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Issue link: https://fairweathermagazine.epubxp.com/i/144159
Shooting ElainE JULIE KEYES talks to director ChIEmI KaraSawa about flming the legendary Broadway star. JK: Give me the specs on the movie. CK: Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me is a ferocious, funny and poignant portrait of the one-ofa-kind Broadway legend as she reaches her 87th year. The flm premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and will soon be distributed in 15 cities by IFC/Sundance Selects Release. Did you expect the wonderful reaction the flm has had? Well, I have to say, if it didn't fnd an audience I would have been a bit surprised, as Elaine is such a wonderful character. how did you feel about her when you frst met her and how do you feel about her now? When I frst met her I had a lot of preconceptions about what she'd be like based on her "performer" character. I didn't imagine what an honest, open and vulnerable person she might be, with the insecurities anyone with her talent and fame might have. has she changed your life? There are not enough words. She is the Auntie Mame I never had, she has given me the greatest gift of all - our relationship and the time we spent making this flm together. Do you think that you have fgured Elaine out? Never. She continues to fascinate and beguile me. And entertain, inspire and infuriate me! And I love that. 40 | SUMMER 2013 | FAIRWEATHER Above: One of Elaine's Emmys. Right: Elaine in her bedroom wearing her famous black glasses. Elaine's perfectionism is on display. The pillows must be right, the pen must be where it goes, no dishes in the sink. The condo was furnished and decorated when Elaine moved in, but she has already put a great deal of her signature touches on the place. Her Tony and Emmy Awards shine on top of the piano, and there are references to New York all over the place. She brought most of her awards, letters and photos to Michigan. The rest adorn a room in New York's Stella Adler Studio of Acting, which honored Elaine and George Takei last month. It is the place where Elaine made her start, with Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau, Eli Wallach and others. "I am terrifed," she says. "Terrifed about aging, terrifed about managing the home and terrifed of being alone." Bella is setting her hair, Marge is making eggs (just right, of course), the homecare worker is vacuuming, and the phone is ringing endlessly—New York, California, friends and family. We had to interrupt this tsunami named Elaine to interview her. Her schedule is hard-wired from years of working in theater. She is always up until 4 a.m., and sleeps until well after noon. At frst, this is difcult for the healthcare workers in the suburbs of Detroit to understand, but her signature ability to charm anyone and anything within earshot did not disappoint. She came home with the bang. First, she stayed in Detroit for fve days to accept the Apple Award, given for lifetime achievement by the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance at Wayne State University and the Fisher Theatre on behalf of the Nederlander family. There were dinners with the college deans and it seemed the entire city of Detroit was happy to have her home. So, she is fnding it difcult to describe her new life because it has been a plethora of parties and activity. Elaine quips with her best Groucho imitation, "Time will tell.'' And later: "No one has been anything but extremely kind to me here, and big deal, 'oh, Elaine Stritch.' Everybody's nice.'' Still, lost is the word she uses to describe the way she feels at the moment. "I don't want to discourage anyone,'' she says. "I certainly had enough money to buy a terrifc condo, but it's not as good looking to me as it is to visitors who say, 'Oh! What a joint.' I've been to a lot of swanky places in my life.'' Elaine describes the diference between retirement and semi-retirement with her usual fair. "Semi-retirement: the TV is on. Full retirement: the TV is shut of. "I am making a stab at it,'' she sighs, referring to what can best be described as semi-retirement. "I am not going to do eight shows a week, but I am not going to do nothing. I don't know what it would be like to live without activity. I've only been here for a couple weeks and I'm not reading the paper and drinking cofee, but I'm getting my makeup done. I don't know if this is the right direction, but time will tell.'' I ask Elaine if she has a love letter for New York. "More, my thank you note, since they set me up on a high wire, and it was a good feeling,'' she says. "How many people get the Carlyle staf in the lobby saying thank you for being with us? Tear time. And my parting line was they'll get mufns for Christmas.''