Nicole Holofcener
Issue #27
The Lovely & Amazing director takes on love and debt in her latest film, Friends With Money
By Rebecca Flint-Marx
Published: March 1st, 2006 | 12:00am
The last time Nicole Holofcener appeared in Venus, she was busy promoting her 2001 film Lovely & Amazing. That film, which explored the insecurities of three sisters — two grown, one a child — and their mother, was a smart, bittersweet comedy that earned the filmmaker both wide praise and the promise of funding for future work.
Holofcener, who also wrote and directed 1996’s Walking and Talking, is now busy paying lip service to her latest project, Friends With Money, which opens in April. The film stars Holofcener’s longtime muse, Catherine Keener, as well as Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack, and Jennifer Aniston as a group of self-absorbed Los Angeles friends. In keeping with Holofcener’s past work, the film explores female growing pains — in this case, those of women approaching mid-life. It centers largely on the character of Olivia, a pothead ex-schoolteacher now working as a maid, something that causes varying degrees of discomfort and condescension among her much more affluent friends. Olivia is played by that most glittering of Friends, Jennifer Aniston, who is the first big star Holofcener has ever cast. But even with a so-called “A-lister” to headline her film, the director has remained true to her talent for portraying the lives of women with an honesty and insight depressingly rare among her peers. Venus spoke with Holofcener as she was preparing to travel to Sundance, where Friends With Money had been chosen as the festival’s opening-night film.
You’ve said that events or people in your life are what generally inspires you; can you say that this story also comes from your life?
By the time I got to my mid-40s I started to feel that this was the way my life was gonna look. Fortunately, it looks pretty good. I’m very happy that this is it. I wondered what it would feel like to be 45 and have no kids, no money, no career, no lover. Those are all things I’m happy to say I have, and I’m so aware of what it would be like if I didn’t. So Olivia lived out my worst fear. She’s younger than I envisioned the character, but I wanted Jen to be in it so I said, “Oh, well that’s OK. She’s still a mess at 35.” It would have had a more pathetic quality if she was 45 — her friends’ pity and concern would have been even greater. Also, at my age, where people are in their lives can be so dramatically different from when they’re 25: no one’s judging you, and it’s not too humiliating if you have no money. But at this age, the disparity is great, causing more embarrassment and friendships to be shaken. We all have such big opinions about money and how it should be spent.
In your past films, Catherine Keener has played characters based on yourself. Is that true here, too?
I can’t say that’s all me. Certainly, a lot of arguments [the character had] with her husband I’ve had and were based loosely on me. But so is Jane [the fashion designer experiencing a mid-life crisis, played by McDormand], so it’s like I’m sort of spread throughout. In Walking and Talking, Catherine was really just playing me, at least when I wrote it, and then Anne Heche became me. In Lovely & Amazing, Catherine wasn’t really me.
How did Jennifer Aniston become involved?
I knew Jennifer through Catherine. I’d met her a few times and spent time with her, but I didn’t know her well. I know that she’d loved Lovely & Amazing — she came to a screening and by the end she was crying. I thought, “Oh good, if I can reduce her to tears, maybe I’ll work with her one day.” When we were casting, we said, “What about her?” And I called her and asked if she would read it, and she did.
Her character is somewhat unlikable — she knowingly falls for the wrong guys, steals from at least one of her clients, and spends much of her time obsessing over a $75 face cream. You don’t fall back on a “Bridget Jones”-style bouncy soundtrack and lots of self-affirmation to endear her to the audience.
She’s in a mess because she got herself there. The signs for the wrong guy are so clear on the first date — within the first three minutes you know: Don’t go out with him; don’t sleep with him. If she was anyone with any self-worth, she wouldn’t have done it. I wanted her to have an entitled quality, which is not likeable in anybody. So many people who have low self-esteem have a sense of self-entitlement.
How did Ricki Lee Jones come aboard to do the soundtrack?
I’m a huge fan of hers and e-mailed her manager. She wrote back two days later and said, “Let’s talk.” I couldn’t believe it. I was screaming. The music and movie worlds are so separate — I never felt like I could get that access. Next time, I’m going for Springsteen. I’m going to call The Boss.
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