Category Archives: Melanie Lynskey

The Reel Deal Interviews: Sarah Koskoff

Sarah Koskoff (far left) with the rest of the cast and crew of “Hello I Must Be Going” during opening night at Sundance.

Movies set in a filmmaker’s hometown can evoke feelings of pain, longing, or joyful nostalgia. Perhaps it all started when George Lucas set “American Graffiti” in Modesto, California at the end of the summer of 1962. All of the people, places, and music felt so heartfelt and familiar that it only could have come out of one’s memory. Richard Linklater did the same thing to 1976 with “Dazed & Confused.” Even the fictional town of David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” is based off the small town in Washington that he grew up in.

Months ago, I heard the news that a movie would be filming in my hometown of Westport. That movie was called “Hello I Must Be Going” and months later, it became a hit of the Sundance Film Festival. “Hello I Must Be Going” is directed by Todd Louiso, based on a script by his wife Sarah Koskoff.

Koskoff grew up in Westport and is an alumni of Staples High School. This is her debut feature length script, after years as an actress in various productions. I caught up with Sarah, and got some insight into her motivations as a writer, growing up in Westport, and the many challenges that went into getting this movie made. Yes, one of them was a natural disaster:

1. Congratulations for the success at Sundance. How would you sum up the entire experience?

Thanks! It was really thrilling to share the film with audiences and to be a part of such a vital community. At times it was also overwhelming and chaotic, honestly. But overall, it was inspiring and invigorating.

2. Tell us a little about your background. Where did you go to college? What got you into movies in the first place?

I studied Literature and Anthropology at Sarah Lawrence College. After that, I moved to LA and started working as an actor in film and television. I got lucky early on with jobs and an agent, and the sporadic well-paying work gave me a lot of free time. I started writing plays. I had no interest in screen writing at the time, but I got to the end of what I felt I could do in Los Angeles as a playwright. I wrote Hello I Must Be Going just to try out the form. And I loved it. It felt very natural.

3. Hello I Must Be Going is your debut feature film screenplay. What inspired you to tell this story? Have you written any other screenplays in the past?

My husband is a film director. I thought it would be fun to do something on a small scale, together, to get back to the heart of the work — to remember what we both loved about it. I had the intention of writing about a relationship between an older woman and a younger guy. But I wanted it to be from her perspective, and I wanted it to start out as a sexual relationship and really grow into something more. I didn’t have any grandiose intentions in writing it. I just wanted to tell a story about personal transformation, and to see if I could track that transformation moment-to-moment.

4. This film was shot in your hometown of Westport, CT [all of it, I'm guessing?]. How do you feel the town reflected your story and characters? Do you think it could’ve taken place anywhere else?

It didn’t have to take place in Westport, but I wanted to film it there, so I set it there! It was really a very practical thing. I know the town so well, and I know so many people, I just felt it would be so much easier than going to a new place. We ended up shooting a lot of it in South Norwalk and Fairfield. But everyone was incredibly helpful. In terms of the story — the characters are very defined by their status in a specific way, that Westport lends itself to. They’re trapped by it, really. They’re so identified with appearance that they can’t access a deeper level of happiness — an experiential happiness. At this point the film and Westport are really inextricably linked.

5. How did growing up in Westport impact you as a writer?

I actually went to elementary school in Wilton, and those long, long walks in the woods, they definitely gave me space to think. I still call on that space to write.

6. Your husband, Todd Louiso, directed the movie. What was it like collaborating with him? Did it make it easier for the entirety of your original vision to make it into the final product?

It was great collaborating with Todd. We actually met on an acting job — we were both acting in a television pilot. And we’ve worked together a lot over the years. This was the first time I was the writer and he was the director, but it was an easy transition. And, yes, I have a lot of say with him, and I had a LOT of say with the project. It’s uncommon as a screenwriter to have a say.

7. Did any movies in particular inspire you when writing Hello I Must Be Going? If so, how?

Originally I was thinking about the films of Eric Rohmer, the French director. His films are about the smallest events, so much subtlety and character detail. But as I got more invested, and after going through the Sundance Screenwriting Lab, I wanted to challenge myself to make bigger choices. So, I went back to films I love by Woody Allen and Mike Leigh and even Bergman’s films — simple stories with a lot of vulnerability and humor. And, yes, there is humor in Bergman’s films!

8. What was the most challenging part of getting this movie made?

The most challenging part was the shoot itself. We had 20 days! It was extremely hard on the actors, especially Melanie Lynskey.

The character she plays is in every singly scene and has to go through so many emotional ups and downs–a real challenge for an actor in any circumstances. But in 20 days it really pushes the limits. She was a amazing about it, (and she is amazing in the film) but it was really hard to see her go through all that–and to feel responsible for it. On top of that Hurricane Irene hit Westport toward the end of the shoot. We lost locations and a day of filming…it was a lot. But I have to say it really gave the whole experience a kind of urgency and reality that I think shows up on screen. We all had to stay very awake!

9. Where do you do your best writing? In other words, what place gives you the most inspiration and motivation as a writer?

I live in Los Angeles, and I’ve found it to be a great place to write. But mostly for me it’s about time and quiet.

10. Do you have any future projects in mind? What lies ahead for you?

I have quite a few scripts I’m working on at once. I’m looking for some time. And some quiet.

A still image from “Hello I Must Be Going” taken from the Sundance catalogue.

Movie Review: Heavenly Creatures

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Peter Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures,” the breakthrough film from the director of “The Lord of the Rings,” might as well be in a genre of its own. Call it fantastical nonfiction. That is, it bridges the great divide between fantasy and a frightening reality that actually occurred.

In 1954, quite, rural New Zealand was shaken by murder. Two teenage girls had murdered one of their mothers in what one could describe as “a crime of friendship.” The two were caught, imprisoned, and later paroled on the condition that they would never see each other again. Jackson did not make a story about the trial but rather about the events that led up to the murder, based on what is true, what is thought to be true, and what can’t be true under any circumstance.

The events of “Heavenly Creatures” take place in and around the small town of Christchurch on New Zealand’s southern island. The two teenage girls, Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey) and Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) meet in Catholic school. The introverted Pauline is immediately transfixed by Juliet, and how Juliet will talk back to the French teacher without even thinking about it. The two soon become inseparable best friends. They frequently escape into a fantasy world that they created, one that brings them away from their dull, suppressed lives. The fantasy starts to become too real and while the girls are present physically in reality, they are mentally gone.

After feeling that their friendship is becoming unhealthy, Pauline and Juliet’s parents make the decision to separate the two of them. The separation does no good and instead drives the pair into bouts of insanity. They ultimately hatch a sinister plan to be together forever, one that, even they admit, could only end in tragedy.

“Heavenly Creatures” is a movie of many questions, and many frightening possibilities. The whole story is one giant question about who the driving force of insanity here is. Were Pauline and Juliet naturally troubled, or were their descents into insanity caused by their separation? In a society that stressed conformity and deemphasized creativity, perhaps madness and fantasy were the only means of escape. However, this in no way justifies the terrible actions carried out in the film’s terrifying finale.

A driving force in the narrative of “Heavenly Creatures” is the widely circulated rumor that the two girls in question were lesbians. This is not played for an exploitative purpose, or to create controversy, but rather it serves as a lens into the psyche of these two teenage killers. Could physical love have explained why they were so inseparable, and why they so despised both the religion and the adults who raised them?

“Heavenly Creatures” is one of the great underappreciated gems of the 1990s. Jackson showed the ability of a director who would soon be able to make great movies on a much larger scale. The fantasy world created in “Heavenly Creatures” is one that seems fake, yet so tangible. The creatures the girls create look like a cross between Play-Doh and those little green toy soldiers. The special effects, while dated by today’s standards, still look impressive for something made outside of Hollywood, and without a blockbuster budget. I can’t wait to see what else the other filmmakers of New Zealand can offer in the years to come.

“Heavenly Creatures” begot not only a great director, but also two great actresses. This was Winslet’s debut role, and from her performance one could see why she would later become an international star and an Oscar winner. She gets so into this role, and she is so sinister yet so innocent at the same time. Lynskey unfortunately has not achieved the same level of success as Winslet. She has had bit roles in a few very good movies (“Up in the Air”) and a few very good TV shows (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), but she never achieved real stardom. Her performance here is as subdued and creepy as her character. She acts mostly through her narration and her disgruntled facial expressions and most of the time, you can never tell whether she is about to scream or about to kill someone. Hopefully, Lynskey makes a comeback one of these days.

There have been a lot of scenes of violent cruelty in movies, but few have effected me as deeply as the ending scene of “Heavenly Creatures” did, despite being so quick and so sudden. What creates the impact is that there is 90 minutes of dread building up to it. Like in the ending of movies such as “The Conversation,” making an entire movie based off dread until the very final minutes is ultimately more rewarding. The more you wait, the more horrifying the crime feels. Peter Jackson is a master of suspense in disguise.

“Heavenly Creatures” should be seen for all of the reasons that people watch movies in the first place: to be transferred off to a place they normally wouldn’t be able to go to, to feel sympathy for people we shouldn’t feel sympathy for, and to simply be thrilled. We see both a foreign country in a time few of us would’ve known it in, and a world that exists entirely inside of two girls’ heads. Juliet and Pauline might be murderers, but they are also angst-ridden, isolated teenagers that anyone could relate to. It also shows a director’s admirable mission to painstakingly tell a difficult story right. And tell it right he did.