Movie review and director interview: The Night of the White Pants

by John P. Meyer

Amy Talkington grew up in Dallas, went to school at Hockaday (which, amazingly, operates its own weather station) and ended up with an MFA from Columbia University’s Film Division.

Her first feature-length film, The Night of the White Pants, features a number of recognizable Dallas locales and has a very North Texas flavor to it. It opens in commercial release Friday, April 6 at the Angelika (Dallas), although it's already screened at both the Tribeca and Dallas film festivals with Ms. Talkington and numerous of the film's stars in attendance.

In terms of background color and characters, the movie draws on Amy's experiences growing up in Dallas and is partially filmed in the Swiss Avenue neighborhood where she lived. The story centers on the crashing fortunes (both personal and professional) of local power broker Max Hagan (portrayed by Oscar-nominated English actor Tom Wilkinson, employing his best Texas accent).

Through a series of circumstances relating to hostile divorce proceedings initiated by the most recent of his "Hot Trophy Wives" (the current iteration played by hot North Texan Janine Turner), Max ends up ejected from his house and adrift in the uncomfortable company of his daughter Beth's (Selma Blair) boyfriend, rock musician (and computer software developer) Raff (Nick Stahl). Sorry about all these parentheses (honest!).

Anyhow, Max and Raff prowl around town getting variously drunk and stoned and laid, until everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) ends up in a suite at the Adolphus Hotel. Including the police.

Music holds down a major supporting role in the film, with a number of Texas musicians getting play in the soundtrack including The Dicks, 13th Floor Elevators, Spoon and 25% Toby. An early scene takes place at Double Wide.

When all is said and done (and there's a lot of frenetic saying and doing going on during the 87 minute run-time), the story of NOTWP centers on family and its importance to one's character and emotional integrity. Bottom line: you may have trouble living with those goofball relatives of yours, but you dang well can't live without 'em.

BOUNDARIES OF GOOD BEHAVIOR: "I can't get tangled up in some Britney Spears deal, I've got a reputation in this town." - Judge Barefoot Johnson (Grant James)

BIG ENOUGH: "We have a nicely-sized suite." - desk clerk at the Adolphus Hotel (Jon McPhalen) to Felicia (Laura Jordan).

"Is it big-ass?" - Felicia to desk clerk.

"Yes, I'd say it's 'big-ass.'" - desk clerk, solicitously.

GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: "Can we all sit down and play a G** D*** game of Perquacky?" - Max, to his assembled family members.

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR/WRITER AMY TALKINGTON

John Meyer: From a complex series of events and characters, White Pants ends up having something very simple to say about family relationships. Am I reading this correctly?

Amy Talkington: Yes. It is ultimately about reconnecting. I hope that the ending isn’t too sentimental. I tried to make it hopeful but with an open-endedness to it.

JM: What is that thing depicted on Nick Stahl's red t-shirt? I keep trying to turn it into a dinosaur skull, but without success.

AT: It’s a steak. The shirt was designed by Ross Zeitz and we found it at threadless. I wanted the shirt to be red so that Raff would really stick out in the Hagan house and I wanted it to be mildly insulting to Max (without being aggressive). I fell in love with this shirt and threadless.com has been super supportive. They sent 100 free steak t-shirts and I hand them out at the premieres. I’ll hand out 25 more on April 6th, so if anyone wants one... come and get it!

JM: The film has screened at a number of festivals; lots of people have seen it, and lots more are preparing to because it goes into commercial release on April 6 here at the Angelika in Dallas. Has anyone expressed a concern that your script is a little too "drug friendly?" I mean, there's a scene in which Max Hagan comments to his wastrel son, Millian, about how he "gets it" now that he's tried cocaine.

AT: Some people seemed to think that there might be too much drug use for certain foreign territories but I don’ t think it’s a problem for domestics (at least not that I’ve heard about).

But, I’d like to note that, even though there is a lot of drug use in the movie, I don’t think that it is a pro-drug movie. I think it shows drugs in a fairly realistic light. There are some people who experiment with drugs without much consequence but Millian, the character who has a drug problem in the movie, is not a happy character and, though he is funny, I don’t think that he makes doing drugs look like a good thing.

JM: The cast is really deep in talent, and I can't find a weak link, but my favorite performance is that of Geri Jewell of Deadwood fame. There's something about her Lolly character that is just so full of fun and disarming; the way she zips around in her motorized chair and observes everything adds a real narrative boost to the Swiss Avenue house segments. Did you pretty much just up and write your Aunt Dotsy into that role, or did you imbue Lolly with character traits that your aunt didn't possess? (Perquacky?)

AT: Aunt Lolly is the only character in the movie who is inspired by a real person, my Aunt Dotsy. I really used a lot of Dotsy in that part. It has always amazed me Dotsy, with her severe disabilities, is always the person in our house who knows exactly there everything is and what everyone is doing. In fact, she ratted on my several times. So, I thought that was a very interesting notion for a movie – that the supposedly disabled character is actually the only one in the house who knows what’s going on. That said, Geri Jewell brought wonderful nuance and comic timing to the part and made it even better than I could have ever imagined.

My aunt is not obsessed with Perquacky, however she is a big fan of Boggle, which was originally scripted in the movie. Boggle didn’t want to participate in the movie because of the drug use.

Also, it’s important to note that, while Lolly is inspired by my Aunt Dotsy, absolutely nothing that happens in the movie ever happened in real life.

JM: Along with a couple of talented and attractive younger female stars (Selma Blair and Laura Jordan), the film features two of my favorite actresses who've been around almost as long as me: Janine Turner and Frances Fisher. Janine was an obvious choice for one of Max Hagan's "HTW"s (Hot Trophy Wives), being both gorgeous and a native North Texan; what made you think of Frances Fisher for the role of Max's first wife?

AT: I thought of Frances because she grew up in Texas and because she has a stately calm that I really wanted Vivian to have. Also, I thought we might have a shot at getting her because she is a friend of independent film.

JM: I still think of Ms. Fisher as "Bad Fran," which is the way Clint Eastwood used to refer to her. Is "Bad Fran" still bad?

AT: Honestly I have never heard the term “Bad Fran.” She certainly wasn’t “bad” in any way on set. But, I can tell you that she knows how to have fun. We all had a blast on the movie.

[Ed. Note: I'd swear I recall Clint Eastwood referring to Ms. Fisher as "Bad Fran" 'round about the time that Unforgiven was being promoted. Frances, if you're reading, please confirm.]

JM: Night of the White Pants is your first feature-length directing effort, and it's getting a lot of attention. What made you decide to use Dallas as the setting for events? Did it help that you had a lot of contacts in the city?

AT: It was both a creative and a practical choice. Creatively, I think Dallas is an interesting city and I like the idea of these two archetypal Dallas men (the business man and the rocker) being forced to hang out with one another.

But, practically speaking, it made sense to come home to make the movie. I knew that I’d have a lot of hometown support, which I did. You need that kind of help on a super low budget movie. My mother’s entire neighborhood helped us make this movie – from lending us furniture to housing us to offering us their homes as shooting locations. It was truly wonderful.

JM: In regard to the Dallas setting, do you think you'll be featuring our fair city for more feature film projects?

AT: Absolutely. I have already written my next feature, Deeply Shallow and Really Fake, which is a comedy set in the world of Dallas debutantes. And, I think I have still more Dallas stories up my sleeve. I love writing about Texans!

JM: Describe the importance of board games (and/or card games) in your family life.

AT: I don’t think that board games are especially important in my family. It was a choice I made as a writer, I just thought it was a nice device – that a board game was ultimately the only thing that could bring this family together. It was a way of showing that they are re-engaged with one another without getting too heavy-handed about it

JM: You've directed several shorts before NOTWP; which of them would you consider required viewing for Amy Talkington scholars?

AT: I am proud of all the shorts but Second Skin is definitely the best of my shorts. It played at festivals and on TV all over the world. People really seem to respond to that one.

Also The New Arrival (which was the world’s first immersive, 360-degree movie) and Our Very Sex Tape (which is not porn, by the way!) have both been incredibly popular on the internet.

JM: What's next up for Amy Talkington as a director?

AT: We are gearing up to make Deeply Shallow and Really Fake, shooting this Fall in Dallas. In the meantime, I am currently finishing up an internet project called Confessions that I am very excited about. It will premiere on atomfilms.com this Summer. You can see my other shorts on atomfilms, too.

If possible, please note that I will be attending the evening screenings on April 6th and 7th and hosting Q&As (and handing out free steak t-shirts to the people who come up and ask for them!)

[Ed. note: Oh, it's possible, all right. And go ahead and reserve one a' those shirts for me, ma'am.]

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