Michael Hoffman admits he has never had much interest in doing a film about Leo Tolstoy.
“I’m not a massive Tolstoy fan,” says Hoffman as we sit in his hotel room towards the end of a long, rainy New York day. “I love Dostoyevsky more. I love Chekhov more.”
In fact, the first time he read The Last Station, Jay Parini’s novel about the final year of the Russian writer’s life, Hoffman had absolutely no connection to the material. But the filmmaker did eventually embrace the story and turn it into the new film of the same name, starring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren.
What changed his mind?
“The reason I didn’t see a film in it the first time I read it is I wasn’t married,” continues Hoffman. “The second time, I had been married for 10 years. I’d established a different kind of contact between myself and the material during that period and my guess is it was that... the marriage intrigued me.”
Love and marriage is at the heart of The Last Station. It is a fascinating portrayal of a long, loving, but often strained relationship between 82-year-old Leo Tolstoy and Countess Sofya, his wife of 50 years. As the story unfolds, they are Russia’s most celebrated couple. The success of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, along with Tolstoy’s royal heritage (his mother was Countess Mariya Tolstaya), has afforded them a life of luxury.
But instead of living out their final days in comfort and peace, Tolstoy is renouncing his opulent lifestyle. He heads a religious movement that embraces poverty and purity. His close friend Chertkov is positioning Tolstoy to be a spiritual icon -- a Christlike figurehead for his followers to worship. Chertkov is also urging the writer to will the copyrights to all his books to the people of Russia. Though uncomfortable with the former, Tolstoy is considering the latter. Sofya, who more than sees the human failings of her larger than life husband, believes the fortune rightly belongs to her and their heirs -- specifically the 13 children they raised. Her rejection of his newfound beliefs is tearing the couple apart. But the bonds of a half century of matrimony is also a powerful force. As Tolstoy grows away from his wife, he is constantly questioning whether he should stay or go. The drift also causes Sofya to resort to some outrageous -- and oftentimes hysterically funny acts -- to try to sway her husband to her way of thinking.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Hoffman has built his career as a writer/director on an eclectic mix of comedy and drama including Promised Land, Some Girls, Soapdish, Restoration, One Fine Day and The Emperor’s Club. The Last Station deftly mixes these two elements as it explores the different aspects of love from the joy of its first blossom to the advantages and pitfalls of one that has lasted a lifetime.
Hoffman’s main concern was to show how challenging a marriage can be. To do this, he decided to ignore the structure of Parini’s novel which has each chapter narrated by a different character. Instead, he crafted the screenplay so that the story unfolds through the eyes of just one -- Valentin (James McAvoy).
“When you deal with a relationship that has a lot of history in it, you have to have an access point with a character who doesn’t know that history,” continues Hoffman. “Otherwise, there is no way you can get that out to the audience. The audience is experiencing that ride with him.”
When we first meet Valentin, a true believer in the Tolstoyan tenets, he is signing on to be Tolstoy’s personal assistant. Recruited by Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), Valentin is also instructed to keep an eye on Sofya and report back to Chertkov on anything she may be doing to undermine the cause. Two things cause Valentin to question his beliefs. He meets Masha (Kerry Condon), another young Tolstoyan, who urges him to forgo the religion’s vow of chastity. In the process, she opens Valentin up to the joy of love. And then Valentin gets to know the Tolstoys themselves. The more time he spends with each, the more he realizes their love may be more important than adhering so strictly to the Tolstoyan laws. No one convinces Valentin of this more than Tolstoy, who admits that with all the indiscretions he’s committed throughout the years, he’s a lousy follower of his own movement.
None of this would work without the tour de force performances by Plummer and Mirren. Both are of an award-worthy caliber and arguably among the best of their careers. The chemistry they bring to the couple is undeniable. You never doubt that these two have spent a lifetime together.
“We don’t question it,” says Hoffman. “The thing that Christopher and Helen brought to the party is the way this couple communicates after they’ve been married for 40, 50 years. There’s not a way to direct that. Strangely, it’s how little attention they pay to each other. Or they only pay attention in specific moments. It’s how they touch each other, or don’t touch each other. Even though there’s always conflict, there’s also an underlying sense of comfort.”
Hoffman couldn’t be more thrilled with the performance of his two leads. During the project’s inception, at one point the producers were considering casting a younger man to play Tolstoy (Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep were reported as the leads back in 2006). But the director believes it was a stroke of genius to use someone closer to Tolstoy’s age. Plummer turned 80 last December.
“If we had cast a 65-year-old actor, that actor is going to spend most of his time and energy showing you what it is to be 80 years old,” says Hoffman. “When we gave it to Chris, we realized how young 80 years old is. He so vibrant and energetic and sexual.”
Mirren gave him an entirely different surprise in her portrayal. As often as Hoffman has directed one of his own screenplays, he claims this is the first time he’s ever heard a performer say the words exactly how they were envisioned when he wrote them.
“It was unreal, the rhythm of it was precisely what I heard,” continues Hoffman. “I’ve never had this experience. I felt that she connected on a deep level to what I trying to get done.”
Mirren’s total commitment to the script also impressed him. Hoffman admits that it isn’t unusual for actors to want to change their dialogue. He particularly cites Robert Downey Jr. as someone with a penchant for tossing out screenplay pages. “He’s always like, ‘This is a piece of shit. Let’s start over. Let’s improv,’” laughs Hoffman.
But Hoffman says the only time Mirren and he argued was when he wanted to change her lines. She implored him not to do that.
Hoffman also praises the strong element of desire that Plummer and Mirren were able to express. Perhaps the best demonstration of this is a scene where Sofya, in bed, lures Tolstoy into joining her for a session of lovemaking. With her encouragement, as he undresses, he lustfully begins crowing like a rooster.
Hoffman reveals that he conceived this scene late in the process. It wasn’t in the book. Though he thought it would be a great way to show the couple’s state of mind, he first believed it went too far. The thought of Tolstoy boisterously crowing as he drops his pants seemed just plain ridiculous when Hoffman put it on the page. But everyone seemed to like the scene and the director felt they should give it a try. It turned out to be a great decision.
“It was probably one of my easiest days on the set as the director,” laughs Hoffman. “They just gave themselves over to it and went for it. I just love the scene. I love the both of them in it.”
Earlier Hoffman efforts include Some Girls, Soapdish and Restoration
