Watching wily old writer/director James Toback chatting up dewy-eyed Neve Campbell in WHEN WILL I BE LOVED is to witness a veteran Hollywood player at the top of his game.
Casting himself in a small role as a university professor, Toback is pictured talking to a sophisticated young deb named Vera (Neve Campbell) about a job as a research assistant although he seems to be suggesting there are other positions she could fill as well.
Since the dialogue is largely improvised it is not unreasonable to assume Toback is fluent in this kind of doublespeak in real life. In the film-maker's 1987 opus The Pick-Up Artist Robert Downey Jr. plays a smooth-talking womanizer rumored to be based on Toback's own experiences. It is possible to see why Toback succeeded where other directors have failed in getting the comely Ms. Campbell to take it all off for her art (which she does in this film.)
Toback was nominated for a screen writing Oscar for 1991's Bugsy but it is small personal films like 1978's Fingers and 1997's Two Girls and a Guy that have earned him hipster cred among Hollywood's cool young elite.
The filmmaker encourages his actors to become involved in the creative process. In Campbell's case, "I came to her with 35 pages of script and we ended up talking for 12 hours and throwing ideas around and becoming very inspired by each other," he tells us on the DVD commentary track. (We also learn on the DVD that the film was shot in 12 days followed by 8 months of editing. Toback's tips on how to shoot fast and cheap are essential viewing for any young filmmaker with big themes and a miniscule budget.)
Campbell won the best reviews of her career for her performance but the entire cast sink their teeth into the meaty provocative dialogue with relish.
The script has Vera, described by Campbell on the DVD as "empowered, somewhat manipulative but strong ", exacting an unexpected revenge on her fast-talking hustler boyfriend (Frederick Weller) after he attempts to negotiate a tryst with an elderly billionaire (Dominic Chianese of Sopranos fame ) who has become fixated on her and willing to pay any price to indulge his obsession.
The improbable plot line serves as a vehicle for Toback to explore his "curiosity about sexuality and physicality but also human nature and what drives people to do the things they do." (Toback leaves it to his cast to improvise their own sex scenes - like a lesbian encounter between Campbell and Ashley Shelton.)
The prickly auteur has a cheerful disregard for conventional rules of film-making and it shows. The conversation between the professor and Vera probably goes on too long and there is a bizarre scene with boxer Mike Tyson that defies description. Yet Toback makes no apologies.
"With this film there is no right or wrong answer. The way that people respond or decide who Vera is has a lot to do with who they are, which I find interesting."
Casting himself in a small role as a university professor, Toback is pictured talking to a sophisticated young deb named Vera (Neve Campbell) about a job as a research assistant although he seems to be suggesting there are other positions she could fill as well.
Since the dialogue is largely improvised it is not unreasonable to assume Toback is fluent in this kind of doublespeak in real life. In the film-maker's 1987 opus The Pick-Up Artist Robert Downey Jr. plays a smooth-talking womanizer rumored to be based on Toback's own experiences. It is possible to see why Toback succeeded where other directors have failed in getting the comely Ms. Campbell to take it all off for her art (which she does in this film.)
Toback was nominated for a screen writing Oscar for 1991's Bugsy but it is small personal films like 1978's Fingers and 1997's Two Girls and a Guy that have earned him hipster cred among Hollywood's cool young elite.
The filmmaker encourages his actors to become involved in the creative process. In Campbell's case, "I came to her with 35 pages of script and we ended up talking for 12 hours and throwing ideas around and becoming very inspired by each other," he tells us on the DVD commentary track. (We also learn on the DVD that the film was shot in 12 days followed by 8 months of editing. Toback's tips on how to shoot fast and cheap are essential viewing for any young filmmaker with big themes and a miniscule budget.)
Campbell won the best reviews of her career for her performance but the entire cast sink their teeth into the meaty provocative dialogue with relish.
The script has Vera, described by Campbell on the DVD as "empowered, somewhat manipulative but strong ", exacting an unexpected revenge on her fast-talking hustler boyfriend (Frederick Weller) after he attempts to negotiate a tryst with an elderly billionaire (Dominic Chianese of Sopranos fame ) who has become fixated on her and willing to pay any price to indulge his obsession.
The improbable plot line serves as a vehicle for Toback to explore his "curiosity about sexuality and physicality but also human nature and what drives people to do the things they do." (Toback leaves it to his cast to improvise their own sex scenes - like a lesbian encounter between Campbell and Ashley Shelton.)
The prickly auteur has a cheerful disregard for conventional rules of film-making and it shows. The conversation between the professor and Vera probably goes on too long and there is a bizarre scene with boxer Mike Tyson that defies description. Yet Toback makes no apologies.
"With this film there is no right or wrong answer. The way that people respond or decide who Vera is has a lot to do with who they are, which I find interesting."