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June 13, 2005
RUTHERFORD ON FILM: Oscar Winning Director Ray McKinnon Explores Unconfortable Feelings in 'Chrystal'; Believes Today's Movies Have Too Many 'Dumbed Down' Scripts
by Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Writer
Huntington (HNN) – Raised on a diet of "Midnight Cowboy," "Scarecrow," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "The Godfather," Ray McKinnon, the Academy Award–winning director of "The Accountant" and the director of the emotionally charged "Chrystal," treads a filmmaking path outside the mainstream.
However, McKinnon who played Vernon T. Waldrip in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" had nearly 40 big screen credits and 30 appearances in episodic television when he decided it was time to write and direct. He first penned "Chrystal," but was unable to find the financing to make the movie.
Feeling he had to "make a film," McKinnon struck gold with "The Accountant," a 35–minute southern fried comedy that brought home an Academy Award to his wife, Lisa Blount (executive producer) and Walton Goggins (producer).
Playing a hard–drinking professional who taps out figures with his hands and feet, McKinnon described the Oscar win as "surreal."
During a break at the Appy Film Festival in Huntington, he told me "when we got invited, it didn't feel just right." Explaining that the adrenalin overflowed to the point of "near nausea," the brown haired actor/director had chilled by the time the awards were announced. "I felt very calm. I had 30 seconds so I had to make the best of it."
Although the moment on stage with all those famous people ranks at the top of the ladder, McKinnon acknowledged, "getting nominated was more important" and "more of a relief." The prospects for marketing the short film hinged on a nomination; McKinnon knew that the film was in the "final ten" competing for the five nominations for best short.
The audience for "The Accountant" remained limited at best. Nevertheless, McKinnon saw its completion as an accomplishment molding his "a little off the path aesthetic" with filmmaking. "I had to make a film to see if I was any good at it," he explained. Moreover, the short film, only required taking "a portion" of his mother's money, he laughed tongue firmly in cheek.
Rather than television, he foresees the Internet as a "viable" medium that will embrace short films. "There is a hunger for films off the path, just like there is a hunger for music off the path. Those musicians have found the marketplace through the internet. I think the same thing will happen with film."
The acclaim from "The Accountant" led to the production of "Chrystal" which the director describes as "a little movie that could." Unlike studio films which have "dumbed down screenwriting," the movie starring Billy Bob Thornton (Joe), Lisa Blount (Chrystal) and himself (Snake) is a complex film about an Ozark couple who lose a child in an auto accident.
"I was intrigued how people who do not have a vocabulary of say a character in a Woody Allen film [and] who are limited in their ability to express [themselves] would sort out a tragic event. They did not come from a place that said you need to go to therapy or you need to get in a group and deal with survivors. They did not have those options or know about those options.
What they did was put that pain down somewhere deep and eventually it manifests itself."
When Chrystal's husband returns from serving nearly 20 years in prison for the accident, her delicate emotional health faces coping challenges both from Joe and from her mother.
"It's a very complex role and performance," McKinnon said. "If you watch the movie again, you'll see how modulated the performance is. She expresses her rage when she starts getting better [by] carrying herself better."
Although Blount's performance is Oscar caliber, her husband admits that "being with the right people and being set up in the right way" awards politics will likely overlook "Chrystal." In addition, though not an objective evaluator, he would put his wife's performance "against the five nominees from last year and it would be a performance worthy of consideration."
Admittedly, the film "bothers" people in the "fear–based," commercial world of filmmaking where decision makers are "afraid of failing, so they go down the surest path. I wanted to do something very independent and I was inspired by my wife," who grew up in the Ozarks.
McKinnon has emulated directors like David ("Scanners," "The Brood," "The Fly") Cronenberg, Jim ("Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai," "Coffee and Cigarettes") Jarmusch. Adding further discomfort, many of his favorite films growing up "made me cry" such as "Francis," "The Last Picture Show,"
"Breaking the Waves," and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being.").
"I like movies that don't spell out everything and require you to use your imagination," he said in response to an ambiguous moment from "Chrystal."
"I'm interested in how forces play in life. In this story forces are running all through and underneath. I don't like things that are always literal, completely understood by everybody including the family dog." Thus, in his words the current generation of filmgoers are "less sophisticated" than those of the past due to "let make sure everybody gets it" releases.
To date, "Chrystal," which elicited applause and raves from the Appy Film Festival audience, has played in 20 markets. By now, it should have opened in Houston and Los Angeles.
"We really didn't want to do another festival," McKinnon explained. "But when I heard this was about Appalachia and a celebration of the region's culture, I thought it would be worthwhile."
Having torn out emotional hearts with that film, the producer/director/actor swings back to traditional comedy when "Randy and the Mob" rolls in August at a small town outside Atlanta.
"It will be set in a small town in Georgia and explores the southern culture of the 'new south' of vinyl siding and metal churches. I'll be Randy [of Randy Peterson Enterprises]; we'll have a lot of fun."
Although still off the beaten mainstream pathway, McKinnon will exploit some marketing lessons learned from the previous two productions. "We'll be part storyteller, part Barnum and Bailey. We're already making Randy bubblehead dolls."
