Born on Bourbon
'Welcome to the Rileys' writer finds inspiration for the locally shot drama in the unlikeliest of placesHenry David Thoreau had Walden Pond. Mark Twain had the Mighty Mississippi.And "Welcome to the Rileys" writer Ken Hixon? For his inspiration, he has Big Daddy's.It was there, during a late-night visit to the Bourbon Street strip joint -- perhaps most famous for the motorized mannequin legs swinging out of the front window to entice tipsy conventioneers -- that his sneakily affecting drama was bornThe film opens this weekend in New Orleans and stars Kristen Stewart as a teenage stripper taken under the wing of a fatherly James Gandolfini. It's been a long road for the little indie with the big-name cast -- 28 days of shooting in New Orleans and Mandeville in late 2008, a search for a distribution deal throughout 2009, a tour of the film festival circuit for the first 10 months of 2010, and, finally, a slow roll-out at theaters that started Oct. 29.The project began, though, with a trip Hixon made to New Orleans to visit an old buddy, actor and Mississippi native M.C. Gainey ("Sideways," "Lost"). After a full day of Jazz Fest, and a full night of all that comes after a full day of Jazz Fest, his group found itself poking around in the French Quarter late one night."We went into Big Daddy's on Bourbon Street," Hixon remembered during a break in shooting on the film's Mandeville set in November 2008, "and -- not on the main stage, on one of those satellite stages -- there's this little, scrawny girl, and she looked to me like she was 15 or 16. Topless dancing, not particularly sexy."My instincts, being a dad myself, I just wanted to take off my jacket and put it around her and say, 'Honey, what are you doing?' I think (with) older strippers, you figure the damage has been done. But when you see girls who are obviously so young -- that image just stuck in my head."It also sticks in the head of Gandolfini's character in "Welcome to the Rileys," an Indiana businessman named Doug Riley who comes to New Orleans for a plumbers convention. Still grieving the loss of his own teenage daughter years earlier, Doug sees a potential outlet for his protective instincts in Stewart's vulgar but vulnerable character.That serves as a springboard for Hixon's exploration of redemption and rebirth, one that is built on a foundation of emotion but that also features tons of New Orleans scenery and surprising moments of light humor."It's like spice," Hixon said. "You need all flavors. You can't just do unrelenting tragedy -- and, frankly, there's comedy in tragedy, particularly if it's grounded in character and you're not doing it just for a gag."Gandolfini's character, for example, is an unassuming, suburban-dwelling Joe, and Hixon's script nurses the fish-out-of-water nature of his trip to New Orleans. "Can you imagine taking a guy from a neighborhood like this and putting him in the Bywater?" Hixon asked, sitting in the backyard of the home in Mandeville's Golden Shores subdivision that doubled for Doug's.For Hixon, though, "Welcome to the Rileys" also was a do-over of sorts, as it focuses on the wounded but loving relationship between Doug and his wife, Lois (played by Melissa Leo of "Treme").A few years earlier, Hixon had written a screenplay for the 2002 drama "City by the Sea," starring Frances McDormand and Robert De Niro. Despite what he characterized as strong turns from both actors, the final edit left much of their performances -- and the heart of their relationship -- on the cutting-room floor, leaving him with "a nagging frustration.""I kept thinking, 'I've got to do something where I can portray (that),' " he said, "because I've been married for 27 years. My wife and I have been together for 30. I've written movies about young love, and that's fun. Everybody loves young love. What's not to love? But (what about) the complexities and the nuances, and also the durability of relationships? Because so much of what you hear about is relationships failing. I wanted to portray a couple that, yes, they've been driven to separate corners, but they have this very enduring love between each other."The result is a nuanced picture that boasts a number of surprisingly lovely moments amid the sadness and squalor. Critics' reactions have been mixed with regard to the film's evenly paced -- some would say slow-moving -- story, but praise has been overflowing for the performances of Stewart, Gandolfini and Leo.Just watching them perform his words, Hixon said, is rewarding enough for him."They're very different people. They have their own unique approaches," he said, "and it's really extraordinary, whether you're watching them doing a scene with just one of them, two of them or get all three of them together. Kristen Stewart is astonishing. She is like lightning in a bottle -- actually, with the cork off the bottle. ..."You know, that's part of the writer's reward. I've had very good luck with casting. It's wonderful, and it never gets old. ... I'm in hog heaven."
Henry David Thoreau had Walden Pond. Mark Twain had the Mighty Mississippi.
And "Welcome to the Rileys" writer Ken Hixon? For his inspiration, he has Big Daddy's.
It was there, during a late-night visit to the Bourbon Street strip joint -- perhaps most famous for the motorized mannequin legs swinging out of the front window to entice tipsy conventioneers -- that his sneakily affecting drama was born
The film opens this weekend in New Orleans and stars Kristen Stewart as a teenage stripper taken under the wing of a fatherly James Gandolfini. It's been a long road for the little indie with the big-name cast -- 28 days of shooting in New Orleans and Mandeville in late 2008, a search for a distribution deal throughout 2009, a tour of the film festival circuit for the first 10 months of 2010, and, finally, a slow roll-out at theaters that started Oct. 29.
The project began, though, with a trip Hixon made to New Orleans to visit an old buddy, actor and Mississippi native M.C. Gainey ("Sideways," "Lost"). After a full day of Jazz Fest, and a full night of all that comes after a full day of Jazz Fest, his group found itself poking around in the French Quarter late one night.
"We went into Big Daddy's on Bourbon Street," Hixon remembered during a break in shooting on the film's Mandeville set in November 2008, "and -- not on the main stage, on one of those satellite stages -- there's this little, scrawny girl, and she looked to me like she was 15 or 16. Topless dancing, not particularly sexy.
"My instincts, being a dad myself, I just wanted to take off my jacket and put it around her and say, 'Honey, what are you doing?' I think (with) older strippers, you figure the damage has been done. But when you see girls who are obviously so young -- that image just stuck in my head."
It also sticks in the head of Gandolfini's character in "Welcome to the Rileys," an Indiana businessman named Doug Riley who comes to New Orleans for a plumbers convention. Still grieving the loss of his own teenage daughter years earlier, Doug sees a potential outlet for his protective instincts in Stewart's vulgar but vulnerable character.
That serves as a springboard for Hixon's exploration of redemption and rebirth, one that is built on a foundation of emotion but that also features tons of New Orleans scenery and surprising moments of light humor.
"It's like spice," Hixon said. "You need all flavors. You can't just do unrelenting tragedy -- and, frankly, there's comedy in tragedy, particularly if it's grounded in character and you're not doing it just for a gag."
Gandolfini's character, for example, is an unassuming, suburban-dwelling Joe, and Hixon's script nurses the fish-out-of-water nature of his trip to New Orleans. "Can you imagine taking a guy from a neighborhood like this and putting him in the Bywater?" Hixon asked, sitting in the backyard of the home in Mandeville's Golden Shores subdivision that doubled for Doug's.
For Hixon, though, "Welcome to the Rileys" also was a do-over of sorts, as it focuses on the wounded but loving relationship between Doug and his wife, Lois (played by Melissa Leo of "Treme").
A few years earlier, Hixon had written a screenplay for the 2002 drama "City by the Sea," starring Frances McDormand and Robert De Niro. Despite what he characterized as strong turns from both actors, the final edit left much of their performances -- and the heart of their relationship -- on the cutting-room floor, leaving him with "a nagging frustration."
"I kept thinking, 'I've got to do something where I can portray (that),' " he said, "because I've been married for 27 years. My wife and I have been together for 30. I've written movies about young love, and that's fun. Everybody loves young love. What's not to love? But (what about) the complexities and the nuances, and also the durability of relationships? Because so much of what you hear about is relationships failing. I wanted to portray a couple that, yes, they've been driven to separate corners, but they have this very enduring love between each other."
The result is a nuanced picture that boasts a number of surprisingly lovely moments amid the sadness and squalor. Critics' reactions have been mixed with regard to the film's evenly paced -- some would say slow-moving -- story, but praise has been overflowing for the performances of Stewart, Gandolfini and Leo.
Just watching them perform his words, Hixon said, is rewarding enough for him.
"They're very different people. They have their own unique approaches," he said, "and it's really extraordinary, whether you're watching them doing a scene with just one of them, two of them or get all three of them together. Kristen Stewart is astonishing. She is like lightning in a bottle -- actually, with the cork off the bottle. ...
"You know, that's part of the writer's reward. I've had very good luck with casting. It's wonderful, and it never gets old. ... I'm in hog heaven."
nola.live.advance
xoxo
Carrie
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