The Shape of Thingsdir. Neil LaBute
Opens Fri May 9.
See Movie Times.
Filmmaker Neil LaBute made his name with films like In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors, in which immoral and amoral behavior motorize provocative parables about modern morality. His new film, The Shape of Things, continues in this vein (after the semidepartures of Possession and Nurse Betty). Based on LaBute’s own play, Shape turns on an act of emotional cruelty so savage and unexpected that it recasts the entire film and practically mandates a second viewing. Above all, the climactic twist forces viewers to confront not only their own romantic insecurities, but also their own capacity for manipulation–cinematic and otherwise. I spoke to LaBute, and lead actor Paul Rudd, in a hotel room downtown.
Were you conscious of teasing out a sort of classic male paranoia in this film? Or is it something that’s so idiosyncratic that only really screwed-up men think of it as classic?
NEIL: I hope not. I’m just going to go with it so we get a better article, no matter what I feel. But no, of course. It was interesting to talk about the way we objectify things, but to do it from a male perspective, because guys are cooler. Everybody’s worried, and I’m sure from a female perspective you always have self-doubt and insecurities, at least about “Why do people like me? Why does this particular person like me? People say I’m funny–am I being funny enough now?” I think we constantly self-check, and this is a story of a guy who, in effect, doesn’t self-check enough. He just gets swept away. One of the more fascinating things, and it wasn’t that we dealt with it a lot in rehearsal, because these guys were shit in rehearsal and really pulled it out at the last minute.
PAUL: Rehearsal? [Laughs.]
NEIL: You know, that stuff in the beginning? Where we all got together and ate?
PAUL: By saying that, you’re saying that we actually got it right when we performed it.
NEIL: That’s true. But you know, this is for The Stranger…. So, it’s a long-winded way of saying, Yeah, I was conscious of something that’s not even particularly male, but very human. It’s the frailty of “How do I belong in this situation, and why did they let me in the door?” There was a Calvin Klein ad from a few years ago; he’s great at getting [images of] either young people in their underwear, or of really good-looking people on Long Island having fun, and it always looked like you didn’t belong there. There was one ad, in particular–it was a two-page spread that made it look like you came to check the pool chemicals…. All these beautiful people were looking at the camera like, “What the fuck are you doing here?” And it actually made me feel that way, like I’m not even supposed to be looking at this ad, I’m not good enough to look at it.
PAUL: You weren’t invited to page 34.
NEIL: I’ve done that a lot with my work. I’ve constantly tried to cast people whom I think are attractive. I think it can be interesting to watch them do less than honorable things–and it does a strange thing to an audience, because there are people that we naturally want to be like, be with, be around. People who are good-looking, successful, fit, and then have them do things that are less than attractive. And the more that [Paul’s character] Adam becomes one of those people, the more opportunity he has to fail. And, like people, he fails. And I hold him to this higher standard. I go, “Don’t do that, don’t fuck up.” And I know that I probably would, too.
What does his fucking up consist of, other than believing the person who says she loves him? Is it narcissism?
NEIL: I don’t think that’s fucking up. There I think he was victimized. He doesn’t know all the information; he’s a victim of being lied to. Then he lies to his friends…. He’s willing to shed the man that was him, for what he thinks a person wants. So I think he’s not true to himself.
There seems to be a pretty strong theme of people behaving badly and then denying accountability for their actions based on either romance or art.
NEIL: I’m certainly interested in the general sense of “What are you responsible for?” Do you only confess when someone’s caught you, or do you say, “Look, I’ve made a mistake here”? I don’t know. [To Paul] I don’t know how accountable you felt.
PAUL: Are you asking me?
NEIL: You tell me what you think, because I have opinions about it.
PAUL: Well, I never make any kind of judgment on any character that I’m playing.
NEIL: See, I’m judging you right now.
PAUL: So, what else is new?
