on the cover / By Robyn Hillman-Harrigan

In The Green Room

RHH: The importance of male relationships is definitely highlighted in films like Five Easy Pieces and several of the other ’70s films that you paid homage to. I can also see a similarity to that genre in your use of quirky side characters, who are unpredictable, and yet really have something important to say. Danny and Darren, you make cameo appearances in the film as Max’s random bar friends, fulfilling a similar purpose as the hitchhikers in Five Easy Pieces.

dJ: Yes. Our character Zelda, who is just there for one scene, also serves that function. We thought extensively about the importance of the minor roles.

DG: We wanted to give the sense of an entire world that the viewer is just getting a glimpse of. Even though there is only a five-minute glance at the character, they are so vivid, unique and quirky that you feel like you can see into their whole life and imagine that they really exist. Five Easy Pieces achieves that so well.

RHH: What kind of reactions have you gotten so far from your relatives and other people who have seen it up here?

DG: Only my close relatives have seen the film, and they absolutely love it. When I was growing up and visiting them, we always talked about what a great story this all would make. I think they are proud of our work and excited to have a version of what they have known told. My friends up there are really looking forward to seeing it.

dJ: The flip side is that people from Humboldt are incredibly passionate about their home and a lot of them have some trepidation about more attention being brought to the area. Online especially, we have encountered a lot of people who have a real concern about the idea of the film, although nobody has seen it yet. We are confident in the movie; we also understand that there are people in Humboldt who are not going to like it no matter what. Still, we hope they do like the film and are looking forward to seeing the reaction.

RHH: One of my absolute favorite parts of the film is the cinematography. Ernest Holzman, the cameraman behind thirtysomething and My So-Called Life, really captured Humboldt’s beautiful greenery.

DG: In the script, we envisioned Humboldt really as a character in itself that has to seduce Peter. Like you said earlier Robyn, Peter is a numb person who comes from a bland existence in L.A. surrounded by traffic and medical classrooms, then is really awakened by the lush beauty of Humboldt. This is definitely something that we talked about with Holzman.

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