“I found ‘Celeste’s Holiday’ full of charm, and wit and warmth. I really don’t know if it’s a screenplay or a book. I suppose it could be an American movie although the rhythm and insight seem to me to be more European than American.”
–Impressions of Talley's “Celeste's Holiday” from John Lahr, Theater critic and author
Interview With the Writer
by Josh Kwassman
What do you want the industry to know about you?
“I write spec scripts evocative of Hollywood's golden age in that the plots are driven by realistic conflicts, but the endings are more textured than those of classic Hollywood endings. They’re “happy” but with an element of pathos.
The protagonists are strong women – think Genna Rowlands from youth to old age – who appear gentle but are eventually forced to show their true mettle in dealing with conflict. The antagonists come in all dimensions— young, old, dead or alive. The stories unfold in everyday rhythms with touches of humor while a simmering drama mounts to a showdown leading to resolution before a never-saw-it-coming ending. Real life is so unpredictable.”
Do you have a common theme in your scripts?
“Yes and no. My plots are diverse, yet all take place in upper-middle-class or 1%’er environments. Don’t let privilege fool you, the rich have their own brand of burdens. While my protagonists are strong women, that’s not to say their male counterparts are diminished in any way. I like to switch sexual stereotypes and often give the men in my scripts the softer, more introspective, sentimental roles.”
What interests do you have that lend to your work?
“I enjoy photography. Often it’s my form of inspiration for a story. A shot’s surrounding atmosphere, body language, expressions, can be the core idea for an entire film.
Take this serene poolside, for instance. A bar is partially set up in semi-readiness for a party and yet there are no people in the shot. We assume a host and hostess are perhaps upstairs dressing, rehearsing toasts, searching for a dropped earring, mundane things like that.
And yet, my script might take this image and tell a different story....
“The day began with the Bigelow family in high spirits, about to celebrate daughter Camilla’s engagement. The caterers are in full swing, busy in the kitchen preparing trays of canapes, the family upstairs dressing when suddenly blaring Air Raid sirens can be heard in the distance and a warning comes over iPhones..
The staff abandons tenderloin nibbles and run to their cars. The Bigelow family huddles together in the master bedroom, frantic, weeping, and hit their phones. A wide-screen TV announces that a nuclear warhead will strike the upper East Coast within forty minutes. – A grim fate, and the ultimate common denominator.’”
Whoa, didn't see that coming!
(Laughter) “Welcome to my personal ‘Twilight Zone,’ a show I adored back in the Rod Serling days. All my scripts have a moment in which reality shifts into a second reality, a place of shock or mystery— unfamiliar energy that heralds a profound change.
It doesn’t have to be as extreme as a nuclear strike or death, it can be just slightly off kilter, like a popular Great Neck physician’s shameful secret that his late father was a highly decorated Nazi.
Or, for lighter fare, Bruno, a friendly village butcher spends his lonely evenings writing exquisite love letters he never sends to a beautiful patron he admires from afar, little knowing she travels through three towns just to patronize his shop and receive his warm smile.”
Mind if I ask about your childhood?
“Why? Did the missile strike spook you?” (laughter)
On the contrary, I’m just curious! (more laughter)
“It was a happy one. A year after I was born, my sister Polly arrived. I think you could describe my parents as not only loving, but also brave—they already had a stunning bobby-soxer in the house— my sister Ethel, a dead ringer for Alexis Smith.
What I remember the most about my childhood is enchantment, a feeling that has never left me. Every Sunday, my parents had an outing planned, partly to allow Ethel to have the house to herself, I suspect.
The outing was always top secret until we reached our destination. Dad would start the car up and exclaim, ‘Off we go in a cloud of optimism.’
The excursions were adventures, to a zoo, lunch at the very grand Parker House in Boston, or visiting the nearby Cherry Hill Dairy Farm to pat the cows in their stanchions.
The dairy sat on a hill with a set of four towering stanchion-like conjoined swings, as if built by NASA. Parental propulsion pushed Polly and me so high we could see the neighboring towns. It was awesome. Those swings are long gone. Their lengthy rope offered such reach they’d probably be banned now. Child rearing is so uptight these days.
How did you become a screenwriter?
“Long story, do you have the time?”
Of course! This is fun!
“Well, I think it starts for anyone in the industry — a love of movies.
As a child, I was always allowed to watch the Oscars no matter how late, and one year, I was awed by a screenwriter hoisting up her Oscar and declaring, ‘It took twenty years to get this film made!” That remark impressed me to no end. It showed how films can take years to be made after conception. Little did I know how personally prophetic that would be for reasons outside of marketing them, but my scripts are forever timely.
I must give a shout-out to the great monologist Ruth Draper’s immense body of work. It’s sad more people don’t know more about her talent. I played her recordings a lot, they amazed me. My daughters loved it when I’d tuck them in at night and agree to their pleas, “Do Ruth Draper, Mom.” Kids get a kick out of their mother turning into an actress and I’d act out monologues I’d dream up. In turn, like Miss Draper, my little girls’ imaginations knew no bounds in make believe. I owe much to Ruth Draper’s genius in terms of divizing plots.
In the summer of 1992, I took part in a jolly band of vetted writers to study creative writing for two weeks at Brasenose College, Oxford. Our guest professor for script writing was Colin Dexter, creator of the PBS Inspector Morse series.
My room overlooking a verdant quad was transportive and Colin was a relaxed, informative teacher. He liked my writing and, perhaps because all the other writers were couples, I was the teacher’s pet, with Colin taking me to his favorite pub for lunches.
The new millennium arrived, my daughters were now happily married, and I was newly widowed. A recent summer like no other moved me to write and illustrate a graphic novella inspired by a wartime estrangement between my late husband and his elder sister. The result, Celeste’s Holiday brought a rush of letters of interest and phone calls from highly respected people in the film industry. Stage legend Rosemary Harris wished to play Celeste, and Elaine Stritch got on board to play the story’s flinty World War Two aviatrix, Fran.
John Lahr, a true gentleman, offered help in finding a screenwriter (those we contacted were all too busy, which got me to thinking...), and Emma Thompson wrote a two page, handwritten letter praising Celeste. Producer David Brown of Jaws and Driving Miss Daisy fame wrote, “Celeste’s Holiday is an exquisite story well told, I have no doubt it would make a fine film, but I have two films in production about older women and doubt I can get financing for a third.” And, last but hardly least, Celeste sparked the interest of a dapper editor and publisher with his own imprint, Truman Talley Books, who asked me out to dinner to discuss the book in more detail. I then sat down and wrote the script, my first, that has had years of re-writes. I feel it’s at its best now.
If you were to ask why I’ve stayed the course all these years I would say I owe it to these wonderful, respectful professionals, including the dear one who became my husband.
And just a note on the industry, they say a screenwriter is doomed if he or she claims to write solely for their love the craft, but why is that so verboten? Yes, of course we do it in hopes of a signed contract, but when I’m writing, creating diverse characters who live extraordinary lives, heroic, or perhaps terribly flawed, but human, I get to live a very rich life knowing these characters.
Care to name your favorite movies?
“Ooh, that’s a hard one, there are so many. May I give you a list? They are favorites in no particular order but are films I could watch over and over and discover something new each time. The only caveat is, I know I’ll leave out others I love. But here are some close to my heart.”
Green Dolphin Street, Casablanca (in my opinion, the tidiest little film ever made), Random Harvest, The Extra Man, Now Voyager, Best Years of Our Lives, Cider House Rules, Roman Holiday, Picnic, Saroyan's The Human Comedy, In and Out, Mrs. Miniver, Sabrina, Friendly Persuasion, Darling, Auntie Mame (the Roz Russell version), The Bad and the Beautiful (flashbacks were never so rich), April in Paris, Un Homme et Une Femme, Manchurian Candidate, The Children’s Hour, Dr. Strangelove, Giant, A Fish Called Wanda, The French Connection, The Apartment, Rocky (1), Jaws (1), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Awakenings, A Little Romance, Victor/Victoria, The Longest Day, Dave, The Boys from Brazil, E.T., Forrest Gump, American Beauty, Schindler’s List, and almost anything by Hitchcock.”
Favorite actors?
“Again, I have many. I can give you my list as I always dream-cast my scripts while I’m writing them. I’m sure that’s not unique. Dream-cast stand-ins help me watch the characters move, react to the script and speak it the way it’s intended. One actor in particular, the divine Kevin Kline, I've cast in four of my scripts so let's begin with him. Welcome to my stable of talent...
... Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, Emma Thompson, Geoffrey Rush, Annette Bening, Rachel Weisz, Holland Taylor, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Wallace Shawn, Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina, Taraji P. Henson, Greg Kinnear, Leslie Odom Jr., Michael Caine, Paul Bettany, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey, Griffin Dunne, Gena Rowlands, Jean Smart, Laura Benanti, Brian Cranston, Margot Robbie, David Stratham, Rose Byrne, Chris Cooper, Forrest Whitaker, Nathan Lane, Regina King, Ellen Burstyn, Marcia Gay Harden, Jane Fonda, Alan Arkin, Tom Hanks, Laura Dern, Sarah Paulson, Lonnie Farmer, Jane Bergen, Nate Faxon, Cary Mulligan, Bradley Cooper, Paul Giamatti, Ronald Keaton, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Connelly, Jared Harris, Annie Potts, Elliot Page, Mia Wasikowska, Melissa McCarthy, Dossy Peadbody, Toni Collette, Ricky Gervais, Rainn Wilson, Gillian Anderson, Naomi Watts, Sophia Lillis, George Clooney, Reese Witherspoon, Bette Midler, Tracy Letts, Wynona Ryder, Stephen Root, Martha Plimpton, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Douglas, Chris Lowell, Katherine LaNasa, Judy Greer, Sam Neill, Kate Winslet, Bobby Cannavale, Amanda Seyfried, Margo Martindale, Victor Garber, Marielle Heller, Lake Bell, Jim Parsons, Steve Carrell, Blake Lively, Willow Shields, Dakota Fanning, Jane Alexander, Lyndsay Duncan, Jon Hamm, Bo Burnham, Stanley Tucci, Josh O’Connor, Jason Sudeikis, Octavia Spencer, Bill Pullman, Colin Firth, Paul Rudd, Lois Butch, Dax Shepard, Mark Ruffalo, Gary Oldman.”
Favorite Director?
“Oh, that’s an easy one, but I have four. William Wyler, Joe Mankewicz, George C. Stevens, Lasse Hallström, and Jane Campion.”
Final question, and you can thank the great Proust and his popular icebreakers for this one, not that we need one. If you could invite anyone in the film industry for a dinner party, who would you have at your table?
“Can they have died but come back in their prime? I love to honor old greats.”
Of course!
My guests would be : William Wyler (on my right), George C. Stevens (on my left), Roz Russell, Kevin Kline, Dalton Trumbo, Greer Garson, Jean Smart, Frederick March, Josephine Baker, Robert Benchley and Wallace Shawn.
Great minds and wits, as well as talent. I have a hunch it would be lively.”