Exclusive: Director George Tillman, Jr. Talks The Longest Ride, Barbershop 3Posted by Wilson Morales
April 7, 2015
Coming out this week is the romantic drama, ‘The Longest Ride,’ which is based on the bestselling novel by master storyteller Nicholas Sparks.
Directed by George Tillman, Jr., the cast includes Scott Eastwood, Brittany Robertson, Oona Chaplin, Jack Huston, Alan Alda, Lolita Davidovich, and Melissa Benoist.
The centers on the star-crossed love affair between Luke, a former champion bull rider looking to make a comeback, and Sophia, a college student who is about to embark upon her dream job in New York City’s art world. As conflicting paths and ideals test their relationship, Sophia and Luke make an unexpected and fateful connection with Ira, whose memories of his own decades-long romance with his beloved wife deeply inspire the young couple. Spanning generations and two intertwining love stories, “The Longest Ride” explores the challenges and infinite rewards of enduring love.
For Tillman, Jr., best known for directing films such as Soul Food, Men of Honor, Notorious, and The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, as well as producing the Barbershop franchise films, here’s a chance to present something different with a Sparks film. Anyone who has seen a number of films adapted from a Sparks novel, from The Notebook, Nights in Rodante, Dear John, Message in a Bottle, and last year’s The Best of Me, looks for signature scenes, and Tillman wants to bring in his own vision.
Blackfilm.com spoke exclusively with Tillman, Jr. about getting on this project, working with the cast, and coming back to produce Barbershop 3.
How did the project come about for you?
George Tillman, Jr.: This is my third movie at Fox and I also produced a movie there, so it’s four when I think about it. These guys at Fox knew that as a filmmaker, I could always tell different types of stories and each can emotionally connect to a universal audience. They never looked at Soul Food as an African American movie. They were able to pump it out and put it out there in a way that it didn’t feel that way in terms of marketing. With ‘Men of Honor,’ who would make a movie about the first African American Navy diver. Who would make that movie back then at that particular time; but Bill Mechanic was the president and he took a chance. They took chances on great materials. Even with ‘Notorious,’ it was a decent budget, but it kept soaring a little bit and they supported it, so it was a great process. So when they sent me this script, I was like, “Nicholas Sparks? I never paid attention to many of the Nicholas Sparks films.” “The Notebook,” which my wife liked, I felt that Ryan Gosling was a genius in it and Rachel McAdams has this thing about her that you just want to take care of her. I remember that chemistry between them. I also remembered “Message in a Bottle,” but I didn’t really pay attention to the film. But they said I can put my own touch on them. They wanted a masculine side to the film. There’s a lot of aspects of bull riding, there’s aspects of art, and so I read it , and decided to try something different things and that’s how that process came about.
When folks go see a Nicholas Sparks films, there are certain scenes that people come to expect. Although you want to bring in your own vision, were you also compelled to bring in some of those scenarios?
GT: You have to a certain degree. If I’m going to do a rain scene, no one is going to be kissing in it. Let me try to do it a way where it’s like, “Wow!” There’s a moment where he’s about to give her a flower and then someone else comes in the frame and he turns around and then the rain comes for the last three seconds. You just hear it outside. There are moments when the plot changes. We always try to say “I Love You,” and we’re debating with the cast if we should say it. That’s a cliche and you don’t need to say it in a movie. I don’t think we even said it once in the film. It doesn’t work for me in movies. You don’t need to say it. Things like that and Oona Chaplin and Jack Huston would throw the lines off a bit or moved the lines around a bit in moments you think should say it but don’t. We’re always dodging the cliches, but still making it emotional for the audience, who want that. You can’t make an action movie without action, and so, you can’t make a romance movie without romance. We just tried to do it in a more organic way.
With two couples, the bull riding world, the art world, the past and the present scenes, how much of a challenge was it for you to shoot these different sequences?
GT: It was a big challenge because I had some great people around me. I had this great AD out of New York and he would hear everything I’m saying and we would go scouting locations, and he would know what I wanted. He had everything on a board of what I wanted, from scene to scene, wardrobe and location. He knew I wanted two different movies, two different styles, two different cameras, and that 90 minutes of the film would converge. Everyone knew what they needed to do and you just have to time that stuff out, and that’s what makes it interesting as a filmmaker. You can see the process and that everyone is getting on one accord and the actors are getting on one accord at the same time. That’s when you have sometime where you are pushing it and really trying to get behind what the genre is giving you. That’s what made exciting to me as a filmmaker.
From the films you have done recently, from ‘Notorious’ to ‘The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,’ you’re good at working with newcomers. How was working with Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson on this film?
GT: When Scott came in, he immediately recognized that this was something fresh and new. Not only does he look like his father, but he has his own identity on top of that. I had never seen his father play in a romance film or emotional connection outside of ‘The Bridges of Madison County,’ which we reference a little bit of Alan Alda’s character story from the emotional standpoint. I was recognizing that there was something interesting happening with him because he has the physicality but at the same time, even trying to go beyond the genre a bit, in most of those films, a lot of the guys are clean faced. We’d put a five o’clock shadow on him and sometimes with the makeup, we’d put stuff on his arms or in his fingernails. Stuff that you don’t read but would get the sense of. A couple of times he was chewing tobacco but we calmed that down. With the physicality, we gave him a limp because he was riding bulls. When you add it all up, audiences won’t recognize it, but from psychological standpoint, you would know that there’s something different. You have a guy who has the will to be great and is very new and has the responsibility because who his father is, or Chaplin or Jack Huston. All of them want to be great because it’s in their genes. So you bring that to the table, and you know that everyone is bringing their “A” game to the best they can. For me, he works for the genre, for the romance, for the bull riding, and you like this guy who the way around and that charm and personality are very important.
You’ve been around nearly 20 years but have directed only six films. Why haven’t you done more?
GT: My wife tells me that all the time. I’ve been more active the last five years actively, with ‘Notorious,’ ‘The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,’ and I just started to realized that the body of work is important. I used to put so much into ‘Soul Food’ and ‘Men of Honor’ and with those films, it took a few years to get them out of my system. Sometimes I get into the movies and into the roles, it’s hard for me to move on. I remember when I was mixing ‘Men of Honor,’ and Denzel Washington was about to do his directorial debut with ‘Antoine Fisher’ and I bought him into the mixing room to see me mix the movie. He was there for about an hour, and he was like, “You’re a cool director.” I then said,”I don’t really like to direct all the time. I’m like Sade.” Sade would do an album every 8 to 9 years. Why did I say that? I went seven years between movies. I produced two ‘Barbershop’ films and then did ‘Roll Bounce’ before I directed again. Most guys don’t have the opportunity to get back in if they go that long but people appreciate the work so much and Fox was very supportive, I was able to go back into a great project with ‘Notorious’ and I started to realize that I need to enjoy what I have. A lot of people what the opportunity to do what I do and now I’m working more actively in getting more stuff done. The difference is that the body isn’t 20 anymore. Getting up at 5 in the morning for scouts and stuff is hard, but I love it. I love when you can work with actors and meet different people.
Speaking of Barbershop, will you be back to produce the third film with Malcolm Lee directing?
GT: Definitely, I’m excited about that because it’s a great franchise. I’m excited to see it get back. I know people really like it. There’s so much stories to tell. I’m a guy who gets a haircut twice a week because it makes me feel good. I get my power when I get my cut. I hear so much stuff that comes through. Three years ago we kept pushing MG to get it back and now we’re finally here with Malcolm Lee directing.
Will it be the same cast?
GT: It will be some of the same players and some new people. You have to keep it fresh but at the same time what made that series successful is dealing with real individuals who go through individual things that happen in your life. So we’re going back to the elements of what made the first one successful and we’re also bringing in some new elements as well.
Will you be coming back to direct more episodes of Starz’s Power?
GT: They had asked me to for this season last year but I was doing Longest Ride. I had a great time doing that show in New York. Right now I’m doing a pilot for Fox studios NBC network called ‘Love is a four letter word’ which is a black, multicultural thirty something. The climate of television is changing because of what’s happening on television. People want to see more minorities and multicultural storylines. I’m really excited about that. I’m four days away from finishing and hopefully going back to ‘Power’ possibly.
So many fan favorite TV shows are coming back like The X-Files and Full House. Could Soul Food come back?
GT: What’s so crazy is that I got an email from a producer mentioning Soul Food 2. I was like, “What? Maybe. I don’t know. Who’s left?” The question hasn’t been answered yet. As soon as I finish this pilot and I’m back in LA, I will follow up to see if this is for real. Do people really want to see this? I don’t know. Everything else is coming back.
What will get folks to come see this film?
GT: Hopefully this movie is one of those films like The Notebook. When that film came out, it just kept playing in theaters after five weeks. That’s what you hope for. I did Mister and Pete at Sundance and people are just now discovering it. I just to do the best I can.
