Canadian writer-director Mary Harron has only made three feature films but they all attracted a devoted, cultish fanbase. As part of the Birds Eye View film festival, she’ll be presenting her own masterclass at London’s ICA cinema on March 7, just before a screening and Q&A of The Notorious Bettie Page.
She’ll also do a Q&A after a screening of American Psycho and I Shot Andy Warhol the next day at The Gate, Notting Hill cinema.
LWLies: The films that you've directed – American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page and I Shot Andy Warhol – and produced – The Weather Underground – are all very esoteric choices; how have you managed to secure such undeniably 'cool' film projects in such a competitive industry?
Harron: It is not easy. All three of my films got turned down everywhere – by every studio and independent company – before they finally found a home. That's why I haven't made more films! It's not for want of trying.
LWLies: Does being a non-American female director help or hinder your pitches?
Harron: I don't think most people know that I'm Canadian. Americans aren't very interested in Canada. To them it's just a frozen wasteland attached to the USA. I'm not sure if being female hurts or hinders. I suspect there's an unconscious bias at work where producers take a man more seriously. It's like they want a director who is a fantasy version of themselves, some dynamic boy wonder. On the other hand, there are so few female directors you do get to stand out more.
LWLies: Many directors will produce more commercial features to fund their personal projects, but you seem to do well without sacrificing your choices. Is that the case, or am I romanticising your films?
Harron: Umm, you're probably romanticising. I'm not against doing a commercial project at all. But making a film takes takes at least a year or two of your life, not to mention the time you have to then spend publicising it, so I want it to be something I really like. In the past it's been easier for me to finance my life through television. LWLies: You have directed individual episodes of shows like Big Love, Oz and The L Word, what benefits are there to directing a TV show as opposed to a film?
Harron: You are in and out in a month, which is easier than trying for five years to make a movie. It's well paid, which independent films are not, and you get to practice directing. And, on the whole, I think television in the last few years has been more exciting than film; I don't think anything has matched The Sopranos. I prefer making films because in episodic television you are basically a hired hand, and the writers and producers have the final say. But I admire a lot of television drama. And it's fun for me to direct someone else's script, because in film I usually write my own. LWLies: What will your masterclass at the ICA – part of the Bird's Eye View Film festival – focus on? What sort of experience will you expect the attendees to have?
Harron: Actually, we haven't discussed the content yet! I hope a lot of it will be questions from the audience.
LWLies: You both write and direct screenplays, who else working at the moment do you admire for a similar talent?
Harron: David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers , Alexander Payne. Tamara Jenkins, who made The Savages. I'm sure there's lots of others I can't think of right now.
LWLies: So, what's your next film going to be; and will you return to film after spending time in TV?
Harron: My next film is The Moth Diaries based on a novel by Rachel Klein. It's a vampire story set in a girls' boarding school. It's modern Gothic, kind of an update of Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla. I'm very excited about it, and I'm in the casting process right now.
Tickets for the ICA and Notting Hill Gate events are available now.
