Personal story basis for “˜Moonlight Mile’
By Ryan Joe
Oct. 6, 2002 9:00 p.m.
In the lobby of the arctic air-conditioned Melnitz Hall are
posters of films on which UCLA alums worked.
Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula” sits
black-framed on one side of the hall; on the opposite wall is
Alexander Payne’s “Election.” Both of Brad
Silberling’s efforts (“City of Angels,”
“Casper”) are framed as well, making him giddy.
“It makes you feel great since I get this flash in my head
of us all in this bullpen upstairs trying to stay awake at five in
the morning cutting our little Super 8 projects,” Silberling
said. “It reminds you of the community that you came
from.”
It was this community that Silberling valued most as a graduate
student at UCLA’s film school. Silberling returns to his alma
mater to show “Moonlight Mile,” which he wrote and
directed, starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon as grieving
parents, at the James Bridges Theater tonight.
Silberling came to the production department after a
lightning-bolt undergraduate stint (Advanced Placement allowed him
to start as a junior) as an English student at UC Santa Barbara,
where Silberling found himself in a close-knit peer group bound
together by love of celluloid.
Silberling also had the benefit of being mentored by the late
director Martin Ritt (“Norma Rae”) who gave to
Silberling the know-how in navigating the shark-infested Hollywood
waters without being chewed up and spat out.
“He tried to impart as much wisdom in the process of
surviving and maintaining your artistic integrity, which they
usually don’t talk about in film school,” Silberling
said. “Marty Ritt was wonderful in talking about the
responsibility you have as a filmmaker. … For good or for bad, I
have a little dictator inside me which means I can’t do work
that I’m not connected to.”
And if there was ever a movie that Silberling was connected to
it’s “Moonlight Mile.”
The film observes the mourning process of four individuals in
the early ’70s. Many of Silberling’s observations in
the film come from his personal involvement with actress Rebecca
Schaeffer, who he was dating at the time of her 1989 murder.
“”˜Moonlight Mile’ is emotionally
autobiographical but less so in narrative terms,” said
Silberling. “In the aftermath of her death, we were thrust
together in a very unique relationship which, for me, was the
emotional chord of what that movie was to become.”
The movie follows Joe, fiance of a murdered girl, trying to
decide exactly what he’s supposed to do in terms of how to
act and how to feel. This emotional terrain was familiar landscape
for Silberling.
“I had that feeling where you’re actually performing
the part of being the bereaved because your own reactions, whether
humor or anger or numbness, never feel appropriate to what you
think you’re supposed to be doing,” Silberling
said.
Two years before “Casper,” his first feature,
Silberling wrote the first draft of “Moonlight Mile,”
which he first showed to Schaeffer’s parents. But because of
the script’s unorthodox subject matter, Silberling knew
he’d have to wait before he’d have the power to film
“Moonlight Mile.” Both parents responded well to the
script ““ a plus since Silberling admitted the movie would
never have been made had either parent found the process
emotionally difficult.
“Moonlight Mile” marks Silberling’s first
feature screenwriting credit. The last film he’d completely
scribed was his thesis film for UCLA. But “Moonlight
Mile” was different due to its personal relevancy.
“When you make a personal film, you get very intuitive and
that gets into the filmmaking process,” said Silberling.
“The danger of making the film was if I was trying to just do
a documentary and asked the actors to participate; that’s the
fastest way to kill any life on the screen because you have actors
who need to possess their own characters.”
Despite some critical backlash, Silberling hopes that people can
connect with the film on some genuine level.
“You can only serve your own interests and do what you
think is honest and truthful and hope other people will
respond,” Silberling said.
