美国国家公共电台 NPR New 'American Pastoral' Movie Is A '60s Tale Still Relevant Today

New 'American Pastoral' Movie Is A '60s Tale Still Relevant Today

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Miss New Jersey 2 and a former Mr. High School Football star get married. They have a beautiful daughter, a lovely house in the country and a peaceful, blessed life. But then the 1960s strike, and that little girl becomes a bomber 3. Philip Roth's highly acclaimed 4 1997 novel has been made into a film.

"American Pastoral" stars Ewan McGregor as Seymour Swede Levov, Jennifer Connelly as his wife and Dakota Fanning as Merry, their daughter. The film is also directed by Ewan McGregor, who joins us now from the studios of NPR West. Thanks so much for being with us.

EWAN MCGREGOR: Thanks for having me.

SIMON: What spoke 5 to you about this story?

MCGREGOR: Well, the first thing that touched me about it was the relationship between Swede and his daughter, Merry, the first time I read it, very much as a father-daughter story. And I am the father of four girls, so I know very much what that relationship is like and how powerful that relationship is. So I was moved by it and I think that's what grabbed me.

SIMON: I want to play a clip from early in the story. This is a father and daughter. He's gotten a plaque 6 for keeping his glove factory open after the riots in Newark and his daughter, who's by now a teenager, tells him that the times are a-changin'.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AMERICAN PASTORAL")

MCGREGOR: (As Seymour Swede Levov) Look, they gave me this award. It's just a stupid plaque, but it means one thing. If you take a stand, people notice. If you oppose the war right here with all your strength - this is part of America, too, you know.

DAKOTA FANNING: (As Merry Levov) Read Marx. Revolutions don't begin in the countryside.

MCGREGOR: (As Seymour Swede Levov) We're not talking about revolution.

FANNING: (As Merry Levov) You're not talking about revolution.

SIMON: The novel came out almost a generation ago, and it was written a generation after the 1960s. What makes it speak so powerfully to what's going on now, do you think?

MCGREGOR: Well, there's lots in the story that sadly reflects things that are happening today. There's a sequence in the movie that explores the riots in Newark in '67 where the African-American community were on the streets there protesting against not being given equal pay and brutality 7 from the force and - the police force - and there was no representation in the local council. And Merry, our daughter, Dakota's character, is politicized and radicalized and becomes a bomber, as you said. So that's obviously, sadly, still very current today, too.

SIMON: Yeah. It is considered one of the great novels of the 20th century. And without giving anything away, you've made some changes.

MCGREGOR: Yeah, a little bit here and there. I think if Roth was writing about that period in American history, he was using it - the family as sort of a lens to do so, if you like. And I tried to inject as much Philip Rothian-ness (ph) as I could into the film by showing different sides to arguments, by not making things black and white but by always trying to understand the characters in the movie, trying to understand why Merry does what she does, trying to understand Dawn, at the end of the story, why she...

SIMON: Dawn is the mother - is the mother and the wife.

MCGREGOR: Dawn is the mother, that's right, played by Jennifer Connelly - trying to understand how it is that she survives the tragedy in their life in the way that the Swede doesn't.

SIMON: Yeah, well, and one of the recurrent themes in the narrative 8 is Merry's rebellion, personal or political, or as they used to say, the personal is political.

MCGREGOR: Yeah, I think that's interesting. That's, again, one of the themes that he explores is that everybody's trying to figure out where they went wrong. And Roth presents lots and lots of ideas - assimilation, religion. The Swede is a Jewish man who marries a Irish-Catholic American girl, moves away from Newark into sort of rich, white, Republican America. And, if you like, turns his back on not only his religion but his, maybe, his class or social standing 9. But ultimately, perhaps she does what she does just because that's what she does, you know?

SIMON: Yeah, everything Swede's poured his life into suddenly is - or not so suddenly - is threatened. His child has run off. His wife suffers a breakdown 10. Even the glove factory is on the skids 11 because of outsourcing. So as a director, how did you get the actor to portray 12 that?

(LAUGHTER)

MCGREGOR: The leading actor was fantastic, what a talented man he is. So he...

SIMON: (Laughter) Did he take direction well out of curiosity?

MCGREGOR: Very well, yes, very, very - never argued back, not once. I felt like from my first reading I understood who the Swede was. I could see myself in him. I could see my father in him to an extent. I've never been more prepared to play a part in my life, I don't think.

SIMON: You looked at Swede and saw both traces of yourself and your father?

MCGREGOR: Well, I can see parts of my dad in him and parts of myself in him, I suppose, because, you know, I'm exploring somebody who's a father, so my experience of that is both being one and also having had one. At the very end of the movie, I have four shots where I show in a sort of poetic 13 fashion I suppose the rest of the Swede's life and I had my father take some pictures of himself that I gave to our amazing special effects makeup 14 designer, Mike Marino. And so he sort of sculpted 15 the old age makeup that I wear at the end of the film off pictures of my father. And for me, watching it is like me becoming my dad. It's quite amazing. And I showed my father the film in London just two or three nights ago. And my dad said, well, you know, if he's as handsome as I am by the time he's in his '70s he's not doing too badly (laughter). But I have to say, I sort of agree with him, you know. People have said, is it scary? And I said no, it's not scary. If I turn out like my dad, I'll be doing very well.

SIMON: Ewan McGregor, who stars in and directs "American Pastoral" with Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning, thanks so much for being with us.

MCGREGOR: Thank you very much for having me.