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| James Schamus gave Indignation star Logan Lerman books by Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg and Bertrand Russell Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
Starting out on the Museum of Modern Art red carpet, I connected Sarah Gadon's Olivia to Arnaud Desplechin's Jimmy P: Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian. Logan Lerman, at the Yale Club, let me probe into how he prepared to take on the role of Marcus Messner in James Schamus's adaptation of Philip Roth's Indignation, set during the Korean War at a small Ohio college.
Messner arrives at the school from New Jersey; from the start, his roommates, both part of a Jewish minority, annoy him and keep him from studying by playing loud music or memorising Malvolio's yellow stocking speech from Twelfth Night.
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| James Schamus, Howard Cohen, Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon in Mary Katrantzou, Andrew Bregman, Eric D'arbeloff Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
Marcus identifies as atheist, doesn't even want to "come for roast beef" to the Jewish fraternity and sees the regular mandatory-for-graduation chapel attendance as chicanery, a sentiment shared by many of his fellow students who have a proxy system in place. He is an A-student and works in the library.
He is smitten with classmate Olivia (Sarah Gadon), the lady of roses. They bloom on her skirt and in his heart and even - as Schamus's extra-special touch - on the wallpaper.
Marcus wonders what kind of girl she is and confides in voiceover: "Then again, there were no girls like Olivia Hutton in Newark." The scar on Olivia's wrist gives his mother (Linda Emond) reason for concern. She sums it up perfectly. "Do not pick someone whose weakness is their strength."
Writer/director/lyricist James Schamus delivers Indignation, at first slow-burning, only to later engulf us in an emotional wildfire.
Anne-Katrin Titze: Were you nervous about doing the dean scene [with Tracy Letts as Dean Caudwell] where you had to go for 18 minutes?
Logan Lerman: Yeah, I was very nervous. And very fulfilled at the end of the day when we made it through that scene.
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| Sarah Gadon: "You know, my father is a psychologist..." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
AKT: It contains so much. A life in 18 minutes. It's about dorm life. It's about Bertrand Russell. Did it feel like that to you?
LL: There's a lot covered in that scene. It's epic and it's the centerpiece of the film and I'm very proud of it.
AKT: Did you read any Philip Roth before?
LL: No, I mean, I read the script and then I discovered Philip Roth's writing. I knew who he was but I hadn't read any of his works.
AKT: And then you did read which of his books?
LL: I read Indignation.
AKT: Did you notice anything interesting that James Schamus did with the text?
LL: Oh, yeah, there's definitely differences between the film and the book but it captures the essence. And we have Philip Roth's approval! That's the most we can ask for.
AKT: Your director said that he particularly identified with your character. It must have felt quite special to be chosen?
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| A Yale Club chef at the Indignation premiere after party Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
LL: Very special. I feel very fortunate that James trusted me with this responsibility.
AKT: The relationship between Marcus and the roommates is nicely layered. And there are postcards of Ezra Pound and Henry James on the wall. Did James Schamus give you anything to read or films to watch in preparation?
LL: A lot of material! Not as many films as much as reading material. I received a lot of reading material from James Schamus. He made my job easy.
AKT: What did he have you read?
LL: Bertrand Russell, of course. Whitman, Ginsberg, Plath - lots of reading.
AKT: Would he then question you about it?
LL: We would discuss the material. Healthy debates.
AKT: Was there anything in these readings that struck a chord?
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| Yale Club near Grand Central Terminal Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
LL: No, no, they all just informed me on my role and the world and what my character was reading.
Marcus and Olivia's first date takes place over escargots in the only fancy restaurant in town, and ends - eventfully - in the car parked near the cemetery. During the drive, the director's period appropriate "Hegelian" love song can be heard on the radio.
A Rothian-size combo of 1951 slut-shaming reflections with a Caspar David Friedrich picture over the bed, leads to Olivia's explanation that she had been a patient in the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas.
Anne-Katrin Titze: Did you do any research on the Menninger Clinic in Topeka?
Sarah Gadon: On the Menninger Clinic? You know, my father is a psychologist and we had a lot of discussions about that time period and various psychiatric treatments that women went through. So, yeah.
AKT: Arnaud Desplechin made a great film, Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, I don't know if you've seen it. It takes place there.
SG: Ah, no. Oh, good.
AKT: On another note - what's your relationship to escargots?
SG: Interestingly enough, I didn't eat escargots in the film. We ate some kind of seitan escargot substitute. I don't think I've ever actually had escargots.
Read what James Schamus had to say on Indignation.
Coming up - Indignation's parents Linda Emond and Danny Burstein.
Indignation opens in the US on July 29.
