It's safe to say a suburban family is never quite how it appears.
In Gregg Araki's "White Bird in a Blizzard" (adapted from the novel of the same name), this is certainly the case. We follow the Connors, a seemingly normal husband and wife (Christopher Meloni and Eva Green), along with their teenage daughter (Shailene Woodley). When the wife suddenly disappears, the family is thrown into a tailspin and is left to pick up the pieces.
Of course things are much more complicated than that; in Araki's movie, both Meloni's and Woodley's characters have to suffer and readapt to their lives, and in suffocating suburbia there are often many complications -- and secrets.
Moviefone Canada chatted with Araki about his dream cast, suburbia and meeting Shailene Woodley.
Moviefone Canada: A lot of images and scenes have stuck with me from "White Bird in a Blizzard." There's something haunting about the film.
Gregg Araki: Good! That's the way it's supposed to be! The story really has a lot of universal truths to it. I'm glad they resonated.
How did you come across the book?
The book was sent to me by my French producers -- this is the fourth film I've made with them -- and this was a project they were trying to get made for years. I was so struck by it, it's so beautiful. The story really haunted me and it reminded me a little bit of "The Ice Storm" and "American Beauty." Suburbia, the secret lives of people, the darkness that lies beneath the American Dream, with the perfect family and the perfect house. It hit me on so many levels.
It takes a lot for me to commit to making a movie. As a filmmaker, you only get to make X number of movies in your life, so every one really has to count. This story fulfilled all of those requirements for me.
I wrote in my notes "suburban darkness." How much did your own experience of suburbia colour how you made this movie?
The book is set in Ohio, but I moved the film to California just so it would be closer to my own experience. I grew up in a suburb of Santa Barbara. I wanted to be able to relate to it in a direct way. We lived in a track house, and frankly my upbringing was the polar opposite of Shailene Woodley's character. [Laughs]
The Eva Green character, for me, should never have lived that life. It was prescribed to her by society. It's not something that she really wanted. That's what's heartbreaking about the movie: she's really this tragic figure, a beautiful woman whose life is entirely defined by men and men looking at her.
How did you decide on who to cast? Especially Shailene in particular, who's everywhere right now!
[Laughs] Yes, the Shailene explosion! She did all these movies like bang, bang, bang, bang. We shot this before "Divergent" and "Fault in Our Stars." I met Shailene after "The Descendants," after her agent introduced us. I fell in love with her immediately. She's not like anybody else out there. She's real and so grounded. The camera really picks up on it.
I'm thrilled with the entire cast -- this is a dream cast for me. To come to work every day and be with these actors, it's been a dream come true. Even Angela Bassett, she worked for about a day! She said yes, I couldn't believe it. All the performances are extraordinary.
Eva Green was absolutely terrifying in this.
You know, I'm just in awe of Eva's and Chris [Meloni]'s performances, because they're nothing like those characters in real life. I respect them so much as actors. They created these personas that are 180 degrees from who they really are.
What's coming up next for you? Judging by what you said earlier, I can assume if you have something down the pipe it'll be fully baked...
I have a couple things percolating, but I'm not rolling a camera yet! There's stuff about to happen, I'm sure of it.
"White Bird in a Blizzard" is now playing in select theatres.
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