Interview with Alexandre Rockwell and Lana Rockwell from Sweet Thing
We meet the director of Sweet Thing and the actress of Billie Lana Rockwell at the CinemaxX. We are greeted warmly and go over to their hotel because at the CinemaxX it is too loud. We are very happy that the interview worked.
We talk briefly about our blog and then the interview starts!
Anna: Billie Holiday is a big topic in the film and Billie is also named after her.
Why did you choose to include Billie Holiday in your film?
Alexander Rockwell (director): There is kind of an aura about Billie Holiday. She has a lot of pain in her life but she’s such an elegant person, she is almost like a dream. There is something very beautiful and kind of dreamy about her but she suffered a lot. I thought she would be a great hero for the protagonist Lana. I thought having Lana named after her would connect her to her father because her father really admired Billie Holiday and he wanted his daughter to have his strength. He wanted to give it to her and so by giving her this name, she kind of owned it.
Medea: I noticed that the whole film was in black and white, apart from some very happy scenes.
Why did you decide to shoot the film mainly in black and white?
Alexandre Rockwell: When I was a kid, there were many more films in black and white and there is something that I like about black and white because it becomes kind of not real. It becomes more like a dream. If you make a film in colour and you don’t have a lot of money, it can look like a documentary, while black and white has a different feeling. When we jumped into colour it was like the emotion inside of Lana (Billie) just burst and it was the only way to kind of communicate this emotion. It’s always with colour when she gets very emotional.
Anna: Why was the alcoholism such an important topic in the film?
Alexander Rockwell: Well, my dad drank too much. There was a lot of drinking with my parents and I suffered as a kid because I loved my father very much but he was a very difficult man to be around. When he was drunk, he would be underneath in the basement and I had to put him to bed. You take a lot of responsibility, you have to grow up very fast when you have a parent who is so dysfunctional. But he had a big heart, so I wanted to tell this story because I wanted to tell the story of a child having to grow up very fast. Children have a lot of strength. I’m sure that at some ways children have more strength than adults because they are more honest. It’s very painful for a child but adults get angry very fast or they dismiss something very fast and a child is more accepting and more open. It’s not an easy story but it has a lot of heart.
Medea: Since the music was very important in the film, I wanted to know how you selected it?
Alexandre Rockwell: Music is very personal. It feels like there is something underneath the surface and music is the voice of what’s underneath the surface. All of the music in this film had a very personal feeling for me and it comes from very different places. It comes from Rock ‘n’ Roll, it comes from classical but it’s all in the same soulful world and that’s what I find really interesting.
Anna: What was the hardest scene to shoot for you?
Lana Rockwell (Billie): Definitely the haircut-scene, because that was one of the deciding factors for me if doing the film or not. At that time my hair was my whole identity. It was long and everyone complimented my hair and I was fourteen when I was talking about doing the film or not. I was very conscious what I would look like and how it would feel and how embarrassing it would be, but then the actor who plays my father made it a very safe area for me and focused on what was going on in front of the camera and make it feel as safe as possible. But it was definitely very hard.
Medea: Your Brother and your mother were also your real brother and mother but your father was not playing the father in the movie. How was that?
Lana Rockwell: I was very comfortable with Will, the actor of the father. We spend a lot of time with each other of-set and on-set. We developed our relationship during the movie. So i felt totally ok with having him as my father in the movie.
Anna: What was the crucial point where you decided to make the film?
Alexandre Rockwell: I made a movie before with Lana and Nico called Little Feet. That was like the very beginning of watching children. Small children have a very poetic language. I was very happy with the movie Little Feet and I always had in my mind to make another movie with my children.
We meet the director of Sweet Thing and the actress of Billie Lana Rockwell at the CinemaxX. We are greeted warmly and go over to their hotel because at the CinemaxX it is too loud. We are very happy that the interview worked.
We talk briefly about our blog and then the interview starts!
Anna: Billie Holiday is a big topic in the film and Billie is also named after her.
Why did you choose to include Billie Holiday in your film?
Alexander Rockwell (director): There is kind of an aura about Billie Holiday. She has a lot of pain in her life but she’s such an elegant person, she is almost like a dream. There is something very beautiful and kind of dreamy about her but she suffered a lot. I thought she would be a great hero for the protagonist Lana. I thought having Lana named after her would connect her to her father because her father really admired Billie Holiday and he wanted his daughter to have his strength. He wanted to give it to her and so by giving her this name, she kind of owned it.
Medea: I noticed that the whole film was in black and white, apart from some very happy scenes.
Why did you decide to shoot the film mainly in black and white?
Alexandre Rockwell: When I was a kid, there were many more films in black and white and there is something that I like about black and white because it becomes kind of not real. It becomes more like a dream. If you make a film in colour and you don’t have a lot of money, it can look like a documentary, while black and white has a different feeling. When we jumped into colour it was like the emotion inside of Lana (Billie) just burst and it was the only way to kind of communicate this emotion. It’s always with colour when she gets very emotional.
Anna: Why was the alcoholism such an important topic in the film?
Alexander Rockwell: Well, my dad drank too much. There was a lot of drinking with my parents and I suffered as a kid because I loved my father very much but he was a very difficult man to be around. When he was drunk, he would be underneath in the basement and I had to put him to bed. You take a lot of responsibility, you have to grow up very fast when you have a parent who is so dysfunctional. But he had a big heart, so I wanted to tell this story because I wanted to tell the story of a child having to grow up very fast. Children have a lot of strength. I’m sure that at some ways children have more strength than adults because they are more honest. It’s very painful for a child but adults get angry very fast or they dismiss something very fast and a child is more accepting and more open. It’s not an easy story but it has a lot of heart.
Medea: Since the music was very important in the film, I wanted to know how you selected it?
Alexandre Rockwell: Music is very personal. It feels like there is something underneath the surface and music is the voice of what’s underneath the surface. All of the music in this film had a very personal feeling for me and it comes from very different places. It comes from Rock ‘n’ Roll, it comes from classical but it’s all in the same soulful world and that’s what I find really interesting.
Anna: What was the hardest scene to shoot for you?
Lana Rockwell (Billie): Definitely the haircut-scene, because that was one of the deciding factors for me if doing the film or not. At that time my hair was my whole identity. It was long and everyone complimented my hair and I was fourteen when I was talking about doing the film or not. I was very conscious what I would look like and how it would feel and how embarrassing it would be, but then the actor who plays my father made it a very safe area for me and focused on what was going on in front of the camera and make it feel as safe as possible. But it was definitely very hard.
Medea: Your Brother and your mother were also your real brother and mother but your father was not playing the father in the movie. How was that?
Lana Rockwell: I was very comfortable with Will, the actor of the father. We spend a lot of time with each other of-set and on-set. We developed our relationship during the movie. So i felt totally ok with having him as my father in the movie.
Anna: What was the crucial point where you decided to make the film?
Alexandre Rockwell: I made a movie before with Lana and Nico called Little Feet. That was like the very beginning of watching children. Small children have a very poetic language. I was very happy with the movie Little Feet and I always had in my mind to make another movie with my children.
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