Question: Can you talk about the casting?

Kimberly Peirce: I was really fortunate to have interviewed so many soldiers, so I had a real feeling of what these soldiers were like. More often than not they were in great shape. They were strapping young men and women, and they were dedicated. They were people who volunteered to serve their country. And I knew that I wanted to find a cast that really, really reflected that. I wanted soldiers to come to this movie and say, like they’re saying, “You got it right.” There was no way I wanted soldiers to say, “This is not authentic.” So I went around and we actually cast the movie. I was very fortunate. Avy Kaufman, who is one of the best casting directors, Scott Rudin's very smart about casting, and I actually auditioned everybody. So Ryan came in and he was fantastic. First of all, he felt like one of those guys. That was off the bat what you needed -- deep voice, handsome guy, he's strong, but also he has a maturity probably because he's got two kids and he loves his kids and is raising them, but he also has a sensitivity and an intelligence. And that was important for King, because King not only had to be the guy who's willing to die for his men, he had to be a great leader. He had to be smart enough to be able to win the guys' respect. And actually we made Ryan -- he had to lead part of the boot camp. He had to lead the missions because that was like -- you can't act like a leader, you actually have to be the leader of the guys. People are going to feel that in the movie. Channing Tatum - he's gorgeous, hunky, charismatic, he's the hot-headed guy and he's probably going to do the thing that will challenge you if you're the leader. His mother gave me a bunch of pictures of him as a kid. Because you have to create little portraits of the boys. You need Steve Shriver's pictures -- football star, he’s acrobatic. His mother told me she called him Chanimal and it was funny because I found that out after I had called him Manimal, because I was like - you're my man animal. Channing would just routinely pick me up and put me on top of his head. That was real safe. But he’s lovely and he came into the audition and people haven't really seen his movies, so for me, when I see an actor who's brilliant and who's right, I know there’s going to have to be a little rolling up of your sleeves. So he came in three times. And on the third audition which was in New York -- we started out in LA -- I said to him, “Look, it's going to be a little bit of a push but if you were willing to work with me for a few hours and I can make a tape, I can convince them. And he said, “I will do anything for this role. Anything.” So we worked and worked and worked, and we really tapped into his talent and sent a tape to Scott Rudin and I was like, “Scott, this guy is great, and I know it's going to be tough to cast him.” Scott loved it and we both called the studio, maybe Scott's call mattered more, but it was great. Scott just said, “Do the right thing, this kid's great.” Again, I have to thank the studio. For an artist, this is so important for me that I can use whatever talent or awareness I have to find these actors, but then they have to give me the money to make the movie and they have to believe that we can somehow make it back. So when they take a risk like that, that’s amazing. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I think one of the best actors of his generation. He’s so astute, he’s so on point. He’s so emotionally connected. He doesn’t give you a false move. He is just a pleasure to work with. So that was the casting of the boys. I love Victor. I know he’s not in the movies as much as the other boys but man, for me, he’s so raw, he’s so honest. He’s got that charm and lightness which was so necessary. I interviewed many soldiers, but particularly the wounded soldiers, and there were ones that just – whether they were holding onto that spirit because that’s what made their life bearable or they naturally had that spirit – but there was a kind of optimism that we had to capture. Abbie Cornish, she’s a wonderful actress and I think we’re going to see so much of her to come. She was my first choice. She was unavailable. And I’m like, “That’s not possible. Can’t we delay the movie?” “No, we can’t. No, we can’t.” So I’m looking at all these girls and they’re very talented but they’re not right. And I’m like, “Can you make it work? Can you make it work?” So I’m delaying. I’m like looking, looking, looking. Then her agent calls up and says, “Abbie read your script. She loves it. She wants to be in your movie.” I was like, “Oh my God, how does this call happen?” And they’re like, “And she wants to audition.” I didn’t say to them “She doesn’t have to audition.” I would hire her anyway because I’ve seen “Candy” and Somersault” and she’s amazing. She flew from Australia all the way to Texas and we did an old-fashioned screen test, and what a joy. I love my cast.

Question: Why nine years between films?

Kimberly Peirce: I think it’s going to be eight when this comes out. First of all, Boys Don’t Cry was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I fell in love with that character, that story. I was in grad school when I made it. It was a huge joy. I was kind of surprised when I came out of grad school and I had this wonderful Hollywood career. For me, it’s about emotional truth. It’s about stories that I love so I knew that was what I wanted to do. I started working on another story. I won’t bore you with the details. It’s a story that will eventually get made, The William Desmond Taylor murder. If you knew the research I did. I went to the King Vidor collection. I got everything that had ever been written on it. We solved the murder mystery. We figured out who did it, how they did it, and how and why it had to be covered up. It was an amazing experience. Hollywood basically covered up this murder along with the government to protect the industry that was about to be erased, and to protect America’s innocence.

Question: How useful was Vidor’s book?

Kimberly Peirce: Very useful. I read Vidor’s scripts too. What was interesting was that Vidor came to a conclusion about the murder in order to protect somebody so we had to read between the lines on Vidor’s research, so I went back to his estate and I  got all the… A number of documents had been stolen. But anyway, we’ll talk about that at the next press conference when I make that movie. I’d cast that movie, Annette Bening, Hugh Jackman, Ben Kingsley, Evan Rachel Wood—a dream cast. The studios said, “We love this movie.” I was on the one-yard line. We were going to shoot it and they said, “We would love to shoot a $30 million version of this movie, but we would like to pay for the $20 million version.” I was like, “Should I cut $10 million?” They were like, “No, we want to see the $30 million version, but we want to pay for the $20 million version.” This is the thing that people should understand about directors’ careers. Unfortunately, if you want to do stuff that you really believe in and really love, it can take longer than you would like it to take. I was offered millions of dollars and I was offered a number of projects. As I would go down the road with them, for me, it really is about telling stories that I love and that are meaningful to me. I couldn’t just pick up a script and do it if I didn’t believe in it because every day of my life is living and breathing the movie. It really is. Every decision I make has to do with character. It has to do with story. As long as those characters and those stories are something that I know are solid, that the story comes from the characters, you can throw me in any situation. You can say to me you need to cut that in half. You need to get rid of that scene. You need to do this. I do what I do because it’s based on character so when Hollywood’s offering me these movies, which I appreciate, if they’re not coming from rich characters, it’s not worth it to me. So I lost some time with the William Desmond Taylor story. But I think you never really lose time with art. What ends up happening is I learned a tremendous amount. Literally, the next week, that was the end of ’03, I picked up my video camera and I started interviewing soldiers. And I paid for all the research and I paid for writing the script. So I wrote it on spec which a person in my situation who can get lots of money to work in Hollywood, it’s really unusual. I was friends with a lot of studio heads who said, “Oh my God, these stories about the war are amazing. Do you want us to develop it with you?” And I was like, “You know what, let me just develop it on my own.” Because right now I wake up and I buy a cheap ticket and I go to Paris, Illinois and I interview the homecoming of a 1,000 soldiers, and I don’t have to call somebody and say, “Oh my God, this is interesting.” I just have to say, “Oh my God, it’s interesting. Let me book the ticket.” We gave the financiers and the studios a finished screenplay that we were willing to shoot. Then we cut together the soldier-made videos and images from all over America where I’d interviewed soldiers, gave it to the studios with the rock music and they saw it was going to be a young, hunky cast. It was inherently commercial. I gave it to them on Friday and by Sunday morning we had four studios and two financiers that not only wanted to buy the screenplay but make the movie. The deal was you buy it, you make it.

Question: Ryan said when you first spoke with him, you didn’t think he was right for the role? He had to prove to you he could do it.

Kimberly Peirce: That’s what an actor does in an audition.

Question: Are you going to go back to the William Desmond Taylor project or are you planning on taking a break?

Kimberly Peirce: No. I’m definitely not taking a break. I’m having too much fun working. I love making movies. I will go back to that project. It’s a really valuable lesson that I learned because I do personal, intense, emotional stories, and it’s all about character. They can be wildly commercial. They can be huge audiences but the timing has to be right. So I have to see. If the timing is right, we’ll make that movie. And if the timing is not right, that just means if the world wants it to be made, if not, then I will do another one of the scripts I’m working on. I’m working on two scripts right now. One is a romantic comedy. Everybody’s totally shocked by that. It’s actually a very funny story that’s true. It’s a gender twist on a classic romantic comedy. I’m writing another dark, sexual story. Again, I just have to see if they’re ready to go because you can just feel it. The culture just makes it when they are. I’m also reading scripts and kind of focusing on a political thriller that’s realistic, that’s fantastic, that’s coming out of a studio.

Question: A Canadian question. Did your researchers tell you that it’s possible to get a good-looking Canadian passport for $1,000?

Kimberly Peirce: Yeah. [laughs] Of course, especially the good-looking part. That’s all based on real interviews. There are people who actually help soldiers go over the border. What’s really interesting is during Vietnam, American soldiers, well anybody, could go to the border and you could actually get a passport at the border. If you were on the run, you could get a passport at the border. I think 50,000 or 60,000 American soldiers went over. The laws have changed. So now if you’re AWOL, to get citizenship in Canada you have to apply from the country you’re coming from – well these guys can’t do that—and you have to wait two years. So now we have between 200 and 300 American soldiers up there because I interviewed Josh Key, Jeremy Hinzman, Brandon Hughey, and Michelle Roubidoux. It’s amazing they’re over there, and they can’t get citizenship because …

Question: They’re fighting extradition?

Kimberly Peirce: Exactly. They can’t get citizenship. That’s been rejected. And they can’t get refugee status. That’s been rejected. The Parliament in April is going to be determining whether they let them stay or not, whether they deport them. So it’s a very interesting issue how linked Canada and America are. You can go to Mexico but most Americans are probably going to find the life in Canada more reflective of their life in America than Mexico.

Question: Do they go to military prison if deported?

Kimberly Peirce: What I understand is it’s Iraq or jail but by the time you cross the border and then come back, the only option may be Iraq. We don’t know, because nobody’s been deported. Look to April or May and we’ll get the answer to that. It’s fascinating reading if you look it up.