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“Being a film producer is like childbirth. You really have to forget the pain or else you wouldn’t keep doing it.”
So claimed Christine Vachon, speaking at the Variety Lounge at Edinburgh International Film Festival,
where the prolific indie film icon gave a brief insight into the pain — but also joy — of producing. It’s something she’s famously been doing for more than three decades and with a growing host of directors, including Todd Haynes, John Cameron Mitchell, Rose Troche and Celine Song, to name just a small few. Indeed, Killer Films, the company she co-founded with Pamela Koffler, last year celebrated its 30th anniversary.
But the “childbirth” comment came in reference to Haynes’ latest film, “De Noche,” which has had more than its fair share of ups and downs. The gay romance, set in Mexico in the 1930s, was originally due to star Joaquin Phoenix, before the actor abruptly pulled out just days before production was due to start, sending the project into free fall (a reminder that forced Vachon to have a large gulp of wine during the Variety Lounge conversation). But it was thankfully resurrected, this time with Pedro Pascal in the lead and shot last year.
“I think we got the happy ending that we deserved, or that Todd deserved, which is Pedro Pascal ultimately playing the role,” Vachon said. “And the glass half full version of that is everything happens for a reason.”
While Vachon noted there weren’t any “drastic” changes made to “De Noche” after swapping its leads, she said that the film was originally based in Guadalajara, but once resurrected moved to Mexico City. “And obviously, Pedro brought his own interpretation of the character to the script.”
Vachon was in Edinburgh for the first time since opening the film festival with Haynes’ “Velvet Goldmine” in 1998 (and claims she remembers the “fantastic party” held for the film). This time, she was attended as producer on “Pretty Babies” by Tyler-Marie Evans, another debut director to add to her growing roster of filmmakers she’s helped launch into the industry.
But even after 30-plus years of doing so, Vachon said she still maintained the same level of excitement when discovering new voices like Evans (with whom she’s already working on another feature).
“I kind of feel in some ways it’s the antidote. It’s the secret sauce that you need as a producer,” she explained. “Because the business is so hard, and it’s very hard not to get cynical. And cynicism, to me, is the great creativity killer. We all love the nasty person at the edge of the room who says what no one else will say. On the other hand, if you listen to that voice all day long, you don’t want to make art.”
But first-time filmmakers are often “telling the story they’ve spent their whole life waiting to tell, and you can’t be cynical around that,” she added. “So I think for Killer, part of what’s kept us going, the vampire blood or what have you, are the young filmmakers who come in and you see their excitement and you see their fearlessness — and it just makes you realize why it’s worth doing.”
