Cheryl Hines gets serious about directing

Cheryl Hines

Cheryl Hines is an actress known for her mostly comedic roles (including TV’s "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), but she’s now taken the very serious role of being a director. Her directorial debut is the dark romantic comedy "Serious Moonlight," a movie written by the late Adrienne Shelly, who was Hines’ director and co-star in the 2007 film "Waitress." (Shelly was tragically murdered by a construction worker in 2006, and her killer is now in prison.)

Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton star in "Serious Moonlight" as married couple Ian and Louise, who have very different perceptions of their relationship. When Ian tells Louise that he’s leaving her for another woman, Louise reacts by tying up Tom, holding him captive and telling him that she won't release him until he falls back in love with her again. Meanwhile, Tom’s mistress, Sara (played by Kristen Bell), shows up at Tom and Louise’s house, which then gets burglarized by a local gardener named Todd (played by Justin Long), who enlists some of his friends to do a home invasion and hold captive all three of the people in the love triangle.

"Serious Moonlight" (which is currently seeking distribution) had its world premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. I caught up with Hines at the "Serious Moonlight" press junket the day before the movie’s premiere, and she opened up about facing the daunting task of directing her first movie, lessons she learned and which person she would most want to tie up and hold captive.

What the biggest challenge about bringing "Serious Moonlight" to life?

The biggest challenge was that there were only 24 hours in a day. I found it frighteningly stressful. I knew it would be stressful, but I had no idea why. Until you’re in it, you don’t really understand what’s quite so stressful about it, but it is.

What can you say about the stars of the movie and what they each brought to their roles?

I really love Timothy Hutton for this role of Ian. I think he’s an amazing, and his character goes through quite a change in the film. And I felt like it was very important to have guy who can get the comedy but at the same time, we can see the change happening within him. I really wanted Tim for that part.

And then Meg Ryan in the role of Louise. That character could be unlikable because she does some desperate things. And Meg brought a lightness to the character, and you can’t help but to like her. There’s something about her, even if she’s doing something awful, you look at her and go, "Yeah, I understand that." So I was beside myself when I found out that they agreed to it.

And then Justin Long plays a bit of a badass in the movie. It’s fun to see him play that role, because he still does it with a twinkle in his eye. Justin Long and Kristen Bell, I knew them personally. I literally called them and said, "You have to do this movie!"

Kristen Bell is really good in this film, too. Her character, it would’ve been easy for someone to play it one-dimensional … but Kristen is so smart. She really understood all the different levels of this character. When you watch the film, at first you think, "Oh, she’s the dumb girl who doesn’t know any better." But she does know better, and it starts to unfold as the movie goes on.

What are your thoughts on "Serious Moonlight" having its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival?

It’s going to be amazing being in a 900-seat theater, watching the film I directed. I have to tell you how much that kind of blows my mind, because so far it’s been a roomful of friends sitting around watching it on a crappy little TV somewhere, a bad dub of [the movie]. Watching it on film on a huge screen and having my whole family there is going to be really fabulous.

Cheryl Hines and Meg Ryan

How did you deal with directing this movie under the tragic circumstances of Adrienne Shelly not being there to see this movie get made?

The script was already finished when I started working on the project. And

Andy Ostroy, her husband, really wanted to keep the script as is. He didn’t want to make any changes to it, which is very challenging, especially when you start pre-production and you start working out the details of the whole film. It’s very difficult not to make changes. I’m not saying that no changes were made, but if there were any small ones, it was made by committee. Andy certainly had a big influence. And Michael Roiff, who also produced the film, he would sit down and there would be very long discussions of any tiny thing.

Has any of Adrienne’s family seen the completed film, and if so, what was their feedback?

I don’t think any of Adrienne’s family has seen it yet. I think they’re going to see it tomorrow [at the film’s world premiere on April 25]. I will be curious. I’m sure it will be hard for them and at the same time, I know they’ll be happy to see her work up on the screen.

How did you end up directing this movie and why did you decide not to be an actor in it?

I got a call from Andy Ostroy and Michael Roiff asking me if I was interested in directing the film. And I said, "Did you say directing? Not acting in it?" They said, "Directing." It took a long time for that to sink in, because I hadn’t even read the script yet. And I said, "Well, I don’t know about that." I was actually in Paris, promoting "Waitress" at the time …

And I read [the "Serious" Moonlight" script]. I didn’t know what to expect. I was thinking, "I’m not going to say yes to directing something that I don’t love 100 percent. So I read the script, and I loved it. I stayed up all night reading the script over and over. I talked to my husband about it. I said, "Can I even direct a film?" And he said, "Yeah! Of course you can!"

I decided to use my all my resources. I sat down with [filmmaker] Barry Sonnenfeld before [doing] this film, and I talked to him about where the film takes place. It takes place in such a huge room, really. That’s how it came about It was never discussed about [me] acting in it.

Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton in "Serious Moonlight"

Has becoming a director changed your approach to acting?

I don’t find my approach to acting any different, but I certainly hyper-aware of the technical process to filmmaking or television making. So I am the first to say to the film guy, " … I’ll try not to put this [object] down while I’m talking. Or is there a shadow here?" It’s made me aware of all those things now.

What are some of the most important things you’ve learned from working with other directors that you think helped you with directing "Serious Moonlight?"

It is interesting. Every director is different. But at the end of the day, it’s about having a point of view and having a voice. I’ve learned to be more visual of a person. Working with Larry David doing a comedy has been quite educational. He’ll say, "Maybe if you walk in through that door, carrying a giant plant, it’ll be funnier." I never would’ve thought about that, but he’s right: It is funnier if you walk through that door with a giant plant.

It’s made me think outside of the box a little bit and think, "What’s another layer we can add to that, besides what you see on the page? What else can we do visually or through sound or through lighting that would give it more texture or give it more light?" That’s true for all the directors. Barry Sonnenfeld is very visual. Watching him set up a shot was so interesting. He’s very conscious of color: certain colors he lights and certain colors he hates. I never would’ve thought about that before him. You do learn different pieces … different things from different people.

Will you be involved with Adrienne Shelly’s "The Morgan Stories" script and getting that movie made?

I don’t know if I’ll be involved or not … But I loved working with Andy Ostroy and Michael Roiff. We really had a good time working time together. I would love to work with those guys again.

What’s the biggest lesson you learned in your directorial debut that you’ll take with you in any projects you may direct in the future?

You know what I learned? I learned that people don’t always say what they’re going to do. So if somebody tells you they’re going to get a coffee mug ... and then you show up on the set … and somebody has a paper cup. And you say, "We talked about this in the meeting. Like I didn’t think about it again, because I thought you said a blue coffee mug, and this is blue paper cup." "Yeah but you can still put coffee in it." If I had to do it all over again, I would double-check every single thing that everybody is supposed to do — and not be an asshole about it — you can still do it in a nice way. But I realize that people interpret differently.

What do you hope people will get out of watching "Serious Moonlight"?

First and foremost I hope they’re entertained by it, which I think they will be. And then I think different people will get different things from this film. There are ideas in the film that really escape some people. And some people, at the end of the film, sit in their seat and sit there for a few minutes before they can move. I think they can expect a bit of a journey in the film. It’s a little unpredictable at times.

If you could kidnap anyone and hold that person captive, for good or bad reasons, who would it be and why?

Maybe I need to have a good talking to with Bernie Madoff. Maybe he should listen to a few things.

JULY 28, 2009 UPDATE: "Serious Moonlight" was seeking distribution when it premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. Since then, Magnolia Pictures has acquired distribution rights for "Serious Moonlight" in North America. Magnolia plans to release "Serious Moonlight" through VOD (video on demand) in December 2009.