Feeling Fearless

It now seems that Baigelman might get credit for jump-starting Love's movie life. Milos Forman has since cast her as Larry Flynt's junkie wife in his film about the Hustler publisher's life. "Milos Forman came to the cutting room to look at her and subsequently met with her many times and liked her," says Baigelman. "I think that if Milos Forman thinks she has something, then she has something."

Courtney Love is a smart casting move for Baigelman, because whether Feeling Minnesota turns out a masterpiece or tommyrot, it has instant cachet of a sort. It is recognizable to the Seattle-fixated sector of the moviegoing public as a must-see. The possible too-coolness of the whole project can even be read in the title, which, in case you were wondering, comes from a Soundgarden song ("I just looked in the mirror/Things aren't looking so good/I'm looking California and feeling Minnesota").

"I had the title before the story," Baigelman says. "A distribution head at New Line suggested we change it to Speed 2 -- I thought that was a good joke. You'll remember, though, that Movieline voted us worst title of 1995, before we even went into production. So there you go."

All things considered, Baigelman seems to have borne the brunt of success and chaos calmly so far. The question is why, instead of leaving him to pound at the city gates for a decade or two, Constantinople surrendered at the merest glint of his war flag. How did he get to the point where Jersey Films could take its nut so gamble on him?

After halfhearted stints at acting and painting, Baigelman began to write scripts. "I probably stuck with it because I was too embarrassed to switch careers again. I started calling people at random and telling them that I was this writer and I had this amazing script and if they didn't read it, they were going to miss out on something. I had my wife call agents, producers, and talk about this hot new writer..."

"She actually did that?"

"I swear to God, Before there were too many questions asked, she was already into the spiel. Most people would blow us off, but there were enough people who read the scripts."

There were definitely people who'd read -- and liked -- Baigelman's script Feeling Minnesota. In fact, Baigelman was preparing to sell Feeling Minnesota to a studio that had picked out a director for it, when he was approached by Stacey Sher of pre-hot, pre- Pulp Fiction Jersey Films and offered the impossible dream: to direct it himself. '"It was Stacey's idea completely,"' he confirms.

"Where in God's name does such an idea come from?"

'"I don't know. I honestly don't. She said the way the script was written, it indicated that the writer should direct it."

Jersey Films set out to support Baigelman, once they put their rookie in motion. "They make sure you're prepared," says Baigelman. "They never make you feel stupid." As Baigelman points out, the strategy has worked before, big time. "Jersey Films is independent-minded. Pulp Fiction cost $8 million, but every studio turned it down. Miramax made over $200 million with it, and suddenly it's not so taboo to support a first-time director. The basic premise with [Jersey topper] Danny DeVito was, 'It's your script, why the fuck shouldn't you direct it?' It's not brain surgery, it can be done. They're the first people in my experience out here that made me a promise and kept it."

My first day at a new, undemanding desk job used to give me the runs, but the first day of directing your first movie with Keanu Reeves, Courtney Love and an army of crew members waiting for you to tell them what to do? My large intestine would seize up like an old Dodge with an oil leak. Was Baigelman terrified?

"Not really. If there was one thing I didn't know anything about it was cameras, but I knew about actors. We had a sort of 'preshoot.' so I was able to get my feet wet in a not-so-dangerous way. There's this montage -- that may or may not be in the film -- of Keanu walking around Minneapolis. We shot it with a skeleton crew, just me and Keanu, and that was my first day of shooting. It was orchestrated that way by the producers. They made sure I had a good first day."

"Weren't you at all afraid of a crash-and-burn? So many first-time directors--"

"The Graduate!" Baigelman blurts.

"Wasn't his first. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was."

"Either way, two fucking great films."

"Mike Nichols is the first thing off the top of your head? What about the last 20 years? Is that the kind of career you'd like? Regarding Henry, Biloxi Blues, Heartburn. Working Girl..."

"I see what you mean, although I liked Working Girl. If I could have his career, get the power he has, get to make whatever movie I wanted. I'd be fine. Is anyone's career free of failures? It's just as hard to make a bad movie as it is to make a good one. I know that sounds like Pollyanna bullshit, but I mean it."

You may be thinking, as I am, that no matter how cutting-edge ballsy Jersey Films thinks it is, it's absurd to build an empire on top of huge question marks like Baigelman. But remember: we're not talking about real estate or the Styrofoam cup industry, where you're genuinely insane to let inexperienced employees into the front office. We're talking about Hollywood. When you see what veterans like Roland Joffe and Demi Moore can do to The Scarlet Letter, letting Steven Baigelman direct a small-budget Keanu Reeves movie doesn't seem quite so section eight, does it?

"Would you have done what Stacey Sher did?" I asked Baigelman.

"The truthful answer?" Baigelman weighs it. "Probably not. Hopefully she made the right choice."

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Michael Atkinson wrote about the on-screen aging of movie stars in the November '95 issue of Movieline.

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