JAMIE BABBIT
INTERVIEW BY JEREMY POWER REGIMBAL
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY EVE FOWLER
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Director Jamie Babbit juggles a full-time filmmaking career with single motherhood. How does she do it? By being fearless and never shying away from asking people for help, even strangers. She got her first big break by faking a resumé and convincing David Fincher to hire her on an eighty-million dollar movie. At 25, Jamie persuaded an investment banker to single-handedly finance her first film, which would go on to become the independent smash-hit, But I’m a Cheerleader. Today she no longer needs to fake her long list of credits which includes directing episodes of Alias, Nip/Tuck, United States of Tara, and 90210 and is she about to take on her fourth feature film. For me, the most admirable thing is she does it all and still manages to have time for her family. I got to sit down with Jamie and have a glass of wine in her stunning Los Angeles home while her two beautiful daughters skipped around, giggling and snapping Polaroids.
JEREMY—Hey Jamie. It’s so good to see you again… I think the last time I saw you was at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival). You seem to be keeping pretty busy.
JAMIE—Super busy. I’ve been directing a lot of TV lately and I have a Barbie commercial before Christmas too…
JPR—…Barbie?! Do you get to come up with an idea for that?
J—No, they already have the concept of Barbie escaping from out of her box, into the toy store at night.
JPR—Is it stop motion? Or how do they move…
J—…it’s going to be actors. The Barbie toy animates and comes to life, you know, the girls dance around and it’s sort of like Corduroy. Do you remember that story from when you were a kid?
JPR—Oh yeah, yeah… definitely. The little bear. Sounds fun, can’t wait see it. So, When did you first move out to LA from Ohio?
J—When I was eighteen, I left Ohio, and I went to New York City. I was there for six years and working in the film business and going to college and I realized that I wanted to make independent films and that the place to be to make a career for yourself was out in LA…
JPR— …how did you start out in the film industry?
J—I started acting when I was nine years old, but when I was in college I realized I didn’t like the life of an actor. I didn’t like not having control of my life and not being able to do what I want to do. I like bossing people around and I don’t like waiting for people to boss me around.
JPR—I know that feeling, it’s scary when you can’t create your own opportunities. An actor can to some degree, but it’s not the same as when you’re producing or directing.
J—Yeah. Totally. I knew in college that I wanted to get behind the camera and my first internship was for Martin Scorsese as his personal assistant on The Age of Innocence. That was a really great job because I had his storyboards, shot lists and phone references at my disposal. He was a great director to work for because he’s really into film history and super gracious. He’s like a teacher to everyone and doesn’t try act like he’s a genius.
JPR—How did you get that job?
J—I just found the name of the production company and I called them and I said, “Can I work for you guys, for free?” That was a really good lesson for me, early on. If you just ask people, you never know what you can get. Eventually they were, like, “We feel really uncomfortable that you’re working for free so we feel like we should pay you something…”
JPR—…You’re like, “Um… OK!”… When you first started out what was the thing that specifically attracted you to film?
J—I started in theater, as an actor and I realized that after a play would be over that you had nothing to show for it… it was just too depressing to me to be a part of something amazing and in ten years, it’s gone. It was that permanent quality of cinema that I wanted to sink my teeth into…
JPR—… and is it true that David Fincher gave you his short ends (left over film) to make your short film, Sleeping Beauties?
J—Yeah, what happened was, I worked for Scorsese then I worked for John Sayles on The Secret of Roan Inish. I worked in the office on both of those and I really wanted to get on set to learn more of the technical side. So I made a fake resumé and I was at a film screening and I met David Fincher. He asked what I did and I said, “Oh, I’m a script supervisor.” Which was basically a lie. I was twenty-four or something, I’d literally been in LA for two weeks and he asked me to come in and interview. So I went in with my fake resume and got hired for an eighty-million dollar Michael Douglas movie…
JPR—…That was The Game, wasn’t it?
J—Yeah, he had just done Se7en and he was super young and arrogant and didn’t ask me any questions in the interview. It was my first film, it was the editor’s first film and it was the D.P.’s first film. None of us had ever done big films before. The thing about David is that he probably is better at everyone’s job than they are so he’s really confident hiring people ‘cause he doesn’t really care, he’s kinda going to do your job anyway. He just wants people that he likes and that aren’t annoying. When we were on set together, I told him I was directing a short film and I asked if I could use the short ends and his Avid system to edit and he said “Yeah, that’s fine.” Then I asked Michael Douglas if he would write me a letter to Paramount. So I got free locations, free costumes, free props and shot the whole thing on their lot. I really feel like the most important thing I’ve ever done in my whole life is just asking people, ‘cause a lot of times, they say “yes.”