Interview (Part 3): Bill Holderman and Erin Simms
My in-depth conversation with the co-writers (Holderman and Simms) and director (Holderman) of the comedy Book Club.
“Four lifelong friends have their lives forever changed after reading ’50 Shades of Grey’ in their monthly book club.” That’s the logline of the Paramount comedy Book Club which opens in theaters across North America beginning Friday, May 18th.
Recently, I had an hour-long conversation with the co-writers of the movie: Erin Simms and Bill Holderman. Bill also made his directing debut with the film. Today in Part 3, Erin and Bill reflect on how the movie may spawn a cultural conversation about sexuality among senior citizens, and the roles played by Diane Keaton and Jane Fonda in the movie Book Club:
Scott: The movie’s likely to spawn some discussion in media about the subject of seniors having sex. Is there some cultural takeaway you were hoping that may come about as a result of the movie Book Club?
Bill: Making a movie is so hard that, for me, it always has to have some deeper meaning or relevance, the thing that makes you want to have started writing it and then go through the torture of making it. It just has to be more than what it is.
For me, the themes of this movie are ageless, they are timeless, and they do, hopefully beyond just that demographic, inspire people to take back control of their lives and believe that there is that next chapter, not just your tagline.
To know that your life still has worth and value, and, even though culturally sometimes people of any age get set out to pasture, you can take control back and make life as rich, full, and satisfying as you’re willing to put the effort in to making it.
For this, that’s what we wanted to do. Hopefully, it will inspire people to believe there are opportunities out there, whether it’s to find companionship, love, sex, friendship, or anything. Whatever it is that people are desiring, hopefully this will give them a little inspiration.
Scott: You had five women characters in your first draft, you end up with four. Let’s talk about these four characters and start with Diane, played by Diane Keaton. How would you describe her character? What’s the nature of the journey that she goes through?
Erin: The Diane Keaton character, named Diane, was written for her, so it was pretty incredible to get her in our movie. For me, originally, the concept was what happens when you’re in a really long marriage that pretty much has been over for a while?
This woman’s journey is that she was going to accept that as her life. She would have been with this man until the end. It was interesting to us to think about that, these commitments that we make, and what it means.
Bill: Really, it’s for a lot of marriages. It’s till “death do us part”. What happens after one person dies, where does that leave the other person? If there’s still life in that other person, what then? What is the possibility? How do you take claim to your future now?
I think for Diane, that was the journey. It was to tackle that story line of what happens for a woman that age who no longer is married and the husband’s no longer around? The character never really thought about it and never thought that there was going to be anything beyond this marriage.
Her daughters certainly think there’s nothing left for her. Dad is gone and now they’re waiting it out for mom. I think she’s very much someone who finds a way to breathe new life into her existence.
Erin: What I loved about her character is that she’s dealing with a lot of guilt because she meets somebody pretty quickly after her husband’s death. That guilt also leads her to question herself and the decisions that she made.
It’s coming to terms with the fact that, yes, she actually was going to stay in this marriage for the rest of her life. What does that say about her? What does that say about the way she sees herself? For her, it was about honesty. She was not being her true self.
She either has to stand up for herself and tell the truth or she’s moving into her kid’s basement. I just like the idea that, at any point in your life, you can hit the reset button and be your best self.
Scott: I think Andy Garcia’s her new beau…
Erin: Yes.
Scott: That’s a nice pairing. How about Jane Fonda’s character, Vivian? Did you have her in mind for that part?
Bill: In the original draft of the script, there were two characters named after the actors they were written for. It was Diane and it was Jane. Then we changed Jane’s name to Vivian closer to production.
Her journey, the journey of that character in the original draft versus who she became really evolved later in the writing process. Initially, she was just the character that brought the idea of the “Fifty Shades” books to the group and to her friends, an overly simplified, very sexually free woman.
Through the process and through casting, Jane Fonda helped to make her a much more whole human. It was a really interesting part of the writing process rebuilding her from some of those foundational pieces and making her someone that an actor of that caliber would want to play.
Erin: That role is really just dealing with her own vulnerability. After you spend so many years being strong and taking care of yourself… I know a lot of people like her who equate love to weakness, feelings to weakness.
Throughout the story, she eventually has to break down that wall that’s been built for 40 years. I feel like I understand that character the most, in a way. I feel like a lot of people are like that.
Scott: Fortuitous or planned that Don Johnson, who’s the father of Dakota Johnson, star of the Fifty Shades trilogies. Was that planned or just the stars aligning?
Bill: Yeah, that was the stars aligning. There’s a few parts of this that feel like the stars aligned. We could claim that we had some master plan, but the truth is we didn’t.
Don Johnson was someone who had gotten his hands on the script himself through his agents. He was personally friends with Jane Fonda and they’d been friends for 40‑plus years, both growing up in the business.
Erin: He reached out to Jane and said, “I really want to play this part.” Jane went for it.
Tomorrow in Part 4, Bill and Erin delve into the characters played by Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen in the movie Book Club.
For Part 1 of the interview, go here.
Part 2, here.
Erin and Bill are repped by WME.
Twitter: @200bill, @Erinsimms9.
