Tim Hunter found his way into the hearts of all teenagers when he directed the films River's Edge and Tex. Since then hes directed more movies and hundreds of episodes of television such as the first episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, multiple episodes of Twin Peaks and more recently Cold Case and Carnivle.
His latest feature length film is Control starring Ray Liotta, Willem Dafoe, Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Rea. Liotta stars as Lee Ray Oliver, a violent sociopath sentenced to die for the brutal murders of several drug pushers and an innocent bystander. But instead of being injected with a lethal poison, Lee Ray awakes several hours later in the county morgue. He receives an offer from Dr. Copeland [Willem Dafoe] to take some mood-altering medication or die right here, right now. Though Lee Ray makes a few fruitless attempts at escape, the pills eventually take hold - turning the man into a gentle, barely recognizable version of his former self. Dr. Copeland, satisfied that the drugs are working, sends Lee Ray to start a new life in a small town under an assumed name - where he quickly finds a job and falls in love with a local named Teresa [Michelle Rodriguez].
Buy the DVD for Control
Daniel Robert Epstein: The first question is one everyone will want to know. Where can they see this film?
Tim Hunter: Its available at most video stores including Blockbuster because they are the US distributor. Its your basic direct to DVD.
DRE: Was it ever meant to go to the theatres?
TH: This company, Nu Image, almost never has anything distributed theatrically. Nu Image makes mostly low budget action films for the foreign market. Most of their deals are video deals. I liked the material and a lot of us worked really hard to make something that could go into the theatre but Nu Image doesnt try very hard. It was turned down by one distributor then the next thing I knew they had plugged it into their Blockbuster deal.
That said, Blockbuster has been very supportive of the picture. They like it and have racked a lot of copies.
DRE: Its an amazing cast. How did that come together?
TH: The picture was originally supposed to star Matt Dillon and Willem Dafoe. I got brought into the project by Matt. Nu Image wanted more rewrites with more action and finally Matt felt there was too much action in the picture so he dropped out. At the last minute we sent it to Ray Liotta and he said yes. He saved us because I dont know what would have happened.
DRE: I thought Ray was fantastic, how is it working with him?
TH: It reminded me a bit of Dennis Hopper in Rivers Edge because he came in proclaiming he had cleaned up his act and was very professional. He liked all the action and the chance to play a super bad guy and a good guy all in one character. Like all good actors, including Willem Dafoe, they want to make sure you know what you are doing so they tend to test you a little. But he had a great attitude.
DRE: What made you think of Michelle Rodriguez for this role? Its much different for her.
TH: Ive always loved her and thought she was really beautiful. Lately theyve cast her in girls with machine guns kind of parts. I dont think the part was written for a Latina but Ive always seen it that way. She was the first person I asked them to offer it to. I think she liked it because it would be a change of pace to show audiences that she is feminine.
DRE: How about Stephen Rea?
TH: Nu Image has a studio in Bulgaria so thats where we shot the picture therefore they cast much of the picture out of London. Stephen Reas agent submitted him and we made an offer. I think he wanted to have some fun with it then other times Im sure he wished he was back in Ireland.
DRE: It must have been really amazing to have all three of those brilliant actors in one scene.
TH: It was a pleasure. Theyre all pros and I had to be on my toes to deal with it. Dafoe is a lot of fun on a set. He alternates between being very rigorous and very playful. Sometimes hes the class cutup with making crazy faces and cracking people up. Ray tended to stay in character and be very serious about what he was doing.
DRE: I can see why Matt Dillon thought of you for this movie because it really keeps in with the themes a few of your other films had. Did you see it like that?
TH: I think what I related to thematically was that it was a story about people trying to change, making choices then seeing how effective those choices were. If you go one route then you have to follow that path and you cant go on another. To me it is about personal change and personal decision which is why I like the twist in it.
DRE: I can also see why Matt Dillon had a problem with the action because it seems that the first half of the movie is very different from the second half. How do you feel about the action?
TH: Well I have mixed feelings about it but basically I was for it. The studio was insisting on more action so the writers and I added the hitman subplot. It seemed like a logical story because the main character had a very bad past. We put those sequences into the film in a very surgically precise sort of way so they would add to the action and keep the momentum going but not screw around with the rest of the story.
DRE: Were the writers [Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer] in Bulgaria?
TH: The writers were not there but we worked on a couple of drafts before I left. They are on the writing staff of Smallville and in TV they work you 24/7 so they could barely meet with me let alone come to Bulgaria. I think they wanted to come but it never worked out.
DRE: How did the screening of Control at the American Cinematheque come about?
TH: They were great. Ive known Barbara Smith [Director of American Cinematheque] for a long time because Im a big film buff. Of course, in my deal I had one preview of the directors cut. The few people who came to it said they liked it so when Blockbuster wanted to do a film screening I suggested they contact the Cinematheque.
DRE: Where are you on the issue of behavior modification with drugs for criminals?
TH: It would never happen. A criminal would not be let go because he was under drug therapy and at the same time its a fun premise.
DRE: Do you think the kids in Rivers Edge needed drugs?
TH: They took enough drugs on their own. If they took behavior modification drugs they would be happy model citizens, gone to the cops then I wouldnt have had a movie.
DRE: I didnt realize until I looked at your entry on the IMDB how much TV you direct.
TH: I love to work.
DRE: Are you working right now?
TH: I just finished an episode of House for FOX and now Im off to Santa Fe to shoot a low budget western. Im really excited about it. It doesnt have a distributor yet but the script is good and were getting some great character actors.
DRE: Who is in it?
TH: Its got Patrick Bergin, James Gammon, John Diehl and Lawrence Pressman. Its going to be tough and salty.
DRE: I love those guys.
TH: Its going to be a very solid.
DRE: Who wrote that?
TH: It was written by LA playwright Rob Sullivan and the crime fiction writer James Crumley.
DRE: Cool! James Crumley wrote Bordersnakes, one of my favorite books.
TH: Yeah Ive worked with Jim off and on over the years.
DRE: How did you get into doing TV?
TH: Right before Rivers Edge someone offered me the chance to do some episodes of a drama called Hard Copy with Michael Murphy. I did one of those and then I did Falcon Crest. I like doing episodes because its fast; you meet a whole lot of new people and then I have to adapt my style to the needs of the show. Its a good exercise, a lot of fun and
DRE: Pays well?
TH: It pays ok. I just did six in a row.
DRE: How do you look back on Rivers Edge?
TH: It was a very big movie for me. Its probably the best thing Ive done. I felt at the time it wouldnt be easy to find another piece of material that I could connect with for my quirky sensibilities. I would love to find one more before I go then I would be a happy director.
Before I got the script I wasnt looking to do another teenager movie. [Producers] Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford sent me the script and I just hit the floor. I called them up and told them I had to make it. They had been trying to get it made in the $5 to $6 million range which is what they made Desperately Seeking Susan for but there had been no takers because the script was so dark. I said I would make the film for a budget of a $1 million. Then they started submitting the project to independents so we had it up and running in just a couple of months.
DRE: Rivers Edge gets referenced by critics all the time with films like Mean Creek and Bully. Its become its own genre. When did you first realize the movie was going to be remembered?
TH: I felt that when I was making it that it was very special. At the time the studio movies of that year were unusually bland and I felt in my anarchic way I wanted to kick everyone in the teeth. It seems to have done that.
DRE: Is that the movie you get asked about the most?
TH: Questions still come up. When I go into a TV show thats the picture all the producers come up to me about although Tex has its fans as well. I was really lucky to have made it. I made Rivers Edge and they cant take that away from me.
DRE: How was it working with Crispin Glover?
TH: It was wonderful. When he first came in to read for us he had his characterization fully formed right down to the wardrobe and the wig. It was, what you see is what you get. It took the producers and me about 24 hours to figure out what this would do for the picture. We were very anxious to put him in it because aside from his talent he was in Back to the Future. We decided that if we put him his character would go even farther than the Dennis Hopper character of Feck. On paper Feck was the most extreme character in the script so putting Crispin in there lent a calm to Feck almost making him the moral center in a perverse kind of way.
DRE: I just got to interview Crispin and in the credits of his new movie, What is it?, he thanks you. Why was that?
TH: I run a lot of old 16mm movies at home and Crispin had an early 16mm workprint that he needed to see. So we screened it. I think he was just checking color timing or lab work.
DRE: What did you think of the movie?
TH: I thought it was great. Its been a year and a half since I saw it so I dont know what the final version is. But the combination of bucolic exteriors with Down Syndrome patients and Fritz Lang inspired weirdo studio sets made it so I couldnt take my eyes off the screen. I love Crispin anyway.
DRE: Whenever Keanu Reeves detractors argue with his fans the subject of having him being in three good movies comes up. Those three movies are Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, My Own Private Idaho and Rivers Edge. Did you see that he would become such a big star?
TH: Yeah it seemed pretty clear that he was talented and good looking enough to be a movie star. I felt the same way when Jonathan Kaplan found Matt Dillon for Over the Edge. Keanu really connected with the part in an emotional fashion in the way that all good young actors do.
DRE: So you direct a lot but will you be writing anytime soon?
TH: Im always writing stories to get developed but I dont really write scripts anymore.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
His latest feature length film is Control starring Ray Liotta, Willem Dafoe, Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Rea. Liotta stars as Lee Ray Oliver, a violent sociopath sentenced to die for the brutal murders of several drug pushers and an innocent bystander. But instead of being injected with a lethal poison, Lee Ray awakes several hours later in the county morgue. He receives an offer from Dr. Copeland [Willem Dafoe] to take some mood-altering medication or die right here, right now. Though Lee Ray makes a few fruitless attempts at escape, the pills eventually take hold - turning the man into a gentle, barely recognizable version of his former self. Dr. Copeland, satisfied that the drugs are working, sends Lee Ray to start a new life in a small town under an assumed name - where he quickly finds a job and falls in love with a local named Teresa [Michelle Rodriguez].
Buy the DVD for Control
Daniel Robert Epstein: The first question is one everyone will want to know. Where can they see this film?
Tim Hunter: Its available at most video stores including Blockbuster because they are the US distributor. Its your basic direct to DVD.
DRE: Was it ever meant to go to the theatres?
TH: This company, Nu Image, almost never has anything distributed theatrically. Nu Image makes mostly low budget action films for the foreign market. Most of their deals are video deals. I liked the material and a lot of us worked really hard to make something that could go into the theatre but Nu Image doesnt try very hard. It was turned down by one distributor then the next thing I knew they had plugged it into their Blockbuster deal.
That said, Blockbuster has been very supportive of the picture. They like it and have racked a lot of copies.
DRE: Its an amazing cast. How did that come together?
TH: The picture was originally supposed to star Matt Dillon and Willem Dafoe. I got brought into the project by Matt. Nu Image wanted more rewrites with more action and finally Matt felt there was too much action in the picture so he dropped out. At the last minute we sent it to Ray Liotta and he said yes. He saved us because I dont know what would have happened.
DRE: I thought Ray was fantastic, how is it working with him?
TH: It reminded me a bit of Dennis Hopper in Rivers Edge because he came in proclaiming he had cleaned up his act and was very professional. He liked all the action and the chance to play a super bad guy and a good guy all in one character. Like all good actors, including Willem Dafoe, they want to make sure you know what you are doing so they tend to test you a little. But he had a great attitude.
DRE: What made you think of Michelle Rodriguez for this role? Its much different for her.
TH: Ive always loved her and thought she was really beautiful. Lately theyve cast her in girls with machine guns kind of parts. I dont think the part was written for a Latina but Ive always seen it that way. She was the first person I asked them to offer it to. I think she liked it because it would be a change of pace to show audiences that she is feminine.
DRE: How about Stephen Rea?
TH: Nu Image has a studio in Bulgaria so thats where we shot the picture therefore they cast much of the picture out of London. Stephen Reas agent submitted him and we made an offer. I think he wanted to have some fun with it then other times Im sure he wished he was back in Ireland.
DRE: It must have been really amazing to have all three of those brilliant actors in one scene.
TH: It was a pleasure. Theyre all pros and I had to be on my toes to deal with it. Dafoe is a lot of fun on a set. He alternates between being very rigorous and very playful. Sometimes hes the class cutup with making crazy faces and cracking people up. Ray tended to stay in character and be very serious about what he was doing.
DRE: I can see why Matt Dillon thought of you for this movie because it really keeps in with the themes a few of your other films had. Did you see it like that?
TH: I think what I related to thematically was that it was a story about people trying to change, making choices then seeing how effective those choices were. If you go one route then you have to follow that path and you cant go on another. To me it is about personal change and personal decision which is why I like the twist in it.
DRE: I can also see why Matt Dillon had a problem with the action because it seems that the first half of the movie is very different from the second half. How do you feel about the action?
TH: Well I have mixed feelings about it but basically I was for it. The studio was insisting on more action so the writers and I added the hitman subplot. It seemed like a logical story because the main character had a very bad past. We put those sequences into the film in a very surgically precise sort of way so they would add to the action and keep the momentum going but not screw around with the rest of the story.
DRE: Were the writers [Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer] in Bulgaria?
TH: The writers were not there but we worked on a couple of drafts before I left. They are on the writing staff of Smallville and in TV they work you 24/7 so they could barely meet with me let alone come to Bulgaria. I think they wanted to come but it never worked out.
DRE: How did the screening of Control at the American Cinematheque come about?
TH: They were great. Ive known Barbara Smith [Director of American Cinematheque] for a long time because Im a big film buff. Of course, in my deal I had one preview of the directors cut. The few people who came to it said they liked it so when Blockbuster wanted to do a film screening I suggested they contact the Cinematheque.
DRE: Where are you on the issue of behavior modification with drugs for criminals?
TH: It would never happen. A criminal would not be let go because he was under drug therapy and at the same time its a fun premise.
DRE: Do you think the kids in Rivers Edge needed drugs?
TH: They took enough drugs on their own. If they took behavior modification drugs they would be happy model citizens, gone to the cops then I wouldnt have had a movie.
DRE: I didnt realize until I looked at your entry on the IMDB how much TV you direct.
TH: I love to work.
DRE: Are you working right now?
TH: I just finished an episode of House for FOX and now Im off to Santa Fe to shoot a low budget western. Im really excited about it. It doesnt have a distributor yet but the script is good and were getting some great character actors.
DRE: Who is in it?
TH: Its got Patrick Bergin, James Gammon, John Diehl and Lawrence Pressman. Its going to be tough and salty.
DRE: I love those guys.
TH: Its going to be a very solid.
DRE: Who wrote that?
TH: It was written by LA playwright Rob Sullivan and the crime fiction writer James Crumley.
DRE: Cool! James Crumley wrote Bordersnakes, one of my favorite books.
TH: Yeah Ive worked with Jim off and on over the years.
DRE: How did you get into doing TV?
TH: Right before Rivers Edge someone offered me the chance to do some episodes of a drama called Hard Copy with Michael Murphy. I did one of those and then I did Falcon Crest. I like doing episodes because its fast; you meet a whole lot of new people and then I have to adapt my style to the needs of the show. Its a good exercise, a lot of fun and
DRE: Pays well?
TH: It pays ok. I just did six in a row.
DRE: How do you look back on Rivers Edge?
TH: It was a very big movie for me. Its probably the best thing Ive done. I felt at the time it wouldnt be easy to find another piece of material that I could connect with for my quirky sensibilities. I would love to find one more before I go then I would be a happy director.
Before I got the script I wasnt looking to do another teenager movie. [Producers] Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford sent me the script and I just hit the floor. I called them up and told them I had to make it. They had been trying to get it made in the $5 to $6 million range which is what they made Desperately Seeking Susan for but there had been no takers because the script was so dark. I said I would make the film for a budget of a $1 million. Then they started submitting the project to independents so we had it up and running in just a couple of months.
DRE: Rivers Edge gets referenced by critics all the time with films like Mean Creek and Bully. Its become its own genre. When did you first realize the movie was going to be remembered?
TH: I felt that when I was making it that it was very special. At the time the studio movies of that year were unusually bland and I felt in my anarchic way I wanted to kick everyone in the teeth. It seems to have done that.
DRE: Is that the movie you get asked about the most?
TH: Questions still come up. When I go into a TV show thats the picture all the producers come up to me about although Tex has its fans as well. I was really lucky to have made it. I made Rivers Edge and they cant take that away from me.
DRE: How was it working with Crispin Glover?
TH: It was wonderful. When he first came in to read for us he had his characterization fully formed right down to the wardrobe and the wig. It was, what you see is what you get. It took the producers and me about 24 hours to figure out what this would do for the picture. We were very anxious to put him in it because aside from his talent he was in Back to the Future. We decided that if we put him his character would go even farther than the Dennis Hopper character of Feck. On paper Feck was the most extreme character in the script so putting Crispin in there lent a calm to Feck almost making him the moral center in a perverse kind of way.
DRE: I just got to interview Crispin and in the credits of his new movie, What is it?, he thanks you. Why was that?
TH: I run a lot of old 16mm movies at home and Crispin had an early 16mm workprint that he needed to see. So we screened it. I think he was just checking color timing or lab work.
DRE: What did you think of the movie?
TH: I thought it was great. Its been a year and a half since I saw it so I dont know what the final version is. But the combination of bucolic exteriors with Down Syndrome patients and Fritz Lang inspired weirdo studio sets made it so I couldnt take my eyes off the screen. I love Crispin anyway.
DRE: Whenever Keanu Reeves detractors argue with his fans the subject of having him being in three good movies comes up. Those three movies are Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, My Own Private Idaho and Rivers Edge. Did you see that he would become such a big star?
TH: Yeah it seemed pretty clear that he was talented and good looking enough to be a movie star. I felt the same way when Jonathan Kaplan found Matt Dillon for Over the Edge. Keanu really connected with the part in an emotional fashion in the way that all good young actors do.
DRE: So you direct a lot but will you be writing anytime soon?
TH: Im always writing stories to get developed but I dont really write scripts anymore.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
jaggy:
storyline is sorta clockwork orange-like. liotta as a crazy fucker? wow, what a stretch! sounds like i cant miss this one. thanks!
therevolutionary:
River's Edge is one of my favorite films. Liotta and Dafoe are sure to be an interesting combo for sure.