Honeydripper (John Sayles, 2007)

[Antoine Doinel]

Alabamians to bring authentic voice to next Sayles-Renzi film

Sunday, September 24, 2006
BOB CARLTON
News staff writer

For nearly three decades, John Sayles and his creative and life partner, Maggie Renzi, have persevered as stubbornly independent filmmakers who've managed to survive outside of the Hollywood system.

They've made 15 films, and their impressive body of work includes "Matawan," "Eight Men Out," "City of Hope," "Passion Fish," "Lone Star" and "Sunshine State." He is the writer-director; she is the producer.

They've learned you can make great movies on a tight budget by paying their actors union wages and not wasting money on such luxuries as backstage trailers.

They film their pictures where they take place, and to give them more authenticity, they hire as many local actors as they can.

Sayles and Renzi are in Alabama scouting locations, searching for talent and doing other pre-production work for their next movie, "Honeydripper," which they will start filming in and around Greenville in October.

This weekend, they have been in Birmingham for the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, first to accept an award for their years of dedication to independent film Friday night and later to take part in a question-and-answer session at the festival Saturday morning. The festival ends today.

Sayles, a lumberjack of a man with a barrel chest and Popeye arms, accepted the Sidewalk award - a 30-pound, cast-iron sculpture crafted at Sloss Furnaces - and lifted it like a dumbbell.

"It is very hard for people to continue to be an independent filmmaker," Sayles said earlier in an interview at the Tutwiler Hotel. "It's very hard to raise money and very hard to get your movie seen.

"So more and more, that (independent) world is for people who are making their first or second movie - usually on video, sometimes with their mother's credit card.

"But to survive and continue to make movies without getting accepted in Hollywood and getting that kind of money is pretty rare."

Sayles and Renzi met as students at Williams College in Massachusetts, and although they have been together for 33 years, they've never married. Sayles said there is a reason they've stuck together all this time.

"If you want to be a filmmaker," he said, "find a good producer and treat her right."

At the question-and-answer session Saturday, Renzi found herself in a reflective mood.

"It's impossible not to be reminiscent about this independent thing," Renzi said. "I'm almost 55. I've been doing this since I was 28. We've made a whole bunch of movies.

"We've watched this thing called a movement, and we've watched it go in directions that we totally didn't anticipate," she added. "We've managed to get back up at bat often."

Sayles and Renzi have made movies in Florida ("Sunshine State"), Texas ("Lone Star"), Louisiana ("Passion Fish") and Alaska ("Limbo"), but "Honeydripper" will be their first time to film in Alabama.

The movie takes place in a small, cotton-producing community in the 1950s, just before the outbreak of the Korean War. The "Honeydripper" in the title refers to a struggling roadhouse owned by an aging piano player played by Danny Glover.

To pay his rent and save the club, he hires a young, unknown guitarist (played by Austin, Texas, musician Gary Clark Jr.) who shows up with a funny-looking instrument, an early electric guitar, that he built himself.

The cast includes blues guitarist Keb' Mo' and R&B singer Ruth Brown.

"It's set right in 1950, when Ike Turner and Chuck Berry and those guys were starting to discover the electric guitar," Sayles says. "That instrument, which had been in the background, is about to take over."

Sayles and Renzi considered locations in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama, but settled on Alabama because it had all the things they needed - cotton fields near Greenville, trains at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera and an old Army base in Fort McClellan in Anniston.

Renzi gives the credit to Tommy Feld, location coordinator for the Alabama Film Office.

"This guy Tommy Feld basically is your film commission," she said. "And Tommy got right on it and outstripped Arkansas."

They plan to fill 16 or 17 roles with Alabama talent, including a couple of local musicians.

"One thing is, people don't have to learn the accent," Sayles said. "Why bring somebody in who has to listen to tapes for a day or two of work? We save on the airfare, but also I think it really informs the movie and gives it a better feel for whatever that place is."

[Antoine Doinel]

Filming has wrapped and producer Maggie Renzi has a blog. She is looking to step outside the traditional distribution route and get Sayles film into theatres sooner and in front of more people.

[Jason]

I have a friend who was a PA on this film. Exciting times.

[Antoine Doinel]

This two minute and forty second clip is better than the entirety of Black Snake Moan.

An interview with John Sayles and Maggie Renzi.

[Antoine Doinel]

Still searching for distribution. From the NY Times:

[quote]Down South, Singing the Indie Blues

By JOHN ANDERSON
Published: December 2, 2007

WHAT she'd really like, said the film producer Maggie Renzi, is “a big check and a lot of help.â€

[Jeff]

Still searching for distribution. From the NY Times

That's weird. Emerging Pictures shows that they have picked it up.

Dec. 28 -- NY & LA
Jan. 18 -- Chicago, Boston, Atlanta
Feb. 1 -- Nationwide

[Antoine Doinel]

Well, that's certainly good news. I'm guessing the article was written before the film screened at the African Diaspora Film Festival in New York, where I'm guessing it was picked up.