Publications ranging from The New Yorker to the New York Post have given director Bennett Miller’s feature film debut Capote glowing reviews. The film follows the late writer Truman Capote throughout the six years that he spent researching and writing his career-making nonfiction novel In Cold Blood. While The New Yorker describes Capote as “the most intelligent, detailed and absorbing film ever made about a writer’s working method and character,” the New York Post calls it “a remarkably assured feature film debut.” Meanwhile, there is already talk about the film’s star, Philip Seymour Hoffman, practically being a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination for his uncanny portrayal of the author.
Given all of this, is Miller, who directs spots through bicoastal/international Hungry Man, on a high right now? After a moment of reflection, he simply states, “Yes,” with a laugh.
Miller has actually had success in the film world before with his 1998 documentary The Cruise, although it was on a smaller scale. The film, which won critical acclaim and honors at film festivals including the Berlin Film Festival, tells the story of Tim “Speed” Levitch, a tour guide for Manhattan’s Gray Line double-decker bus outfit whose passion for New York City is remarkable–especially given the fact that he is homeless.
It was after seeing that film that director and Hungry Man co-founder Hank Perlman, phoned Miller. “I don’t know exactly how he got my number, but he said, ‘My name is Hank Perlman. I’m a partner at this company called Hungry Man. Do you have any interest in doing commercials?,’ ” recalls Miller. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’ “
And it was then that Miller, a New York University film school dropout, embarked on a duel career path, continuing to pursue his filmmaking ambitions while developing a name for himself in commercial production.
Hungry Man directors are known for their prowess with comedy, and so, not surprisingly, Miller’s commercial reel is full of comedic spots for clients including British newspaper The Observer, the American cable television network TNN and joint pain relief medication Osteo Bi-Flex.
Miller’s spots are filmic, and his brand of humor is sly, sneaking up on you. For example, in “Old Man,” a spot for The Observer out of London’s Mother, we see an elderly man seated in a chair staring out a window as a melancholy piano track plays. He looks so sad. What is this poor old man thinking about? A super suddenly appears onscreen: “One in four men over the age of 65 are unhappy with the size of their penis.” A voiceover instructs viewers to check out Sex Uncovered, a special magazine insert in an upcoming edition of The Observer.
“The New Frank,” a spot for Osteo Bi-Flex created by Cramer-Krasselt, Milwaukee, opens on a black-and-white scene of Frankenstein lumbering about that looks like it could have been taken from an old film. As we learn from subsequent interviews with Frankenstein (now known as Frank and shown in color), he suffered from stiff, achy joints until he started taking Osteo Bi-Flex, which has relieved his discomfort, allowing him to pursue the things that he loves, like gardening.
More recently, Miller shot two spots for Verizon Wireless out of McCann-Erickson, New York. Both spots–“Working,” which was shot just before he began filming Capote in November of last year, and “Working Man Part Deux,” shot last April while Miller was in the midst of editing Capote–center on a goofy, young red-headed guy, the first of his college buddies to get a real job, using his cell phone to communicate with his pals about all sorts of nonsensical matters from the office.
While discussing his spot work, Miller muses, “it’s interesting that I ended up doing humor. I am funny, but I don’t feel like that’s simply my identity. Hungry Man is a comedy shop, and the first boards that I did were comedy, and they got a fair amount of attention, and that’s who you are all of a sudden.
“Although I really like doing the comedy, and although I feel like I own that, I would like to expand outside of comedy as well [into visual storytelling],” continues Miller.”
You have to imagine that Miller will get that opportunity now from advertising creatives and producers who have seen Capote. Miller really hopes so. “I feel like I’ve got unfinished business,” he says. “I’ve been directing commercials for six years now, and I have goals.”
Labor of Love
When it comes to attaining his goals, Miller exhibits incredible patience, the willingness to wait for the right thing. Notably, he didn’t rush into another film project after he made The Cruise. In the wake of the success of that documentary, Miller had opportunities, but he chose to hold out for something that he felt passionate about. Then came the script for Capote, written by Dan Futterman, a friend of Miller’s since childhood best known as an actor for roles on TV shows like Judging Amy and films such as The Birdcage. Soon another friend of theirs, Hoffman, was onboard to play Capote, and it became a matter of finding funding. Miller and Hoffman traveled to Los Angeles where they pitched, well, every major film studio before winding up at United Artists. “United Artists was the last stop–literally,” Miller recalls. “After that, there was nobody left to pitch.”
Miller was convinced that in Capote he had something amazing to offer a studio. “I felt less like we were asking for something from them and more like we were offering something,” Miller says. “I believed in the potential of this thing and what it was reaching for.”
United Artists gave Miller and his colleagues the money they needed. That’s when the real work began, and fears surfaced. “We worked on the film for two and a half years before it got to the point where we actually locked picture, and in all honesty, it was a daunting and anguishing process,” Miller says.
Hoffman felt the heat, too. The actor, who also served as executive producer on the film, admitted in an interview with Time that part of him hoped financing would fall through, relieving him of the enormous challenge of bringing a complex character like Capote to life. Miller confesses to having similar thoughts. “Both Phil and I felt so daunted by it that had it fallen apart at any moment, I think we would have both been relieved,” Miller says.
There was certainly no guarantee of success. “This was a low-budget film that could have gone straight-to-video,” Miller says. But Miller and company (much of his crew, including DP Adam Kimmel, had worked with the director on spots) managed to make a masterful film.
But how on earth do you follow up a masterpiece? Miller isn’t going to go crazy thinking about that right now. Of course, he aspires to make another feature film, and, yes, he does have a number of options. But at this point, he is in no rush to make a decision as to what his next big-screen endeavor will be. “I have to let the dust settle,” Miller says. “I’m not going to commit to something for at least a few months, and whatever it is, it will be special.”
