Scenic Design by Charlie Corcoran NOVEMBER 2014 | BOROMAG.COM | 43 movie anywhere close to anything you’ve ever done. This is a great honor to meet you. And he looked at me and said, “Well, this is a great honor for me.” He reaches over and embraces me. “What is film school? What, do you do, like thread projectors all day? Is there a final exam on how to load the camera?” BORO: That’s incredible he was so warm to you. Do you think your status as a film student gave you the credibility for him to respect you? MB: I asked if he had any advice, and he said, “yeh, don’t listen to anybody, especially not me. Go your own way.” He’s about to walk away, and then he says “Hey, if you ever have a question, call me up.” And he reaches into his pocket, and pulls out his card. “Or if you’re ever out in Los Angeles, come and see me.” I’ll never forget, I take the card and it falls out of my hand, and I took my foot and stamped on it. BORO: Did you ever take him up on the offer? MB: I would occasionally just call him up. The first time I called, I thought I’d get a secretary, but instead it was him. BORO: How impressive. You had a direct pipeline to him. MB: He never wrote an autobiography—I heard he was offered ten million to write a book about filmmaking. He was like, “I have absolutely no desire to sit alone in a room and think about the past.” BORO: So what drew you the storyline behind Double Indemnity? MB: I’d always heard Wilder had battled Chandler. I’d always thought, if I want to write something about the nature of collaboration, I’d want to write about those guys, because they were both geniuses. I’d heard it was a battle royale, so I called Paramount and asked if they’d had an archive—but they’d given it all to the Academy of Motion Pictures. Fortunately for me, a friend of mine had just written a book where he had to petition the special collections library. So I wrote them and asked if they had anything on Double Indemnity, and they said, “well, we’ve got about 27 boxes. Every script, every menu, every lunch memo—and I am suddenly reading Barbara’s Stanwyck’s overage charges. You’re sitting there and you’re holding as close as you get to the original script with Wilder and Chandler’s handwritten notes. BORO: How had Wilder teamed up with Chandler for this piece? MB: Wilder’s regular partner, Charles Brackett, was the theater critic for the New Yorker, and wanted nothing to do with it. But Wilder always needed a collaborator, because he didn’t trust his mastery of English and of slang, and he always tried to bring in someone who would raise him up. BORO: This piece has been produced before. What growth have you seen since it came to New York? MB: The major growth I would say, is that the Vineyard greatly encouraged me to go deeper and darker—a comedy with dramatic relief. For Gary Marshall, it has shades of The Odd Couple, with two guys stuck together in a room who wanna kill each other at times. But it always had hints of the darker stories of each man. Sophie von Haselburg, the actor playing Helen, is Bette Midler’s daughter, and she is such a light. When somebody is that good, you want to incorporate them more— especially in the first act. I was on a flight to London with my wife, and it came to me. And I envisioned classic teaching scene where she’s called in to flirt with Chandler. That wonderful scene came out of the casting of Sophie von Haselberg. We did twenty previews, and we developed the play. BORO: How do you create the time to write a play? MB: Originally, I didn’t know if this would be an article, a short story. We were on vacation, and I visualized the first act five or six years ago. I was about to have knee replacement surgery, and knew I was going to be off a few months. BORO: And for our readers, what are some of your favorite local spots? MB: I love that Cronin & Phelan still looks like the set of Archie Bunker’s place. My wife and I go out a lot. I enjoy Bourbon & Vine, Sweet Afton, William Hallet, and we love Off the Hook. Brick Café is another perfect place. A lot of brunch places have gotten so popular, with lines down the street, and Brick has remained my favorite brunch. As a film person, I am a huge fan of the Astor Room. It’s always a special place.
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