Jason Bushman Interview – Part I
My favorite line in the movie has to do with the un-specialness of nonstop sunshine. You show a very deglamorized — i.e., very real — Los Angeles in Hollywood, je t'aime, e.g., people riding buses, homeless people in the streets, dingy motels, etc. Since you've referred to Hollywood, je t'aime as your "love letter" to LA, were you ever tempted to glamorize the place?
What I love about Los Angeles isn’t the glamour, and glamour doesn’t turn me on. I live in Silver Lake, and I only ever go to Beverly Hills when I have to, for business or a doctor’s appointment. (That’s not to say the Eastside doesn’t have it’s own bobo snobbiness, but that’s another story.) After years of fleeing LA for Paris whenever I had the opportunity, I finally started to realize any city is what you make of it. Of course LA is less urban than Paris or New York, but public transportation – one of my favorite parts of being in any city – does exist here. It’s just that white people don’t normally use it. So I became an avid cyclist and bus rider, and I love it. Considering I hardly ever go further west than Weho or further east than Eagle Rock, it works out.
Why the choice of showing the Parisian scenes in black and white, considering that the Parisian winter — even in color — can be quite gray…?
I love classic movies in black and white – and I go see many of them projected at the wonderful revival movie houses on the left bank of Paris. (That’s among my favorite things to do when I’m there.) Also, we wanted to contrast Paris, which obviously is much older and established, from the relatively recently constructed City of Angels. And from the beginning, I always associated this film with The Wizard of Oz. Jerome is having a rough time at home; then he lands in this totally otherworldly place, and meets three characters who kinda show him the way; then by the end he’s decided there’s no place like home. So it worked on that level, too.
Hollywood, je t'aime is set in Los Angeles, but at times it has the understated feel of several French films I've seen. What were your cinematic inspirations for your first feature? (As an aside, was that "What a dump" line — when Jérôme first walks into his motel room — an homage to Bette Davis in Beyond the Forest?)
I wrote the line “Quel bordel,” in French, and then we translated it into English, so I wasn’t really referencing anything other than Eric. (He says it a lot – along with the film’s opening line, “Quelle horreur.”)
I’m glad it felt like a French film to you – that's a major compliment in my book – and we were definitely studying À bout de souffle and some other films by Godard. But we also thought a lot about Midnight Cowboy and, as I mentioned earlier, The Wizard of Oz – so there was plenty American influence as well.
Eric Debets, Jonathan Blanc in Hollywood, je t'aime
At the end of Hollywood, je t'aime Jérôme briefly explains his views about the concept of "home." Is home where love is?
Home is where you are, and what you make of it, that’s all I know. (Maybe I’m a little more cynical than Jérôme.) That part of the story – Paris versus Los Angeles, and deciding where to be if given the choice – totally came from my own experience. I love both cities very much, and I have friends and lovers in both, so why choose? It’s a complicated question, and one I’m sure I’ll keep returning to in my work.
Any new projects in the works?
Nothing going immediately, as we just finished Hollywood, je t’aime in the nick of time for the festival. But yeah, I’ve got several scripts I’d love to get made – and also some new ideas I’m developing with Charlie [Herman-Wurmfeld] (the film's producer) and other collaborators. Stay tuned!