The Brooklyn Directors of Sundance
Alex Ross Perry
Listen Up Philip
Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss star in this comedy about an angry novelist and his deteriorating relationships.
What neighborhood do you live in?
I live in Park Slope. When I first moved to Brooklyn I lived in Prospect Heights, which appealed to me greatly. When I had “hung out” in Brooklyn I had never been in that part of town.It struck me as a perfect and dignified place to live, and a year later I moved to my current apartment in Park Slope. I love it immensely: it’s quiet, pretty isolated from most things, and exactly the sort of bubble-like neighborhood that seldom requires leaving for any reason.
Just how Brooklyn-y is Listen Up Philip?
Hopefully very. I wanted it to be an honest representation of my New York experience, and that completely excludes places like Williamsburg and Greenpoint. I go to each about once a month, maybe, and think they’re vastly overrepresented in film and television. We shot half of the movie in Brooklyn, all Clinton Hill and Park Slope, pretty much, with a little Ditmas Park, Red Hook and DUMBO as well. I wanted as much Brooklyn stuff that rings true as possible in the film. Philip misses an F train by two seconds at one point, a common occurrence for me and many others. Ashley goes to Prospect Park and then rides her bike down 9th Street. I wanted to see brownstones, stoops, and other visually significant things of that nature that mean not just Brooklyn but certain parts of Brooklyn.
Did you think Sundance was overrun with Brooklyn films?
Probably, but I only saw two others and they were both very Williamsburg-centric, and since I consider that a different city, I am sure there is enough room for everybody. We weren’t even mentioned in the “Sundance is too Brooklyn-y” piece, seemingly because our on-set prophecy came true: when we were shooting in a greasy spoon in Ditmas, I said to the cinematographer, “Do you think anybody could possibly identify this as Brooklyn? It’s not what they see on TV.”
What’s the most cinematic spot in Brooklyn?
Again, I am partial to a brownstone-lined street. It just looks timeless in a very special way to me. We do have a somewhat silly shot of the Brooklyn Bridge from our DUMBO day but were sure that it’s seen only from a very un-cinematic back alley so it doesn’t look the way it has in any other movie. I was very happy to film in Prospect Park as well. In terms of pure cinema, we filmed in the Sean Casey Animal Shelter in Sunset Park, which is absolutely cinematic as it’s dark, loud and unrelentingly intense. A very real location with a great rescue mission.
When can audiences expect to see Listen Up Philip?
Great question. Maybe if we’d shot in Williamsburg, [industry] people would see how to sell this movie to the middle of the country. Our New York premiere is of the utmost importance to me.