You may not know this about me, Sparklers, but my greatest fear, greater even than Voldemort's return or waking up to find that my head has been replaced with a giant potato, is WHALES. Oh yes, those magnificent kings of the sea absolutely terrify me; I think it has to do with the fact that their mouths are so big and yet their eyes are so small (I didn't say this was a fear founded in logic). But recently, I came face-to-face with a film that totally changed my perspective on these giant blue beasts: I saw a screening of Big Miracle, and I'm not ashamed to say that afterward, I wanted to adopt a baby beluga, name it Lionel, and devote my life to crocheting small hats for Lionel's large head—THAT WAS HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS MOVIE.
Big Miracle is based on the true story of the 1988 struggle to save three gray whales trapped in the Article Circle, a heroic rescue effort that not only captured the attention and hearts of people all over the world, but also united Russia and the US, two rival superpowers. (BOOM. If that's not an first-rate movie description, I don't know what is.) But the best part—aside from a sqee-worthy baby whale named Bam Bam, fantastic performances by an all-star cast, the insanely gorgeous Alaskan scenery, and a story that is 100%-guaranteed to make you blubber (get it? blubber?) like a baby—is that some of our all-time favorite people in the world are in this film. Like, for example: JOHN KRASINSKI. DREW BARRYMORE. DERMONT MULRONEY.
Does it get any better? Yes, actually—because for the duration of the film, John is wearing either a really tight henley or a plaid button-up, and guys, he is lookin' FINNNNEEEEE. Triple-bingo-bonus: in one HILARIOUS scene, he has to LICK SOMEONE'S EYEBALL. You will be laughing for weeks afterward, I promise.
But enough about my uncontrollable obsession with Jim Halpert; let's talk about the fact that last Friday, I had the immense honor of interviewing Ken Kwapis, the director of Big Miracle, and Dermot Mulroney, who stars as Colonel Tom Carroll, the courageous Alaskan National Guard commander who attaches a massive ice barge to his helicopter and drags it across treacherous territory in an attempt to clear a path for the whales (and finds true love in the process).
In case you didn't catch that, let me repeat it: I, CHELSEA DAGGER, GOT TO TALK TO FAMOUS PEOPLE. It was probably the most momentous Friday night of my entire existence. I sweated more than any man has sweated before or since. What follows is a REAL, ACTUAL transcript of my conversations with these two unbelievably awesome gentlemen. I'm practically breaking out in hives just thinking about it.
DERMOT MULRONEY:
Guys, I triple-dog-DARE you to talk to this man for 38 seconds and not fall completely in LOVE. His voice is like BUTTER, Sparklers, rugged, shmexy butter on a syrupy stack of steaming pancakes.On top of that, he is possibly the nicest human being in the world, he is extraordinarily handsome, and—wait for it—he is a HUGE, GIGANTIC BAND GEEK. Basically, he's your soulmate. Here's what we talked about:
ME: Thanks so much for calling to talk to me tonight, Dermot! My first question is, how did you like working with Ken Kwapis? I actually just got through interviewing him, and he seems great!
DERMOT: Isn’t he the nicest guy? He put together the greatest group of people. It’s one of those movies that while you’re making it, everybody just sort of groups up and becomes friends forever. I tell you what, I credit all of the camaraderie, 100% of it, to Ken. Because of his personality, and the tone he creates on set, because he’s confident and knowledgeable and everybody’s on their game around him.
ME: It was probably really important to have great director, because you guys were out there in pretty daunting conditions; what was it like for you to be filming this movie in Alaska?
DERMOT: Yeah, it’s an amazing story, and one of the most amazing things about the real story is all the things that didn’t go wrong, and one of the most amazing things about the making of this movie is all the things that could have gone wrong and didn’t. There’s so many moving parts, they built this enormous outdoor set, where it’s 300 yards of Northern Sea, with animatronic whales, and everything went smoothly. The thing that kind of blows me away seeing the movie is how he put together all the tricks of the trade, computer generation, effects, people, weather, everything, and it all comes together in such a seamless way, that you never once in this movie—at least for me—that you never once wonder how they did that. I don’t know what Ken did, but he eliminated that question entirely, so what you get in this movie is just the ability to finally just sit there and watch a movie without wondering about the process. It just never enters your mind.
ME (WITH THE MOST MORONIC COMMENT OF ALL TIME): Yeah, Ken executed it beautifully. I assumed that the whales were real!
*Why YES, I did tell the megafoxy Dermot Mulroney that I assumed the 3 ENORMOUS WHALES in the movie were ACTUAL WHALES. Like, that I thought the film crew had airlifted ACTUAL WHALES and put them in the freezing cold Arctic Circle and then trained them to hang out with Drew Barrymore. Headdesk to the infinite power, Sparklers.*
ME: What attracted you to the role of Colonel Tom Carroll?
DERMOT: It was just a terrific script, and you knew if done right, this movie could really have an impact, and be a loved movie for a long time. I believe this movie has staying power, and I wanted in for sure. I knew that I could bring to him what that role required, which is somebody who is undaunted, even though he knows that the mission he’s been ordered to achieve is impossible. And when it’s all said and done, this is an intense, epic romance. Because to the T, it’s absolutely true. I was able to spend a lot of time with Bonnie Carroll, and she filled me in on how they met, and she said that when she first heard his voice on the phone, she fell in love. The way she described it is exactly how it is in the movie. So I made contact with her, and I’m speaking to his widow, and she’s speaking to the man who is playing her deceased husband. And it took on this emotional intensity that I never expected, and I looked over at Ken and thought “Is this really happening, are you really giving me this resource of this woman?” and she showed me letters, photographs, shared her memories, it was just incredible. And then what happened for me is that I really wanted to do right by him, in the role. So I took a personal interest in portraying him in an honorable way.
(DAGGER NOTE: One of the sweetest things about this movie is the depiction of the real-life love story that unfolded between Colonel Tom Carroll and White House Aid Bonnie Carroll, who met during the whale rescue and ended up falling head over heels for each other. Tragically, Tom was killed several years later in a helicopter crash, and afterward Bonnie founded TAPS, which supports all those who have lost loved ones in the military.)
ME: I’ve got one last question for ya, and it’s a little geeky; our web site is full of kids who are big-time orchestra dorks and band geeks, and I read that you’re actually a really accomplished cellist, and I bet the kids would love to hear about that.
DERMOT: Yeah! (This was the cutest, loudest, most enthused “yeah!” ever, Sparklers; I could HEAR him grinning.) I’m an orchestra dork! Born and raised an orchestra dork! Absolutely, and proud of it. I started playing cello when I was 7, played through high school and college at Northwestern, was in the Northwestern symphony all four years, and really was, you know, a top student cellist, especially in high school. And then what happened is that I’ve played a little over the years, and bizarrely, I’ve started to land seats in scoring orchestras, and I’ve played for the last two Mission Impossible movie scores, and in the score for John Carter of Mars, which is coming out, and I’m loving it! I can’t believe it! I still have the same cello I got when I was 16! It’s followed me around for 30 years. I don’t watch Glee that often, but I embrace so strongly what that show has done, for young musicians in particular, it makes it look kinda cool. And it’s always been hard for us, because we’ve always known we're cool, but nobody else has, and I tell you what, out there in the real world, these people, these musicians at the top of their game, they are cool. They’re cool people! So, you know, you may not feel that cool playing the viola in high school, but I can tell ya, I went through that, and I can tell you that you actually ARE cool, BECAUSE you play the viola! It’s not a liability! It’s a plus! Stick with it, and you’ll be glad you did. Don’t give up on it. I’m so glad you asked that question. Spread the word, let ‘em know!
DREAMBOAT, AMIRIGHT?? You heard it here, band geeks: you are COOL. Next up is my conversation with KEN KWAPIS, and all you potential film directors out there are going to LURVE this—Ken gave me a glimpse into his day-to-day routine and even offered some super-inspiring advice! CHECK IT:
ME: What attracted you to this project in the first place?
KEN: When I read the script, I fell in love with the idea of a group of people, each of whom has a different agenda, trying to figure out how to solve a problem. It’s a story about unlikely collaborators. In this case, it was a really daunting problem they were trying to solve; namely, how to take 3 large marine mammals and move them from a hole in the ice into open water.
ME: I read that this is the only major motion picture to be filmed entirely in Alaska, and also that you lobbied to use real Inupiat people in the film. Why was filming in Alaska so important to you?
KEN: The whole approach was to make it as realistic as possible. I felt confident, and I really do feel that this is borne out in the film, that the faces of the Inuit people are the secret weapon of the film. We couldn’t have done it anywhere else.
ME: I work at a website that has a lot of young readers who are trying to figure out potential careers, and being a director seems like one of the coolest jobs out there. Could you go through what the day in the life of a director is like?
KEN: I woke up at 4:30 AM. This is gonna sound really geeky! At 5, I went to a gym and went for a swim, and here’s why: the shooting days required that I stand up on an ice field set, in the bitter cold, for 10-12 hours. So I had to do something to get the blood going, so that I could withstand having to be out there for that long.
I show up at the set around 7 and gather the actors together and explain the scene and do a very rough rehearsal.
The day usually lasted until about 8 PM; one of the challenges of working in Alaska in the fall is that you lose daylight at a rate of approximately 3 minutes a day. We often had to leave our ice field set and go indoors and shoot an indoor scene. So the day wraps up around 8, and this is a very important of my day: we go to dailies. Dailies are when you get together with the crew and watch the scenes you shot yesterday. I’ll sit with the editor and make comments on the takes, and give instructions to the editor. Every member of the crew watches, because they all want to see how their work looks.
Then I get something to eat and stay up for another couple of hours and make a shot list for the following day. These are long days, and they’re particularly taxing when you’re dealing with bitter cold, unpredictable weather, a huge ice field set with 3 huge robotic whales, and a large ensemble cast featuring several key members who’d never been in front of a camera before. So those were some of the challenges. It was brutal, but I loved every minute of it.
I think that for your audience, for young aspiring filmmakers, I would just say, “if you love it, you’ll do it.” I grew up in a small Midwestern town, the idea of being a film director was about as alien as anything could be; I might as well of said I wanted to go to Mars. I had no idea how one became a director. I had no idea how one got from A to B. But, I really loved it, and it’s hard, but for younger people, they’ll KNOW; if you’re constantly thinking and breathing film, staying up late and talking about it, they’ll do it. They’ll find a way.
WOW, RIGHT?! Ken Kwapis told you to follow your dreams and Dermot Mulroney told you you're cool. IS TODAY THE BEST DAY EVER OR WHAT?! (THAT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION.) Now skedaddle on down to the comments and tell me if you're afraid of whales too, and how psyched you are too see Jim Halpert in a henley. BIG MIRACLE FOR THE WIN.
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Topics: Life, Celebs & Stuff
Tags: drew barrymore, movie premieres, movies we love, big miracle, john krasinski, dermot mulroney, ken kwapis
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