We spoke to Laura Colella, the writer/director/editor of BREAKFAST WITH CURTIS (2012) – a film Paul Thomas Anderson called “a smile from beginning to end”. It follows Syd, a bibulous bibliophile, and his attempts to rebuild a bridge between his hippie housemates and the family next door – including the shy young creative, Curtis. BREAKFAST has won US acclaim for the strength of the amateur actors’ performances, the affectionate direction and the humorous sentimentality of the dialogue; and it will soon enjoy a worldwide digital release.

Ferry Hunt: Rarely do you see such a believable depiction of community as the one Curtis finds himself in. is this something you craved as a child, or experienced?

Laura Colella: I played with children in my neighborhood growing up, but adults other than my parents were basically alien and invisible to me. The community in the film is multigenerational, and is an accurate reflection of the one I live in now. I was trying to capture the fun and creative characters I’ve been fortunate to live around for many years.

Slavishness to plot is what accounts for a lot of bad movies…

FH: Folks talk about your movie, which covers a young boy’s “seminal summer”, as plotless. Would you argue that it does indeed have a plot, or do you stand by the belief that it best represents reality in its lack of plot?

LC: Plot is overrated! It’s something we’re used to, involving a set-up, twists, and a more-or-less predictable framework and outcome. But the plot isn’t usually what we love about a movie, and in many cases cheapens it. It’s all in the details, and the plot is an armature for them. If you can make something that is engaging, and moves along well, without a formulaic and predictable structure, and that has themes that can strike people as resonant and meaningful, and can make them feel like they’ve seen something fresh and well-crafted on its own terms, then I think that’s ideal. Slavishness to plot is what accounts for a lot of bad movies that are just like a hundred other bad movies, and constant attempts to find new shocking/violent/horrible things to happen just to create conflict, and lazy, repetitive writing in general.

I based all the characters on people I knew very well, so in a sense they were unknowingly improvising for me for years…

FH: How was your hyperrealistic script developed, did you use much improvisation?

LC: I based all the characters on people I knew very well, so in a sense they were unknowingly improvising for me for years before any of us knew the film would be made. After I proposed the idea of making it, we met individually and in groups to brainstorm ideas for their characters, but then I went off to write the screenplay on my own.

FH: It was a seemingly important scene to see that Curtis was in fact innocent of Syd’s accusations. Why did you choose to have this scene?

LC: To me, revisiting this scene is not so much about Curtis’s guilt or innocence, but about a shift to his perspective. The first time we see a more adult or objective view of the events, but the second time it’s filmed completely differently, embedded in his fantasy. And the music from his harmonica isn’t the tuneless squawking from the first scene, but a kind of full, virtuosic anthem. There are only a few times when I try to get into Curtis’s head a little in the film, and that’s one of them. Most of the rest focuses on the antics of the adults swirling around him.

FH: Where do you see Curtis five years on from the final scene in the film?

LC: We joke about sequels to the movie all the time, and clearly the title lends itself to that (lunch, dinner…) But in reality, I don’t even think of where I see myself or those around me in five years, let alone fictional characters! So I guess I’ll have to answer that if we ever do make that sequel. I’d like to think he’ll be somewhere interesting and unexpected.

BREAKFAST WITH CURTIS will be released digitally on January 14, but is now eligible for pre-order through the website, www.breakfastwithcurtis.com.

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