Talking About the Sunshine State

By Anthony Arnove, AlterNet. Posted May 29, 2002.

The collaborative relationship of John Sayles and Maggie Renzi has transformed independent filmmaking. "In terms of popular culture, what movies probably do best is to simplify things, make things heroic," Sayles says. In contrast, Sayles and Renzi have made films -- such as "Lone Star," "Men With Guns," and "Matewan" -- that examine difficult issues of memory, dispossession, identity, and culture. Their latest collaborative project, "Sunshine State," which opens in select cities on June 21, is no exception.

The film, starring Edie Falco of "The Soprano’s," Angela Bassett, Mary Steenburgen, and Timothy Hutton, explores conflicts over the commercialization of a northern Florida beach community. Since working together on the path breaking 1980 film "Return of the Secaucus 7," Renzi has produced eleven films written and directed (and in some cases edited) by Sayles. Four of their films have been recently restored and are being released to theaters by IFC Films (see www.johnsaylesretro.com for details). This summer, Sayles is shooting in Mexico for a new project called "Casa de los Babys." In April, Sayles and Renzi received the "Storytellers Award" from the Taos Talking Picture Film Festival. Sayles and Renzi's film, "Sunshine State," opens June 21 in New York, Los Angeles and selected theaters (released by Sony Pictures Classics).

Q: What gave you the idea for "Sunshine State"?

John Sayles: I had started off planning to make another film set in Florida. I was scouting the Gulf Coast of Florida, looking for locations for a movie based on a short story I had written some years ago about treasure hunters. And I was unable to find the Florida I had remembered, even though it had been only 12 years since I had last been down there. I was amazed by how much Florida had changed. That old-fashioned, tacky tourism had just disappeared, and had been replaced by corporate tourism. All the small Florida towns now had 7-11s, Denny’s, and chains like that. Most of the Gulf Coast was covered with gated communities and condo villages.

I started thinking about what those changes mean for a community, and I started thinking about the Florida I remembered. Looking through the Lonely Planet guide to Florida, I came across a story about American Beach on Amelia Island, north of Jacksonville. It was a black-owned beach that started in the 1930s and was a place blacks could go where they did not have to deal with segregation. I had heard of American Beach before, and I knew people whose parents and grandparents had visited there. So I visited, and it seemed like a great centerpiece for a story. The movie is about a number of people’s stories, paralleling and crossing each other, a bit like my movie "City of Hope" in a way. We worked with wonderful people on this project, including Angela Bassett, Edie Falco from "The Soprano’s," Mary Steenburgen, Miguel Ferrer, Timothy Hutton, and Jane Alexander.

Maggie Renzi: "Sunshine State" is a story about these two women, each of them a daughter in a different family, who refuse to leave their community. It’s about Mary Steenburgen and her struggle to keep the faith, and her marriage. The characters are immediately engaging. You get this great collection of people in this community, and you care about them. You care whether or not Edie Falco and Tim Hutton will stay together. Your engagement is not about plot, but the people.

Q: Do you see the film as commenting on changes that are happening elsewhere in the United States?

Sayles: Absolutely. Because Florida has always been up for grabs, many things happen there first. It’s a state with many people who come from other places. So community roots may not go very deep in some cases, while in other cases they go very deep.

To me, Florida has always represented the triumph of advertising, making people believe in something before they have even seen it. The population density of Florida was relatively low until people started advertising real estate there. People bought land that did not even exist yet. It was literally water that was dredged and filled using the money people sent in to buy plots of land.

Q: Are you also commenting on corporate influences in culture, with the greater concentration of media outlets?

Sayles: Sure. You see more homogenization and corporate influence in every business -- especially in the entertainment business. Diversity is challenged by the concentration of these international conglomerates.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »