Closing Night at Tribeca: Edward Burns Talks The 'Liberating' Independence of Newlyweds

When you want to make a movie for $9000, you go to B&H.

Commercials for New York electronics chain B&H end with the catchy slogan, "You go to B&H!" Clearly, Burns agrees. "We shot this film on this new camera called the Canon 5D, which is a $3000 camera you can buy at B&H. Which is where we bought it. It was like, 'Well, let's see what this thing can do.' We heard great things about it."

The small camera allowed Burns to shoot in a style that most major directors might not be accustomed to. "We used almost no lights when shooting the film. When we went and we shot at [local restaurants] Walker's or Ivy's Bistro or Estancia or any of the locations here in Tribeca -- you know I lived here for 11 years, I know everyone who owns the shops and restaurants. So I said, 'Do you think we could book a table on Saturday night, we're going to be in a corner, you won't know we're there. We don't have a boom,' -- because the actors wore just a wireless mic. 'We have this tiny camera, no lights.' We went in -- and who knows, maybe some of you were sitting at the table next to us and saw us making this movie. That's kind of how we did it.

Filming in such an unorthodox way led to some pleasant surprises.

"The thing that was incredible about [making Newlyweds] was -- given that it was a pseudo-doc, we discovered after about two days of shooting that we were capturing these very real, natural performances. And that's where -- all these actors wore their owns clothes, no hair person, no make-up person, no script supervisor, no production designer; every location was just an existing location, we went right into it. But in shooting in these live environments, we started to see: these are real performances and kind of uncomfortable, and you feel like you're eavesdropping. So, that was kind of how it came to be."

That independence of Newlyweds allowed Burns to both experiment and collaborate. "We made it in 12 shooting days; I know that sounds like a crazy way to make a movie, but it was liberating for all of us. We could come up with an idea for a scene -- and because there was no giant crew and we're lighting it -- we could just improvise a scene, shoot it; we would cut it, look at it, decide whether or not we liked it, or what we liked about it, and then I would re-write a version of that scene, and then we would just shoot it again a week later. I'm lucky I had actors who were completely down with this program."

In fact, you can probably thank Steven Spielberg for Newlyweds.

"When I made my first film -- I never made a film before -- and I thought the role of the director was always to be directing the actors. And I also felt that what I wrote was gospel, and I wasn't comfortable with the actors really playing with it." That changed when he co-starred in Saving Private Ryan.

"When I go off to do Private Ryan, two things I get from Spielberg. One, is he gave almost no direction. Finally, after like the tenth day of shooting, he finally starts to give us some direction, and we all asked him, 'Why today?' And he said, 'Well, today you didn't know what the hell you were doing.' And he explained to us that he gives the actors room to find the scene. He doesn't want to step on your toes before you have a chance to warm up and find your pocket. So, there was that."

And the second thing? "I couldn't believe how much he let us play with the dialogue. And he said, 'Look, I hired you guys because you guys are similar to the characters you're playing, so I want it to feel as natural as it can be. Don't worry about what's written, just get the point across -- just don't give yourself a two-page monologue in the middle of this.'"

Burns put those tricks to good use on Sidewalks of New York. "That was really the first film that I experimented with this process. I was very lucky. I worked with Stanley Tucci on that film, and Stanley is really so good at improvising within a scene. He recognizes a starting point, where it's finished, and would know how to play with what I had written -- but just make it feel more real. Part of the reason that I work with the same collection of actors now, is we have mutual trust with one and other. They know that I'm never going to force them to say a line that they don't like, and I know that my script is only going to get better because they're bringing their honesty to it. This film -- we've never improvised as much as we did on this film."

Don't mock the Tribeca-approved product placement in Newlyweds -- it's intentional.

As mentioned, Newlyweds features Heineken keg cans, Stoli vodka bottles and at least one brand-new Cadillac -- three major sponsors at the Tribeca Film Festival. Oddly, though, title sponsor American Express was left out. "We actually tried to figure out a way to get them in there." Burns said when asked about the product placement. "We're no dummies. This is a tough climate to make these movies. So you call in every favor, and try to work every angle. And if we're lucky, we get to make another one next year."

For Burns, the death of independent film has been greatly exaggerated.

"The thing I would want to share -- if there's any young filmmakers out there -- I'm telling you: $9000 to get your movie in the can, the field has been completely leveled," Burns said to applause from the audience. "You can go and make your movies. There's tons of ways to get your movies out there now. You can get into festivals, distribute them digitally. It is a brand-new world, and we now can do whatever we want to do. It is a good time to be a filmmaker."

[Top photo: Getty Images]

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