Article
(r)Eviews
By Mike & Paula Parker
"2ND HAND LIONS" WRITER/DIRECTOR TIM McCANLIES TALKS ABOUT MANHOOD
"…movies like "To Kill a Mockingbird," and "Old Yeller." Those were movies that were really about something. Can you imagine trying to make “Old Yeller” today? Old Yeller gets rabies and you have to shoot him at the end? You couldn’t make it today." - Tim McCanlies
The screenwriter who penned the phenomenally well-received animated classic, "The Iron Giant," and the small, but likable buddy film, "Dancer, Texas- pop. 81" finally got to direct the story that was closest to his heart. New Line Cinema's "Secondhand Lions," a semi-autobiographical story, was so personal to writer/director Tim McCanlies that he refused to sell the script, bidding his time until he could make it the way he wanted. (r)Eviews spent some quality time on the phone with McCanlies talking about the film and its message of what it means to be a man.
(r)Eviews - As a screenwriter you are known for writing big, blow-stuff-up, active films, but the films you have directed tend to be more sweet than violent.
Tim McCanlies - I was a character writer, but it seemed like I was always getting called on to do action movies. Honestly, I just got tired of writing movies where something blows up every ten minutes. I had to ask myself, 'What do I want to write about? What kind of movies do I really like to watch?' And the kind of movies I liked were adult movies with young protagonists - movies like "To Kill a Mockingbird," and "Old Yeller." Those were movies that were really about something. Can you imagine trying to make “Old Yeller” today? Old Yeller gets rabies and you have to shoot him at the end? You couldn’t make it today.
Adults in films are too hip and cynical to swallow any kind of message, but when we watch a movie with a young protagonist we sort of remember what it was like when we were a kid, and maybe we are a little more open to the message.
(r)Eviews - Your latest film, "Secondhand Lions," is a gentle, funny, coming-of age story, and seems to point out what it means to be a man. Why is that such a difficult topic for men to talk about?
McCanlies - I wish I knew. We get a lot of mixed messages today. Roles have certainly changed in our society. Men used to be the hunters and gatherers, but these once masculine virtues are no longer solely masculine. Women can compete with men on an equal level in so many ways. I think we are a little confused as to exactly what our role is.
In once scene in the film, Bobby Duvall gets into a fight with a bunch of teenagers, but then he takes them home, patches them up, feeds them dinner and then straightens them out. He gives them a life lesson that they needed and says ‘They are going to be okay now.’
I struggled to figure out what it is that men teach boys. I started from the premise that you should have your own moral code. Even if everyone around you is cutting corners and playing it a little fast with the rules, and even if they are succeeding by doing that, it doesn’t mean that you should. You should do things for the right reasons. Even if it was not true that ‘Virtue is its own reward,’ you should still do it because it is the right thing to do.
We live in an age when companies like Enron make millions of dollars and run off with it while stockholders are left holding the bag, when it seems a lot of corporate executives are getting huge salaries while pension funds are in trouble, when everyone is out for #1 and that's not right. One guy cheats on his taxes and has a big house, while the guy who doesn’t cheat lives in a tiny place. But the bottom line is you should do these things just because they are the right things to do. Not because you expect a reward in heaven and not because you expect a payback someday in this life, but just because it is the right thing to do.
Doesn’t that seem like the kind of thing that a good man would know; would tell his son? The happy people are the ones who have said, ‘At the end of my life I am going to be able to look back at my life and be proud of the way I lived.’
(r)Eviews - There is a key phrase that Duvall's character uses to sum up the essence of manhood - "There are things a man has to believe in, whether or not they are true."
McCanlies - That’s what faith is. That is the essence of faith. You don’t have physical evidence, but you choose to believe. There may even be evidence against it. Yet you still choose to believe.
"Secondhand Lions," rated PG for mild language and action violence, is currently available on video and DVD.