Rachel Getting Married Special. Part 1

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with three wonderful talents from Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married. Here's Part 1 with screenwriter Jenny Lumet & "Rachel" herself, Rosemarie DeWitt.

November 22nd, 2008

Jenny Lumet claims ignorance, blissful ignorance, when it comes to the movie industry. While it's true that she grew up in a famous household (she calls legendary Lena Horne grandmother and one of Hollywood's most lauded filmmakers, Sidney Lumet, father) she didn't know the fine details of getting script to screen. She apparently didn't stop to question her instincts, didn't stop to worry that screenwriters aren't technically supposed to announce their choice of Oscar winning directors... and get him. Her directorial suggestion of Jonathan Demme (Married to the Mob, Silence of the Lambs, Something Wild), underlines what one can already hear in Rachel Getting Married's illuminating screenplay: this is a sharp perceptive woman.

Her confidence is admirable and earned for who better to shepherd her damaged fictional family to the screen than Demme? Who better to make a wedding movie sing with music, multiculturalism and bustling energy?

Jenny Lumet's darkly funny and revealing screenplay maps out the complicated history of a fractious family during an ostensibly joyous occasion. Oldest daughter Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) is getting married and youngest daughter Kym (Anne Hathaway) returns home from rehab for the event. Their doting father Paul (Bill Irwin) attempts to keep the peace between the squabbling sisters while their mother Abby (Debra Winger) hovers on the periphery of the story, as revealing in her absence as in her presence.

Jenny has already received one award for this original screenplay, the 2008 Behind the Camera Award (pictured, top left, receiving the award with Rachel's star player Anne Hathaway). Can an Oscar nomination be far behind? I talked to Jenny about her screenplay, that blissful ignorance that helped bring us Rachel, Demme's input into her original draft, and the talented actors who brought the family to life.

Speaking of talented actors...

Rosemarie DeWitt, the least familiar face in Rachel Getting Married's estranged core foursome, probably won't have to worry about her relative anonymity much longer. Her star is rising. We've previously seen the actress in Cinderella Man and in television series like Mad Men and Stand Off. Next up, another sister act: this time she's Toni Collette's sibling in the upcoming Showtime series The United States of Tara.

Generous to a fault, Rosemarie repeatedly praises her fellow actors for the authenticity and specificity we see in the various relationships portrayed throughout Rachel Getting Married. The actress deserves much of the credit herself. Though the film is attuned primarily to Kym's (Anne Hathaway) difficult story, DeWitt's finely nuanced work in the title role broadens the drama. Rachel's internal struggles with her sister's focus pulling and her parents reactions to the same are visible and revealing...as are the calmer grounding relationships with her created family like fiance Sidney and best friend Emma. In a film so intricately attuned to familial dynamics, Rosemarie DeWitt's Rachel is memorably and tightly entangled in all of them.

DeWitt humbly claims that Hollywood's casting directors haven't yet come stampeding her way. If not, post-Rachel, it's only a matter of time.

-Nathaniel R

---

Listen to the Complete Interviews

<--- iTunes enhanced podcast here.

standard mp3 if you don't have iTunes

Discuss the podcast and/or Rachel Getting Married on the blog