With a pair of Best Supporting Oscar noms in the bank, writer/director Michael Hoffman (Restoration) makes a smashing comeback with this breath of fresh air take on the last days of celebrated Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofya. An examination of the complexities of love and marriage that excels -- Hoffman brings out the best in thesps Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy by allowing the foursome to delve into a full range of emotions that afflict the human condition. Simply put, The Last Station is an accurate portrait of one the greatest writers in literature as he deals with his legacy and what has come between him and the love of his life.
Yama Rahimi: This film marks sort of "comeback" for you, not that you were gone entirely.
Michael Hoffman: I was kind of gone. After the Emperor's Club, I got involved in a project that didn't came together and that's the risk you take when you get involved with independent films which was two and half years. I was passing on projects I shouldn't because I thought this movie was coming together and it didn't. Then I did a little movie with this company I formed called Serenade, where we made six movies with 500K a piece that got released but in a very tiny way. Then I started working on this, which took five years and in that time there were opportunities and studio movies that I could have done but I thought I should do it and stick with. If it hadn't worked, I mean that's a terrifying thought to me. Back in September we didn't have American distribution and we were nowhere and I was depressed. Then we went to the Telluride Festival and Toronto which was great but still very late in the game because the deal with Sony Picture Classics wasn't done till October.
YR: Well it was a scary year because a lot of the films at major festivals didn't get distribution right away or still don't have.
MH: It's a difficult market. In Toronto only eight films got sold, of course some had distribution from the beginning.
YR: So how did this project came to you?
MH: Well I read the novel in train when I was travelling from Siena to Paris and it was the only novel in English but didn't see a movie. Then I reread the novel in 2004 and saw immediately a film about marriage which I experienced since first reading the book. I never wanted to make a biopic about Tolstoy. The film I saw was about the tragic comedy about marriage, about the difficulty living with love and impossibility of living without love. Although I wrote a first draft of the screenplay and didn't like it, I went to read the four great plays of Checkov such as "The Seagull," "The Cherry Orchard," "Three Sisters" and "Uncle Vanya." where I saw how to make the tone work. How to incorporate something of the way the absurd and the sublime of Checkov with all that proximity of the tragedy and comedy. After I had the script, I went to find the cast which was extraordinary.
YR: Was it difficult to get the cast?
MH: No. I never had the problem where I sent the script and didn't get yes except for few exceptions but actors dropped in and out because of the finanacing. Then Helen came and with her Russian origins it was the perfect fit for her talent to move from drama to comedy. Unlike most romantic comedies where the chemistry is important between the actors such it was between George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer in "One Fine Day" where you have to arrange a meeting to see if they have chemistry, here it wasn't the case. In this film I didn't even think of that because the love has to be real. You have to believe that Leo and Sofia are married for 40 years when you first see them and that's something you can't direct.
YR: It was a great cast including Mirren and Christopher Plummer who has been consistently good.
MH: How come that this guy has never been nominated before after more than 40 years with 150 films that included "The Sound of Music" to "The Insider" and "Syrianna" amongst many others.
YR: I looked at your career and it seems you struggled between studio and independent system. Is that true?
MH: It's absolutely true but the problem with that is that I spent 10 years of my filmmaking life on two films, "Restoration" and "The Last Station," both each took five years to make. I can't afford to do that again. So after this project, it seems good to come back to the studio system and work on a project you like where you know that there's distribution at the end. It's really terrifying to do all this work all these years and not knowing whether it will see the light of the day or not.
YR: You mentioned both Restoration and The Last Station, those two films got you more attention than others. Is that correct?
MH: No, I would say "Soapdish" got me the most attention which has a long life and people still watch it. It was a movie I didn't want to do and took it initially just to develop it then it took a life of its own. So it's really hard to predict which project is good to get into.
YR: Also you were at Sundance in its early years. How was that experience?
MH: I was in the second year. It was my film school. I never attended film school. I had this script called "Promised Land" which eventually got made that Robert Redford produced. In the script there was two stories, one in the town and other on the road. I gave the script to James Brooks and he said I love the story in town, get rid of the other. Then I gave the script to Bertrand Tavernier and he told me to keep the road story but get rid of the story in town. So what I learned was what's the story you want to tell. Obviously if you have a script and somebody tells you to pay attention to certain parts, that's valid. You have all these high profile talent give you their opinion but ultimately it's up to you what story you want to tell.
YR: Tell me about your strange debut "Priveleged" which was also the debut of Hugh Grant, James Wilby and composer Rachel Portman.
MH: Rachel Portman was my girlfriend at the time but everybody that worked on that project are still working in the industry. What happened was I had a scholarship at Oxford and Rick Stevenson who worked for a senator and made a film about the youth conversation corp. He came back and wanted to make a film. He said we should make a film because it was the best set in the world and we had it for free. I said I have no interest in making films and wanted to work in theatre. The reason he approached me was because I directed plays and worked with a lot of actors. Then through a professor, we met John Schlesinger for dinner and he asked how he could help. So by the time we left the dinner we everything set without having a decent script or idea of what we were going to do. Anyway we got to make it which so bad. Amazing is that everybody went to have great careers including Hugh, James, Rachel and Imogen Stubbs many others behind the cameras.
YR: Well it seems it was about being at the right time at the right place.
MH: Absolutely unreal but yes.
YR: What are some of the films or filmmakers that inspired you?
MH: Well it was "The Sound of Music," then "Romeo and Juliet." It was the "The Seventh Seal" that blow me away where I thought film can be art. Then of course all the great films of the 70's, "Five Easy Pieces", "The Godfather" and "The Conformist" to name few. Of course "Aguirre","Wings of Desire" and Tarkovsky. So there's a lot of films that I loved.
