: Dudes, yeah.
VINYARD: They talk about this percentage of female characters in movies, and then you have the Bechdel test and stuff like that. Is that something that you’re aware of?
HANNAH: Very much so. It’s so easy to get labeled as someone who makes women’s films, and those aren’t the movies that I watch. I feel like I’ve been practicing, in a way, over the past few years to start making the kinds of movies that I, at this moment, want to make, which are relating to…guys.
VINYARD: Andrew “Droz” Palermo shot your first two movies, and now he’s got his own movie playing at SXSW.
HANNAH: I know, it’s so exciting.
VINYARD: It’s exciting, but at the same time, do you think he’d come back and shoot your movies?
HANNAH: Yeah, totally. We’ve talked about it, and he’s also one of my very best friends, so he better, or else!
VINYARD: Like you said, the style for both your films is different, even though he shot them both. How did you get him to acclimate, like, “No, we’re not doing A TEACHER again!”
HANNAH: No, he knew that. He was like, “This is great. We get to do something different.” We were both figuring out how to use two cameras at once, which we hadn’t done before.
VINYARD: Which cameras did you use?
HANNAH: We used two RED Epics. So that was also interesting, how do you set up two cameras in a room and get the coverage you need. I think we both learned a lot from doing this. Every time you make something, you learn from it hopefully, or else you should probably stop doing it. But I think it’s good practice for both of us.
