Whit Stillman & Greta Gerwig On 'Damsels In Distress'

WHIT: I was inspired a little bit because I had been so miserable in university myself. So we wanted to offer a fantasy version of university life, with these charming girls who are helping the depressed and nearly suicidal.

GRETA: I like to think of Violet Wister as—she’s a zealot, and she’s like the Joan of Arc of perfume and good-dressing and tap dancing, that she’d lay everything on the line for these things. I did relate to her. I relate to her utter passion, and her willingness to “get into it” with people about what she believes. WHIT: And her sincere funniness, which is a very attractive quality. GRETA: I don’t know that I relate to the sincere funniness, although, maybe I do. I am an actress, after all. She’s just this strange combination of being—she’s a liar, but she’s also totally sincere about being a liar. She has opinions but she’s open to criticism. She seems like, within herself, she’s a Hegelian, thesis-antithesis synthesis, at all times.

WHIT: When I was writing this script I was listening to our collection of Griffin’s song. I think it had two sets, one of Fred Astaire songs and one was one of Griffin’s songs and they overlapped, and there was a beautiful Fred Astaire song, called “Things Are Looking Up” and it’s the perfect sort of depression cure. Such a cheerful song, but out of profound melancholy, and there’s something very moving about it. And I wanted to use it in the movie in some way. And so it’s a bit like the culmination of the story in a fantasy sequence, and they put on a show, and they dance through the college campus. We were really helped a lot by the cinematographer, Doug Emmett, who had the idea of using a crane in a very interesting way. And the choreographer, Justin Churney, who did a beautiful job with these talented actors. And I don’t think people were aware of Greta and Adam Brody’s talents in the musical field, and they were really striking and wonderful. GRETA: And I love dancing. I mean, I think that’s another reason why I really wanted the part of Violet—she has the most dancing and the most musical theater moments. I think dancing is the most fun thing to do. And doing it on film - there’s that moment where Adam and I are tap dancing on the fountain, and the camera’s coming down, and the sun’s setting—that’s the most cinematic moment I’ve ever had in my life. Sometimes when you make a film you aren’t aware of how beautiful it is while you’re doing it. I think at that moment, we felt the way it looks in the movie. We were like, “We’re tap dancing, in a fountain!”

WHIT: For me there was something magical, when I was too late for the van, taking us to the Staten Island Ferry to go home, and I was allowed to travel in the actresses’ car back to Manhattan. So you’re in this quiet, silent car, with these beautiful women, half dozing, half chatting. And that was a wonderful female moment that I got to be a witness to.