Q&A: Serious Moonlight

"They just went for it," said Cheryl Hines, referring to Serious Moonlight stars Meg Ryan and Kristen Bell. "Watching the two blondes rolling on the floor [in a "fight" scene] was very fun." It's impossible to recreate Hines' daffy comic energy in person with the words that she said, but trust us, it was a funny comment.

In her directorial debut, the Curb Your Enthusiasm actress takes on a tough genre, a dark romantic comedy that is mostly a two-hander centering around a marriage. Ryan and Timothy Hutton star as the couple-under-fire, and Bell and Justin Long appear to spice up the mix. It's both funny and sad and a testament to the power of duct tape, which is mostly used to tie Hutton to a chair and to a toilet. For a good portion of the film.

An audience member asked Hines, "How much money did you have to give Tim Hutton to tape him to the toilet?" One of the producers quipped, "It's actually a fetish of his and he did it for free." Hines continued, "He is one of the few actors who can find the comedy in a character that can definitely be unlikable, so we were so lucky. He probably never wants to see duct tape again. Or a toilet!"

Hines discussed how she came to the project; producers Andy Ostroy and Michael Roiff were looking for someone to honor Adrienne Shelly's script, and after working with Shelly on Waitress, Hines was a good fit. While she was nervous about making her debut, she made sure to give lots of credit to her collaborators: "I tried to surround myself with good people. That's the trick in life. I don't know if I should tell you that!"

Roiff, however, made sure to give Hines credit: "Cheryl won't say how natural she was as a director. She ran a set that was a happy set and a fun set and you wanted to come to work that day and do your best, which is 130% of the job."

And what about that fish? [SLIGHT SPOILER] A fish may bite the dust in one of the film's most shockingly funny scenes, but according to the Moonlight team, the fish was okay in real life: "No fish died in the making of this film!" said Hines, and her collaborators chimed in: "It was a SAG fish!" "He's a great actor!" "He's got another premiere tonight down the road so he couldn't make it!"
 

Serious Moonlight is screening throughout the festival. Cheryl Hines was one of our earlier Faces of the Festival.


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