| By Fred Topel
In Theaters Now
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Whenever Steve Martin makes a “personal” film, they tend to be less slapstick like Roxeanne or the abstract L.A. Story, often even dramatic, like A Simple Twist of Fate. Shopgirl may be his most personal work yet. “Well, having written the book, I would have to say yes, but I’m not sure what that means,” Martin said. “They’re all personal. They all have your heart in them.”
He will say that Shopgirl is not autobiographical, with his character, Ray Porter, preferring to shower a young woman with expensive gifts rather than with actual affection. “Some of it’s just about men. Some of it’s talking to men.”
Porter, a successful businessman, contrasts with Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), the shopgirl’s other love interest. Jeremy is a lovable loser who finds a direction in life, thus becoming more appealing. But the central role is still that of shopgirl Mirabelle (Claire Danes). With all the film’s insight into her psyche, one wonders how Steve Martin knows women so well.
“Well, for me, as I was writing the book, the hardest part to write was Ray Porter and it took me a while to figure out why. Because when I look at the opposite sex, I know what’s interesting to me. I’m listening and I’m finding oh, that story’s interesting, that aspect is interesting, that’s interesting. So I can write about a woman and go… but when you're writing about a man, because I am one, I know the thoughts, I know the feelings but I don't know what’s interesting. So it was really hard to pick and choose. What needs to be known? What is being one? And so that was the hardest part. But it’s easy to be an observer and appreciator of the opposite sex.”
Despite many of its serious themes about relationships, Shopgirl is a romantic comedy. However, Jeremy is the scene-stealing role, and Martin knew he would not be playing the funnyman this time. “Well, I couldn’t have. I’m the wrong age first of all. I always knew what the movie was. I always knew what the role was so there were no surprises to me.”
Yet Martin hopes people will not harp on his choice to play a dramatic role. “In my head, I know everything I’ve done. In my head, I’m going, ‘Well, I’ve done a lot of dramatic work. Even in comedies, I’ve done dramatic work.’ But I know that in other people’s head who don’t know everything I’ve done, they see it maybe a little differently. But at this point, I go, ‘So what?’ The movie is a movie and the movie’s touching and I think it works and it’s effective. That’s what I want. It’s not about trying to fulfill some audience’s dream. In this case it’s about fulfilling your vision on film and book, etc.”
But you don’t only have to prepare yourself for a serious Steve Martin, you may have to prepare yourself for a mean one. There is one very cold reason why Ray Porter and Mirabelle cannot work out as a long term couple.
“There’s a very simple answer. And I can’t remember if it’s still in the movie because it’s a tiny little moment. Ray takes Mirabelle to a very fancy restaurant and the first thing the maitre’d says to Mirabelle, ‘Nice to see you again.’ Which is a mistake because she’s never been to this restaurant. It’s meant to imply Ray’s been here with other women. But that’s a minor thing because Ray’s not a serial sexual guy. But in that scene, Mirabelle says, ‘Why me?’ And Ray looks up at the waiter and they have a moment. It’s in the book. I can’t remember if it’s in the movie. Anyway, he looks up at the waiter. The waiter knows why and Ray knows why. He wants to sleep with her.”
But Mirabelle is such a lovable girl, she should be able to win him over, right? “Unable to go there. He’s just unable. It was never meant to go further. I think it’s a very cruel answer. He doesn’t love her. “
Martin never set out to analyze intimacy. That just ended up in the material. “That’s an analysis after the fact. It is certainly not, ‘I’m going to sit down and write a story about intimacy.’ No, you’re writing a story about characters and then it might turn out that that’s what it’s about but frankly, I don't know. All I know is this is to me a character study cloaked in drama and film, but it’s a character story of a young woman. That’s the way I see it and what happens to her and how she is affected, how she grows which is also another corny word and how she moves from one point of her life to another.”
When that girl he wrote about in his novella had to be represented by a Hollywood actress, Martin got one of his first picks. “I knew it was a juicy part. That’s what I felt. We wanted to make sure we got the exact right actress because I felt we had a lot of choices. Actresses don’t get a role that’s meaty, juicy, crying, this, emotional, sexy. And it was a very short list before we got to Claire. We had lunch and we knew that it was she that we wanted. Even when we had financing and it fell apart, then we got other financing, none of the elements changed. Nobody said, ‘Well, this is an opportunity to get rid of so and so.’ No, we knew the team worked. It’s so clear as you saw the movie that Claire is the exact right person to play the role. You can’t imagine anyone else in it.”
Shopgirl opens wide on November 4. |
