Editor's Note: Being Elmo:A Puppeteer's Journey aires April 5 on PBS' Independent Lens. The following interview with producer/director Constance Marks was published during the film's run at IDA's DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase.
Over the next month, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the filmmakers whose work is represented in the DocuWeeksTM Theatrical Documentary Showcase, which runs from August 12 through September 1 in New York City and August 19 through September 8 in Los Angeles. We asked the filmmakers to share the stories behind their films--the inspirations, the challenges and obstacles, the goals and objectives, the reactions to their films so far.
So, to continue this series of conversations, here is Constance Marks, director/producer of Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey.
Synopsis: Beloved by children of all ages around the world, Elmo is an international icon. Few people know his creator, Kevin Clash, who dreamed of working with his idol, master puppeteer Jim Henson. Displaying his creativity and talent at a young age, Kevin ultimately found a home on Sesame Street. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, this documentary includes rare archival footage, interviews with Frank Oz, Rosie O'Donnell, Cheryl Henson, Joan Ganz Cooney and others, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street and the Jim Henson Workshop.
IDA: How did you get started in documentary filmmaking?
Constance Marks: I never formally studied filmmaking, but I took a couple of classes in high school during the summer. Using a 16mm silent film I had made at that time, when I got out of college I applied to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a "Youth Grant" to make a documentary film about a family in Appalachia. I was awarded the grant, and I shot the film and met a wonderful editor, Deborah Dickson, who not only edited the film, but taught me how to be an assistant editor. We cut the film in one of the editing rooms at Maysles Films, and soon after the film was completed, I was hired by Maysles Films as an apprentice editor. Return to Appalachia aired on PBS and was the opening night film at the Margaret Mead Film Festival that year.
Learning the craft of filmmaking from the perspective of the editing room was the perfect approach for me. I spent a couple of years syncing dailies shot by David and Albert Maysles, and was able to study what they were doing as they produced a story. I will always be grateful for that experience and the exposure to many of the most talented filmmakers of the day, working side by side in those editing rooms in the penthouse on 54th Street.
IDA: What inspired you to make Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey?
CM: Kevin Clash, the brilliant performer of Elmo, was the inspiration for Being Elmo. James Miller, our wonderful DP (and my husband), had been a cameraman on Sesame Street. When he came home one day with a VHS of Elmo sending love to our daughter, I was curious to know who was the man behind the furry red monster. I'd seen Elmo on Sesame Street and I thought he was endearing and wickedly funny; his movements and gestures were so brilliantly nuanced. James told me about Kevin's great talent and generosity. Eventually, Kevin and I had a four-hour lunch, and I was mesmerized by the man and the story of his life. I couldn't understand why nobody else had thought to make a film about him. Happily, Kevin agreed to let us follow him, though he had no idea it would be for six years.
IDA: What were some of the challenges and obstacles in making this film, and how did you overcome them?
CM: There were lots of challenges.
James and I produced the film for three years and we were far from finished. I was overwhelmed and burnt out raising money. I approached Corinne LaPook to help with fundraising. An old junior high school friend who was experienced in the business, Corinne soon became our other producer and an invaluable member of the team, whose duties went well beyond fundraising. It was a great relief to have her on the team.
But other problems loomed: I'd shot the film with a vérité approach. The editing room proved that this was not a good way to tell this particular story. When I found the right editor for this film, Philip Shane (Justin Weinstein later joined Philip), we still struggled mightily to find the best way to tell this story, but we eventually figured it out. We shot hours of intimate interviews, and focused on telling the story of Kevin's life from his perspective. If the vérité footage didn't work to move the story forward, out it went. It was brutal losing some remarkable scenes. I reassured myself that these scenes might have a future as DVD extras.
IDA: As you've screened Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey--whether on the festival circuit, or in screening rooms, or in living rooms--how have audiences reacted to the film? What has been most surprising or unexpected about their reactions?
CM: I am thrilled to watch audiences as they screen the film; they are surprised that watching Being Elmo is an emotional experience. Often, the film they watch was not the one they expected to see, and they leave the theater very happy and inspired. It doesn't get better than that. We learned from the first screening at Sundance that the film appeals to nine-year-olds and 90-year-olds--I didn't expect that to happen.
IDA: What docs or docmakers have served as inspirations for you?
CM: I've been deeply inspired by David and Albert Maysles, Barbara Kopple, Errol Morris, Michael Moore, Frederick Wiseman, Michael Apted. Though a fiction filmmaker, Kurosawa provides invaluable lessons in storytelling and composition. He is the King.
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey will be screening August 19 through 25 at the IFC Center in New York City, and September 2 through 8 at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles.
For the complete DocuWeeksTM 2011 program, click here.
To purchase tickets for Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey in New York, click here.
To purchase tickets for Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey in Los Angeles, click here.